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SCUTTLEBUTT 2116 - June 15, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.BULLISH (The mood is bullish about there being another Volvo Ocean Race. James Boyd and Mike Sanderson look at possible changes in a story on thedailysail subscription website. Here are a couple of excerpts.) Typically at this stage the question is always raised of 'will the race happen again?' This time round the mood is very much more bullish with discussions focused on 'how' not 'if' the race will happen next time. In terms of numbers of sails to be carried on board during the race Sanderson thinks they got it about right: "The problem with the sail limitation rule overall is that in fact it is an advantage to the big teams because it meant we looked at every option before the start and were very content with our sail inventory. We quite literally haven’t changed anything in design or concept, because we’d built it all beforehand, every possibility we could think of we had the pleasure of testing it! I look at someone like Ericsson who struggled in the earlier legs ... in the Volvo of years gone by if you got your sail inventory wrong it took you a little while to catch up because you saw what everyone else was doing and you built one of those.” Sanderson estimates they tested 70-75 sails before the start of the race, although they cut costs by making many of these sails in cheap fabric solely to examine concepts. So what does Sanderson think Volvo will do? "My gut feeling is that it will be made a bit safer and maybe a few more supplied items but apart from that I don’t think it will venture too far away and I don’t think it should." - http://www.thedailysal.com A NEW LEADER Florida has overtaken long-time leader Michigan as the state with the nation’s most registered boats. Boating’s growth is attributed to the Sunshine State’s growing population, especially in coastal areas like its sailing capital, the St. Petersburg-Clearwater area. U.S. Recreational Boat Registration Statistics from the National Marine Manufacturer’s Association show that Floridians registered 946,072 boats in 2004 compared to Michigan’s 944,800 and California’s 894,884. Other states in the top 10 were, in order, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Illinois. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission actually counts 978,225 registered boats in Florida, 30,000 more than the NMMA. Florida’s population growth, about 1,000 new people a day, accounts for most of that growth. In fact, many nonresidents also register and leave their boats in Florida for use when they visit. The St. Petersburg-Clearwater area on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico – Floridasbeach.com on the Internet – continues to lead the state with 57,096 registered vessels, helping make its case as the boating and sailing capital of the U.S. A colorful history also underscores St. Petersburg-Clearwater area’s title as America’s boating and sailing capital. The St. Petersburg Yacht Club on Tampa Bay, established in 1909, was one of the first yacht clubs in the country. The Clearwater Yacht Club was founded in 1911. -- Tampa Bay Newspapers website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/medtj TRIVIA QUESTION The final results of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002 were in doubt until the conclusion of the last leg from Gothenburg, Sweden to Kiel, Germany. John Kostecki’s well prepared and heavily favored illbruck Challenge did finally claim the top prize, but what were the other two teams that claimed the final overall podium positions? (Answer below) SCUTTLEBUTT PODCAST: BERMUDA RACE WEATHER BRIEFING (June 14, 2006) The 100th running of the Newport to Bermuda Race begins this Friday, and the current weather forecast is calling for a light wind contest. Scuttlebutt connected with meteorologist Chris Bedford on Wednesday, who provided us with a very complete picture of what is in store for the 267 entries. Chris is the Official Meteorologist for the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race, and is now residing in Valencia, Spain, where he serves as the team meteorologist for the America's Cup team BMW Oracle Racing. This audio podcast interview is nearly twenty-two minutes, so you will want to schedule some time for it. However, it is a must-hear for those about to embark on this 635-mile ocean racing classic: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/06/cb0614 Curmudgeon's Comments: Look for another Scuttlebutt Podcast this Friday with Andrew Campbell, who is the top ranked US Olympic Laser sailor and was recently named 2006 College Sailor of the Year and Georgetown University Male Athlete of the Year. Now having graduated, Andrew leaves for Europe this week, but paused long enough to discuss with Scuttlebutt his collegiate sailing career and his Olympic training schedule this summer. WANTED: TWO SAIL MAKERS FOR ULLMAN SAILS Ullman Sails, Inc. is looking for responsible go-getters to fill two vacant sail making positions within the Ullman