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SCUTTLEBUTT 2286 – February 22, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). NUMBER ONE After a preliminary fleet racing event in early April, the challengers' Louis Vuitton Cup begins on April 16 and Team New Zealand will be among the favorites. They are ranked No. 1 by a narrow margin, after sailing NZL84 to the top of the points table in last year's series of lead-up regattas. But (Syndicate boss Grant) Dalton wasn't prepared to rate his team's chances, saying simply that "we've come a long way, and so we should". "What happened last year means nothing other than we didn't have to come home and make any radical changes," he said. "We felt, rightly or wrongly, that the path we were traveling was a good one. But in the end, we are going to have to turn up on the day, every day." Dalton said luck would play its part, but it was important to "live in the now" and treat every contest out on the water as the same, no matter who the opposition. "There are so many good teams now and the conditions are such that you will lose races, but you have to be careful you don't lose soft races," he said. "The best teams will be the ones that have a bad day and come back strong again the next day." NZL92 was launched last October and skipper Dean Barker and the sailing crew have spent the summer testing it and NZL84 off Auckland. Dalton said the two yachts, while built according to the same theme, were set up differently. With the challengers' series running until mid-June, and the conditions changing as spring became summer, it was possible that both boats could be called into action. "The boats are different, but they are the same - they are different in that they situated at different parts of the wind range," he said. "One boat will go better in a breeze, the other will go better in the light. Which one is which, I'm not going to say, but you could conceivably see us racing two boats." Dalton said the design team had walked the path between being innovative and looking to avoid any potential messy spat over measurement. -- NZPA, full story: http://www.stuff.co.nz/3970821a1823.html TECHNOLOGY (Following is an excerpt from a new story posted on thedailysail subscription website.) It may be the turn of the small boater to get some envious glances from the Dubarry-booted hordes: Introducing the RigTune - a prototype digital rig tension gauge. The unit has been designed to measure the loads on 3-7mm diameter standing rigging, very much Loo’s Gauge territory. Two years ago the specialist yacht electronics company Diverse Yacht Services were approached by the RYA to see if it was possible to put a strain gauge into a device small enough for what was needed for the Olympic classes. The company has extensive experience with load cells for every conceivable application for the Grand Prix racing yacht, but this project was a departure for them. The Diverse RigTune has since been picked out by Harken UK and they are looking into the possibility of taking the device to the mass market. It will require serious investment to get a finished product produced. The production run needs to big enough so that the end user retail price is in the right ballpark. So it is still early days although feedback so far has been very positive. We took the RigTune and a standard Loo’s Gauge and headed out into the yard to apply them to a Laser SB3. We took base measurements of the V1, D1 and the chicken stay - or caps, shrouds and lowers in dinghy terms - and then adjusted the rigging while taking measurements with both devices. We quickly got the hang of taking a reading with the digital gauge and were showing loads to the nearest 1kg. -- http://www.thedailysail.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK This week's video shows that you don't need big oceans to go sailing, and you don't need tall mountains to go snowboarding. Welcome to snow-kiting, the merging of kite-surfing and snowboarding. Enjoy this 2:20 minute trailer for the film 'Entropy', a document of the most progressive season in snow-kiting so far. Join five of the world's best riders across the globe as they search for the ultimate snow and wind conditions. Along the way they reinvent snow-kiting by taking a new school approach and pushing the limit of wake-style maneuvers. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/0219 OGLETREE SWEEPS A-CAT WORLD QUALIFIER Congratulations to Olympic Silver Medalist Charlie Ogletree, who swept the A Class Catamaran World qualifier event this past weekend at the Lake Eustis Sailing Club, Florida. Using the latest Ullman Sails A-Cat sail design, Charlie won all three races against 15 top competitors. Whether competing for Olympic medals or World championships, Ullman Sails provides the speed and reliability to achieve your goals. For the “Fastest Sails on the Planet” contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com - the Multi-Hull Experts! ARE CAYARD, COUTTS, AND $60 MILLION ENOUGH? (Sailing World senior editor Stuart Streuli weighs the prospects of the newly-announced fleet-racing venture in 14 one-design 70-foot catamarans. Here are a couple of excerpts.) After the initial glow wore off, I started to assess this development with a more objective mind. Make no mistake, as a sailor, a fan of the sport, and a media professional eager to cover exciting events, I sincerely hope the World Sailing League succeeds. However, too many similar ideas have either never materialized or faded quickly for me not to question whether this one will suffer a similar fate. Heading my list of positives is the