SCUTTLEBUTT No. 716 - December 22, 2000

THE PERFECT GIFT

Just what every racing skipper wants for Christmas - a little extra boatspeed. Probably no one will remember to put that gift under your tree, so while the rest of the family is off shopping the after-Christmas sales at the malls, why don't you go online and give yourself this holiday bonus. Here's the URL:

http://www.ullmansails.com/

SYDNEY TO HOBART RACE
* Thursday 21 December - Sports Tab, the New South Wales betting agency, has listed the maxi yacht Shockwave as one of the shortest priced favourites in years to take Line Honours in the 2000 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. In betting odds released yesterday, the projected dividend for a $1.00 bet on Shockwave, the 80-footer owned by Neville Crichton, the international yachtsman and former production racing car driver, is only $1.30.

Nicorette, the Swedish 80-footer skippered by Ludde Ingvall, is listed as paying $4.00 while the Grant Wharington's extended Wild Thing from Melbourne, now an 83-footer, is $9.00, the same as Australia?s best known maxi yacht, George Snow's Brindabella.

Xena, Sean Langman's spectacular Open 60, appears a good bet with a dividend of $21.00 for Line Honours. Nokia, the Volvo 60 from Denmark which last year shattered the race record, is listed as paying $26.00, but then the weather conditions in 1999 were the best in 25 years for the fastest race in the history of the 630 nautical mile ocean classic. Her four sisterships, former Whitbread round the world racing yachts now being used as training boats for the 2001-2002 Volvo Ocean Race (which replaces the Whitbread) are at even better odds. Assa Abloy, illbruck and Team News Corporation are all listed as paying a dividend of $51.00 while Tyco is $67.00. - Peter Campbell, Media Director - 2000 Telstra Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, http://www.syd-hob.telstra.com.au/index.cfm

* A Sikorsky S-76, which is normally based at the RAAF in Williamstown, will follow the (Sydney to Hobart) fleet down the east coast of Australia, across Bass Strait and then onto Hobart. The purpose built helicopter with day/night search capabilities is fully equipped with the necessary personnel and technology to implement an immediate search and rescue operation should the need arise.

The features of the twin engine Sikorsky S-76 include a radar system and systems that permit automatic approaches and hovering over water. The crew can perform Mark On Target (MOT) profiles, which is where the helicopter flies a computer-determined circuit to hover about 200 metres down wind from the nominated target. - Peter Campbell

* Mark Rudiger, who knows ocean sailing, thinks The Race may be too risky. He also takes issue with the Coroner's Report lambasting the Australian overseers of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race that took six sailors' lives.

Rudiger sailed as navigator on Larry Ellison's victorious maxi Sayonara in '98. When this year's race starts in Sydney Harbour next Tuesday, the San Francisco veteran will be navigator and co-skipper with Roy Heiner on the Swedish Assa Abloy team's Volvo Ocean 60 training boat, the former Chessie Racing.

"It's a bit of a shame to see the Coroner's Report come out so hard and heavy right now, just before the start," Rudiger said. "In reality, I thought the [Cruising Yacht Club of Australia] did an excellent job all the way around, more than most yacht clubs around the world, and the weather bureau in Australia is the best. We did get warnings, and we saw this thing forming. It was a bit of an anomaly. They don't mention that this was an unusual storm that formed in a short period of time in an area that just happened to be bad timing for where all the boats were going."

When Sayonara's crew realized how bad it was, they were too far ahead to seek shelter or turn back.

"The winds actually were ahead of the satellite pictures," Rudiger said. "That's one reason the weather bureau was unable to warn [in stronger terms]. Basically, we went right through the middle of it. There was no way around it. It formed around us. It happened so fast." - Story by Rich Roberts, for Quokka Sports

To read Rudiger's comments on The Race:
http://www.quokkasailing.com/stories/12/SLQ_1221_rudiger_WFC.html

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.)

