|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2853 - Thursday, May 28, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Ullman Sails and Melges Performance Sailboats. WOMEN’S COLLEGE NATIONALS San Francisco, CA (May 27, 2009) - Yale University has won the 2009 Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women’s Championship for the second time in school history, repeating a feat the Elis first accomplished in 2004. Coming into the final day of the championship Yale led the overall standings by just six points over Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Va.). However, by the second race of the morning, it was apparent that A Division senior skipper Jane Macky (Auckland, New Zealand) and junior crew Marla Menninger (Newport Beach, Calif.) were doing their utmost to keep the title within their grasp. Putting together a 4-1-1-7-2-2-1-1 scoreline today, they moved from third to first in A-Division, helping cover for their teammates, senior Kate Hagemann (Marion, Mass./Naples, Fla.) and junior Sarah Lihan (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.), with sophomore Liz Brim (New York, N.Y.) and juniors Grace Becton (Deer Isle, Maine) and Rebecca Jackson (Newton, Mass.), who struggled in B-Division and dropped from second to seventh. “It was down to the last (A Division) race,” said Head Coach Zach Leonard. “Conditions were very windy and challenging and we didn’t have a heavy air crew for A-Division so Jane and Marla sailed every race. They worked so hard. To come through right at the end when they were exhausted and to see them handle the pressure and win is just great.” Conditions on the race course were chilly, to say the least. Air temps of 53 degrees and water temps of 55 degrees and the threat of stronger breeze for the day led many of the teams to go with their heavy air crew as a lighter downwind flood meant more wind across the sails from the start of racing. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ICSA-5-27-09 Final Standings: 1. Yale University, 148 points (A-1, B-7) 2. Charleston, 157 (A-2, B-8) 3. Boston College, 165 (A-4, B-1) 4. Old Dominion University, 166 (A-3, B-3) 5. Brown University, 197 (A-5, B-4) Event website: http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring09 Kattack tracking: http://americanregatta.com/regattas/2009/icsa SailGroove video: http://www.sailgroove.org/sc/icsa2009spring => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Photographer Glennon Stratton has been helping Scuttlebutt produce photo galleries from the College Nationals since 2005, and thankfully, Glennon is onsite again… here is the women’s nationals gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/cn KING CARLO Few would argue that Carlo Borlenghi has earned his place amongst the greats of the international yachting photographers. Scuttlebutt’s ‘bromance’ with Carlo runs deep as his imagery never fails to bring out the beauty of the sport. Here is an interview with Carlo by Justin Chisholm of the Offshore Rules website: OR: Carlo tell us how long you have been photographing sailboats and if it is true that you are not a sailor? CB: I’ve been shooting sailboats for the last thirty-two years. Yes, it’s true I’m not a sailor. I was born in Bellano on the Como Lake and I started by taking pictures of the local regattas there. Then I started to work with some of the magazines and began to travel the world following the most important regattas. OR: Tell us about the early days. How did you learn to be such a great photographer? When and where? CB: I started when I was twenty. At first it was to make some extra some money as I was studying Engineering at university. Then I started travelling in my van to shoot sailing events. Inside the van I had a dark room to develop the pictures so that I could sell directly to the sailors. Business went so well that I was able to stop studying and follow my passion for yachting photography full time. In 1989 I created the water sports agency Sea & See which is now owned by the Mediatree Group. I learned photography by myself but the greatest help came from a painter friend of mine Giancarlo Vitali. I used to go to him to show my pictures and he would use scissors to cut my image to try to show me the ‘right’ shot. I followed his suggestions and after many attempts I began to shoot the ‘right’ pictures. -- Read on: http://www.offshorerules.com/articles/showArticle.aspx?id=256 LIGHTWEIGHT STRENGTH FROM ULLMAN SAILS Ullman Sails has the right combination of experience; sail design technology, and cloth selection to deliver the ‘Fastest Sails on the Planet.’ Our FiberPath sails are arguably the lightest, strongest, string load-bearing sails available. And FiberPath delivers superior longevity compared to the alternatives. That’s why FiberPath is a practical option for racers and cruisers alike. So whether you’re rethinking your cruising sail inventory or preparing for the next racing season, Ullman Sails will build sails customized to fit your goals. For more information on FiberPath technology, contact a local Ullman Sails loft and visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com MEAGER DAY FOR SCORES Medemblik, Holland (May 27, 2009; Day 1) With cold and windy in the forecast for the beginning of the Delta Lloyd Regatta, the 11 Olympic and Paralympic classes either spent the day waiting ashore for conditions to moderate or sent out early to deal with the steadily worsening weather. For the fifth event of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup series, only the Laser Radial got in all three scheduled races, with 18-20 knots for their 11 am start, topping out at 28 knots by the end. Later in the day the wind started to gust into the lower 30’s, with other classes either getting in a shortened schedule, or in the case of the 470 Women, 2.4mR, and Womens Match Racing, getting in no races. For the North American contingent, it was a meager day for scores, with the American brother-sister tandem of Zach and Paige Railey leading the group. Earning a silver medal at the 2008 Games, Zach has re-committed to the Finn for the 2012 Olympics, and captured a fourth in the only race for the Finn, which started at 3 pm in 25 knots with higher gusts. For Paige, who is striving to return to the form that earned her the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award in 2006, she is currently in 8th (out of 61 boats) after an 8-7-12. The weather forecast through the medal race on Sunday is now calling for 10-15 knots. -- Event website: http://www.deltalloydregatta.org/2009 TAKEN ABACK BY THE PASSION OF THE CROWD “Torben Grael is normally a man of few words, but he was blown away by it," said Jamie Boag, the Green Dragon CEO. Like the Ericsson 4 skipper and just about anyone else at the docks in the early hours of Sunday morning, Boag was stunned by the welcome that greeted the fleet in Galway. It is estimated that 50,000 people made it to the race village over the course of the weekend, first watching the seven arrivals between 0100 and 0600 on Sunday morning - a flotilla of 500 boats also crammed onto the water - and then witnessing the official opening ceremony that evening. Boag was among the many people taken aback by the passion of the crowd, which was at its noisiest when celebrating Green Dragon's stunning third place finish. "We always knew it was a good party town and I knew the guys would get a good welcome here," he said. "But I don't think any of us in our wildest expectations could have imagined there would have been seven or eight thousand people there at 0430. We were stunned. I like to talk a bit and I was speechless. There were a few tears shed among a few big strong boys, it was great. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-5-27-09 * VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Finish is in St Petersburg, Russia on June 27th. The next event will be the sixth In-Port race in Galway on Saturday, May 30th, with Leg 8 from Galway to Marstrand, Sweden (950 miles) to start on Saturday, June 6th and expected to finish by June 10th. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/schedule/ Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 TWELVE TEAMS ARE READY TO BATTLE FOR THE GERMAN TITLE The picturesque town of Langenaren on the shores of Lake Constance will be flooded with sailors and spectators this week for Match Race Germany on May 28-June 1. As well as hosting the German leg of the World Match Racing Tour, there will be live bands, food and other entertainment for the weeklong festival. Match Race Germany is the second stop on the 2009 Tour, with an elite line-up of twelve teams sailing the Bavaria Match 35 in pursuit of 50,000 in prize money. Amongst the competitors lined up for the Tour event are reigning World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) and Bahrain Team Pindar, number 1 ranked ISAF sailor Seb Col (FRA) with the French Team/K-Challenge, current Tour leader Adam Minoprio (NZL) of ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing and four time Match Racing World Champion Peter Gilmour (AUS) backed up by Yanmar Racing. The list of talent doesn’t stop there with Triple Olympic Gold Ben Ainslie and Team Origin starting their assault on the World Championship. Defending Match Race Germany Champion Damien Ihel with his French Match Racing Team is also back to try and retain his crown, a pretty tall order some might think. -- Full