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SCUTTLEBUTT 2223 – November 14, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). A YEAR TO GO Just over a year ago in the Catalonian city of Barcelona, OC Events launched a new double-handed, non-stop round the world race, simply called the Barcelona World Race. An entirely new event but to be raced over the same classic, east-about non-stop route around the world via the three great Capes, onboard IMOCA Open 60 monohulls. It was a new and significant addition to the IMOCA Ocean Racing World Championship calendar that runs on a four-year cycle, and which remains dominated by the Everest of the short-handed sailing, the Vendée Globe. It was an ambitious step for ocean racing and for the organising company, OC Events, which is part of the OC Group owned by Mark Turner and Dame Ellen MacArthur, and the Organising Authority of the Catalan-based FNO. Now a year on Ellen MacArthur was back in Barcelona to start the official countdown clock with a year to go until the start of the race on Sunday, 11th November 2007, and things are looking good for this new race. “It was a key objective of this new race to attract both the traditional solo sailor as well as sailors from the world of crewed racing, such as, the Volvo Ocean Race, and we have begun to see that effect in the entries we have received since we opened the Entry list in September,” commented OC Group CEO, Mark Turner. Case in point being the UK entry of Hugo Boss, skippered by Alex Thomson and co-skippered by Andrew Cape recent navigator on Volvo 70 Movistar and previously Alinghi in the America’s Cup, and the French entry of PRB with Vincent Riou (winner of the last solo Vendée Globe) and Sébastien Josse (skipper Volvo 70 ABN AMRO TWO). “Our focus has been 100% on entry acquisition to ensure we have a decent number of IMOCA Open 60 boats on the start line by next November.” -- Full story: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com/en/?s=4874 * The Offshore Challenges Sailing Team is moving ahead with the build of the first of two planned IMOCA Open 60 ocean racing boats (a Farr design). Sufficient funding, provided by the family of long term Global and Performance Partners that have supported Ellen and the team since 1998, has been put in place to progress the build of the first boat, with the objective very much still in place to build a second in the near future. Negotiations to secure the Principal Title Partner are ongoing and once in place will underpin the build of the second boat and the overall naming of the new team. This will bring to fruition the long-held plan for Ellen MacArthur to head up a two-boat sailing team that will realise the potential of new and exciting talent to compete in the highly competitive 2007-2009 IMOCA World Championship. The decision on which new sailors will join the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team is yet to be taken, although there are four or five potential candidates who have the ability to succeed in the discipline of short-handed ocean racing. The IMOCA circuit covers thousands of ocean racing miles in a mix of solo, two-up and five-up races; a truly international fleet of over 25 competitive boats, racing around Europe, North America and, of course, around the planet. -- Ellen MacArthur’s website, full story: http://www.teamellen.com/en/article.asp?artid=3562 SIX FIGURE DEAL (Scuttlebutt received this event press release, which we found revealing as to the sizeable support being provided to this Irish regatta) “Grand Prix yachting sponsorship comes to these shores next season with the news that Volvo has signed a six-figure deal to become Title sponsor of Ireland's biggest regatta. Organisers for next July's Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta are expecting up to 600 entries - and the sponsorship deal is a further boost for an event that ran for the first time in 2005, when 3,000 sailors in 400 boats took part. Volvo will not officially announce details of their involvement until January but event Chairman, Brian Craig, confirmed the sponsorship will run for 2007 and 2009. Over 150 races will take place on six different courses across Dublin Bay for the four-day event in July. -- Event website: http://www.dlregatta.org CHESAPEAKE RACER PROFILE (The following excerpt is from an article that appears in the November issue of SpinSheet Magazine, and is part of a monthly series where they profile noteworthy Chesapeake Bay sailors.) Throughout his first 10 years in Annapolis, Ted Kaczmarski has been associated with the Annapolis Yacht Club. He came to town from his native Chicago in 1996 to serve as AYC’s Racing Coach. Over the years, his role at AYC expanded and evolved. He ran the club’s busy junior program and in 2005 became the club’s sailing director upon the retirement of the legendary Jack Lynch. But this changed in the summer of 2006 when Kaczmarski resigned from the club and launched KSailing, a coaching and consulting business. He has been involved with coaching outside of the club for several years, and the demand for his services had grown to the point where it made sense to strike out on his own. - Full interview: http://www.apsltd.com/Tree/d258000/e256258.asp NOW IS THE TIME Whether you need to store your boat for the winter or (lucky you) are able to sail it all year round, now is the time to bring your sails in for a checkup at your local Doyle loft. There you’ll find a real sailmaker who is ready to inspect every inch of your sails and take care of minor problems before they escalate into major ones. For the location and contact details of your local loft, go to: http://www.doylesails.com TAYLOR-MADE (The following report is posted on the North Sails One Design website, where they interview Optimist sailor Taylor Lutz following his domination this past spring at the Optimist Team