Sails Newport Beach loft. Persons needed are: one experienced Spinnaker Production and Nylon Repair department individual with 2 to 5 years experience, and one reliable Handworker/ Sail Finisher with sailing knowledge a plus, but not necessary and willing to train the right candidate. For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Corrin Pilkington at (714) 432-1860 or email mailto:cpilkington@ullmansails.com FROM THE ACTUARIES . . . Peter Gilmour (AUS) continues his bumper month, staying top of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings after winning his third consecutive Match Race Germany to wrap up the World Match Racing Tour title and his fourth ISAF Match Racing World Championship. Meanwhile Russell Coutts (NZL) break from the match racing circuit has him falling back from 4 to 8, and a similar story sees Alinghi helm Ed Baird (USA) drop from 3 to 6. Just behind Gilmour is fellow Australian and 2005 ISAF Match Racing World Champion James Spithill (AUS) of Luna Rossa, whilst Italy’s Paolo Cian (ITA) moves up two places to third after a second place finish at the ISAF Grade 1 Roberto Trombini Challenge Trophy. Sébastien Col (FRA) and Ian Williams (GBR) are also beneficiaries, moving to fourth and fifth in the rankings respectively. Björn Hansen (SWE) is the sole new entry into the top ten, Claire Leroy (FRA) again holds on to the top spot in the women’s rankings, although her closest rival Marie Bjorling (SWE) has taken a massive chunk out of her lead. Joining Bjorling in challenging for the number one spot is Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED), who moves up from fifth to third place, trading places with Sally Barkow (USA). Interested readers will have the time of their lives pouring over the statistics posted on the ISAF Match Racing Rankings microsite: http://www.sailing.org/matchrace/mrranking.asp LAST CHANCE Rotterdam, The Netherlands – June 14, 2006 – The Volvo Ocean Race fleet will set sail tomorrow on the final leg of their epic 31,250 nautical mile journey around the world. Leg nine is a 470 mile sprint to Göteborg, Sweden. ABN Amro One (Mike Sanderson) may have won the overall trophy for the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06 but leg nine will see a final showdown for the remaining podium positions between Pirates of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and Brasil 1 (Torben Grael). Pirates of the Caribbean currently holds second place overall but with just four points separating the American team from Brasil 1 there is still all to play for. A second battle for fourth place is also being waged, between ABN Amro Two (Sebastien Josse) and Ericsson Racing Team (Neal McDonald) who are currently separated by half a point. McDonald is looking forward to the sprint to Sweden and will be hoping to bring his Swedish boat and the only Swedish crew member in the race, Magnus Woxen, into their home port in first place. For the final leg Ericsson will be joined by Irishman Tom McWilliam who has replaced trimmer Richard Bouzaid. For Brunel, who rejoined the race in America, this will be their final chance to shine. Matt Humphries (GBR) will again take on the role of skipper for the final offshore leg and will be hoping to bring Brunel into his home of Sweden in a strong position. The original forecast was for a slow light wind sail but as of today the weather looks more positive and it is predicted that the fleet will take 48 hours to sail to Sweden. The race course for leg nine is slightly different from the other legs, in the fact that it is a variable course in order to get the boats to arrive into Göteborg on time. The minimum length of the leg is approximately 470 nautical miles but if the fleet picks up the pace then the race committee has five different options to lengthen the course in between Skargen, on the northern tip of Denmark, and the Trubaduren lighthouse outside the Gothenburg archipelago. The start is scheduled for 1300 (local) with full live commentary via the Volvo Ocean Race official website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org SAILING SHORTS * Some very big names are included in the skippers announced by Bitter End YC for this year’s Pro-Am Regatta - their 20th Anniversary edition, October 28 - November 4. The ‘junior’ skippers are Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Ken Read, Dawn Riley and Dave Perry. The ‘masters’ for this event are Lowell North, Keith Musto, Rod Johnstone, Bruce Kirby and Butch Ulmer. BEYC guests will fill all of the crew spots. Along with Scott MacLeod, the Curmudgeon has been named the Honorary Co-Chair, and he will also be hosting the Musto Scuttlebutt Sailing Club Championship during Pro-Am Week. -- http://www.beyc.com * Just like Key West, only a lot closer to Akron! The swallows have returned to Cleveland (OK, technically, they are mayflies) which means that its time for the 26th annual Cleveland Race Week! We expect over 300 boats over the eight day run of Lake Erie’s largest regatta. Eight days of racing, great race management, lots of parties, live music, free