report: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/98100 MELGES 32’S RACING WEST The International Melges 32 Class is racingWest for many championship events this summer and fall. The Melges 32 National Championship will be at the California Yacht Club in Marina Del Rey (Los Angeles) this coming July. Then the Melges 32 fleet heads up to San Francisco Bay for the North American Championship in early September with Sausalito Yacht Club hosting this prestigious event. Then the fleet will race out of St. Francis for the Rolex Big Boat Series later that month. Great West Coast Racing! For more information please go to http://www.melges32.com BOATU.S. SANTA MARIA CUP Annapolis, MD (May 27, 2009; Day 1) - Cloudy skies and low temperatures could not cool off the competition during the opening day of the 2009 BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup. Winds died in the afternoon allowing only 2 flights of racing. Tied for first with 2 wins each are ISAF #1 ranked Claire Leroy (FRA) and Americans Genny Tulloch and Katie Katy Lovell. Racing will resume at 0900 on Thursday when stronger winds are expected. Raced annually for the past 16 years under the leadership of Eastport Yacht Club, the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup features 10 teams of 4 women competing in a round-robin set of match races in J/22s. The 2009 event has attracted teams from: Australia, Brazil, France, Italy, Portugal and the United States. -- Event website: http://www.santamariacup.org IN A BLAZE OF GLORY On a variety of identically named boats, John Buchan is a multiple-decade veteran of the Swiftsure International Yacht Race - the premiere long distance sailing race in the B.C. and US Pacific Northwest area. Buchan returned this year with his newest incarnation of Glory ... an Andrews 77, which in her first Swiftsure race in 2008 won the Triple Crown: First to Round at Swiftsure Bank, First to Finish, and First Overall. Asked what he'd like to accomplish during Swiftsure 2009 (May 23-25), John was quick to talk about breaking the speed record for the long 138.7 nm Swiftsure Classic course. "To make that happen, the weather conditions would have to be just about perfect, with strong winds and favourable currents throughout the race," John explained. "And, this doesn't look like the year for that to happen," he added. He further noted that despite our advances in technology and race-boat building materials and techniques, when it comes to yacht racing we remain at the mercy of nature. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0527 SAILING SHORTS * The start of the final leg of the Portimão Global Ocean Race from Charleston, South Carolina, to Portimão, Portugal, will be delayed by four days, allowing the completion of repair work on Michel Kleinjan’s damaged Open 40, Roaring Forty. Originally scheduled for May 31st, the start will now take place on June 4th. Kleinjans collided with an eastbound container ship approximately 420 miles from the finish line off Charleston. -- Full report: http://www.portimaoglobaloceanrace.com/?page=news&news_id=303&lang=en * With the close of entries on May 29th, a fleet of 59 boats are in the final stages of preparation for the 2009 Annapolis to Newport Race starting June 5th. The course record of 42 hours, 58 minutes, 12 seconds set by Carrera, Joseph Dockery's Farr 60 skippered by Chris Larson in 2001, is clearly threatened by entries such as George David’s 91’ maxi Rambler and Jim Grundy’s brand new custom Tripp 75 Bella Pita. The course is 473 nautical miles from Annapolis to Castle Hill Light House at the entrance to the East Passage of Narragansett Bay. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/o3tto7 * Free weather forecasts for the Sperry Top-Sider Detroit NOOD (May 29-31, 2009) are distributed daily by 0730 each morning via email. To receive them, register here: http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/7240/Default.aspx * Lake Traunsee, Austria (May 27, 2009; Day 1) - The RC 44 Austria Cup match race event started today in light to moderate and very shifty conditions, with Team Aqua (Cameron Appleton) and Ceeref (Paul Cayard) a top the nine boat field. The last three flights (or four for some teams) will take place Thursday. -- Full report: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2038 * T2Productions has won a 2009 Aegis Award for their video coverage of US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR 2009. T2P won for the category of Sports, Producer. This is the second Aegis Award the company has won in the past two years. In the fall of 2007 T2P won for the category of Sports, Reporter for the coverage of US SAILING’s Rolex International Women’s Keelboat Championship 2007. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7585 * The countdown has begun for the return home of British yachtsman Mike Perham. Mike (17), from Hertfordshire, hopes to be back in the UK within 60 days, after spending what will be eight months at sea. If successful, Mike will be the youngest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed. Mike resumed his world record bid May 26th after having to make a stop in New Zealand to replace his starboard rudder bearings. Mike is now headed east, deep into the southern ocean. -- Yachting World, full story: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20090427114658ywnews.html BOAT CREATOR 'LEAVES ON OWN TERMS' Phil Bolger was a renowned and prolific boat designer, author and eccentric - with a playful creative streak and a penchant to make boating easy. Sunday (May 24th), he killed himself by handgun behind his West Gloucester house overlooking the Jones River where decades ago he perfected the wooden kayak. His wife and business partner, Susanne Altenburger, said Monday his decision to take his own life was a long-contemplated, reasoned and principled act - though Bolger gave her no advance warning or hints in recent behavior. "How he died is part of his narrative," Altenburger said. "He died an extraordinarily violent, purposeful and soberly considered death." Gloucester-born and raised, Bolger designed 680 boats, including the world's smallest dinghy, "the folding schooner," a novelty innovation of convenience, as well as the HMS Rose, which was given celebrity in the 2003 movie, "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World." He was in reasonable health for his 81 years, but felt himself slipping mentally, Altenburger said. "He was perhaps the best and most diverse small boat designer in the world," said his friend, the Gloucester and naval historian Joe Garland. -- Gloucester Daily Times, read on: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/punews/local_story_145224017.html CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: May 29-31 - Detroit Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta - Detroit, MI, USA May 29-31 - Invitational Regatta for the Hoag Cup - Newport Beach, CA, USA May 29-31 - Southern Bay Race Week - Hampton, VA, USA May 30-31 - Stamford Y.C. Double-Handed Regatta - Stamford, CT, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Bob Billingham: (re, Eight Bells in Scuttlebutt 2852) I had the distinct pleasure of getting to know Roger White and his family when, as crew on Bill Koch’s 12M KZ-7, we regularly competed against Roger and his talented crew on KZ-3 during the summers of 2006 and 2007. Roger was gentleman, a fierce competitor and a true yachtsman in the old sense of the word. He was fair, gracious and generous. He was a really nice guy and regularly entertained the 12M fleet with some great parties at which he was always a warm and charming host. The Brazilian crew of KZ-3 has lost a great skipper, sailing has lost a great competitor, Roger’s family lost a great father and the world lost a great guy. * From Johnny Leggat: (editing to the 250-word limit) In response to the article" Significant Damage to be Repaired " in Scuttlebutt 2852, I imagine it is unlikely that many Volvo Ocean Race teams are going to be getting thank you letters from the local New England lobster men either. What one must realize is these fishermen don't have multi-million dollar boats, they don't have shore crews fixing their equipment when it breaks, and when something needs replacing, the cost comes out of their own pockets . They go down to the sea every day trying to eek out a small living for themselves and their families, and when the VOR goes through their fishing grounds and wipes out their gear, the damage caused to their livelihood is just as great to them as the damage their gear does to a VOR boat . These guys have been plying theier trade on these New England waters for hundreds of years longer than the VOR has been in existence, and to lay blame at their feet, I believe, is somewhat irresponsible. Having said this, I think the VOR stop in Boston was a spectacular event, of which the city was lucky to be a part. Fan Pier was awash with fascinating sights, wonderful entertainment, and exciting racing on so many levels. However, being a sailor who spent a good part of his life working on commercial fishing boats I don't mean to denigrate the Volvo Ocean Race at all, but I think it’s important to see both sides of the issue. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Widow (n): A woman who knows where her husband is every night. Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Melges Performance Sailboats. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
