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SCUTTLEBUTT 2029 - February 13, 2006
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary,
opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
OLYMPIC SCORING -- Paul Henderson
Olympic TV and Non-Sailing Olympic Media asked for Sailing to endeavor
to change two things: 1) Have only one or two classes finish their
events on the same day so they can focus on specific classes each day.
2) Non-Sailing Media wants to cover Medal races and would Sailing ensure
that all competitors race the last race. (I think curing seasickness was
another one of the non-sailing media requests.)
Number One is easy to do and is just a matter of scheduling and medal
presentation. There were three ceremonies in Athens and there is nothing
stopping having five or six. Number two was first addressed by doing
away with drop races which aroused great controversy and was withdrawn.
The simple answer was to not allow the last race to be dropped which
would have solved 90% of the problem of having the winner sitting on the
shore for the last race. This answer would only minimally change the
sport.
The new situation has greatly impacted the sport as doubling the points
and only allowing the top ten to race moves the results in favor of a
one race, go for broke, rather than the tradition of sailing of having
the winner being consistent over many races sailed usually under
different conditions. It has proven that the new system only corrects
some of the problem caused with sailors having enough points before the
last race and not racing.
The major problem is that the new scoring system is being adopted by
many regattas. If say MORC, Hyeres, SPA or Class Worlds use the new
system then it has been shown the following could happen. Sailors come
from all over the World to compete against the best. If it is a five day
regatta and we lose one day because of wind conditions then we are down
to 4 and then if not in the top 10 the sailor is down to 3 days of
sailing against the top. It also has the result that a sailor will
gamble on what the conditions will be for the last day either light or
heavy or building breeze or falling or heavy crew or light crew or hit
the corner or push the start and on and on rather than sailing
consistently. The 49ers sailors at MORC refused to do this and all
sailors sailed all races. I trust they showed the more traditional
classes the way.
In 'my previous life' I kept trying to compare Sailing to other sports
and never could and was more and more convinced that Sailing should be
proud of its uniqueness and that we are a participatory sport run by
volunteers who take the environment as we find it. Although Olympic
Sailing was low with regard to TV ratings sailing was number five on the
internet. A few years ago the IOC "movers and shakers" ranked the sports
in order of importance to the Olympics and Sailing was placed 8 out of
28.
I am sure it obvious what I think of the new system but I am relegated
to sailing Star 6367 in Toronto Bay with some old friends and enjoying
it immensely and looking forward to the Districts as long as it on a
small pond in New Jersey. -- Paul Henderson, immediate past president,
ISAF
WHAT WENT WRONG?
(Russ Bowler of Farr Yacht Design looks at the problems on the VO70s)
Leg two of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Melbourne will go down
in ocean racing history as the leg of the failed hydraulic keel canting
rams. The rams actuate the canting keels and were all from the same
supplier. These hydraulic rams were fitted to the boats movistar,
Pirates of the Caribbean and Ericsson. There were two identical ram rod
failures and one ram end cap failure. The major lesson is the revelation
that several components in these hydraulic rams could not deliver the
safe working loads that were specified by Farr Yacht Design.
Each individual team undertook ram design and selection. One of the
challenges implicit in undertaking multiple boat design projects for the
same event is the inevitable veil of secrecy that follows delivery of
our drawings. Because Farr Yacht Design does not have contractual
relationships with the ram suppliers, designers or manufacturers, we
don't have a full and detailed understanding of where this process came
off the tracks. However it is very clear that in the future there needs
to be better coordination of these elements together with frequent
reviews early in build programs to spot anything with the potential to
go astray.
Pirates of the Caribbean had additional problems with the wet box
surrounding the canting mechanism and went through a leg of high
anxiety, superbly managed by Paul Cayard and his team. Seized keel
bearings led to cracking of non-critical structure around the keel
bearings. The bearings problem was something that plainly should not
have happened but it did, due in part to the very tight last minute
build program. New bearings and lubrication systems have been installed.
