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SCUTTLEBUTT 3160 - Friday, August 20, 2010Scuttlebutt 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: Lewmar and Quantum Sails. AMERICA'S CUP MAY NEED ENVIRONMENTAL EXEMPTION San Francisco, CA (August 19, 2010) - San Francisco officials are moving quickly to acquire an exemption to state environmental law in time for a deadline to submit a proposal on hosting the next America's Cup. "Without this legislative action, it is likely that San Francisco will not be selected and the regatta will be held overseas," said a recent memo from Mayor Gavin Newsome's office that was used to brief environmentalists on the proposal, which would cover shoreside facilities for yachts, gear and support services. Some environmental groups, while appreciative that city officials sought their input, warn that an exemption would open the floodgates for wealthy interests to circumvent state-required environmental review. "We're not going to sit by idly and let that happen," said Tina Andolina, legislative director for the Planning and Conservation League, an environmental lobbying group. But Andolina said she is optimistic a legislative compromise can be struck that incorporates environmentalists' concerns. "The devil is in the details," she said, "but there's a world of difference between asking for a flat-out exemption and when the community feels it's going to be included." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/2a5lyfg AETHON WING WITHDRAWN FROM LITTLE AMERICA'S CUP (August 19, 2010) - Aethon, the new wing for the C Class catamaran was revealed, trialed, and withdrawn this week. Control system problems caused damage to the wing's airfoil surfaces. These were too extensive to be repaired and tested before the start of the International C Class Catamaran Championship on August 22. The team has therefore decided to scratch the entry of Cogito, and use her wing on Aethon in the Little America's Cup. Steve Clark, owner of both boats, designed and built Aethon with his nephew Oliver Moore over the last 18 months. He designed and built the new wing hoping to achieve something new. The wing weighs just 140 pounds, about 30 pounds lighter than Cogito's wing and probably about 15 pounds lighter than the Canadian's wingsails. The wing also has solid composite skins, which are better aerodynamically than the typical heat shrink covering, and has a more extensive twist control system that allows Clark and Moore to vary the trim of the wing throughout its entire span. 'The way the thing works' said Clark, 'is that they are all interrelated. You cannot get the weight savings without adding complexity to the control system. During the brief time that we had everything working Oliver and I were highly impressed by the performance and potential of the new wing. We thought we had hit a home run. But some old boogiemen like stretch and bending caused certain parts to bear loads that they weren't engineered to take and they folded up exactly like you would expect them too.' The withdrawal of the second American entry means that Lars Guck and Andrew Gaynor, initially slated to sail Cogito at the event, will now be moved to first and second alternate. ' I feel very bad about having to scratch and entry to the regatta' continued Clark. 'We thought long and hard about what it would take to repair the wing and get to the starting line, but we concluded that it simply wouldn't be possible. We would be showing up with a completely untested and untuned rig. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/23cj3o7 LEWMAR-EQUIPPED WINNERS AT COPA DEL RAY AUDI MAPFRE Lewmar was on the podium at the recent Copa Del Rey Audi Mapfre, in Palma Majorca. The TP52s, Matador and Bribon, were 1, 2 respectively in the IRC B division, while Ran won the IRC A division with a day to spare. All three yachts featured Lewmar & Navtec race equipment, including a range of Lewmar racing winches. Lightweight Lewmar racing winches provide optimum tuning control without compromising on outstanding performance and power. Contact Lewmar or click here for more information: http://www.lewmar.com/product-listing.asp?action=search&type=106 MOTH EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP St Moritz, Switzerland (August 19. 