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SCUTTLEBUTT 3167 - Tuesday, August 31, 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: North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and LaserPerformance. CHECKING IN ON THE CAT Skipper Ken Read and the PUMA Ocean Racing team announced in April that the team would be returning for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012 after placing second overall in the 2008-2009 event. Scuttlebutt checked in with Kenny for an update on their progress: * What can you tell us about your boat? KEN READ: New England Boat Works (NEB) in Portsmouth, Rhode Island is building the yacht in conjunction with Brandon Lyons. Brandon and his team were in charge of the il mostro build when we used the Goetz yard for the last race. Integration of both build teams has been going on for a few weeks now and the mold for the deck has been started. Not only will they do a great job but I thought the local economy could use a boost unlike a Senator from Massachusetts! Launch date varies on both the complexity of the design as well as the completion of science projects that are ongoing with (designer) Juan K's office. The launch and initial trials will be in Newport, which we presume to begin sometime around May or June 2011. * How about the mast and other gear? KEN READ: The first new mast is being built here in Rhode Island at Hall Spars and designed by Scott Ferguson. We worked hard to get Scott involved as he is at the top of his game right now. He was comfortable with Hall. We also really needed to get a mast done as quickly as possible and the Hall Rhode Island complex is literally right down the road from us and I have worked with them quite a bit over the past 20 years. Scott was the designer of the Telefonica rigs for the last race which were quite a departure from past mast configurations and he was integral in the BMW Oracle wing sail project for the 33rd America’s Cup last February. The sails are being built by North and designed by Steve Calder. As you saw in the last race when North was on every boat in the fleet, they are the obvious choice when it comes to speed and durability. Past experience with Steve was a huge factor- plus it doesn't hurt that he and Tony Mutter worked together on the Ericsson program. Our winch package is Harken. They did a great job for us last race, and I am sure they will again for this one. Our rope package is done by Gleistein Ropes- amazing products and part of our team for four years now. * There are only five declared entries. You expected 9 or 10. Will there be any more entries? KEN READ: I believe that Telefonica will also enter Tele Blue from the last race so that adds up to six scheduled boats to hit the starting line right now. We get lots of calls from prospective programs that want to take il mostro around the track again. The Volvo office still thinks 10 entries so we shall see. I certainly hope that we have 8-10 as that is the number that VOR has promised us since we signed up. Read on for Kenny’s comments to these questions: * How about an update regarding the PUMA crew plan? * Will the ‘11-12 race route affect boat design compared to the ‘08-9 route? * What is your tentative training schedule between now and the start? Complete interview: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/0830/ HOW WOULD YOU DECIDE THIS PROTEST? Jos Spijkerman (NED), an International Judge and International Umpire, publishes a racing rules’ blog, and recently posted his opinion to the following scenario: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Two 28 foot E-scows are sailing on port. They are sailing to windward, towards a mark to be rounded to port. Boat A is clear ahead and 1+ boat length to leeward of boat B. They both enter the zone on port, boat A ahead of boat B. Boat A tacks onto starboard (according to the protest approximately 60 feet from the mark). Boat A arrives at a close hauled course and Boat B has enough time and room to respond. Boat B tacks directly in front and slightly to leeward of A. Boat A has to take avoiding action and heads up to avoid contact with B. (Boat A was able to avoid in a seaman like way). It is in question as to weather boat A had to sail above close hauled, as she was reaching slightly towards the mark at the time. Boat A protested boat B under rule 18.3(a) which states: If two boats were approaching a mark on opposite tacks and one of them changes tack, and as a result is subject to rule 13 (Right of Way - While Tacking) in the zone when the other is fetching the mark, rule 18.2 (Giving Mark-Room) does not apply. The boat that changed tack . . . a) shall not cause the other boat to sail above close-hauled to avoid her or prevent the other boat from passing the mark on the required side, and b) shall give mark-room if the other boat becomes overlapped inside her. How would you decide this protest? Read opinion here: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2010/08/ltw-readers-q-043-approaching-mark.html