Trials in Bellport, NY at the Bellport Bay Yacht Club. Read on.) NS - How did you prepare for the 2006 Team Trials? TL - I practiced whenever I could. Mostly just on the weekends or at local regattas, but as the time crunch came for the regatta, I started going out on my own during the week sometime. I think that there is definitely a thin line between spending too much time in the boat and spending quality time in the boat. You want to make sure that every time you go out you can enjoy the time spent on the water, and enjoy seeing improvements every day. NS - Was there anything different about your mental approach to the TT's 2005 and the TT's 2006? TL - Not really. I consider myself a very laid back type of guy, but getting focused isn't hard for me. Everybody has there own way of getting focused, whether it be rigging up their boat by themselves or just sitting down and visualizing the racing ahead, it has to be YOUR WAY. At trials I tried to always stay calm and collected, no matter how tough the pressure was. (But as you start to trust your sailing, instinct just sorta takes over) Complete interview: http://tinyurl.com/ylyoyw TO GAME OR NOT TO GAME (Kevin Maney has been USA Today's technology columnist for a long time, so it is of no surprise that he also maintains an active blog. We spied a post that his 15-year-old daughter wrote, which may shed some light on the challenges that exist today in engaging kids in sailing. Here are some excerpts.) It’s 12:30 AM. A girl is staring intensely at a blaring, colorful screen. Her eyes barely blink as she clutches the shaking controller, waiting. Then she strikes at her virtual opponent, her peripheral vision registering a hit in a statistics box in a corner of the screen. Just a little bit longer… she has to stay awake a little bit longer… That’s the kind of image I get when many of my friends tell me about their days spent defeating the complex levels of videogames. Xbox, Playstation, Gameboy, whatever. They’re up playing it. And it’s not just my girl friends. It’s the guys too. They stay up for endless hours of the night, pounding the tiny keys that pipe “A”, “B”, and “Z” and defeating huge, scary monsters without even a blink. I regard them with awe. Me being me, I’m not sure how anyone could sit in front of a too-flashy colored screen, moving their fingers (and not much else) for countless hours, stuck in the same darn spot they were in twenty minutes ago....But, for some reason, about ninety percent of my friends seem to find rollicking fun in what I would consider a tedious activity. The other ten percent of us are doomed to an eternity of sitting on couches, watching them play, and wondering how our gaming friends do it. It’s fascinating to see them. They know the letters on the controllers without even thinking. They seemed to be linked to a whole other world some of us just can’t seem to get in to. -- Read on: http://blogs.usatoday.com/maney/2006/11/to_game_or_not_.html SCUTTLEBUTT WANTS YOUR GIFT LIST The holiday season has begun, so now is a good time to get caught up on all the “must have” sailing gear. But what are these “must have” items? As we all are trying to figure out what we want, and what others want, we would like to see the Scuttlebutt readers help by commenting on the items they are considering for their sailing gift list. As a bonus, Scuttlebutt will randomly pick one gift list each week (for six weeks) and provide a $50 gift certificate to the winner. Post your gift list here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/2006/gifts HARKEN.COM FOR STRESS-FREE HOLIDAY SHOPPING When your friends do nothing but eat, sleep and talk sailing, your shopping list is easy. For sure-fire holiday hits, take a trip to Harken’s online store for must-have sailing accessories. Find sailor-designed and tested deck shoes and gloves, performance-enhancing sunglasses, cool sailing T’s, hats with attitude and belts to hold your pants up. Pack your gear in a Harken duffle, and when the temperature drops, turn up the heat with soft-shell fleece - jackets or vests. For great gifts under $25, $50, and $100, go to http://www.harken.com/Christmas/Christmas2006.php RACES IN PROGRESS * Velux 5 Oceans - Now second in the standings, Mike Golding (GBR) continues to gain on race leader Bernard Stamm (SUI), who is now less than 200 miles ahead. As for Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (GBR), his recent report is less encouraging: “The problems came about as I was trying to get through for an interview at 4.pm. The system did not work. It was as I was trying to sort that out that the squall hit. I had seen it earlier, a dark cloud to the east, but had become engrossed in trying to sort out the connection. Anyway, the next moment the boat is on its side, I climbed on deck, the auto pilot had given up as it could not control 32 knots of wind. I grabbed the helm but I could not control it either. I eventually had to give up the helm to let go the reacher sheet. Saga Insurance swung round downwind. I started to roll up the reacher but the furler twisted on itself and jammed. “I now had half a reacher out of control, and bashing itself to pieces, and a main that needed to be reduced. I reactivated the autopilot and went forward to try and roll up the rest of the reacher and that was when the Chinese gybe occurred. I have to say I expected to look aloft and see the worst and there it was. The mainsail had swung back and hit the runners and broken every single batten, some in 3 places. It took another 40 minutes to get the reacher under control and below decks. I had to do it in little stages as if I let too much halyard go the sail just dropped into the water or pulled out ahead out of reach. It took a further hour to sort out the mess on deck and then I started on the mainsail. Its now down to 2 reefs, but that involved having to cut away the