2010) - The 85 SYZ & CO Moth Europeans' participants were thrilled to see the sun today. The area looked like a postcard, with electric blue sky, turquoise colour lake and more than 20 knots wind. Nathan Outteridge and Bora Gulari continue to dominate the championship, but Arnaud Psarofaghis made a great come-back today to the 4th place of the general ranking. The three races of the day took place under splendid conditions. A first really tough race with a 20 knot maloja wind was followed by an even windier second race, calming down for the last race and allowing the less experienced competitors to finish the day on a soother note. Arnaud Psarofaghis, double European champion and title-holder seems in a better form as the days go by. "I try to make simple tactical moves and that's what works the best for me," he said. Simon Payne, the current World champion currently sitting in 5th said, "It's a European Championship, but there are so many sailors from all around the world that it is almost a new world championship. The competition is excellent, and not only in the leading group. The lake is so small and the number of competitors so big that it is crucial to handle the boat in the right manner. Boat handling becomes more important than speed." -- Full story and day 3 results: http://tinyurl.com/2flp52x * Daily reports: http://tinyurl.com/26vz4hc CHRIS DOYLE LEADS DAY 1 J/22 NA CHAMPIONSHIPS Buffalo, NY (August 19, 2010) - Chris Doyle of Kenmore, NY dominated day one of the Mercedes-Benz J/22 2010 North American Championship in Buffalo, NY. Team Solid Layer finished the day with just 12 points over four races. A three-way battle exists for the next spots between Todd Hiller, Greg Fisher and Jim Barnash (28 points). Competitors experienced winds starting around 12 knots, building to 15-20 with large waves. Todd Hiller kicked off the event by winning race one, followed by Gordon McIlquham and David McBrier. In race two, Terry Flynn took the top spot, trailed by Chris Doyle and Greg Fisher. Chris Doyle had a strong showing in race three, besting John Loe in second and Fisher in third. In the day's final race, Flynn returned to the first position, followed by Fisher and Kevin Doyle. Fifty-one boats are competing in the event, and racing continues through Saturday. -- Complete results at: http://www.j22na.com UP NEXT - 2010 MELGES 32 CALIFORNIA CUP (August 18, 2010) - The Melges 32 fleet has packed up and moved on from the light and variable conditions in the Midwest, and has based itself in San Francisco for the first annual Melges 32 California Cup. Not only will this event be a highly talented and competitive regatta, but it also signifies the final stage of preparation for most teams before the Melges 32 Pre-Worlds and Worlds in late September. While the goal will certainly be to win this event, teams will be careful not to show their "hand" so they do not give anything away before the Worlds. While not every team that is competing in the worlds will be here at the Cal Cup, most will. The Samba team gathered on Wednesday morning at the St. Francis Yacht Club for the first of 2 practice sessions before racing begins on Friday. With typical San Francisco Bay conditions of 15-20 and sunny skies, we were all reminded of what a great venue this is for racing Melges 32s and why San Francisco is amongst the favorite places to sail for people who have had the opportunity to race here. -- Read on: http://42marine.com/up-next-m32-cal-cup/ * The San Francisco Melges Race Week 2010 is a standalone event open to the Melges 20, 24 and 32 classes that includes the US Gold Cup and the inaugural Melges California Cup, hosted by The San Francisco Yacht Club in Belvedere. Event website: http://www.california-cup.com/ iQ TECHNOLOGY = GREAT SAILS = GREAT RESULTS Over the past 2 years Quantum Sails has worked endlessly on developing their proprietary iQ Technology - the process of integrating state-of-the-art design and manufacturing methods with on-the-water verification testing (accomplished through Quantum Racing). Recent results speak for themselves: 1st place, Melges 32 National Championship; 1st place, European Dinghy World Championship; 1st place, Phuket Race Week; 1st place, Rolex IRC National Championship; 1st place, Opti Nordic Youth Championship; 1st place, J/22 World Championship; 1st place, J/24 European Championship; 1st place, Marseille Trophy - (TP52) Audi MedCup. Find your speed at http://www.quantumsails.com WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR FEATURES ON CNN'S MAINSAIL London, UK (August 19, 2010) - The ISAF World Match Racing Tour, the world championship series of head-to-head racing, continues to grab the media spotlight with action from the fifth and most recent round in Sweden providing the focus for CNN's flagship sailing programme MainSail._The programme which aired for the first time today at 12.30 and 16.30 will be repeated on Saturday 21 August at 07.30, 17.30 and 20.00 again on Sunday 22 August at 03.00, 07.30 and 15.00 (all times GMT) features the thrilling action from the Stena Match Cup Sweden. The programme will be aired across all CNN's platforms in EMEA, North America, Latin America and South Asia. The feature is yet another boost for the World Match Racing Tour which is gaining an increasing global media profile with highlights of the Tour being shown in over 180 countries on channels such as CNBC, Eurosport, Setanta Africa, Sky Sports, ESPN Star Sports and Fox Sports. The World Match Racing Tour starts up again with the St Moritz Match Race August 31 to September 5. