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SCUTTLEBUTT 2851 - Tuesday, May 26, 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are North Sails, Summit Yachts, and BIC Sport North America. ERICSSON 4 GRABS FOURTH LEG WIN Ericsson 4 took line honors early Sunday of Volvo Ocean Race leg seven from Boston, MA to Galway, Ireland, completing the leg in 7 days, 10 hours, 33 minutes and 51 seconds. A huge and very excited crowd was on the dockside, principally waiting to celebrate the arrival of Green Dragon, their hometown boat, but Ericsson 4 benefitted from a raucous welcome as they drew alongside. The North Atlantic threw everything it could at the seven-strong fleet, which reveled in the fast downwind conditions. Many of the crews have declared the sailing on this leg as the best they have ever experienced and there was plenty to contend with. Thick fog, a myriad of lobster pots followed by a whale exclusion zone, a scoring gate - which Ericsson 4 rounded in third place - and an ice exclusion zone to negotiate all added to the mix before the high-speed drag race to the finish. Reflecting on Ericsson 4’s leg, Grael said, “The beginning was tough. There was a big decision once we realised we couldn't get the first two positions at the gate, so we positioned ourselves for the rest of the leg. Then when we got this big front, we split from the fleet, which worked out well, but it was risky and it was a rough ride in. It's always a matter of risk against return. If you think it's worth running the risk, you take it. That's the game. We were conservative at times on this leg but took some big risks as well.” On their second place finish, skipper Kenny Read said, “This is as good as it gets. That was some of the best sailing we've ever done in our whole lives. To come back after breaking the rudder like that. This crew is unbelievable. It's almost like we thrive on adversity. We don't know how to be normal.” Commenting on their hometown welcome, Green Dragon skipper Ian Walker said, “I'm flabbergasted. The number of people, the number of boats. There must have been 500 boats out there. All at four in the morning. Some of them in little RIBs 30 miles offshore, shouting us on. Is the whole town here? Did anyone stay in bed tonight?” -- Excerpts from event website * VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Began Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Teams began the 2,550 nm transatlantic Leg 7 from Boston to Galway, Ireland on May 16th. The next event will be the sixth In-Port race in Galway on Saturday, May 30th, with Leg 8 from Galway to Marstrand, Sweden (950 miles) to start on Saturday, June 6th and expected to finish by June 10th. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/schedule/ Finishing order: 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, Finished May 24, 00:54:22 GMT 2. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, Finished May 24, 02:19:56 GMT 3. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, Finished May 24, 02:31:18 GMT 4. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, Finished May 24, 02:42:25 GMT 5. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, Finished May 24, 03:39:58 GMT 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Finished May 24, 03:58:02 GMT 7. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, Finished May 24, 05:58:59 GMT Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, Did Not Start Finish photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0525/ Currents standings: 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 92 points 2. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 77.5 points 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 76 points 4. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 60 points 5. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 52 points 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 36 points 7. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 29.5 points 8. Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, 10.5 points Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 TUNNICLIFFE TOPS BARKOW IN FINALS Newport, RI (May 23, 2009) - Newport, RI (May 23, 2009) - The final day of the New York Yacht Club Women’s Match Racing Clinic & Regatta brought lighter and shiftier northeasterly winds and a variety of current conditions that challenged the sailors in the semi-finals and finals. Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow started the morning by closing out their semi-final series with their third straight wins over Lotte Pedersen and Genny Tulloch, respectively, to move into a much-awaited finals match-up. Barkow started strong in the best-of-five finals with two convincing wins, controlling the side of the course with less current in both races. Tunnicliffe rallied back with a decisive win in the third race. In the fourth race, Barkow pushed Tunnicliffe over the line early and opened up a commanding lead. However, on the first run, she ran out breeze and Tunnicliffe brought up a new breezeline to close the gap and just get an inside overlap at the leeward mark and stole a comeback win. In the final race, the two were side by side around the first lap before Barkow was penalized for gybing too close at the end of the run. She was able to take her penalty and round right behind Tunnicliffe, but wasn’t able to pass, and Tunnicliffe went on to win the finals by a 3-2 score. -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7523 NORTH CLIENTS DOMINATE SEATTLE NOOD North Sails clients won eight classes at the Sperry Top-Sider Seattle NOOD Regatta from May 15-17. “It was a well-attended event and we would like to congratulate everyone on a fun and successful weekend,” said Jack Christiansen, owner of North’s Seattle loft. Special congratulations to class winners: Andy Parker (6 Metre ‘Finnegan’); Carl Sutter (Etchells, ‘Sutter’s Gold’); Harry Dursch (J/24, ‘Self Abuse’); Dan Kaseler (Melges 24, ‘pTeron’); Joe Williams (Melges 20, ‘Habit’); Evert Slijper (Santana 20, ‘Bob’); Terry Lettenmaier, (Thistle ‘USA-3922’); Stacey Wilson (Deception Mini 12, ‘Three Stooges’). When performance matters, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com IF I WERE PRESIDENT OF US SAILING… During the US SAILING Board of Director’s meeting in April 2009, Director Gary Jobson noted how touched he has been by the support many have given him since the announcement of his nomination to be the next President of the Association. However, he wanted to remind all that the Association, just like our country, has only one President at a time, and that the current President is Jim Capron. However, as he prepares for his term to begin in October, Jobson is meeting with each member of the Board of Directors in person, as a part of his fact-finding approach so that he may hit the ground running after the election. But what about sitting down with the ‘buttheads too? Gary told us he would welcome the input from the Scuttlebutt community, so here is our chance. Also, to help motivate us, OceanRacing.com has donated three Optimum Watches to be raffled off to everyone that submits their input. So here is the format… fill in the blank: "If I were president of US SAILING, I would______________________________." Raffle will be held June 1, 2009 (noon PT). All responses must be posted on the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7506 WOMEN’S COLLEGE NATIONALS San Francisco, CA (May 25, 2009) - As if by design, the infamous San Francisco fog retreated to reveal blue skies this morning to begin the 2009 Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) Women’s Championship Semi-Finals. The breeze ranged between 8-26 knots over the course of the day, reaching its peak during the fourth race in A-Division where a glance at the scoreline with three DNFs (Did Not Finish) and one DNS (Did Not Sail) are indicative of the numerous capsizes on the course when things really got challenging. At press time, Boston College leads with two races left to sail by A Division to complete a series of seven for each division. Once the Semi-Final series is complete, the top nine finishers will move on to race against the nine teams that had a bye for this round: College of Charleston (Charleston, S.C.), Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.), St. Mary’s College (St. Mary’s City, Md.), Stanford University (Palo Alto, Calif.), Texas A&M Galveston (Galveston, Texas), University of Wisconsin (Madison, Wisc.), Western Washington University (Bellingham, Wash.), William Smith College (Geneva, N.Y.) and Yale University (New Haven, Conn.). -- http://www.collegesailing.org/nas/spring09 Kattack tracking: http://americanregatta.com/regattas/2009/icsa SailGroove video: http://www.sailgroove.org/sc/icsa2009spring HERE THEY COME (May 25, 2009) - More than 30 competitors in OSTAR 2009 departed from Plymouth today on their 2,800 mile Atlantic crossing to Newport, Rhode Island, USA. The OSTAR, run exclusively by the Royal Western Yacht Club since its inception in 1960, is the original single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race. This event, which is the oldest solo ocean race in history and Corinthian in nature, is primarily for amateur sailors and aspiring professionals and follows in the tradition of the original ‘half crown’ bet between Blondie Haslar and Francis Chichester. The OSTAR 2009 will be the thirteenth edition of the race and follows the traditional route from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island. After months of preparation and anticipation the skippers, ranging in age from 18 years to 68, will now face strong, prevailing winds, an adverse Gulf Stream, hazardous icebergs (south of the Sea of Labrador) and dense fog as they each battle to reach their destination. With international competitors from Austria, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, the USA and the United Kingdom, the whole world will be watching their progress. -- Full report: http://www.ostar2009.co.uk/newsFull.php?id=17&start=0 