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SCUTTLEBUTT 2997 - Tuesday, December 22, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsor is North Sails. ROSEBUD/TEAM DYT WINS 2009 US-IRC GULF STREAM SERIES Rosebud/Team DYT, the Reichel/Pugh-designed STP65, sailed by owner Roger Sturgeon of Fort Lauderdale, FL, has won the 2009 US-IRC Gulf Stream Series (GSS) Trophy. The award will be presented next summer at the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport, presented by Rolex, which will also host the 2010 Rolex US-IRC National Championship from July 21-24. "The US-IRC Gulf Stream Series is a fantastic way to judge sailboats on a level playing field," said Sturgeon. "There were plenty of different inshore and offshore races that we could enter to qualify for the series, and the comprehensive ratings system allowed for boats to be ranked against each other in an extremely fair manner. Rosebud/Team DYT is optimized for all-around racing, not just downwind or upwind, and this series is a true test of all racing conditions. The GSS scoring formula is complicated enough that we didn't know if we actually won the series. It is an honor we proudly accept, and we challenge others to campaign their way to the top next year." On the way to winning the fourth annual US-IRC GSS, Rosebud/Team DYT logged some impressive finishes. It finished first in the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race, Pineapple Cup Montego Bay Race, Ft. Lauderdale to Charleston Race and Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex. It also finished second in the Acura Key West Race Week and the New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta presented by Rolex before going to Europe where its successful season there ended with a fallen rig in rough conditions at the Rolex Middle Sea Race. -- Read on: http://www.us-irc.org/ * The US-IRC Gulf Stream Series (GSS), America's only year-long racing series that spans the entire East Coast of the U.S.A. and Caribbean islands, returns for its fifth annual running in 2010 with an expanded list of events that starts with the 2009 Ft. Lauderdale to Key West Race (January 13) and ends with the Storm Trysail Club IRC East Coast Championship (October 29-31). For 2010 series details visit: http://www.us-irc.org/ CLAY JOHNSON HEADS HOME WITH SILVER IN HAND Laser sailor Clay Johnson is heading home from Australia where he won an impressive silver medal at Sail Melbourne Saturday, his best performance yet at an International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup event. In the 43-boat-strong Laser class, Johnson grabbed two bullets and a second place during the qualifying series and finished second overall to Canadian Michael Leigh by a mere two net points. US SAILING interviewed the Laser up-and-comer about this important result, his strengths on the water and how he handled the time difference down under. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * How does it feel to win a silver medal and be on the podium at Sail Melbourne? I'm very pleased with my overall result, and am excited to start the 2010 ISAF Sailing World Cup season so strongly. Going into the event, my goal was to make the medal race and hopefully finish in the top five, so a podium finish exceeded my expectations. I've been training hard over the past few months so it feels rewarding to see all of my work pay off. * What were your strengths this regatta? What were the keys to your success? For most of the sailing in Melbourne, the left-hand side of the course was favored. The Race Committee and most of the sailors knew this and skewed the course to make the starting line and all gates right-side biased. I think an important part to my success this past week was knowing when to go for the left and when to take advantage of the skewed course. I think I did a good job of processing the conditions and making quick decisions. Having good starts also helped me, as I had the freedom to go where I wanted. * What were your challenges? One thing that was different was the later start time than normal. Racing each day started at 3 p.m., so it was tough to alter my regatta routine around a late-afternoon start. There was a lot of free time in the morning! I also think that mentally it was tough to sail at 6 or 7 p.m. when the sun was going down. The days felt longer than normal sailing days because we had so much time in the morning, and then it was a fire drill in the afternoon with sailing late into the day and all of the after-race tasks to do. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/y9z68y7 ATTENTION SHOPPING PROCRASTINATORS! If you waited until the last minute to do your Christmas shopping, or were snowbound because of the weekend storm on the East Coast, North Sails Gear can help with those last minute gifts. For orders placed on Dec. 22, we’ll upgrade your order to express shipping at no additional charge. Mention “S-Butt upgrade” in the Comments box at checkout. US orders only. For the best gifts, head North! http://www.northsailsgear.com SAILING THE HIGH SEAS WITH SKIPPER ROY DISNEY By Bill Center, Union Tribune Robbie Haines was sitting in his office at the North Sails loft in Huntington Beach in 1988 when the phone rang. The voice on the other side was to the point. “I remember him saying, I have a sled, I want to switch to North sails, and I want you to come aboard,” Haines recalled Friday. The voice belonged to Roy Disney, and that conversation began a two-decade partnership between the famed blue-water skipper and Haines. Disney, who died Wednesday after a year long fight against stomach cancer, is better known to the general public as a leader in the entertainment industry. Sailing, however, was his