ONLY THREE DAYS LEFT TO SAVE ON NORTH SAILS North’s ‘Think Green, Buy Blue’ program comes to a close at Midnight on Friday, September 3, 2010. If you would like to save 25% on a new North sail, and will recycle your old sail upon delivery of the new one, you should act fast! You must register online to receive savings (offer available in NA only, restrictions apply). You will also save 20% on new canvas work (through October 1, 2010) and a free recycled sail tote bag, made by Sea Bags, Inc., will be sent to you! Log on for more information: http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/14647/Default.aspx SAILING IS HARD. THAT’S WHY IT’S GOOD. Saving Sailing Author Nicholas Hayes continues to refine and improve the core ideas of his award-winning book in Part 5 of this 6-part series first published in SpinSheet Magazine - September 2010: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Let’s say your dimwitted former room-mate, who owes you $500, calls and says, “Dude, I’m at the airport, how do I get to your house?” You give him simple instructions, like “go west on I-90” and “turn left on Main”. He parks himself on your couch, inhales 6 slices of your pizza, naps, and then asks to borrow $100. You hem and haw but oblige and he leaves. Simple is was simple gets. Sailing isn’t simple. Done well, it might be among the most complex pastimes we might select. True, almost anyone can learn to tail a winch, raise a mainsail, or tie a figure-8. But in concert with others over long periods of time, sailing takes more than basic instruction. It takes an environment. I sail with teachers. My wife (who manages the pit), our headsail trimmer, and one of our bow crew are all teachers. Teachers make great sailing mates, partly because they have summers off. More importantly, they understand how people learn. We often apply best classroom practices to sailing as a team, so that every member can learn and achieve. We have pre-sail goal-setting chats. We swap roles routinely. We challenge newcomers to learn one new skill and then another. We ask natural leaders to step up, share, and then let go. And we debrief afterwards to answer questions and share new ideas. Then we build on the experience the next time. We do these things whether racing, gunkholing or just bombing around. I’m sure you do many of the same things, and you may do much more. The point is that it is possible to offer an ideal environment for developing confidence, building skills and then mastering sailing’s complexities, but it requires more than rote steps. Most important is the creation of real free space in which all can learn and solve problems both collaboratively and independently, with optional guidance and support when needed. I like to describe it as mentor-led immersion; like learning a language by moving to the country of origin, but having someone who speaks your tongue available in a pinch. It takes work to make and keep something like this going, but it’s worth it for everyone. I’ve written extensively about why we shouldn’t try to “sell” sailing as simple or easy, because it’s not. Research shows that sailing schools or clubs that promise “easy” often run into trouble keeping their students for more than a few sessions. So-called “keep-it-simple-stupid” super-structured curricula fall short on four dimensions. Read on to learn what they are: http://tinyurl.com/2bw7ldw THE TORTURE RACK OF GLORY By Kimball Livingston, yachting journalist It’s not just a full circle, it’s a rich full circle to see John Bertrand on San Francisco Bay, returning as a coach to the waters where, as a youth, he separated himself from the pack and then went on to win back-to-back Laser world championships, the Finn Gold Cup and an Olympic silver medal. One day after his protégé, Luke Lawrence, won the Finn junior world championship - and looking toward the Finn Gold Cup racing that opened Monday on the Berkeley Circle - we sat down to talk about the art and science of coaching, his decision to return to the Laser in masters competition, what an Olympic class should be, and his love affair with a certain “torture rack” also known as a Finn class dinghy. So we begin. * I’m curious about your top picks for the 2010 Gold Cup, but first, what makes a winner in the Finn class today? JOHN BERTRAND: What I’ve learned over the last year, in the Laser and Finn both, is that world championships are being won downwind. You cannot be slow off the breeze. The Berkeley Circle is a well-known track. For this regatta you’re anticipating big wind and big waves, and I don’t expect any surprises on where you need to go. You need to start well, and the top guys are going to pop out. Upwind, they’ll all be competitive, and then it opens up going downwind. * And just what is it that “opens up?” JOHN BERTRAND: I used to finesse my way downwind, but with the new unlimited-pumping rule [in winds above 12 knots], it’s all power-based. It’s about technique, and it’s about how strong you are, and how