substantial cash infusion with which this effort gets underway. According to published reports from people present at the press conference on Friday, more than $60 million has been committed by João Lagos Sports, a Portuguese sports promotion firm. This money will go to the design and building of 14 one-design 70-foot catamarans and, since that sum seems significantly more than the amount required for that task, presumably the remainder will be used to help get the circuit rolling. While steadfastly maintaining that they wouldn't announce this circuit until they had all the pieces in place, this didn't seem to be the case in Lisbon, Portugal, on Friday. The most glaring omission was the date and site of the inaugural regatta. Why not wait until they had the first stop on the tour confirmed to make the announcement? And why not spend a little extra money to produce a first-rate website for the launch. The current site, www.wsl2009.com, is amateurish at best. While it's a tiny part of the puzzle, the logo looks like it was thrown together at the last minute. -- Full story: http://www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=49818 SAILING SHORTS * The young Gotta Love It 7 crew of Seve Jarvin, Sam Newton and Rob Bell took Race Four of the SLAM-Winning Appliances JJ Giltinan International 18ft Skiff Championship in a nail biting five second finish from Michael Coxon’s defending champion team in Fiat, with Pegasus Racing (Howie Hamlin) only eight more seconds further back. Standings after four races with no discards: 1. Fiat, AUS, 11. 2. Gotta Love It, AUS, 14; 3. appliancesonline.com.au, (John Winning Jr) AUS, 24; 4. Club Marine, AUS, 25; 5. Asko Appliances, (Hugh Stodart) AUS, 26; 6. Pegasus Racing, USA, 28. -- http://www.18footers.com.au * The 2007 Laser, Radial and 4.7 Midwinters East starts Thursday with over 209 competitors pre-registered, including 22 4.7's, 87 Lasers and 100 Radials! Scuttlebutt will watch this one closely. * The World Sailing Speed Council has ratified the World Nautical Mile Record established on October 31, 2006 by Bjorn Dunkerbeck of 41.14 knots at Walvis Bay, Namibia. The board was a"Proof Custom" with a 6.3m North Warp sail. This new standard eclipses the previous record of 39.97 kts set by Finian Maynard BVI, Oct 2005, Walvis Bay, Namibia. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/ * Sixty-eight-year-old Tony Bullimore, currently in Hobart, Tasmania awaiting a weather window to commence his solo circumnavigation record attempt, has resigned himself to at least another week ashore. Bullimore who's been on standby for well over two months has been plagued by lack of wind and according to Barry Pickthall from the shore team, the chances of him setting off in the next few days are zero. Apparently there's a massive high sitting over Hobart and the weather system looks likely to remain static for the next few days leaving Bullimore no choice other than to sit wait. -- Sue Pelling/Yachting World, http://tinyurl.com/2e5d5y * South Africa's America's Cup yacht Team Shosholoza will be flying a new logo from today following an announcement that Italy's largest cruise ship company MSC Crociere will be sponsoring the first ever African challenger for the America's Cup. MSC Crociere has additional interest at the America's Cup as the company is also a co-sponsor of the Cup defender, plus they will also be sponsoring the Tall Ships' Race 2007 Mediterranea. * Since January 28, 2007, the San Francisco police, the Coast Guard and Jim s friends and family have conducted an extensive search to find him and his sailboat, Tenacious, off the California coast. Despite the thoroughness of this search, there remain no leads as to the reason for the disappearance. However, the Friends of Jim group continues to reach out to the boating public for clues, and is encouraging people throughout the west coast of the United States and Baja Mexico to be on the alert for floating debris that may prove helpful in determining the cause of this incident. Details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/jimgray * BMW Oracle Racing’s USA 98 is on the way to Valencia, Spain on board an Antonov cargo plane. The team’s new boat will be delivered to the base in Valencia later in the week. -- http://bmworacleracing.com/en/4_bor/index.html?track.refer= * Reg Gratton has been named Communications Director for the Volvo Ocean Race, with the remit to enhance the media coverage of the event and deliver on sponsors’ expectations. In addition to his 25 years of media experience, Gratton has over 10 years senior experience with the Sydney and Torino Olympic Games, the Commonwealth Games and the 2003 Rugby World Cup and he has just completed a two-year stint in Doha, planning and managing the media services for the Doha 2006 Asian Games. Volvo Ocean Race chief executive, Glenn Bourke, worked with Gratton at the Sydney Olympics. -- http://volvooceanrace.org MORRIS 51 ‘HOMEFREE’ DOUBLES CAPE HORN ‘Homefree’ doubled Cabo De Hornos on Jan 21 at 1400 hours local time. She is the first Morris to do so! All of us at Morris Yachts congratulate her owners, Bob and Jane Trenary and her crew - Bob Rubideau of Telluride, Co., Jim Stanek of Newport, and local personalities: Nelson Sharpe, Mary Rubadeau, Bill Grun, and John Halquist. To read the log and see some photos from the adventure, go to http://www.morrisyachts.com/homefree 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 Dave Penfield: Cheating in racing … nothing new. The question is, how to survive it? I grew up understanding that retirement for a minor transgression was as valued as