Structural reinforcements have been added just in case the keel bearings
bind up again. The boat has been surveyed, using thermo-sensing devices
and appears to be good shape. Ram components have been replaced. Paul
has offered to place accelerometers on the boat to be activated during
critical times to help us quantify the violence of the movements during
high speed slamming. -- Excerpt from a report byRuss Bowler, read the
full report:
http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2136#2136
ULLMAN SAILS LONG BEACH RACE WEEK
Ready for a gigantic hardware sail? That's S-A-I-L, as in Ullman Sails
Long Beach Race Week June 23-25, hosted by the Long Beach and Alamitos
Bay Yacht Clubs. There will be double-dipping in several one-design
classes. Besides contesting event honors, the chartered Catalina 37s
also will settle their national championship, and it will be the Pacific
Coast Championships for J/105s, Olson 30s, Schock 35s and Beneteau
36.7s, as well as a world ranking regatta for Melges 24s and a Southern
California High Point Series event for J/80s, J/105s, J/109s and J/120s.
http://www.lbrw.org
VOLVO OCEAN RACE
Thousands lined the dockside to wave goodbye to the Volvo Ocean Race
fleet as they head off on Leg Three to Wellington, before heading on to
Rio de Janeiro. This 1450 nautical mile leg to Wellington carries the
same number of leg points as the next leg from Wellington to Rio de
Janeiro in Brasil (6,700 nm), which will start this Sunday, February19,
although leg four has the addition of a scoring gate at Cape Horn. The
teams are treating this stretch to Wellington as a quick sprint and
there will be very little rest for 10-man crews until they reach New
Zealand's capital city later this week.
After the first night of racing, the six-strong Volvo Ocean Race fleet
is now charging towards Wellington. The forecasted cold front came in
and they have been screaming downwind at 21 knots of boat speed in 29
knots of breeze. Ericsson is currently the most southerly boat, with
Pirates of the Caribbean to windward. Brasil 1 has chosen a more
northerly course and movistar is positioned between the two, heading up
the fleet.
The six-boat fleet is loaded down to the gunwhales with food to last and
gear to take the teams straight through the Southern Ocean to Brazil.
Wellington will be very much a brief pit stop and no additional
equipment is permitted to be taken onboard the boats when they reach
port without incurring a two hour time penalty. --
www.volvooceanrace.org
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Sunday
1. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, 1153 miles to finish
2. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +2 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +10 miles
4. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +13 miles
5. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +14 miles
6. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +16 miles
We posted some truly great photos of this leg's start in Melbourne:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/vorl3st/
NOT A VALID PROTEST
The Ericsson Racing Team's request for redress in the Melbourne in-port
race was invalidated by the independent Jury of the Volvo Ocean Race
(VOR) because the team didn't hoist a red flag during the in-port race.
Consequently, the jury never saw the rather compelling evidence provided
by the team.
After the in-port race was finished, the Ericsson team obtained footage
from the start which was filmed onboard the Race Committee boat. This
footage includes the audio dialogue between the Race Officer and a Volvo
Ocean Race official at the time of the start. It clearly shows that the
person who called the line and was standing at the mast, only called
Brasil 1 (and did not mention Ericsson). It is the Race Officer, who was
(wrongly) standing in front of the mast, who called ABN Amro Two and
Ericsson. But once the jury ruled that Ericsson did not file a valid
protest, the hearing was over without any opportunity to present the
evidence.
YET ANOTHER RECORD FOR FOSSETT
Adventurer Steve Fossett completed the longest nonstop flight in
aviation history with an emergency landing Saturday, flying 26,389 miles
in about 76 hours but stopping early because of mechanical problems.
Ground control said Fossett, 61, broke the airplane distance record of
24,987 miles while his lightweight experimental plane was flying over
Shannon, Ireland. He then was forced to land the Virgin Atlantic Global
Flyer at Bournemouth International Airport, in southern England, instead
of at a military air strip in nearby Kent because of generator problems.
