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SCUTTLEBUTT 1898 - August 9, 2005
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
GOING FOR IT
He has already pulled off one surprise win against the odds. Now the chief
executive of London's successful Olympic bid is planning to do for sailing
what he did for athletics by bringing the America's Cup, the most
prestigious contest in yachting, back to Britain after a gap of more than
150 years. Keith Mills, who masterminded the bid for the 2012 Games
alongside Lord Coe, has revealed that he is putting together a British team
to challenge for the sailing trophy, thought to be the longest-running
contest in international sport. If Britain wins the race it will host the
following year's competition.
Mills said this weekend that he hoped to raise about £60m to finance the
British challenge, which will take to the water in 2009. He is leading a
group of businessmen who plan to put in about £10m and then look for
sponsors. He has already approached a number of top British sailors,
including some Olympic medal winners, with a view to signing them up as crew.
He expects to buy the equipment and support network from one of the teams
that competes in the 2007 Cup as a "starter pack" in order to assess the
scale of the challenge. He then plans to design and build a boat to take
the trophy from whoever holds it after the 2007 competition. "It's a new
challenge and we need a clean sheet of paper," he said. "We need the best
people in the world". -- Excerpts from a story by Louise Armitstead and
John Elliott, The Times, full story:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1724483,00.html
AC HALL OF FAME
Robert Fisher (United Kingdom) and Robert Mundle (Australia) have been
added to the Selection Committee America's Cup Hall of Fame. Fisher has
covered every America's Cup since 1967 for newspapers, magazines,
television, and radio, and he's currently writing a definitive history of
the event. He has also authored "The Fastnet Disaster and After" on the
tragic 1979 race. Mundle has reported on six America's Cup matches for
Australian papers and television, including live coverage of Australia II's
historic 1983 victory. Based for most of his career in Sydney, Mundle has
also written authorized biographies of two America's Cup Hall of Famers,
Sir James Hardy and Alan Bond, and he wrote the bestseller "Fatal Storm"
about the tragic 1998 Sydney-Hobart Race.
Both Mundle and Fisher are accomplished sailors with a number of world,
national and regional championships to their credit. Mundle also crewed
briefly aboard one of Hardy's 12-Meters in the early '70s, and Fisher once
won the Little America's Cup, the catamaran equivalent of the America's Cup.
The full America's Cup Hall of Fame Selection Committee is as follows: John
Burnham (Chairman). Henry H. Anderson, Jr., B. Devereux Barker, III, Bruno
Bich, Dr. William Collier, Edward I. du Moulin, Robert Fisher, Halsey C.
Herreshoff, N. G. Herreshoff, III, Frederick E. Hood, William H. Dyer
Jones, Bruce Kirby, Stanley Livingston, Jr., Elizabeth E. Meyer, Peter
Montgomery, Robert Mundle, David M. Philips, John Rousmaniere, Olin J.
Stephens, II, Bruno Troublé, William G. Winterer.
RENDERING ASSISTANCE
After reviewing the much discussed MOB incident at Block Island Race Week,
and other similar occurrences over the past year in other events, the Storm
Trysail Club has published a draft "Prescription for Rendering Assistance".
Commodore Richard duMoulin urges sailors to provide feedback regarding the
specifics of the proposal, and also opinions as to whether it should be a
"Prescription" (requirement) or a "Recommendation" (guideline).
The Preamble to the STC prescription includes the following:
1. The Racing Rules of Sailing (ISAF/US Sailing Appendix G) clearly states
that "A boat or competitor shall give all possible help to any person or
vessel in danger." This is reinforced by SOLAS Convention Chapter V
Regulation 33 also found in Appendix G.
2. Nevertheless, several events of "Man Overboard" (in some cases multiple
MOB) have occurred in the past year where nearby boats failed to render any
assistance, or rendered inadequate assistance. Fortunately no lives were
lost. The Storm Trysail Club (STC) therefore finds it necessary to clarify
its view of "rendering assistance."
3. At future events, STC will enforce this Prescription (not
Recommendation) for "Rendering Assistance." Boats and their owners (and
skippers if different) who in STC's opinion violate this Prescription will
be disqualified from the race and possibly be ejected from the series and
future STC events. STC requires every competitor to comply with this
Prescription and to protest any violations. STC also solicits suggestions
from the yachting community as to how to improve this Prescription.
