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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 878 - August 14, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
ROLEX FASTNET RACE As the big boats cleared Land's End and started the fast reach to the Fastnet Rock 170 miles away on the south-west corner of Ireland, they left behind the near 24 hours of upwind slog that had characterized the start of the 608-mile classic. But they were looking carefully at the developing weather situation. Having had to endure a bruising 25 knots (that caused 18 boats to retire), they wanted the wind to stay fresh. It was about 15 knots and the forecasters are expecting an improvement in the weather to be accompanied by a decrease in wind strength. They had also been racing blind, fog meaning that the opposition was a series of blips on the radar. But that should change overnight. Perhaps appropriate as Stealth, Giovanni Agnelli's black, carbon fibre 92-footer with its slate grey sails, was thought to be leading the charge. Snapping at its heels was Mike Slade's Skandia Leopard, Ludde Ingvall's Nicorette - still competing for a smoke free world, despite a fire early this morning in it's navigation station - and Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory. Also in amongst them, though they started an hour earlier when the 233-boat fleet was waved off the Royal Yacht Squadron start line off Cowes, were the four VO60s, led by Jez Fanstone in NewsCorp. They are close together now, but the navigators will be looking for breaks after they round the rock. - www.rorc.org
IMPORTANT TV DATE British-based ABC-TV producer Andrew Morse, who sailed aboard Team Adventure on the delivery to New York, and during the record attempt, describes the show as "The whole story - from Savannah to Penobscot Bay." Morse was moving aft on the starboard bow trampoline and shooting when the boat collided with floating debris 110-miles south of Nova Scotia's Cape Sable. His footage records the shock of the impact as he was thrown off his feet. He was there to chronicle the initial confusion, followed by the crew's actions in pulling together to keep the rig in the boat. In addition to Morse and his onboard cameraman Gary Shore, ABC-TV also had a helicopter-borne camera at the start, off the Ambrose Light Tower to catch some great footage of Team Adventure as she sped off east at 30 knots at the start of the record attempt. - Keith Taylor
HAWAIIAN STYLE
EDS ATLANTIC CHALLENGE When Sill was dismasted barely 40 minutes into Leg 4, there appeared to be so much damage that it seemed unlikely that they would be able to continue. It was a very despondent crew that returned to Norfolk that night, and the thought then was that the boat would be shipped back to France by cargo ship. Skipper Roland "Bilou" Jourdain explained that the day after the dismasting, and after many phone calls, they found a mast maker who was able to work with the broken rig and the boat designer to make the necessary repairs. So without any hesitation, the decision was made, the boat readied to sail under jury rig to Boston to rejoin the fleet, and the mast pieces shipped to Charlotte, NC. Bilou opted to oversee the repairs and co-skipper Gael Le Cleac'h and crew brought the boat to Boston, arriving early yesterday morning. The repaired mast arrived by truck at about 1 pm local time (17:00 GMT) today at Boston Boat Works where a crane was on standby for the arrival. Sill was already tied up at one of the docks and the crew was standing by to unload. The crane had barely lifted the mast off the trailer before stands were in place, the long trailer removed, and work begun on the rigging. Since the decision was made to repair the mast and continue on the race, Bilou has had very little sleep. "I haven't had a chance to sleep," he said as he explained how the mast was repaired by Sparcraft in Charlotte, NC. The damaged parts of the mast were cut away and moulds made of the good sections. Then a sleeve was made and slipped into the good sections, and wrapped in pre-preg carbon fibre then baked in an oven. With two large sections to repair, it had to be done in stages to ensure the strength of the bond. "It's heavy, not good for racing," he said, but smiled just happy to be back in the race. - Susan Colby, www.edsatlanticchallenge.com/en/
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Gareth Evans: The report by Cam Lewis on the Team Adventure collision states that they believe they hit a small overturned boat. Were they able to return to the boat to investigate further? The real question is whether the boat was upside down before the collision, or whether it was the collision that caused it to turn over. I am a supporter of these record attempts, but I have to ask whether it is good seamanship to be driving a boat at 28 knots when "It was to foggy to even see the tip of the mast". At that speed, 150' (height of mast) takes 3 seconds, which means that you only have 1-second visibility ahead of the boat when at the wheel. * From Gareth Evans: I hale from Britain (the small island toward which Team Adventure was heading) so I should know the answer to the UK / GBR question - but I checked anyway. According to the dictionary, Great Britain (GB /GBR) consists of England, Wales and Scotland including those adjacent islands governed from the mainland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain was formed by the act of Union in 1707, but the term had been in use since 1603. The United Kingdom (UK) these days tends to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This was formed in 1922, and adds the territory of Northern Ireland to that of Great Britain. Correctly, or incorrectly, the terms GBR and UK seem to be used interchangeably. For example, in the recent Athletics World Championships, the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team wore GBR. Should they have been wearing UK to be correct? It appears that GBR is now used in sporting circles to represent athletes from the United Kingdom. I presume that it was being used prior to the formation of the United Kingdom in 1922, and hence has been retained. * From George Bailey: I do not believe anyone has mentioned the use of salt tablets (unless drinking Gator-Aid, the taste of which I cannot stand) along with water when sweating profusely for hours on end. I learned to use these in the military and still do when I have to continue to sweat and exert myself in very hot humid conditions. * From Andy Magruder (re: heat exhaustion and water vs. Gatorade - edited to our 250-word limit) I use an electrolyte replacement sports drink called Gookinaid (invented by a marathon runner named Bill