winning. I had a rude awakening as a freshman in college when we unexpectedly beat an “All American” and his team. He threw me out with a bogus protest, and thus our team lost. When I confronted the protestor, he said, “Of course it did not happen, but we won.” I almost quit altogether. Fast forward to competing internationally, when the definition of kinetics was cloudy. How far could you push it and stay within the rules? Who is cheating if the majority of the fleet has established a norm outside of the rules? If we won, was it still fair and square? Ultimately I learned to race in classes that were classy. The epitome for me was 5-0-5s, where circles happened and protests did not. Somehow the fun of sailing and the mutual respect of the sailors made losing palatable, even if winning was still the goal. If I or someone else apparently transgressed the rules, it merited a discussion, and was not expected to re-occur. So pick your poison. Search out the class and the venue that suits you. It is true vindication to legitimately beat those who have tried to win by bending the rules. But it is more fun to race against those who respect their competitors and the spirit of the sport. * From Jim Linskey: I must say I have seen my share of cheating in yacht racing over many years. As a father, bring up my daughter through sailing as one of her sports, the first thing I taught her while she was racing at the age of 7 was the basic rules of yacht racing and to fashion her sailing to them. Not too far into her first year she would come to me on the dock and tell me about some of her competitors who were breaking/abusing the rules. My words to her was that's what that little red flag is for. One year, I was prepping a boat for a Transpac race. Walking down the dock to the boat, my daughter pointed out one of our competitors boat and said, "Hey dad, what's up with so and so." The boat had about a ten degree list to starboard. I took a glance below, stepped back onto the dock and continued walking to my boat. Their frigging cheating I told my daughter. The whole starboard side was packed with 5 gallon water jugs, moveable ballast, used to off set the first three days of 25 knot starboard tack beat leaving the California coast on the race to Hawaii. In the end, people knew what was going on, and no one in the race flagged them. Why? Maybe because of the owner's high profile in the corporate world? Who knows, but that was about as flagrant as can be. * From Dick Enersen: I suspect that ethical integrity in our sport has declined pretty much in step with that in our culture as a whole, but here's a quick story to illustrate that the practice of RFing boats in collegiate swap-boat regattas is not new. Forty years ago I sailed with Kim Desenberg and Skip Allan in the afterguard of the Stanford crew at the Kennedy Cup, the national collegiate big boat championship, sailed at Annapolis in the Navy yawls. The rules required that each crew would sail a different boat on each of the three days. As we took over the boat which the (un-named University) crew had sailed on the first day, their bowman pointed to the spinnaker turtle and chirped, "Look, we even packed the chute for you." Sure enough, the three corners of the kite protruded neatly from under the tightly stretched cover, but, as soon as the other crew was gone, I told our foredeck guys to dump it out and start over. Reluctantly, they did, and were surprised to discover the kite tied in a neat overhand knot. We won the regatta, by the way. * From George Bailey: Question: what if we just suspended the racing rules? Answer: we could not tell who won. Question: What if we suspended all the rules but the starting and finish rules. Answer: Everyone would come tack or jibe as soon as they cleared the starting line and . . . might be fun in a big fleet - once. What if we suspended all but the starting, finishing and rounding the marks rules? Answer: we could get the TV coverage we all have been longing for. Question: What if we suspended only the rules involving kinetics? Answer: I thought we already did. * From Ari Barshi: Are we sailors so superior to athletes from other sports? Why are we not expecting basketball or football games to be self disciplined by the participants themselves? To be a contender or even "just" a national champion in an Olympic class, one has to be 100% dedicated to sailing. Not getting the needed result in an event means at times, years, and lots of money down the drain. How can we expect an individual who spends all their time figuring out ways to be ahead of others, all of a sudden converting to a nobleman on the battle field? At the last OCR, sailors in the Laser class improved over 15 positions during a race, just by grabbing and pulling themselves on other boats while mark rounding. Today’s sailors have to worry about sponsors and public image, and therefore are very unlikely to protest. In reality sailors now are professionals, (even if most of them can not afford it). It is time we have active referees in all races to watch them. Yes, the referees can not be all over the course at the same time. Yes, sometimes they will make mistakes. But, if the sailors know that the judges sitting in the boat next to the mark will protest/! flag them on site for rule violation, they will all be noblemen and self disciplined, and thus stay superior to all other athletes, just as expected. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM What disease did cured ham actually have? Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Morris Yachts. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
