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SCUTTLEBUTT 2752 - Monday, January 5, 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. EIGHT BELLS Paralympic Gold Medalist Nick Scandone (Fountain Valley, Calif.), 42, passed away Friday, Jan. 2, 2009 -- after a long battle with ALS, also commonly called Lou Gehrig's Disease, a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Scandone won a coveted gold medal with teammate Maureen McKinnon-Tucker (Marblehead, Mass.) in the SKUD-18 class at the 2008 Paralympic Sailing Regatta in Qingdao, China, this past summer. "The sport of sailing has lost a great competitor and the most inspirational person most of us will ever know," said Dean Brenner, Chairman of US SAILING's Olympic Sailing Program. "Words can't describe the pride so many people felt watching Nick take the last few steps towards his dream in China last summer. He was a gold medalist on and off the water, and we'll miss him dearly." Scandone beat the odds of his disease by not only being strong enough to compete at the 2008 Paralympic Games, but by winning the gold medal a day early, with two races left to go. "It's been such a long road to get [to the 2008 Games]," said Scandone after he won. "It's emotionally overwhelming for me to finally realize my goal." There were countless days filled with doubt, exhaustion and adversity, but he and McKinnon-Tucker met each challenge with incredible strength and determination. Scandone was a US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member, named US SAILING's 2008 Sportsman of the Year, nominated for US SAILING's 2008 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtsman of the Year award and winner of US SAILING's 2005 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Award. -- US SAILING, for additional information: http://olympics.ussailing.org/The_Team/Nick_Scandone.htm * Tributes by journalists Kimball Livingston and Lynn Fitzpatrick, along with a story in the Los Angeles Times, are now posted on the Scuttlebutt Forum. If you want to share your sentiments, you can add them to this thread: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6840#6840 COVILLE MAKING MAJOR RALLY ON RECORD (Jan. 4, 2009) - After an incredible week sprinting along the coast of Argentina and Uruguay, during which Thomas Coville was bordering exhaustion, exploiting every stormy squall to ultimately make up over four days on the solo, round the world record time, the 105-foot maxi-trimaran Sodeb'O is today making headway close on the wind in very, very uncomfortable conditions. The N'ly wind - force 6 to 7 with 25 to 33 knots of breeze - is picking up a short sea on the nose, which is causing both the sailor and the boat to suffer. Thomas Coville is currently etching out a 'seagull wing' shape wake as he has been making easting since yesterday in order to line himself up favourably in relation to the tradewind. Coville is now only 735 nm behind Francis Joyon's record pace, and will have to cross the finish line in Brest, France prior to 15th January, 03h27'20'' UTC to beat it. -- Full story: http://SButt0104a.notlong.com BUOY RACING IN SINGAPORE NEXT FOR VOR FLEET The next event for the Volvo Ocean Race teams will be the Singapore In-Port Race on January 10, 2009. After that, the fleet will begin Leg 4, the 2,500 nm route from Singapore to Qingdao, China, on January 18, 2009. Here is an update since the fleet finished Leg 3 from Cochin, India to Singapore: * Delta Lloyd remains on a tight schedule to repair the damage sustained to the port side bulkhead during the previous third leg that forced them to sail with the canting keel fixed in a central position. Their goal is to be ready in time for the In Port racing on January 10th. * Team Russia needs 2.1 million USD to finish the race, and will be moving the boat to Cape Town, SA to be ready to head across to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil should sufficient funding be received, or if not, then either Boston or Galway remain as options. The Rio In-Port Race begins on April 4th with the leg to Boston staring on April 11th. * Each boat was measured at the start of the race in Alicante to make sure they did not exceed the maximum 14 ton limit set down in the rules, and will be weighed again in Singapore. "All the boats except for Telefonica Blue are up against the maximum weight limit in the rule so they are all out of the water, having all the moisture sucked out of them to make them lighter, lighter, lighter," said Telefonica shore manager Campbell Field. Current standings after Leg Three 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 35 points 2. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 30.5 points 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 27.5 points 4. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Anders Lewander/SWE, 23.5 points 5. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 20.5 points 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), F. Echavarri/ESP, 19.5 points 7. Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, 10.5 points 8. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 9 points Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race replay and tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com AND THEN THERE WERE FOURTEEN (Jan. 4, 2009; Day 56) -- While leader Michel Desjoyeaux prepares to take the left turn at Cape Horn on Monday to enter the final stretch north in the Atlantic Ocean toward the finish, more attrition among the fleet follows in his wake as the 30 initial starters are now down to 14 remaining entrants: * Sébastien Josse (FRA), BT: During a snowy night on Dec. 25, with wind gusts up to 55 knots, a 10-meter capsized the boat, holding the mast on the water at around 120 degrees for a few minutes before the boat righted. As well as losing the mast-head wind instruments, there were three cracks in the coachroof of BT, a damaged bulkhead and a bent port rudder. Josse officially retired December 29, 2008 and was heading to New Zealand. * Derek Hatfield (CAN), Algimouss Spirit of Canada: On Dec. 28th, Hatfield broke his top two spreaders early in the morning when knocked flat in huge seas and gusts to 40 knots. Hatfield officially retired December 29, 2008 and was heading to Australia. * Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Paprec-Virbac 2: If JP's New Year wishes included finishing the Vendee Globe, he was immediately foiled as on the first of the year, his one remaining undamaged rudder was snatched off the stern when he struck a second semi-submerged object. Damaging the first rudder lost him the lead, and now the second time his race is over. * Jonny Malbon (GBR), Artemis: Melbon's mainsail began delaminating three weeks ago, apparently due to a problem with the adhesion between the scrim and fibres. Over the past 24 hours the sail has broken down further, and now with a one metre-long vertical tear developing as the final taffeta layer disintegrates, Melbon announced his retirement on January 4th. Sadly, this same situation is occurring for Dee Caffari (GBR) aboard Aviva, and may soon force her retirement as well. * It is now known that on Dec. 18th, Yann Eliès incurred a fractured femur, pelvis and backbone. Eliès was rescued by the Australian Navy on Dec. 20th, with members of his team planning on retrieving the boat. However, now the Generali IMOCA Open 60 is considered lost at sea some 700 miles south of Australia. While the rescue team was in transit on Friday 26th December, they were told that the distress beacon had stopped transmitting, and it was no longer possible to identify the boat's position. The weather conditions worsened and the team was forced to call off the search. Solo, non-stop, around the world race in Open 60s. Standings as of 18:30 UTC (Top 5 plus of 30 entrants; 14 now competing): 1. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), Foncia, 7154.7 nm Distance to finish 2. Roland Jourdain (FRA), Veolia Environnement, 86.2 nm Distance to leader 3. Jean Le Cam (FRA), VM Matériaux, 473.1 nm DTL 4. Vincent Riou (FRA), PRB, 705.2 nm DTL 5. Armel Le Cléac´h (FRA), Brit Air, 734.4 nm DTL 6. Samantha Davies (GBR), Roxy, 2069.3 nm DTL 9. Dee Caffari (GBR), Aviva, 2920.8 nm DTL 12. Rich Wilson (USA), Great American III, 4797.0 nm DTL Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART The 64th Rolex Sydney Hobart was a milestone event with a high-quality fleet of 100 boats including eleven overseas entries, an unexpectedly close line honours battle at the head of the fleet between the maxis Wild Oats XI and Skandia and four of the sensationally fast downwind TP52s filling the first four placings overall on handicap. All but seven entries finished the 628 nm race, chief among them being Georgia, the Farr 53 owned by John Williams/Graeme Ainley, which sank on the first night when the rudderstock pulled out in a collision with an underwater object. Bob Oatley's canting-keeled design Reichel/Pugh 98 Wild Oats XI took line honours (elapsed time: 01:20:34:14) for a record fourth-successive year after trailing Grant Wharington's Don Jones-designed canting-keeled Skandia for most of the race. While the two maxis slowed in lighter winds along the Tasmanian coast to be denied the course record, the TP52s hardly faltered and finished within five hours of them. Bob Steel's Quest (TP 52) won the race's major trophy - the Tattersall's Cup for the overall winner on IRC corrected time. -- Event website: http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com * Among the feel good stories of the race was the return of Ragtime. Originally known as "Infidel", she was designed in 1965 by John Spenser in New Zealand, but was effectively pushed out of racing in the Southern Hemisphere by 1970 due to her radical lightweight design. She was never allowed to participate in the Sydney Hobart race. until now, and she successfully turned back 43 years of history by winning her class. Enjoy owner Chris Welsh's account of the experience: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0101/ FINAL COUNTDOWN FOR WINTER CLASSIC Sunshine and warm breezes will greet a tough international field