A STAR IS BORN Summit 35, Hull #1 has just emerged from the mold and so begins the birth of the new high performance Racer/Cruiser from Summit Yachts. The flag blue hull carries the lines of a Mark Mills design, and promises to be as fast as it is beautiful. We remain on schedule for the boat to premier at the fall boat shows. Look for the new Summit 35’s in January at Key West Race Week. -- http://www.summit-yachts.com THE UNIFICATION OF KITEBOARDING (May 25, 2009) - The International Kiteboarding Association (IKA) and the Professional Kiteboard Riders Association (PKRA) have announced to enter a cooperation with immediate effect. As a result, the PKRA will be bidding farewell to the International Surfing Association (ISA) which sanctioned previous PKRA events. Executive Secretary Markus Schwendtner said, that “we are happy that we have overcome our differences and that we have achieved our goal now to unite international competition kiteboarding under one umbrella. This enables us to develop kiteboarding with the help and input from all interested parties.” The PKRA will be governed now by the International Sailing Federations (ISAF) Racing Rules of Sailing and have their world tour included in the unified IKA world rankings, while the IKA agreed to give more influence to the riders regarding the development of rules and judging guidelines, to further unify and develop the sport of kiteboarding. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/oop6f6 KEDGING THROUGH HISTORY By Erica Haybron My grandfather once wrote a short story about a sailing trip. He had taken my grandmother out for a sail on Mosquito Lake, a narrow lake in eastern Ohio. On that day, with boats moored on either side of the dock and a moderate wind, it was necessary to use the outboard. When the engine did not start my grandfather proposed to kedge out. Kedging is a process in which a light anchor is flung as far as possible, the boat is pulled along the line; the anchor is hoisted up, and flung again. Now, as Mosquito Lake was, in fact, a lake, you can imagine there being a murky bottom, and when my grandfather flung the anchor into the air, some of the muck came with it! (To my grandmother’s chagrin) (Haybron). Now, I mention this story, and kedging, because this is what I intend to do with my paper. Because I don’t have a “motor” or means to tell you the whole history of sailing into modern day racing, I am going to “kedge out.” By this, I mean that I am going to throw my anchor out into the murky bottom of sailing history, fling some sludge of knowledge over you, and repeat! -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0425 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I am not sure how many papers get written each year on the history of sailing. This one was written by Erica, where she chose this subject to fulfill a graduation requirement from high school… and she is only a sophomore! Erica’s fine work gives me hope that the next generation of texting young people may still know how to properly write something with more than 140 characters. IS GGYC SWINGING FOR THE FENCES Golden Gate Yacht Club would seem to have made a rare error in their almost two year long battle with the America's Cup Defender, Societe Nautique de Geneve. In their letter to the Defender, dated 20 May 2009, GGYC stated: 'We assert that the Deed does not permit you to race a two-masted yacht, given that our Challenge Certificate describes a single-masted yacht.' It is widely believed that the Defender is indeed intending to respond with a multihull yacht of the maximum dimensions permitted under the Deed of Gift. Those are for a yacht that is two masted and 115ft on the Load Water Line. The craft nominated in the Notice of Challenge by GGYC, was for a 90ft LWL yacht with a single mast. It is believed that the logic behind GGYC's assertion in their letter stems from the wording in the Deed of Gift which states: 'The competing yachts or vessels, if of one mast, shall be not less than forty-four feet nor more than ninety feet on the load water-line; if of more than one mast they shall be not less than eighty feet nor more than one hundred and fifteen feet on the load water-line.' GGYC believe that because the Deed talks about yachts in a plural sense, that by definition because they have nominated a single masted yacht as their challenger, then SNG must match her with a single masted yacht - meaning that her length would be restricted to 90ft LWL. -- Sail World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/r5zsly JUNIOR PROGRAMS CAN’T ATTRACT KIDS WITH JUST RACING When the Stonington YC Sailing Foundation wanted to excite kids, they knew racing would turn on only certain types. So they went for fleets of O’Pen BICs and Techno 293 windsurfers. Modern boats that are affordable, durable, & cover lots of kids. Most importantly, they’re just flat out FUN TO SAIL! mailto:info@BicSportNA.com SAILING SHORTS * Redwood City, CA (May 24, 2009) -The top twelve high schools amongst