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SCUTTLEBUTT 1488 - December 31, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. HERE WE GO AGAIN The U.S. Coast Guard and the Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association (PFDMA) will be hosting a workshop at the Miami International Boat Show to gather industry and public comment on pending legislation that would mandate the use of PFDs on vessels under 20 feet in length, the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) reported in a statement today. Currently, the U.S.C.G. and National State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) are working together to develop a national rule to mandate the PFD use, according to NMMA. The National Boating Safety Advisory Committee has recently adopted a resolution to support the efforts of the U.S.C.G. and NASBLA. The workshop will provide an opportunity to comment on what route the U.S.C.G. should take. "It is imperative that industry be present at this meeting to voice their views on the direction of this initiative," said PFDMA associate director Bernice McArdle. "We need input, and the opinions of every attendee will make a difference." The workshop is scheduled for Friday, February 13, from 3-5 p.m. at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Representatives from various industry segments, including angling, retail and paddlesports, are expected to deliver brief presentations on the challenges, obstacles and opportunities facing the industry. An open discussion is then expected to be held to hear the views and opinions from attendees, according to NMMA. - Boating Industry, http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=761563 FOR THE RECORD The high level of interest currently being shown in challenging various offshore passage records is a matter of great satisfaction to the members of the World Sailing Speed Record Council. For a number of years now, WSSRC, which is an organization affiliated to the International Sailing Federation, has been accepted as the official body for ratifying all sailing speed records both inshore and offshore. One problem we have faced several times recently is that potential record setters seem to think that they can sail first and contact us afterwards to obtain ratification. Of course, this is impossible because the arrangements for timing the start and finish of any passage have to be discussed and agreed well in advance. We have representatives in many parts of the world who stand ready to inspect boats, interview skippers and make all the necessary arrangements in good time but they cannot reasonably be expected to drop everything and rush to some gale-blasted headland at a few hours notice. In the most extreme example recently, we heard by chance about a record attempt planned to start the following day! There is also the small matter of payment. Time, travel and administration inevitably cost something and although our fees are as reasonable as we can make them, we do expect to be paid in advance as this matter can easily be overlooked after a passage is completed - or abandoned. To all sailors intending to challenge any sailing record may I implore you to contact our office well in advance. We are there to help in any way we can; we just need a little time. - John Reed Secretary to the WSSR Council, http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/ HAPPY NEW YEAR Now that 2003 is coming to a close, we get to reflect on truly how great the year was. With victories from Key West to Seattle, Long Island Sound to San Diego, in both competitive one design and PHRF, our customers continued to fulfill their sailing dreams. Ullman Sails is proud to have been a part of their sailing season. As this year closes out and 2004 is right around the corner, Ullman Sails would like to thank you and wish all a safe and Happy New Year. Visit us at http://www.ullmansails.com ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART RACE Yachts representing New South Wales, Victoria and Great Britain have won the handicap divisions of the 2003 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The results were officially announced at a dockside ceremony in Hobart this morning. Although two yachts are still at sea, the Race Committee said their finishing times would not change the top standings in the IMS, IRC or PHS handicap divisions. Of the 58 yachts that started from Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day, three retired, one was declared a non-finisher and 50 boats have now reached Hobart at the end of the 628 nautical mile race. The most successful yacht in the fleet was the Beneteau 40.7 First National Real Estate, co-skippered by Michael Spies and Peter Johnston, from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, which conducted this 59th Sydney Hobart. As well as winning the Tattersall's Cup as Overall Winner (the IMS yacht with the lowest corrected time), First National Real Estate, has placed first overall in the IRC handicap division. She won both IMS and IRC Division C. The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race web site recorded three times the usage of last year's site with 5.13 million page impressions, which translates into approximately 600,000 independent user sessions between Christmas Day and midday Tuesday. The ability to track the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race fleet in real time was a great hit with electronic spectators. Complete results: www.rolexsydneyhobart.com HIGH RISK Many million-dollar ocean racing yachts are sailing in the Sydney-Hobart uninsured because premiums are too costly or unobtainable, according to line-honours winner Skandia's skipper Grant Wharington. Wharington said yesterday that he had sailed Skandia - a new super-maxi with an estimated value of $5 - $8 