representing 14 countries as they head for the race course on January 19th for the 22nd edition of this winter classic, Acura Key West 2009 presented by Nautica. Three-time Farr 40 World Champion Mascalzone Latino, Melges 32 Gold Cup Champion New Wave, Melges 24 World Champion Uka Uka Racing are just a few of the marquee programs on the scratch sheet. IRC boats are stronger in number than IN 2008 with new designs and international favorites lining up. IRC 1 will have four TP52s, all with strong finishes and international experience. IRC 2 debuts the new Mills 43 Cool Breeze, features three King 40s (Sailing World's Boat of the Year), and three Santa Cruz 37s (SAIL Magazine's Best Performance Boat for 2009). Add in the hot Elan 450 from Switzerland, an AC 40 and this is has the makings of one exciting class. -- Full update: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0105/ OPPINIONS FLY IN AMERICA'S CUP DEBACLE With the fate of America's Cup currently in the hands of the New York Court of Appeals, the final hearing will be held in that Court on February 10, 2009 with a decision expected in late March 2009 or early April 2009. Here is some recent action in the case: * Five additional challengers have joined the Amicus Curiae Brief in support of the Société Nautique de Genève, including two 32nd AC Challengers, which makes a total of 10 challengers (On the 13 of November Team French Spirit, Team Shosholoza, Green Comm Challenge, Argo Challenge and Ayre Challenge as well as the city of Valencia filed an Amicus Curiae Brief). The five additional teams are K-Challenge, Deutscher Challenger Yacht Club, Dabliu Sail Project, Italia, and Russian Challenge. -- http://SButt0104b.notlong.com * A scathing letter was sent from Vincenzo Onorato, owner of the Mascalzone Latino team, to Alinghi owner Ernesto Bertarelli, wherein Onorato was critical of how his entry in the America's Cup has been highly scrutinized despite his past participation, while so many new teams have been readily received. -- Read letter: http://ML-letter.notlong.com * New York YC and San Diego YC have filed separate Amicus Curiae (friend of the court) briefs to the Court of Appeals State of New York, agreeing with the BMW Oracle Racing team that the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela (CNEV), which is the club chosen by Alinghi as the Challenger of Record, does not satisfy the criteria set forth in the Deed of Gift for yacht clubs that may challenge for the America's Cup. NYYC report: http://NYYC-brief.notlong.com SDYC report: http://www.sdyc.org/pdf/amici_brief_letter.pdf WHEN HOLIDAYS INCLUDE A TRIP TO MIAMI Miami, FL - With wind ranging from 6 to 15 knots, over 80 degree temperatures, blue skies overhead and 675 sailors, it was a fun four days (Dec. 27-30, 2008) of racing in Miami's Biscayne Bay. Sailors competed from 23 nations and 34 states but all quickly learned that you "have fun" at the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta. After the sailing, there were parties, the pool, tag football, College Sailing Night (with 26 coaches) and the traditional silver bowl filled with Oranges. The top winners were from Florida, Spain, New York/New Jersey and Brazil but the real winners were the younger sailors who "caught the sailing bug". Hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club and assisted by the US Sailing Center and Biscayne Bay Yacht Club, racing was held in Optimists, 420's, Lasers, Laser Radials, and Laser 4.7s. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6834#6834 SAILING SHORTS * An aristocratic French executive and champion yachtsman who hobnobbed with royalty apparently committed suicide after losing $1.4 billion loss to swindler Bernie Madoff. Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet - grief-stricken after becoming one of the top 10 losers in the reportedly $50 billion Ponzi scheme - slashed both wrists with a boxcutter and bled to death. De La Villehuchet was a devoted yachtsman, an avid competitor who had won the Shields Class national yacht championship four years in a row and was also active in the Star class. -- Complete story: http://SButt0104c.notlong.com * The Macquarie Speed Sailing Team announced that they were seeking ratification of a new World Sailing Speed Record, thereby claiming the title of the world's fastest sailing boat. In only 17 knot winds, their Lindsay Cunningham designed craft, Macquarie Innovation, was timed over the 500m qualifying course at 48.57 knots and recorded speeds in excess of 51 knots during the 20 second run. It is expected that the final ratified speed will be reduced to 48.15 knots due to tidal influences experienced on the course. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0104 * Long Beach, CA (Jan. 4, 2009) - Boston College's supremacy in college sailing resurfaced in the 24th annual Rose Bowl Regatta Sunday, and this win was special. "It was redemption for us," said Lauren Gillooly, a senior from Long Island, N.Y. who crewed for Tyler Sinks of San Diego on the Screaming Eagles' A boat. BC thought it had won last year's event until, after the sailing was done, they lost a protest by Stanford that popped St. Mary's of Maryland to the top. This year the significant protests involved contenders in the high school Gold division, which were ongoing as the time of this publication. - Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6844 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 Paul Cayard: I emceed Mik Beatie's memorial on Jan 1, 2009. Mik was Hogan Beatie's dad, Golden Gate Ferry Captain in SF for 31 years, second dad to Morgan Larson and a big figure in west coast sailing since '64. This guy was truly a good man and will be missed by many. The day went great and there were about 300 people there. The event was held at the Presidio Yacht Club which is at Fort Baker just inside the north tower of the GG Bridge. It is a low key place..a Mik kind of place. I had written the speech but did not read it as I wanted to be more of a facilitator, getting guys like Hank Easom and Skip Elliott up there to talk. However, after his wife Suzie read it, she was sad that I did not share it with everyone. She suggested I send it to Scuttlebutt. So here it is: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6839#6839 * From Mark Ivey: I would like to give my utmost respect to Chris Welsh for leading Ragtime and her crew all the way from LA via Tahiti, cruising the South Pacific, returning to birth place in New Zealand and finally crossing the finish line in Hobart. The legacy of this yacht is amazing and should be passed on to all fans of sailing. Chris has dedicated himself to achieve his dream to get Ragtime to compete in the Race it was banned from in mid 1960's. Sailing out of Sydney Heads along the coast, standing by for May Day call for fellow yacht Georgia - only four miles away, and finally crossing the finish line in Hobart must have brought emotion to Chris and crew. US crew members in addition to Chris include: John Jourdane, who I am told is set to make his 50th Pacific crossing this summer in the 2009 Transpac and was married onboard Ragtime, Genny Tulloch, Morning Light star and 2012 Olympic hopeful in Women's Match Racing, and Devin Vaughn, boat captain who has been with the Ragtime every step of the journey since it left the dock in Long Beach, CA and has yet to return to the US. This is a very bright story for sailing in our country. * From Skip Allan, historian, Capitola Yacht Club: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 2751) James Marta's recollection of winning class B in '73 Transpac on Scaramouche is in error. Class B was won that year by the red hulled, Mull 42, Improbable. Likely, Marta remembers his ride on Scaramouche in the '77 Transpac. * From Richard Hinterhoeller: I would like to respectfully disagree with Peter Bowker (Scuttlebutt 2750) on his view that Time on Distance (ToD) is a fairer system than Time on Time (ToT). In particular, I'd like to take exception to the statement "Under ToT the smaller boats are always favored, for with the fleet barely moving, that ToT meter is still ticking." The word "always" leads one to believe that in 100% of races scored under ToT the small boat is favored. Since the late 1970's, I have scored and analyzed handicap races (all were in North America, most in the Great Lakes and the balance on the Eastern Seaboard).Under the more recently used ToT, I've seen races statistically biased in favor of smaller boats 10% to 25% of the time, depending upon the nature of the race. The remaining 75% and 90% of the races favor the larger boats. By comparison, under ToD, it tends to be 2% to 5% in favor of smaller boats, thus 95% to 98% in favor of the larger boats. These numbers suggest that ToT usually favours larger boats, but comes very close to suggesting that ToD always favors the larger boats. We're nowhere near seeing a general bias in favor of smaller boats, let alone "always". * From Susan Epstein, Grading Secretary, US Sailing Match Race Committee: Although the Key West Match Race is the first and only ISAF Grade 3 Open Event in January, it actually is not "the first match racing event in North America for 2009", as was announced in Scuttlebutt #2750. There are six match racing events scheduled in January - three Open and three Women's: 1) San Diego Yacht Club Match Race - Winter #1, Jan. 4 - Grade 5 2) Women's Collegiate Match Race & Clinic, Lake Baldwin Florida Community Sailing Club, Jan 17-18 - Grade 5 3) Butler Cup, Long Beach Yacht Club, Jan 17-19 - Grade 5 4) Women's Match Race, Lake Baldwin Florida C.S.C., Jan 23-25 - Grade 4a 5) Key West Match Race, Jan 24-25 - Grade 3 6) Rolex Miami OCR (Women's event), Jan 25-31 There is to date a total of fifteen USA match racing events on the 2009 ISAF Calendar, and it appears that the 2008 total of thirty-seven events will be easily topped in the New Year. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION You might be a sailing bum if one of your big daily decisions is which sailmaker's belt you will wear. Special thanks to all the Scuttlebutt sponsors. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