passion. And he sailed in most of the world’s greatest point-to-point races. His most famous boats, all named Pyewacket, were designed to go faster than other monohulls in the team’s quest for elapsed-time records. We say team, because Disney’s core crew, which included San Diego’s Benny Mitchell as well as Haines, had been part of Disney’s extended family for as long as Haines. “I adored the man,” Haines said of Disney, who was 79. “Ours was a true friendship, but I wasn’t unique. Roy had so many friends. He was extremely loyal. And his team was very, very loyal. He was passionate about his sailing, his boats and his team. But he didn’t just sail. He gave so much back to the sport through the CISA junior program in Hawaii and California. He just loved being out there on the open ocean with his boat and his crew. One of the fun parts was being at sea and listening to Roy talk about Disney.” Haines, who had won a gold medal in the 1984 Olympics in the Soling class with childhood Coronado friends Rod Davis and Ed Trevelyan, doesn’t know how many miles he sailed with Disney. “I’d like to know,” he said, “and I’ll probably start adding them up.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yezub8w US SAILING SPORTS MEN AND WOMEN OF THE YEAR ANNOUNCED US Sailing has chosen eight US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) members as the sport’s 2009 SportsWoman, SportsMan and Team of the Year, in both Olympic and Paralympic classes, for outstanding on-the-water performance, achievement and sportsmanship. US Sailing’s Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC) has made the following awards: In the Olympic classes: SportsWoman of the Year: Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) SportsMan of the Year: Zach Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) Team of the Year: George Szabo (San Diego, CA)/ Rick Peters (Venice, CA) In the Paralympic classes: SportsWoman of the Year: Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) Sportsman of the Year: John Ruf (Pewaukee, Wis.) Team of the Year: Scott Whitman (Brick, NJ)/ Julia Dorsett (West Chester, PA) The OSC has nominated these exceptional sailors to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for consideration for the 2009 SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year awards across all Olympic and Paralympic sports. Each sport's national governing body selects their outstanding athletes for consideration for this prestigious national distinction. This year, the USOC has expanded its Paralympic category to include a Paralympic SportsMan, SportsWoman and Team of the Year, rather than just one Paralympic winner. The overall winners will be announced in January 2009. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/y9k8kqm END OF YEAR WRAP UP WITH MURRAY JONES As the America’s Cup Defender’s giant catamaran, Alinghi 5, finishes its last week of sailing in Ras Al Khaimah and the packing continues at a furious pace, Alinghi.com catches up with Murray Jones, who has been overseeing the sailing programme, for a status report. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * What has the team achieved here in Ras Al Khaimah over the past two months? Murray Jones: The weather here has been fantastic and has allowed us to sail almost everyday. We have ticked off everything that we wanted to achieve. Obviously more time would be great, it always is, but we are pretty happy with where we are. We have still got a lot to do in the next few weeks when we finally get to Valencia, but all the major decisions have been made. * For the first time in a long time there is some certainty: Valencia in February. How is the team adapting to that plan? MJ: It will be different in Valencia because the wind conditions will be unpredictable. Even during a race the conditions will change a lot in strength and direction. Winter time in Valencia is quite difficult; we will have to be adaptable and be able to change gears and use the right sails for the right wind angle and strength. We will also be pushing the boat harder than we have before, both teams will. Knowing our limits when racing against another boat could actually be the factor that determines the result. -- Full story: www.alinghi.com AUCKLAND IN MARCH The Auckland Festival of Sail - three major international regattas to be held on the Waitemata Harbour in March 2010 - will bring together leading professional international match racing skippers and teams and top-ranked amateurs for 23 days of quick-fire, top-level competition. The events are: * The Omega Auckland Match Race Regatta, from March 1-6, will feature some of the biggest names in international match racing. Entry is by invitation. * The Louis Vuitton Trophy Auckland regatta, March 7-21, follows on from the successful Louis Vuitton Pacific Series sailed in Auckland last February. The action will take place over 14 days. * The BMW World Sailing Cup 2010 final, March 22-25, is a leading international keel boat event for amateur sailors. New Zealand won the right to host the event by winning the 2009 world cup. The managing director of Emirates Team New Zealand Grant Dalton said the three regattas, combined with the Auckland International Boat Show at the Viaduct Harbour from March 10 -14, will provide three weeks of top-level action right in the city. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/yee5gam ATTENTION SHOPPING PROCRASTINATORS! If you waited until the last minute to do your Christmas shopping, or were snowbound because of the weekend storm on the East Coast, North Sails Gear can help with those last minute gifts. For orders placed on Dec. 22, we’ll upgrade your order to express shipping at no additional charge. Mention “S-Butt upgrade” in the Comments box at checkout. US orders only. For the best gifts, head North! http://www.northsailsgear.com HOW WEATHER AFFECTS ELECTRONICS The average leisure boater relies more heavily on electronics today than ever before. Even ten years ago you would only find a radar on larger boats, but with the advent of low cost LCD systems and compact antennas, a radar system is within the budget of even small boat owners. However, having a full suite of electronics on your boat doesn’t mean you can sit back and relax, thinking your gadgets will do all your work for you. Even the best, state-of-the-art equipment is still subject to basic forces of nature and it’s important to remember that things such as certain weather conditions can affect the way your equipment performs. Radio Signals The weather can have varied effects on the range and quality of radio signals - some beneficial, others not so good. Because the weather is such a complex subject and changes so quickly it is difficult to give definite rules on how your radio equipment will behave in all circumstances - the temperature, wind and amount of water in the atmosphere can vary and combine in many ways. Some of these combinations can cause radio signals to be heard hundreds of miles further than the normal expected range. On the other hand, a different combination of factors may weaken the signal and dramatically reduce the range. Heavy rain can weaken radio signals because the raindrops absorb power from the radio waves and cause it to scatter, however this has a greater effect at microwave frequencies (see the section on Radar below), rain hardly has any effect on longer wavelengths, so the general rule is that high frequency, short wavelength radio signals will be affected by rain more than low frequency, long wavelength signals. One atmospheric condition that can greatly increase radio range is what is called a Temperature Inversion. Normally the warmest air is nearest the surface of the earth and gets cooler as you get further up, but a temperature inversion is where you get layers - known as “ducts” - of cool air sandwiched between the ground and a layer of warm air above, or between two layers of warm air. -- Read on: http://www.bmea.org/news/2009/how-weather-affects-electronics/ SAILING SHORTS * San Diego, CA (December 21, 2009) - An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board was under way Monday into the crash of a U.S. Coast Guard boat into a recreational vessel, killing an 8-year-old boy and injuring five other people during the annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights. The Coast Guard boat hit the other vessel about 6 p.m. Sunday, fatally injuring Anthony Cole DeWeese of San Diego, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/yj5tk53 * The Royal Ocean Racing Club has made a decision to ban Dyneema lifelines for its 2010 race programme. At the ISAF annual conference in Busan, Korea last November Dyneema fibre was approved as a material for use in lifelines for offshore race boats. The material has been used for a number of years in Melges 24 and Melges 32 and on IMOCA 60’s in the Vendee Globe. The RORC committee made up of very experienced offshore racers expressed collective concern about the suitability of the material for offshore boats where the crew are constantly hiking especially in rough conditions. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yeoztvt * Seven Network and Yahoo!7 will provide a live 90 minute webcast of the start of the 65th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race to a global audience. In addition to Seven Network's live television broadcast in Australia, anyone in any country around the world will be able to watch the start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race provided they have a computer and broadband internet access from 12.30pm AEST until 2:00pm AEST. Tune into the Seven Network or the official race website http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com and follow the links to http://au.sports.yahoo.com from 12.30pm AEST on 26 December 2009. 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 Ken Beashel: The 33rd Americas Cup will be the most remembered Cup for some time. I hope that it is remembered for sailing and I think that it will be. The biggest achievement in sailing is speed and development and this Cup will have all of that. It is great to see minds like Grant Simmer, Russell Coutts and the host of designers that are allowed to give their best without going broke. James Spithill must be very pleased with the position he is in - what could be better than 30ft off the water watching what wind is coming to him and knowing it is him that makes the boat go with his fine anticipation of angles, you could not get enough of this type of sailing - 18 footers, moths, big boats - no - this has it all. Good luck to them all. * From Richard Hazelton (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2996): "Right now if you go racing in your 37 footer you need to round up maybe eight of your buddies. If you could get that down to two or three that’s a worthy goal.” Dirk Kramers I'm a bit stunned by this comment and don't really know how to reply. I suppose if the goal is to eliminate a number of jobs for professional sailors, it's a worthy goal. On the local level with the 37-footers, it's a worthy goal if you'd like to cut down on people participating in sailing and number of yacht clubs. I'm sure that's not what Kramers meant but it certainly is a distressing thought. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Warning: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting. Special thanks to North Sails. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