imbibements. Hosted by a friendly club that actually want to be there! June 17-25. -- Destination One Design, event website: http://www.eycweb.com/crw2006/index.html * The records of Cruising Yacht Club of Australia show that ten women have competed in at least ten Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Races, but the Club does not have complete details of the yachts in which they sailed nor the years in which they competed. The CYCA is asking women sailors who have sailed in ten or more races, or are nearing that number, to submit their sailing records for historical files. The current leaders: Adrienne Cahalan (15 races); Jan Howard (14); Amanda Wilmot (12); Vanessa Dudley (12); Sally Gordon (12); Audrey Brown (12). * Balatonfüred, Hungary -- After three races at the Open Nissan Cup 470 European Championship, Italians Enrico Fonda/ Marco Guerra maintains their lead in the 112-boat Men’s Division. The USA’s Mike Anderson/ David Hughes are the top North American’s in 55th place. The women have only sailed two races so far with Stefanie Rothweiler/ Vivien Kussatz (GER) on top. The top North American women’s teams are: 15. Amanda Clark/ Sarah Margenthaler (USA) and 17. Jennifer Provan/ Carol Luttmer (CAN). http://www.470euro.com/results/ * T2 Productions will be filming video on all three days of the Chicago NOOD Regatta. Video coverage will be available after racing on demand: http://www.t2p.tv/ * +39 Challenge, the Italian America's Cup challenger, announced that their brand new boat, ITA-85, is about to leave the shipyard and will be transported by cargo boat to Valencia, where she is expected to arrive in about a week. She will be officially presented in the team's base in Valencia on June 24, the third day of Louis Vuitton Act 12. Although this website has a very strict policy of not publishing, and has never published, any unconfirmed rumors; we will bend the rules just once. It seems that ITA-85 has a bowsprit similarly to USA-87. -- Valencia Sailing, http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/ * Riccione, Italy -- After seven races with one discard there is a three way tie for the lead at the Women’s Division of the Laser Radial European Championship between Gintare Volungeviciute (LTU), Evi Van Acker (BEL) and Penny Clark (GBR). All with 23 points. The USA’s Paige Railey is currently in tied with three others in eigth place with 48 points. -- http://www.netandpaper.it/laser/index_uk.htm * Some forty crews from the UK, Ireland, Australia and the USA are congregating in Cowes to take part and the British Open Championship runs from Saturday 17 to Monday 19 June, followed by the European Championship from Wednesday 21 to Saturday 24 June. Race reports and photographs will be posted at www.rcyc.co.uk * Orange Code: The latest weather charts are optimistic: a window of opportunity appears to be opening at the end of the week over the North Atlantic for Bruno Peyron’s Transatlantic record attempt on his maxi-catamaran, Orange. The skipper is gathering his troops together for a possible start on 18th June. The members of the shore-based weather team seem confident and confirm that the window of opportunity they have been watching looks very good, even if there is still a little uncertainty for the final stretch of the voyage. -- http://www.orange-sailing-team.com TRIVIA ANSWER John Kostecki’s well prepared and heavily favored illbruck Challenge was the overall winner of the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-2002, with skipper Neal McDonald’s Assa Abloy team in second and Grant Dalton’s Nautor Challenges syndicate entry, Amer Sports One, in third. STORE EXPANSION The Scuttlebutt Store has recently expanded to include caps and polo shirts in addition to the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club burgee. Along with each purchase comes membership to the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club, the official club of the Scuttlebutt newsletter and officially sanctioned by US Sailing, the national sailing authority for the United States. While at the Scuttlebutt Store, take a peak at the Forums, where registered users are now over nine hundred, and topics are as diverse as the sport of sailing: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/store LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From John Rousmaniere: Here are answers to John Beckstedt's questions in Scuttlebutt 2115 about the Bermuda Race. Why is it 100 years old? Because the first one was in 1906. Why is this week's start the 45th? It's been sailed in even-numbered years since 1924 and there was time out for war. Why is the race historically significant? Among many reasons, it's the oldest regularly scheduled long-distance ocean race for normal-size boats and amateur sailors. (Consider this: the 1905 transatlantic race was won by the 184-foot schooner Atlantic with a mostly professional crew of 48, but just a year later 14 men and one woman headed to Bermuda in three boats smaller than 40 feet.) In addition, sailors who got their socks wet in the Gulf Stream