million - without cover during the past three days. The civil-construction builder from Melbourne's bayside suburb of Mornington acknowledged he was taking a huge risk, but said there seemed no alternative for a sailor such as himself. "We tried insurance companies in Australia and Europe and we've got a pretty clean track record," he said. "We haven't had a claim for 15 years or something. But you ring up insurance companies and say you want to insure your boat and they just say, 'Ocean racing, forget it'." Hence, Wharington said, in his yacht's case it was simply not possible to get cover. "I think maybe one company came back with $700,000 for the race, and we said, 'No thanks'," he said. Insurance cost is a growing issue for the organizers of Australia's best-known yacht race, who this year saw entries drift to a low of 56 - the smallest number for 30 years. - Andrew Darby, full story: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/29/1072546473427.html NEWS BRIEFS * The fleet for North America's largest keelboat regatta has fallen into place with the posting of PHRF class breaks for Terra Nova Trading Key West 2004, presented by Nautica. A wide variety of 112 handicap boats from 24 to 75 feet will compete in 11 classes, the most ever. They are among 296 total entries to date, complementing 184 one-design boats. The class breaks, individual boat handicaps, complete entry lists and much more information may be seen at: www.Premiere-Racing.com * Sneak Preview: Since October, Sailing World magazine's Tony Bessinger has been photographing the progress of the new Farr-designed Transpac 52, Esmeralda being built at Goetz Custom Boats in Bristol, R.I. Those photos are now on-line: http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_boatsgear.jsp?typeID=397&catID=620 OCKAMSOFT WITHOUT THE OCKAM? OS4 features a NMEA translator module allowing direct connection of a GPS or other NMEA output instrument system. For the first time, you don't have to have an onboard Ockam system to put (some of) the power of OckamSoft in your hands. Plot courses on Maptech BSB charts, turn your computer's screen into a custom instrument display, and analyze data on multiple function stripcharts. Fully functional modules will run in timeout mode, with easy screen-prompted full registration. OS4 everybody. Get ready for Ockam on your boat - OS4 can be downloaded at http://www.ockam.com/os4 GBR CHALLENGE If GBR Challenge is to cut the mustard in Valencia in 2007 then in addition to Peter Harrison's backing they need commercial support too. Coordinating the drive to find this is the British campaign's Head of Sponsorship and Marketing, Leslie Ryan. A significant change of tack in Ryan's approach to rounding up corporate backing this time has been to part delegate it. "One of the key issues we identified was that we needed to get a partner on board in terms of a good sponsorship adviser and sales team. Hence we are working with Apace. That has made a big difference to me. To do this job properly you need to know the sponsorship market inside out." The sponsor hunting team at West London-based sports marketing company Apace is led by Judith le Fleming who has a background in Formula One. There will be more on Fleming in a subsequent article, but suffice it to say she is extremely credible in the sponsor hunting world. Aside from Apace's activities Ryan says that they developed a great many leads during the previous Cup cycle. "There are a whole lot of companies we spoke to last time," says Ryan. "And even if the response at the time was 'no', it was usually a pretty positive 'no' in the sense of it being interesting, but it was too far away, too soon - there was always a 'but'. So I was quite enthusiastic at the end of the last Cup because I knew if I phoned up those people again they would definitely listen because the Cup is coming to Europe." - The Daily Sail, full story: http://www.thedailysail.com NOT A HAPPY ENDING Wellington, New Zealand (AP) - A solo British rower rescued from the South Pacific last month after a severe storm grabbed his oars may have to hand over his boat to help fund the rescue operation, authorities said Dec. 12. Jim Shekhdar was plucked from stormy seas as he attempted to become the first person to row from New Zealand to South Africa in his 26-foot rowboat Hornette. It was his second attempt and rescue. Even if the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, which diverted one of its ships to rescue the rower, does give Shekhdar back his boat, maritime authorities have said they will likely ban him from launching a fresh attempt at the 9,000-mile voyage. The agency wants to claim the boat as salvage and may use it to help cover part of the cost of rescuing Shekhdar. The flight of the Orion spotter plane that guided the rescue ship to Shekhdar cost US$64,500. The veteran rower and his boat were plucked from the ocean 750 miles east of New Zealand after a storm left him bobbing helplessly in sub-Antarctic seas. The journey had been expected to take seven-to-12 months. Local media reported Shekhdar as saying he does not think the boat can be considered salvage as it was not abandoned and was still seaworthy. He was planning to have it shipped back to Britain. "Obviously there's a cost to do a rescue like this, but you can't squeeze blood out of a stone," he said. - The Log, full story: http://thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=88464 GREAT SUPPLIERS We here at Scuttlebutt feel pretty lucky to have the support from what we believe to be a great group of suppliers. Pretty much anything you need to have to be involved in the sport of sailing is advertised in the Scuttlebutt newsletter, and also included in the "Club Suppliers" section of the website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers BIG (Matthew Sheahan