The prescription outlines that distress situations include, but are not
limited to:
a) Man Overboard
b) Fire
c) Collision with serious injury or risk of sinking
d) Dismasting with serious injury, risk of sinking or immediate grounding
e) Grounding with risk of sinking
f) Crew injury or life-threatening illness
To read the entire safety prescription for rendering assistance and to
provide feedback: http://tinyurl.com/dj4lp
CODE ZERO IS HERE
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THE RICH GET RICHER
ICAP Maximus maintains her lead in the Rolex Fastnet Race and could reach
the Fastnet Rock before sunset this evening. At 1400 hours earlier this
afternoon, a helicopter pilot logged the 100-foot New Zealand Maxi as
making 10 knots boatspeed in just 6 knots of breeze. With just 65 miles to
the Rock off the south-western tip of Ireland, the boat's progress appears
to be exceeding the predictions of the navigator Mike Quilter. Without the
benefit of a helicopter's viewpoint of the Celtic Sea, the
round-the-world-race veteran could only draw his conclusions from the
weather data he was receiving, which suggested the high pressure system
could kill the breeze dead, and that ICAP Maximus would not reach the Rock
for a long time yet.
However the lightweight canting-keeled Maxi appears to be one of the few
boats enjoying any sort of useable breeze right now. This afternoon she was
seven miles ahead of Skandia Wild Thing, with the Volvo Open 70 Movistar
another half-mile behind the Aussie Maxi. Some miles further back was the
Volvo Ocean 60 ABN Amro and two Open 60s locked in a close duel that has
been going on since the Solent. The most recent update put Pindar as having
regained the lead from Sill. While the bigger boats continue to make
measurable progress, the majority of the fleet is still scattered along the
south-west coast of England, trying to eke out what speed they can from the
little breeze they can catch in their sails. -- www.regattanews.com
FOR THE RECORD
The 75-foot trimaran B&Q will leave her base on the Isle of Wight within
the next 24 hours to begin her journey to the east coast of America. B&Q
skipper, Ellen MacArthur will not be on board, leaving the responsibility
of the boat to her shore team who will sail the 2000 mile journey from
Cowes to Newfoundland. MacArthur and another shore team member Charles
Darbyshire, will then take B&Q on to New York. This will provide MacArthur
with the opportunity to sail the boat in 'solo' mode for the 1000 mile trip
from Newfoundland, putting herself and the boat through its paces for the
first time since finishing her solo round the world record. Darbyshire will
be onboard in a purely back-up/ safety role and to film Ellen sailing solo.
As the autumn weather becomes more prevalent in September/ October, it is
one of those low pressure systems that MacArthur will hope to hook into to
send B&Q across the North Atlantic is less than 6 days, 4 hours, 1 minute
and 37 seconds - the current east to west solo transatlantic record set by
French skipper, Francis Joyon, on July 6th this year on board his 90-foot
trimaran, IDEC. Once the team are established in New York, MacArthur will
be working with her weather routers, Boston-based Commanders' Weather, to
monitor the weather systems and to look for a potential 'window of
opportunity'. -- http://www.teamellen.com
'SOFT' BENCHMARK ESTABLISHED
After an agonizing trip that has tested both skipper and crew, the
Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran Geronimo has crossed the finished
line of the Tahiti Nui Challenge in the Port of Papeete, Tahiti. The maxi
multihull has now set the benchmark for the record from Sydney to Tahiti of
13 days, 08 hours, 25 minutes and 56 seconds, with this record still to be
verified by the WSSRC. Many of the miles on this trip were covered at very
low speeds due to frustrating weather conditions. At times the giant grey
trimaran was travelling at pnly three knots boats speed.
Now that Geronimo is in Tahiti she will spend some time in this south
Pacific paradise before heading to the west of the USA to attempt a number
of records in the Pacific and Asia regions. First on the list will be the
2215 mile Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpac record which is five days, nine
hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds and was set by Bruno Peyron in 1997 on
another multihull, the 26 metre Explorer. -- www.superyachting.com
NEWS BRIEFS
* Roy E. Disney has donated his maxZ86, Pyewacket, to Orange Coast College
in Southern California, and provided an endowment to cover the cost of
operation for the next few years. The boat will undergo 'keel reduction'
surgery to bring her draft from 18 to 12 feet and will have a shorter
canard and bowsprit installed. OCC plans to develop a Pyewacket sailing
team for advanced-level students, and also an introductory course for
students with intermediate experience. Pyewacket will live in front of
OCC's School of Sailing and Seamanship in Newport Beach - parked next to
Kialoa III.