the seven Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) districts met May 22-24 for the ISSA High School National Team Race Championship for the Toby Baker Trophy. After a single round robin, Newport Harbor HS, Point Loma HS, St. Georges, and Antilles HS advanced to the championship round. After a double round robin, NHHS and PLHS finished with identical W-L records, with NHHS winning on the tiebreaker. -- Final results: http://www.pcisa.org/Baker2009Results.htm * The holiday weekend had Southern California small boat sailors flock to Alamitos Bay Yacht Club for their annual Memorial Day regatta, where 137 entrants competed in 16 classes. Winning the largest dinghy class was Judge Ryan, where he dominated the 20-boat Sabot A group. -- Event website: http://www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=333 * The 64th annual Block Island Race, which travels 185 nm from Stamford, CT down Long Island Sound, around Block Island, RI, and back to Stamford, had sixty entrants participating in 8 classes. Among the winners were Tom Hill’s Titan 12 with the best correct time (IRC Fleet) and Richard Royce’s Patience with the best corrected time PHRF. -- Complete results: http://www.stormtrysail.org/Pages/2009-BI-Race/2009-BI-Race.html * Despite some added entry complications from the USCG for safety reasons, the San Francisco YC and the Monterey Peninsula YC hosted 52 entrants in another successful Spinnaker Cup race this year. Starting on May 22nd, this was the Twelfth running of an annual 90 mile offshore race from SF Bay to the south end of Monterey Bay. Overall winner was Chip Megeath’s Reichel Pugh 45 Criminal Mischief. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7553 * A Sportboat Demo Weekend will be held at Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club in Montrose Harbor, Chicago on June 12-14. Among the boats available to try out will be the Melges 20, Laser SB3, and Viper 640. Complete details at http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7550 * The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the ratification of a new World Record by Franck Cammas and his crew on the 105-foot maxi trimaran Groupama 3, which established a new 458 mile Mediterranean crossing record (Marseilles, France to Carthage, Tunisia) on May 15-16, beating the previous record set by Bruno Peyron aboard the catamaran Orange II on September 25, 2004 by over 48 minutes. Groupama 3 set a time of 17 hours 08 minutes and 23 seconds for an average speed of 26.4 knots. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * Les Sables , France (May 23, 2009) - The 2008-2009 Vendée Globe skippers climbed one after the other onto the huge podium erected on the beach for the official prize-giving ceremony for this sixth Vendée Globe. No fewer than 120,000 people turned up for this show that was entirely free and packed with emotion. One final opportunity to applaud the sailors, but also an occasion to look back at this historic race. During the evening, the date of the start of the next Vendée Globe was revealed. It will begin on 21st October 2012. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/pcz7dp CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Marco Cenzatti: It is really fascinating. It is not sailing, but it is an engrossing chess game. It did look like BMW Oracle had the chess-mate in few moves, but Alinghi had a brilliant countermove: Oracle did manage to shorten the preparation time available to Alinghi by getting the court-ordered February 2010 date. But, with the next move, Alinghi made the time available to BOR even shorter, by claiming that they can choose any sailing location in the world! How can Oracle prepare — or even build ant tune the right boat, until they know the weather/wind conditions of the location of the regatta? And this won’t happen until next August. I am excitedly waiting for Oracle’s next move! * From Gene Hinkel: Peter Harken (in Scuttlebutt 2848) has it right from what I have seen at World Championships for Paralympic inclined sailors. Without the sponsors it would be difficult if not impossible to hold events of this nature. I had the honor of being the TD for the IFDS 2007 Worlds at the Rochester Yacht Club and know Tom Roth and mainly Keith Burhans worked hard to get donations. It was a great success and thanks to Harken for support in all the Disabled Events and sailors like John Ruf. I also thank Neil Harvey and Neil Evans for their support and help in my developing adaptive aids. In Europe all the teams have sponsors and carry their logos on hulls, sails, and other gear. In North America we have not developed into this yet, a pity for those teams that need help. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Three old guys out for a walk: First one says, “Windy, isn't it?” Second one says, “No, it's Thursday!” Third one says, “So am I. Let's go get a beer.” Special thanks to North Sails, Summit Yachts, and BIC Sport North America. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