lazy jacks which were caught round an extended batten. I have two bits of the lowest batten below now, but need to get the other bit out which won't be easy, and then work my way up the sail. This is going to take at least 2 days, possibly 3. So I lose even more time.” -- Race website: http://www.velux5oceans.com * Route du Rhum race, the 3,500-mile solo race for multi-hulls and monohulls from France to Guadeloupe, is now in its third week with most of the multi-hull fleets finished, and with the monhulls entries between 200-1300 miles to the finish. For some classes, the saying “to finish first, first you must finish” rings true, with podium finishes available for those that can manage to reach the finish line. -- http://www.routedurhum.org SAILING SHORTS * Photographer Glennon Stratton provided Scuttlebutt with images from the West Coast College Fall Championship last weekend in Santa Barbara, CA, where 30+ knot winds provided for a high incident rate for this ocean event. Don’t miss the sequence shots of a team going from tight reaching to death-roll: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/1113 * The deadline for submitting nominations for US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards is November 30, 2006. Details at http://www.ussailing.org/awards/rolex * Who are the fifteen members of the Morning Light project that will comprise the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac? The team website now has additional information about the final candidates selected to be apart of this a real-life adventure feature film recorded during next year's 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. As an added bonus to Key West Race Week entries, the Morning Light team members are eager to sign-up for crew jobs (see details in the Press Release section of their website). - http://tinyurl.com/yxwwkr ON THE FORUMS Some of the topics that are seeking comments on the Scuttlebutt Forums are: * SF Bay as AC Venue? * Wylie Wabbit vs. J/24 * Pre-race exercise at KWRW 2007 * Lessons from messing around in boats * Olympic Team Approach View Forums at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum MAN OVERBOARD! Racing to Hawaii in July? Cruising closer to home? Whatever your challenge, your crew deserves SeaMarshall fully automatic rescue beacons. Matched with the new SarFinder homing receiver, you have the absolute best man-overboard locating system available. Now used by the UK Coast Guard. For information: Chip Barber - mailto:admin@chbarber.com; http://www.chbarber.com/seamarshall.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forums. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Morgan Larson: The Monterey Bay sailing community won't be the same without Harvey Kilpatrick. The one thing Harvey would want most is for us all to get more involved in helping young kids go sailing. That is what he spent his life doing and I was one of those fortunate kids that Harvery pushed along. He was a standout yachtsman who set Transpac records, won almost every ocean race on the west coast and founded (along with Lee Smith) the November Cup. Harvey was one of the few true "corinthian" sailors. So, in Harvey's memory let's all do something to better "youth" sailing in the coming year. Go Harvey! * From J. Mark Sims: I have tried to pen a few words that would somehow sum up my feelings in regard to Harvey Kilpatrick’s passing, but I have failed. Can I simply say, ”ah crud!” Harvey, when I knew him in the Monterey Bay racing scene during the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s was a man of tremendous wit and good cheer. Unknown to many, Harvey was part of the legendary Merlin crew of Bill Lee’s who shattered the Transpac record in 1977 and held it firm for over 20 years. Harvey was always very modest about this achievement, claiming he was nothing more than the cook. As a young college sailor at the time, I was very impressed with Harvey’s self-depreciation, in lieu of an achievement I thought so lofty. I see now that I was too serious, and why Harvey laughed then, and is probably laughing now. Sail on friend. * From Jeff Martin: In 'butt 2222 Ralph Taylor infers that ISAF should recognize amateur sailing when he comments on a few limited remarks from the ISAF President. Whilst not headline grabbing a quick check on the ISAF web site (www.sailing .org) will reveal that over 30 committees, working parties and forums meet and work during the ISAF conference. The majority of these are concerned with amateur sailing. To name a few - Youth and Development, Youth World Championship and Regional Games are all about encouraging more people and countries into our sport at all levels. None of these are headline grabbing especially the most recent initiative of ISAF - "Connect to Sailing". This programme seeks to link industry, schools and community projects around the world to promote the growth of programmes to introduce young people to our sport. It is probably one of the most successful initiatives introduced by ISAF and has the strong support of the President. * From Brian Raney: World Cup? More like "European Cup"! Two thirds of the events are in Europe. Only one each in NA (no CORK?) and Australia. None in Asia, SA, or Africa. * From Mark Eustis: Some years ago, I was on a standing on dock in Newport, RI after a good day on the water, taking in the sights. Dorade was alongside, lovely as ever. Some guy walks by, looking nautical in his TopSliders, Breton reds, Mt. Goofy hat and a starched, logo-embroidered shirt. He turns to his lissome companion and says…”What sort of idiot would name a boat after a deck vent?” CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION It's best to stop talking once you've said all you know. Special thanks to Doyle Sailmakers, Harken Yacht Equipment, and C.H. Barber. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