* From Malcolm McKeag 100527.3303@compuserve.com Bruce Van Deveter asks how to shorten course at a leeward gate. The answer is to put the committee boat between the two leeward marks, moving one of them to give enough room to do so, if necessary. This way, boats simply follow both the course instructions, leaving one or other of the marks on the required side, and at the same time finish between the committee boat and the mark. The downside is that one needs two teams of line recorders, one for each side of the committee boat. If the SIs define the finishing line as being between a staff bearing an orange flag on the committee boat and the course side of the buoy, then one might need two staffs with flags, also.

An easier way might be to have a Sailing Instruction that says: 'Shorten Course - Leeward Marks. If flag S is flown from a committee boat at the leeward marks, boats shall finish between the leeward marks. This changes Race Signals.' One then anchors the committee boat outside one of the marks and one the transit of the two.

* From Vince Cooke vecooke@gulftel.com In response to the query by Bruce Van Deventer re shortening course at a gate, absent any comment in the race SI it would seem that the RC is compelled to anchor the finish boat between the gate marks. In races which I conduct where a gate is to be employed, I insert a clause stating that if one of the gate marks is missing, the other remaining is to be rounded to port. This gives me flexibility, something that all Race Officers seek to ensure that the race can be completed despite a condition where one mark is missing from the gate. The insertion of such a clause also happens to obviate the necessity to insert an RC boat between the two gate marks in order to shorten in strict accordance with the rules, i.e. simply lift one of the marks and then properly position the RC boat. There are probably other ways to accomplish the situation as well and one which comes to mind might be to state how the finish line would be laid out if the course was shortened at the gate. All of the foregoing comes under the heading of good race management which translates to anticipating this kind of problem when gates are employed

* From Dick Roberts 71621.130@compuserve.com [Reply to Bruce Van Deventer concerning gate marks and edited to our 250-limit] - 1. Set up the committee boat outboard of one of the gate marks. Let's say it is to starboard of the starboard gate mark. It displays code flag 'S'., which means (per Race Signals): 'Finish between the nearby mark and this boat.' The port gate mark, not being 'the nearby mark', is not involved. The finish line is between that mark and the committee boat. The definition of finishing says I'm to cross that line in the direction of the course from the previous mark, so I'd better go directly across.' Hook-around finishes are not permitted.

2. The finish definition issue can be avoided by positioning the committee boat between the gate marks. But then the approaching competitors may have trouble discerning which of those gate marks is intended to be 'the nearby mark.' (Gate marks should be 5 to 8 boat lengths apart.) To make it clear, you could remove one of the gate marks, positioning the committee boat there or perhaps nearer the other, to make the line a little shorter. Code Flag 'M' is not appropriate because a mark is not missing - you have replaced a gate with a finish line and the gate no longer meets the definition of a mark.

3. Or, you could plan ahead and incorporate in the Sailing Instructions a change to the meaning of Code Flag 'S' in Race Signals written to provide additionally that, where the course is shortened at a gate, finish between the two gate marks.

* From Larry Ehrhardt, American Yacht Club Lwesr@aol.com In reply to Bruce Van Deventer's question about shortening course at the leeward gate, for a number of years we have successfully followed the last option he described wherein a race committee boat takes the place of one of the gate buoys and flies both "S" and "M". Gates should be narrow enough that the signal can be seen from the other end. This procedure is carefully spelled out in our Sailing Instructions and preserves the gate structure in a multi-class regatta where the "S" may not apply to all classes.

* From Al Field, Race Committee, New York Yacht Club Albiri@aol.com To the question of Bruce Van Deventer. The race committee should strive to keep it simple and not cause confusion. In shortening course at a gate the tactical purpose for a gate is eliminated. Therefor the only tactic at the finish is to sail the shortest course to the new finish line. To make it simple for the racers it would be best to set up the finish so the finish mark is rounded in the same direction as the other marks. If the other marks are to be rounded to port, the race committee would instruct the mark boat to remove mark to be rounded to starboard and anchor the signal boat a proper distance from the remaining mark, keeping the finishing line square to the previous mark. Firing two guns or clearly audible sounds with displaying the "S" flag should make the intention of the race committee to shorten the course quite obvious. To remove one mark and fly the "M" flag would only serve to confuse the competitors.