has an interesting story on the Yachting World website about stepping the 300 foot mast on the world's largest sailing sloop, Mirabella V. Here's a brief excerpt.) Dressed with all her standing rigging the huge structure was an impressive sight as it dangled over the quay, suspended from a single point. The possibility of a failure now simply didn't bear thinking about. Just one of the genoa furling units weighs 7 tonnes (and that doesn't include the foil), keeping this strapped to the mast as it was raised through 90 degrees was a task in itself, let alone keeping control of all the other rigging and components. Little wonder that the maximum wind speed for the stepping operation was set at 15 knots at masthead height. By 10am the mast was ready to be craned out over the water before being suspended over Mirabella V's deck. From there the next operation was to drag the two massive forestay units forward ready for connection to the deck, while at the same time balancing the rig in the fore and aft plane. Pulling around 15 tonnes of equipment forward is a delicate operation that once again requires careful planning and execution. - Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World Full story: http://tinyurl.com/2bxu5 HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone involved with the daily production and distribution of Scuttlebutt wishes our readers a great holiday, and a healthy, happy and peaceful 2004. Our next issue will be on Monday, January 5. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From John Rumsey: In Antigua a number of years ago the Mount Gay rep tried a new method to distribute the hats, after finding he didn't have enough hats to go around. At the Mount Gay party, after a few rums had been served, he had the hats dropped from a helicopter and fortunately no one died in the malay. I fortunately got one of the hats, Antigua "90" * From Roger Strube: During the last Regatta Time In Abaco (A.D.A. Abaco Race Week) I sailed the Mount Gay parties began before the races ended. Many skippers and crew were at the end of the rum drink/ hat line behind the 14 and 15 year old children of tourists staying in the local hotels. As the sun went down drunken kids had the hats, many sailors did not. Finding the hats in shops does not surprise me. If you raced and have the hat, enjoy wearing it but don't expect anyone else to believe you actually raced in the event or that the hat has value. Would anyone believe Captain Ron steered the Saratoga if he wore the hat? Mount Gay supports racing (thanks) and advertises their product. I'll buy the Rum but not the hat. * From Art LeVasseur: It doesn't matter what set of rules you use if the average sailor don't bother to read them. As a US Sailing judge I hear many protests from local area races and It is shocking how ill informed many boat owners are when they show up for a protest hearing. Invariably one of the parties "cooks his own goose" without realizing it by attesting to a set of facts that make it clear he broke a rule. The number of times I have had to make a tough call on who to believe in the hearing room are few and far between. The owner thinks he lost the protest because the other guy lied and was believed. The truth is the other guy didn't have to say anything because the uninformed owner made the case for him. * From Blake Middleton: Bruce Thompson's comments ('Butt 1487) on the loss of what used to be called "System 2" for starting multiple fleets is right on. As Race Manager and PRO for two Minnesota yacht clubs, I looked into the logistics of using the standard "new" Rule 26 several years ago, and concluded that with as many as 130 boats on the line for a typical Lake Minnetonka race in 11 fleets using 7 starts (some fleets combined) at 3 minute intervals, the existing Rule 26 would have required sound signals (gun, horn or whistle) every single minute for 24 straight minutes, plus enough one armed paper hangers (to handle multiple class/ preparatory flags) to sink our signal boat. It gives me a headache just to think about what a total disaster that would be! Both Yacht Clubs voted to rewrite our Sailing Instructions, amending Rule 26 to use the "old" language and the sailors (the people we do this for) are grateful! If ISAF wants to make some changes, how about considering adding back the old "tried and true System 2" option in the next revision? ;) * From Graham Kelly: I think the best regatta for quick handling of protests is the Gollison-North Sails Race Week at Long Beach California, where a number of innovations speed the hearings along. First, there is a "time limit" for protest hearings, which limits each party to five minutes, which effectively limits the long-winded sea lawyers. Of course, the judges have authority to waive the limit, but it really moves things along. Second, each hearing is convened with two judges. The competitors have the option of accepting an arbitration penalty until the first non-party witness is called, at which point the proceeding turns into a protest, with a DSQ as the penalty. The same judges conduct the entire hearing, from start to finish, which keeps people from changing their stories. In my experience, this expedited procedure really speeds things up, and it is often surprising who decides to "fold" and accept an arbitration penalty before calling witnesses. One key is that the judges have broad latitude to permit the parties to develop their stories. With lots of judges, we have resolved over twenty hearings in less than 2 1/2 hours. This also seems to encourage offenders to take a penalty on the course, since the expedited procedures make it more likely that they will be protested if they do not. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The secret to success is knowing who to blame for your failures. - www.despair.com |