The millionaire adventurer completed his journey around the globe -- and
then some -- over 31/2 days despite losing about 750 pounds of fuel
during his takeoff Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida
because of a leak. His voyage broke the airplane distance record of
24,987 miles set in 1986 by the lightweight Voyager aircraft piloted by
Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, as well as the balloon record of 25,361
miles set by Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard in 1999. Fossett already
holds the record for flying solo around the globe in a balloon and for
being the first person to circle the globe solo in a plane without
stopping or refueling. -- AP, full story: http://tinyurl.com/7c3dk
SAIL SELECTION JUST GOT EASIER
OckamSoft 4's new Sail Plan application is the latest innovative
addition to the OckamSoft 4 software suite. View sail crossovers,
current and next-leg true and apparent wind, targets and wind statistics
- wind speed and direction changes. Sail parameters include lead
position, condition, weight, sail use timer, sail location, to-do list,
and many others. Your sail plan can be uploaded and downloaded using a
spreadsheet. And you can edit the crossovers graphically. At Ockam
Instruments, we're always working to improve and facilitate a sailor's
decision making process. Check out a sample of Sail Plan at
http://www.ockam/os4.com or contact mailto:lat@ockam.com
WAVE OF PROTEST
A Baltimore delegate yesterday threw overboard most of her bill
requiring use of life jackets on boats, after being confronted with
scores of e-mails and calls from angry boaters. About three dozen people
lined up to testify against the bill in Annapolis, but most of them
never got to speak because the bill was being gutted. Democratic Del.
Catherine E. Pugh initially called for passage of a new law that would
require all passengers on water taxis and charter boats to wear life
vests.
The bill was in response to the nationally publicized accident in the
Baltimore Inner Harbor two years ago, when a water taxi capsized killing
four people. But yesterday she drastically revised the measure to
require only that water taxi captains instruct passengers how to wear
life vests, with their use optional. "We're not requiring they put it
on," Ms. Pugh said. "We're giving them the option to wear it or not wear
it." Instead of testifying against the bill, representatives of charter
boat and fishing boat companies just stood up and thanked the committee
for changing the bill.
Del. Virginia Clagett, D-West River, said her office had been deluged
with complaints about the bill, since Anne Arundel County boasts more
than 400 miles of shoreline and thousands of boaters. "I can't even
calculate how many calls and e-mails and letters we got - and people
passing me on the street," she said after the hearing. The Capital
carried a front page story about the bill on Monday. Some people who
came to testify were miffed even though the parts of the bill they
opposed were removed.They complained that state lawmakers were trying to
overregulate them, that it was sufficient merely to keep life vests on
board boats. -- David Abrams, The Capital Online,
http://tinyurl.com/7p4vk
CHANGE OF VENUE
Due to financial constraints on behalf of the Organizing Committee,
which would have increased the entry fee for competitors, the San Diego
Yacht Club in California, USA withdrew from hosting the Volvo Youth
Sailing ISAF World Championship 2007. It has now been confirmed that the
2007 Championship will stay in North America and take place in Kingston,
Ontario, Canada from July 12-21 with a total of six races days. The
three races course will be a short ten to 15 minute sail from the
Habour, with the course lengths adjustable and all three courses within
sight of one another. With the Harbour facilities built for the Olympic
Sailing Competition, they provide all the facilities required at a
modern regatta, and the Championship will be sailed in supplied
equipment across all seven events. --
http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j62Fh/zB2
NEWS BRIEFS
* Fifteen skippers have already entered the 15th Biennial Singlehanded
Transpacific Race scheduled to start on Saturday, June 24, 2006. The
2,120 mile course runs from San Francisco Bay CA to Hanalei Bay Hawaii
and usually includes a cold and foggy beat out the Golden Gate, a long
reach around the summer Pacific High, and a run to through tropical
squalls to the finish line off Princeville, Kauai. The entry deadline is
April 15. -- www.sfbaysss.org
* Now Playing on www.t2p.tv is an interview with Lowell North - The man
who created North Sails.
* Time to put your memories of the Newport Bermuda Race to work. The
2006 race isn't until June, but Scuttlebutt Forums already has a
dedicated race forum for comments and advice, with a contest for best
race story. The event organizers have kindly contributed prizes, and
there is now a link on the race website that connects to the race forum.
Exchange information and enter the contest at
http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi
* US Sailing has added the 29er to their lineup at the 2006 U.S. Youth
Sailing Championship - June 22-29 at Grosse Point Yacht Club in Grosse
Point, Michigan. Traditionally sailed in Club 420s Lasers and Laser
Radials, the 29er is being introduced as part of US Sailing's Olympic
development program. The 29er will also be used as the doublehanded
class for the first time at the 2007 ISAF Youth Worlds, which will be
held be in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 12-21 July 2007. --
http://www.29ernorthamerican.org/
"MAN OVERBOARD!"