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2ad2bkc BREWER YACHT YARDS "GREENS" WITH NEW SOLAR PV SYSTEM Westbrook, CT (August 19, 2010) - Brewer Pilots Point Marina has completed a 8,500 square foot solar photovoltaic (PV) system funded, in part, by a grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). The electricity generated by the new system will supply power to three marina work sheds and a portion of its 900 customer slips. "We are thrilled with the way this project turned out," said Rives Potts, Vice President and General Manager at Brewer Pilots Point Marina. "We constantly urge our customers to consider the environment in all of their boating decisions, and this allows us not only to reduce our own footprint but also put money where our mouth is when it comes to environmental stewardship." CCEF provided an $184,968 grant to support this installation through its On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program. This program provides funding for renewable energy projects at Connecticut businesses in order to reduce the load on the state's electricity grid, prevent harmful emissions by offsetting electricity produced from fossil fuels and spur investment in small businesses. -- Read on: http://www.byy.com/solar.cfm PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include Scow on its side, flash trimarans, happy moment, crowded turn, dangerous trick, big win, and big wind. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0820/ OLYMPIC: There was no bigger Olympic event in 2010 than the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, which wrapped up last weekend in Weymouth, England. As this will be the site of the sailing competition for the 2012 Olympics, countries were eager to measure their top athletes against the weather conditions while addressing shore side logistical issues in their preparation for the summer games. Here are photos of the event from Fried Elliott/friedbits.com: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0819/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The International C Class Catamaran Championship (IC^4) will be hosted at New York Yacht Club in Newport, RI from August 22-28, 2010. The IC^4 is the successor to the Little America's Cup as the championship event for the C class catamarans. Fred Eaton of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) won the trophy from Steve Clark during the last event held by RCYC in September 2007. In the next event Eaton will be defending for RCYC and Clark, who will be representing New York Yacht Club, will be among the challengers. There were to be seven teams, but as Clark's brand-new wing for Aethon wasn't ready for prime time, he'll be sailing the boat with the Cogito wing, leaving that boat now on the sidelines. The six teams competing are: three Canadian (Orion, Alpha, Canaan), one American (Aethon), one British (Invictus), and one French (Patient Lady VI). Here are some videos to provide a build up toward the event: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0820/ DROWNING: If you think you could recognize a person who is drowning, think again: http://tinyurl.com/23x694e GULF YACHTING: The lady sailors at Buccaneer Yacht Club won the 2010 Gulf Yachting Association Knost All Female Championship at Pass Christian Yacht Club in Pass Christian, MS. Here is a photo video by by Cindy Stieffel Cady: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1416828138108 TRAINING: Using a stern mounted video camera can be used as a training aid, or just a cool way to capture your sailing experience, particularly when they include the mother of all broaches. Here's a typical summery thermal breeze on San Francisco Bay on an Antrim 27: http://tinyurl.com/2fk6ky6 SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com SAILING SHORTS * Newport, RI (August 19, 2010) - At high noon on Friday, the sixth annual Ida Lewis Distance Race will see 36 IRC, PHRF and Doublehanded boats on the line for what organizers expect to be a 150 nm course out to Block Island and back. With winds forecasted at 6-12 knots, the Race Committee has banked on the smallest boat finishing before 1800 on Saturday night, just before a full-on Finish Line party - for competitors and club members - commences at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club to top off the event. The race includes divisions for IRC (five boats), PHRF (23 boats in two divisions) and Double-Handed boats (8 boats). -- Event website: http://www.ildistancerace.org/2010/index.php * Jesse Smith of Middletown, R.I., who began sailing only a little over a year ago, skippered his 37-foot six-meter sloop Totem to victory in last Sunday's 38th annual Opera House Cup, besting 56 other boats in the culminating event of the 2010 Nantucket Race Week. Smith did have some assistance on the 16.5-mile course. His crew included America's Cup sailor Mike Toppa and North Sails vice president Jim Allsopp, who helped him win the