* From Charles Schmeckle CSchmeckle@aol.com [Regarding Carol Boe's question] - No, there weren't any females' names on this trophy, and I personally don't think Everett B. Morris had intended this to be. But, those that were chosen had the best performances, and in this case they were male sailors. So what? Is Ms. Boe advocating a female sailor be chosen because she might not be the best, just female?

We have worked long and hard at the college level (as well as the younger years) to prepare and educate especially the female sailors. Again, let them aspire as "equals," and take out the sex stigma. My question to Ms. Boe is: How much do "you" get involved with furthering the education of any junior sailor? Should we really just push education towards females, or be unchauvinistic and help any boy or girl that aspires to become a better sailor?

SPONSORSHIP
SAS Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo have become partners in ASSA ABLOY's Volvo Ocean Racing Team. "There is no sailing event in the world where freight and logistics are as vital for a team's success as in the Volvo Ocean Race," said Richard Brisius, ASSA ABLOY Racing Team's Project Manager. "A new sail that gets delayed one day can make the difference between winning and losing."

The ASSA ABLOY Group is the world's leading manufacturer and supplier of locks and associated products. SAS Cargo is the leading Scandinavian air cargo carrier, while Lufthansa Cargo is the airfreight and logistics company of the Lufthansa Group. - http://www.assaabloy.com

VOLVO OCEAN RACE
In Barcelona, New Zealander Grant Dalton, hot favourite for The Race has new reason for hoping that his Club Med can complete the event in 60-65 days. That is because construction has just started on his second round the world race project for 2001, a boat for the Volvo Ocean Race.

This raises the modest number of confirmed entries for the Whitbread's successor event from six to seven with there being a fresh glimmer of hope that Britain's Lawrie Smith could yet secure funding for his own boat. Smith and Dalton are already part of the Whitbread/Volvo furniture, having both been involved since the early Eighties.

Dalton has neither announced his sponsor nor informed Volvo Ocean Race HQ that he is now a definite starter but construction of the German Frers-designed boat is underway at La Ciotat near Marseilles with a second boat a distinct possibility.

This, and the second boat for the Roy Heiner-skippered Assa Abloy team, are both `spare' yachts that Volvo Ocean Race chief executive Helge Alten wants to see in the hands of new teams. This would raise entries to eight, each one a top-flight competitive programme. - Tim Jeffery, Daily Telegraph, UK, http://sport.telegraph.co.uk/sport/

DON'T MISS THE BOAT!
Sail into the new year with the 2001 Ultimate Sailing Calendar. 24 brilliant, dynamic and exciting images by Sharon Green. Highlights from the America's Cup, Louis Vuitton Cup, Kenwood Cup and much more. $15.95. Order the calendar and other Ultimate Sailing products at our web site: www.ultimatesailing.com

CHRISTMAS
I saw three billionaires sailing in
On Christmas day at dawn.

Afloat on liquid assets all,
Bertarelli, Ellison, McCaw.

Cell phones, drugs and software
Made them what they are today,

The new nobility of the sport,
And who'll stand in their way?

Yet there's some racing to be done,
In pursuing the ugly ewer,

And many hopes have fallen short
When boats went down the sewer.

Can money buy the Cup Down Under?
Only time will tell.

But it won't be under a Christmas tree,
They'll have to sail like hell.

--- R. Roberts, 2000

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
The four stages of life:
1. You believe in Santa Claus.
2. You don't believe in Santa Claus.
3. You are Santa Claus.
4. You look like Santa Claus.