The best just became more affordable. SeaMarshall announces a new,
permanently mounted, direction-finding receiver, the SarFinder 1003. At
about half the price of similar man-overboard homing receivers, the
SarFinder is the perfect match for your SeaMarshall water-activated
man-overboard beacons. (Works with other brands, too!) For information:
Chip Barber, mailto:admin@chabrber.com; http://www.chbarber.com
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 thoughts at
the Scuttlebutt website:
http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi)
* From Eric Hall: Like a lot of unfair things in this world that
eventually get put right, Ben Lexcen's election to the America's Cup
Hall of Fame should be celebrated as "better late than never." So I
politely disagree with Andrew Hurst's assertion that the America's Cup
Hall of Fame is "toast." In fact, it is an intriguing operation - with
an excellent museum - that continues to grow in stature. Managing it
requires focus and (obviously) a thick skin and luckily Halsey
Herreshoff has both in abundance.
I personally sailed against Ben Lexcen (then Bob Miller) in FD's in the
late 60's and our company helped him with service work when he was in
town for the America's Cup. He was not only a great talent, but also a
great guy to be around. His typical Australian gregariousness,
self-effacing sense of humor and bent for mischief were welcome wherever
he went.
Steve Van Dyck's election is equally late in coming. Steve made a big
difference in the America's Cup for a greater number of years than most
of the other inductees and should have been in a long time ago, too. His
ability to sail, trim, and call tactics is only exceeded by his
consummate organizational skills. As all of us involved with the
Intrepid Defense in 1970 will agree, without Steve's skills on and off
the boat, the Cup might well have ended up in Australia 13 years earlier
than it did.
* From Herman Schultz: Am I missing something here? Is there some
subliminal reason why the 2006 Hall of Fame induction dinner will be
held at the Union League Club rather than New York YC? Does this
represent ongoing malaise from the old boys in the NY afterguard?
Jeepers! It was 23 years ago that The Cup sailed away on a winged keel
from its bolted down mooring on 44th Street in NYC!
* From Mike Schaumburg (re Grant Wharington's "re-entry" in the Volvo
Ocean Race): It still gets under my skin when the reply from a
competitor with an obvious unfair advantage is, "It didn't say I
couldn't in the rules." Whether it's as little as changing from wire
lifelines to Kevlar, adding equipment to an otherwise stock boat's "as
is" condition in a sail off or etching an aluminum one design mast to
save weight aloft. Most, who have been around know, but don't say
anything - hoping that someone else will protest the infraction. Sailing
is based upon "Sportsmanship and Rules" and the principal is fair play.
"Raise above your principles" is something that I would expect and
anticipate from politicians, but not from fellow sailors.
* From Jordan Murphy: While I am not opposed to the feds, I am always
amazed at those that think a PFD is a safegaurd for all that can go
wrong when on the water. I think RCs can also be unrealistic on this
front, as we all know there is so much that can go wrong, that the
decision to wear a PFD is a small part of being aware of the
complexities and risks when on the water,
* From Toby Cooper: Recalling Ted Turner's 1987 AC coverage in Perth,
Tim Patterson asks, "Was it exciting to people who did not understand .
. .maybe not." I happened to be at a completely non-sailing function in
Marin County that night, at a private home with about 20 people that
happened to include long-time sailing buddy Ray Pingree. Ray and I
quietly tuned the living room TV to Perth, figuring we would be
dismissed as NFL-type fanatics and left alone. But no, the room
gradually grew quiet and the whole group crowded around the TV as the
heavy 12's bashed around on the screen. Then the jib blew and the US
crew put on its show of sheer professional power, and the whole room was
spellbound, cheering and roaring. On the way home that night I
mistakenly concluded that a new day was dawning for the appreciation of
sailing by the non-sailing public. It was not to be. But clearly Turner
put the model out there for all to see.
* From Roger Vaughan: I like Tim Patterson's enthusiastic memories about
the TV coverage of the America's Cup in Fremantle, but his memory fails
when he thinks Ted Turner had anything to do with it. Turner's never
been involved with ESPN. In fact it was ESPN's then Senior VP, Steve
Bornstein, and Executive VP Roger Werner who led the corporate charge.
Gary Jobson and Jim Kelly were the on-camera guys, with Geoff Mason
producing, Jed Drake in the chair, and Jamie Reynolds and Steve Lawrence
(among others) pushing the buttons.
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS
"The graveyards are full of indispensable men." - Charles de Gaulle
Special thanks to Long Beach Race Week, Ockam Instruments, and CH
Barber.
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