hard you can rock and how long you can keep it up. These guys are standing up downwind. They’ll heel the boat to windward and go by the lee, then stand on the leeward side and pump, then lean on the weather side again. You can’t physically pump the whole leg, so the guys who pump longer do better. I’ve never seen Ben Ainslie sail [the triple Olympic gold and silver medalist is not entered in the 2010 Gold Cup], but my understanding is that he can do that and not lose his technique. He must have taken it to the next level. * How does Olympic status affect the class? JOHN BERTRAND: You could flip that and ask, What would the Olympics be without the Finn? To me, Olympic sailing is the Finn. It embodies everything Olympian. It’s our marathon, our triathlon. Olympic competition is about the effort that goes into it. The athleticism, the competitiveness, the nationalism. The Finn is even more fitting with the class so vital and thriving and the youth side growing. Complete interview: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=4526 FINN WORLDS: The 2010 Finn Gold Cup got underway Monday on San Francisco Bay, with winds for the 87 boat fleet reaching a predictably snotty level of 25 knots. Finishing the day in the top five meant your scores had to be all top ten, with Spaniard Rafael Trujillo leading the way with a 1-2, followed by American Zach Railey who rolled a 5-5 to hold down the second step on the standings. Racing continues with two races scheduled each day until Friday, September 3rd, where the medal race for the top 10 and the final race for the rest will be on Saturday, September 4th. Additional details at: Event website: http://www.finngoldcup.com/ Results: http://yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=342 MELGES ONE DESIGN RACING IS SUPER HOT THIS FALL Hard to believe but the Fall Championship racing season is already here! The 2010 Audi Melges 20 U.S. National Championship just wrapped up on Macatawa Bay, Michigan, while the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship (San Francisco, CA) and Melges 24 North American Championship (Rochester, NY) will happen in late September. Stay close to all the class websites and melges.com and watch the entries and excitement build! -- http://www.melges.com LASER WORLDS Hayling Island, England (August 30, 2010) - The strong tidal current and light and at times very shifty breeze proved to be the principal challenges on the first day of the Laser World Championships off Hayling Island. For those sailors who had spent the preceding days, or - for some - weeks, learning venue’s nuances idiosyncrasies it was intelligence gained about the tidal current which was of immediate value. Noted American Clay Johnson, “I've had some great practice (here), with tons of breeze and big waves. So with today being the first day of the regatta, it only makes sense that the conditions would change drastically: offshore breeze, very shifty, light, tons of current and lumpy.” It was New Zealand’s Michael Bullot, runner up at last year’s World Championships in Halifax, Nova Scotia that made the strongest start across the two testing opening races by posting a second and a first in the first of four days of scheduled Qualifying heats. His early statement of intent brought the Aucklander ashore this afternoon with a lead of one point over Skandia Team GBR's Paul Goodison the Olympic and defending World Champion who opened his regatta with third place and then won his second heat by a comfortable distance. Australia’s double world champion Tom Slingsby, who arrived late Saturday at Hayling Island fresh from winning the Etchells World Championships with America’s Cup legend John Bertrand, showed no sign of ring rustiness when he won his first heat, but he admitted to trying to breaking from the pack’s conventional thinking on the first downwind of the second race, and his error dropped him four boats to score an eighth. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/2dxjvc9 SAILING SHORTS * Weihai, China (August 30, 2010) - The wind failed to materialize for the eighth and final day of racing at the Hobie 16 World Championships, so with a total number of six races sailed in the Semi-Finals & Finals, the new Hobie 16 World Champions are the team of Jerome Le Gal and Enrick Obert, representing France and hailing from New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Le Gal and Obert, the reigning Hobie 16 European Champions, were clearly the team to beat from the outset with a speed advantage over the rest of the fleet and consistency in finishing places, unmatched at the event. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10291 * The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) today recognized recipients of the 2010 Marine Industry CSI Awards for the award period from April 2009 through March 2010. A total of 44 boat and engine manufacturers were recognized for excellence in customer satisfaction as part of NMMA’s Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) program. -- Read on: http://www.nmma.org/news/news.asp?id=17859&sid=3 * The Museum of Yachting will host the 31st Annual Classic Yacht Regatta, sponsored by Panerai and presented by Land Rover, on September 3-5. For the first time this regatta will be part of a three-event regional series. Launched this summer, the North American Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge was formed under the leadership and sponsorship of Panerai and includes the Corinthian Classic Yacht Regatta (August 7-8, Marblehead, Mass.), the Opera House Cup (August 15, Nantucket, Mass.), and the Classic Yacht Regatta, which will be the final event of the series. -- http://www.moy.org/NewsEvents/ClassicYachtRegatta/tabid/478/Default.aspx SIZEABLE IMOCA FLEET FOR THE END OF 2010 The IMOCA (Open 60) skippers are due to meet up again in St Malo (FRA) on October 31st for the Route du Rhum-la Banque Postale (solo from France to Guadeloupe) and in Barcelona (ESP) on December 31st for the Barcelona World Race (doublehanded, non-stop circumnavigation). Nine boats are set to compete in the Rhum and at least ten for the Barcelona. At the present time, some skippers are finishing off their projects in order to make it to the start line, while others are adding the final touches to their brand new prototypes. The new projects: Four major projects are under way at the moment. The most advanced of these belongs to Vincent Riou (PRB), whose new boat has been on the water since the spring, and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac - Paprec 3), who recently moored up in Lorient (FRA) at the end of a long delivery trip from New Zealand via the Panama canal. Meanwhile, Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is completing a race against the clock so as to make the start of the Route du Rhum, before gearing up for the Barcelona World Race. The three sailors have all opted for a Verdier - VPLP design, acknowledging the respective performances of Safran and Groupe Bel. Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) is continuing with the construction of his Kouyoumdjian designed boat at the Decision yard in Switzerland. Full report: http://www.imoca.org/container.asp?id=23979 LP BUCKS!!! Take delivery of a new Laser, Sunfish, V15, Bug, Vago or Bahia between September 1st and December 31st and receive an LP BUCKS coupon worth between $200 and $450 to use at the store where the boat was purchased. Go visit your local dealer to take advantage of this great program. More info at: http://www.laserperformance.com/promotions/lp-bucks Sail Legendary LaserPerformance.com HELPING VETERANS The 3rd annual Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) Summer Sports Clinic for recently injured veterans will be held from the downtown Marriott Hotel and Marina on September 19 to 25, 2010. More than 100 recently wounded heroes from around the nation will participate in this year's event. "When I returned home from Vietnam, we had nothing like this. It's great that now recently injured veterans can get right into sports as a rehabilitative activity and test their new bodies," said Urban Miyares, blinded Vietnam veteran and co-founder of Challenged America. First proposed to the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1996 by the Challenged America program, San Diego was selected as the host city in 2008 for the 1st National Summer Sports Clinic event, with plans to maintain the event in San Diego through 2012, according to Miyares. -- Full details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10457 WIFE MAKES WAVES OVER HUBBY'S SAILING FRIEND Dear Miss Manners: My husband and I have a lovely boat. While I was away on vacation, he took a female friend of ours out on the boat to teach her how to run it and then meet up with other friends. This friend has a significant other, but he was not present on that day either. Although I know that nothing would have happened, I have a problem with it. I just think it was quite inappropriate. He doesn't understand why I would think that, and I can't get him to see my side. Gentle Reader: What exactly is your side? That you can go off on vacation by yourself and then chastise your husband for having what you acknowledge to be innocent fun while you were away? Society once believed that any unsupervised lady and gentleman would be bound to be up to no good. In that case, you would have been under high suspicion for going off on vacation - or even on a business trip - without your husband. Society has now found more blatant ways to be scandalized. Miss Manners suggests that you accord your husband the same trust that he accorded you. -- Chicago Tribune: http://tinyurl.com/2d69puy 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 CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Country song titles: “I'll Marry You Tomorrow, But Let's Honeymoon Tonight.” Special thanks to North Sails, Melges Performance Sailboats, and LaserPerformance. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