went home to found the Bayview-Mac and Fastnet races. Finally, hats off to the Chicago-Mac as the oldest long-distance race. * From Fred Roswold (Re: Richard Shulman's letter on the Onion Patch Scoring): Corrected Average Speed? Gees, I can't believe this idea is still alive. Hey, haven't we learned anything? Isn't this is one of the main reasons for the IMS demise in the US: complicated and obscure scoring? Gotta keep it simple folks. Come up with a scoring system that the competitors can't figure themselves on the race course, and it's doomed. I say (and I'm one of them) put the computer jocks back in the closet and make it simple for the racers. Do that and people will like it. Make it fancy (complex) and people will never accept it. * From Bastien Pouthier: I have two comments conflicting the description of the MOB recovery from my sailing school times, RYA yachtmaster course, and experience from multiple thrills. First is that although it is easier to pick up from the leeward side, it is a lot safer for the MOB to be on the windward side. If any kind of sea (swell, chop or waves) is around you (not like the movie's perfect calm conditions!) you have chances of the boat slamming on the MOB's head. The inertia of a 7 tonnes boat coming down a 2' wave even at no speed may kill someone or at least knock them unconscious for a while, hence increase the risk of drowning. Secondly, it is very hard or impossible to stop a boat on a beam reach. There is always a bit of wind filling your sail and the boat will NOT stop. Try to pull out someone from the water with 2 knots of boat speed... It is better to be 60 to 70 off the wind (slightly upwind) to be able to stop the boat right below the MOB. You still have the ability to trim the main if you require more speed, luff up to slow down even more or ease the main all the way and STOP the boat for recovery. Of course you get only one chance as the boat will drift away from the MOB and that's why every vessel should do thrills regularly and inverting the roles as the driver himself may fall overboard. * From Ray Tostado: It has been my observation that 98% of all contributors’ inputs to a MOB situation is focused on recovery methods. I advocate that not enough preparation is spent on preparing the victim. Yes, it can happen to you. It happened to me. It has happened to friends. Accept that. Be ready for the trauma. You are the primary agent of a proper recovery. Not being prepared can cost you your life. And I don’t mean equipment. I mean attitude. Expect to be submersed over 5 seconds before recovering to the surface. Realize your swimming skills are impaired by your clothing. Realize you are into the shock process already. CG research has proven over 40 years ago that in SF Golden Gate suicides most people drown upon impact, not from the fall or after many hours afloat. This fact is due to the natural reaction upon immersion into cold water; that of casting the head back. never enter water with the head pulled back in a scream or to seek help. Instead push it forward to engage the chin onto the chest. This simple discipline closes the esophagus from involuntary water entry. Practice doing this by stepping into a cold shower. An untrained body will reflex the neck back upon cold water contact. When this occurs there are no muscle controls capable of blocking water intake when the head is in a backward position. Please practice. * From Eric Anderson: I sail multihulls because they are incredibly fun. Of all the boats I have sailed in my life, modern catamarans give me the biggest thrill. Close your eyes and picture yourself sailing upwind on the trapeze, flying a hull effortlessly, steering with 2 fingers on the tiller extension, boat speed=12 knots. At the windward mark, ease the traveler, mainsheet, and downhaul, increase mast rotation and raise your windward daggerboard. Now just slide into the center of the trampoline, head up to about 135 deg true and fly the windward hull downwind, boat speed = 16 knots. The song that comes to mind is “Wild thing- you make my heart sing, you make everything groovy.” Common multihull myths: “Cats don’t point they just reach around” Not true. The tacking angles are a few degrees more. A cat can sail the same TWA as a mono, but the vmg is much higher if you sail hotter angles. “Multihulls are not tactical”. Tacking a Multihull costs you 1-3 boat lengths. This does mean you have to spend you tacks wisely. Because multihulls accelerate dramatically in puffs, you look for pressure, not wind shifts. The other factor is that the higher aspect, more efficient sail plan causes a much smaller wind shadow leading to a lot less covering. This does not mean you can bang corners or sail blindly. “They turn turtle and then you can’t right them” Small multihulls very rarely turn turtle. The masts are designed to be watertight. The boats are righted easily with crew weight if you know the correct technique. CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM What's another word for Thesaurus? Special thanks to Ullman Sails and the Scuttlebutt Store. |