Gookin). When you sweat you lose salt, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium (also water-soluble vitamins like C). Your body must maintain the blood and cellular concentrations of these electrolytes within very narrow ranges or heat exhaustion is the result. Gatorade only replaces salt and potassium and it has far too much sugar which has to be digested before the water can be absorbed. Gookinaid replaces all of the electrolytes, and, more importantly, in the correct relative amounts. In a situation where more than about half a gallon of sweat will be lost, Gookinaid is just amazing stuff. I could write pages about my personal experiences and my friend's experiences with it. I know several people for whom it has eliminated hamstring cramps after exercise. Recently my daughter attended a Lacrosse camp in 90+ degree humid heat. Midway through the week I got her to try Gookinaid. My wife says the difference in my daughter after camp on the Gookinaid days was very noticeable; she was much less exhausted. I have no financial or personal interests in Gookinaid whatsoever. I just think it is a tremendous boon to hot weather athletic performance, so I tell people about it every chance I get. There are other electrolyte replacement drinks available which may or may not be as good as Gookinaid (Cytomax is one), but the mass-market commercial ones like Gatorade are far inferior in my experience. members.aol.com/gookinaid/ * From Nicholas Gibbens: Does anyone else see the irony in the Nautor Challenge two boat testing? Grant Dalton said he will not "be rushed into making a decision and get it wrong," adding wistfully, "I did that four years ago". So the "loser" is the girls who get the boat least favorable to Dalton and the boys? Granted, we should all be so lucky to land the opportunity to sail this race on a contemporary boat with the backing of someone like Nautor. And I am sure the women involved are happy to have been given a boat with full sponsorship, but it seems Nautor could put a better spin on this
INDUSTRY NEWS Surprisingly, Thompson's quizzing of other sailors saw him talked out of a jib, on the basis that it could be intimidating for first time crew. All they would have to do during a tack was move from side to side, the reasoning went, rather than worry about "Let that rope go, now pull hard on the other one". Being jibless also allowed Thompson to achieve greater simplicity on the T590 but it robbed him of horsepower, and since he wanted to keep the mainsail a manageable size, it was even more important that the hull be fast. * Another unusual feature of the boat is a positive boom vang with full air strut so that it remains pretty much under control when motoring or dropping the mainsail at the end of a day's sailing. Gennaker management is probably where the T590 best displays its trait for simplicity. The gennaker is set up while still on the trailer: the crew hoists the gennaker first, then releases the halyard while hauling on the part of the gennaker halyard in the cockpit which is now the chute cord, to pull the gennaker into the chute, or tunnel. This runs beneath the deck from the bow to the cockpit. The chute cord runs through the tunnel and is pulled from the cockpit. By the time all the gennaker has disappeared into the bow, half of it has appeared in the cockpit but it is easily bundled back into the tunnel out of the way, ready for hoisting. - Rebecca Hayter, Boating New Zealand Full story: boats.com/content/default_detail.jsp?contentid=14745
QUOTE / UNQUOTE The biggest difference between sailing a V.O. 60, a sled, or IMS boat of similar size is the focus and efficiency on moving every speck of weight to the ideal position for maximum righting moment or fore/aft trim. Down below, the leeward side of the boat looks like the builder had yet to come aboard and fit out the interior. Everything is gone, loaded up to the high side (or better yet, up on deck) for maximum efficiency. Even the foul weather gear rack and cooking stove gets moved to the high (or in light air, low) side. When the call comes to tack or jibe, an intense effort begins above and below decks, that involves literally everyone on the crew. I can't even begin to recount how many pounds of sails and gear I hefted from one side to another during the course of the trip- it's never ending. - Peter Isler, Grand Prix Sailor. Full story: www.sailingworld.com/gps
A DIFFERENT ASPECT ON SAILCLOTH?
FARR 40 WORLDS The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in Nassau, Bahamas will host the 2002 Worlds November 13-16, with a Caribbean championship regatta November 9-10 to get the boats and crew tuned up to compete for the World Cup trophy. A Mediterranean Class Association has just been launched, and to support that fledgling fleet, the 2003 Worlds will be in Italy. Regional racing is also strong on the US West Coast, where the Championship will return in 2004. Australia will host the international Farr 40 fleet in 2005. Host clubs, dates and specific locations will be determined by the Executive Committee with input from local Farr 40 Class Associations - Renee Mehl, www.farr40.org
505 NAs
CLUB 420 NAs
AMERICA'S CUP The America's Cup defenders have bought a fleet of four Etchell keelboats - a third of the size of cup winner NZL60 - for their campaign. Two have been painted black, and dressed in the Team NZ livery; the other two are white. A three-man Team NZ crew will sail one black boat against local yachties, who will be using the other three yachts. The first of the one-day fleet regattas will be at Tauranga on September 16. At the end of the tour, the Team NZ sailors will choose the best crew to spend a day with them on the Hauraki Gulf. "We've been looking at ways of involving the rest of the country in what we do," Barker said. "We figured we needed to take the team to New Zealand, but we're certainly not mobile with the black [cup] boats. "I'm really looking forward to it - we're going to be racing in some pretty hardcase places." The tour will fit in around Team NZ's summer buildup. They will take their fleet to Rotorua, Taupo, the Bay of Islands and Whangarei next month, then restart the tour early next year, venturing as far as Bluff. Barker hopes the visits will rekindle support for Team New Zealand, after last year's defections. "Certainly a lot of people have said they have lost faith in Team New Zealand, and they've been betrayed," he said. "But they haven't been betrayed by us. We're still here and for all the right reasons." - Suzanne McFadden, NZ Herald, Full story: www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/
UP, UP AND AWAY
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