cup in a corrected time a little over four minutes faster than the second-place boat. -- Read on: http://www.ack.net/operahouse081910.html * Newport, RI - The 2010 Clagett Regatta will kick off on August 23 with its traditional one-day clinic which will again find world champion sailors sharing their expertise on everything from the racing rules to match racing techniques. On the water, racing will take place August 24-26, with the blind sailors racing for the 2010 Blind Sailing National Championship title. The clinic and regatta is open to both U.S. and foreign competitors. -- Full story: http://www.clagettregatta.org/pr/2010/pr2010.html * By crossing the line at 21.15.24, Armel Le Cleac'h on Brit Air gets his third leg win and overall victory in the Solitaire du Figaro 2010. He thus enters in the selected group of sailors who have a double victory in the race history. Corentin Douguet on E.Leclerc Mobile crossed the line in second at 21.18.28, 3 minutes and 4 seconds after Le Cleac'h and after 54.33.28 from the start in Kinsale. François Gabart on Skipper Macif 2010 crossed in third at 21.25.40, securing second overall place. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/26bg3am * Newport, RI (August 19, 2010) - Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club lifted the Morgan Cup from hosts New York Yacht Club at the annual "unofficial national championships of team racing" August 13-15. Eight teams were selected to compete in this best-of-the-best showdown. Larchmont YC was second, followed by Pequot YC in third. PRO Ron Hopkins ran 84 races and Chief Umpire Steven Wolf and his crew adjudicated boat handling action that is now broadly considered to have taken another step forward in complexity and expertise. -- Full results: http://nyyc.org/morgancupaug/ * (August 19, 2010) - Rod and Kerry Waterhouse (AUS) extended their lead in the Masters division at the Hobie 16 Masters Grand Masters World Championships in Weihai, China, overnight, while Anthony Duchatel and Evelyn Curtis (AUS) did the same in the Grand Masters. The day dawned clear, a good sign for wind - and sure enough - by 10am a decent 10-12 knot offshore breeze had settled in and two races were put in the bag. The shifty offshore breeze had competitors digging deep for the best lines of breeze. -- Full results: http://www.hobieworlds.com * The BBC is set to broadcast two documentaries on Olympic Classes sailing, produced by Sunset+Vine APP in association with BBC Sport. Part 1 of "Olympic Sailing" will air this Saturday, 21 August, at 1300 on BBC 1. It tells the story of Britain's medal winners at the Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta where nearly 1000 sailors from 57 nations competed at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, the venue for the sailing competition for the London 2012 Games. -- http://tinyurl.com/2fpxz37 LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, 'The Curmudgeon'). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From The Publisher, Valencia Life Network (re, AC34): The La Maddelena archipelago has a population of about twelve thousand people in addition to about two thousand United States Servicemen and women who work on the atomic submarine base there. The area made headlines in October 25, 2003, when the submarine USS Hartford ran aground, substantially damaging its rudders, sonar and electronics. There is a 24-hour ferry service to Sardinia, and there are a handful of ports that could have the capacity to stage the Americas Cup, yet the facilities currently on offer there pale to those available at Porto Cervo on Sardinia. It is an open question whether either location could be able to provide the necessary infrastructure in time for the 34th Americas Cup to be staged. * From Wayne Otero (re, Scuttlebutt 3159): It's sad, but I have to agree that SF will most likely not step up to the plate to host the next AC. When I was in San Diego during the AC held there, I was rooting for the Kiwis because I believed that they would do the AC proud and the majority of citizens were eager to host it. Interest in San Diego was minimal at best and boats were scattered all over the place, miles apart. There was no AC Center and re-named America's Cup Harbor had nothing to do with the event. Although I would love it to be held in SF, it already sounds like they are planning on separate areas for different uses, rather than a true AC Center like Auckland and Valencia produced. Frankly, I'd rather see it go abroad if SF is going to take a major step back in hosting the event in multiple locations. There just isn't the interest there in the non-sailing population to do a really outstanding event. Let it go to Italy where there will be enormous passion involved in the planning and execution of the event. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you. Special thanks to Lewmar and Quantum Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