* Ocean Race Chesapeake announced that Comcast has agreed to support the
Baltimore/ Annapolis stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race as a $275,000
sponsor. Baltimore will see racing crews arrive in April 2006, when teams
will spend two-and-a-half weeks in the Inner Harbor area. They will then
set sail to Annapolis, where they will spend three days before restarting
the race under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Preliminary estimates indicate
the race could generate more than $50 million directly and indirectly from
the 450,000 Baltimore Inner Harbor and Annapolis City Dock visitors,
according to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.
- www.volvooceanrace.com
* Nearly 75 volunteers will participate in the 2005 Crew-overboard Recovery
Symposium on August 9-12 on the San Francisco Bay sponsored by West Marine
and Modern Sailing Academy (MSA). The symposium - made up of amateur
sailors and powerboat operators, instructors, professional sailors, and
boating writers - will include four days of testing crew-overboard gear and
skills in sailboats and powerboats, all to help test safety equipment
features and refine recovery protocols.
* On Sunday the M/V Schippersgracht left for the Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton
Acts, filled to the deck with boats and gear for the 32nd America's Cup.
The ship will reach Malmö within a week, where the works are gearing up for
the final push to be ready to host the races in two weeks. After the
Valencia Louis Vuitton Acts in June, the competition is now moving to
Sweden, with the Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7, before heading to
Italy for the Trapani Acts, where the 2005 America's Cup racing season will
close. -- http://www.americascup.com/en
* Simon Le Bon the lead singer of pop legends Duran Duran will once again
take up the challenge to race the maxi class yacht Arnold Clark Drum in
this years Rolex Fastnet race which started Sunday. Le Bon who along with
twenty four other crew members escaped death after the yacht capsized in
bad weather off the coast of Falmouth whilst competing in the 1985 Fastnet
Race, were reunited for the first time with twenty three of the original
crew members. The reunion will mark the crew's 20th anniversary of Drum's
last attempt at the 1985 race. - Yachting Universe, full story:
http://tinyurl.com/bwd4m
* Rio de Janeiro -- Brasil 1 will complete its final preparations for the
Volvo Ocean Race in Cascais, Portugal. The boat departs for Europe on
August 13th, with the journey to Cascais expected to take approximately 20
days. This will be the first time that the 70-ft Brazilian-built sailboat
will sail non-stop for such an extended length of time. The length of this
crossing is similar to that of the racing legs in the Volvo Ocean Race. --
www.brasil1.com.br
* After two races in Laser 4.7 World Championship Regatta at Barrington
Yacht Club in Barrington, Rhode Island, eighth place Stephanie Roble -- the
recent Leiter Cup winner -- is the top female and only North American
sailor in the top 20 of this 92-boat regatta. Spain's Joaquin Blanco
Albalat leads the event followed by Brits Tom Hayes and Adam Sims. --
http://www.barringtonyc.com/2005laser4.7worlds.htm
* Paige Railey (USA) has posted a pair of bullets in the first two
qualification races of the Women's Division of the Laser Radial European
Championship in Split, Croatia. Finland's Sari Multala is just a point
further back with the USA's Anna Tunnicliffe tied for fifth. --
http://www.euroradial2005.com/
* Brazilian Robert Scheidt is still the man to beat in the Laser class.
After three races in the Laser European Championships in Murcia, Spain, he
holds a three point lead over Andreas Geritzer (AUT) with Aron Lolic (CRO)
one point further back. Andrew Campbell (USA) is the top North American in
17th place of this 129 boat regatta. -- http://www.europeanlaser2005.com/
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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. This is neither a chat room
nor a bulletin board - 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,
whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.)
* From Rodger Martin (edited to our 250-word limit): We came up with a
simple, high-tension design late in 2004 and it has developed into a
sensational display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The display or
'Yacht Sculpture' as it is called is being installed as I write. Last
Saturday the rigging supporting 'America Cubed' was pre-tensioned,
sequentially, and, at the Moment of Truth, the specially-designed
heeling-cradles that had supported the boat & heeled them to their 15
degree sailing positions were lowered. 'America Cubed,' standing 125' high
on her winged keel, and fully rigged, sailed on land in the forecourt of
this great Museum for the first time!
This coming week, she will be joined on this lawn by the yacht she won from
in the America's Cup of '92-'93, 'Il Moro De Venizia,' similarly suspended,
175 feet from the carbon-fibre support poles! 'America Cubed' & 'Il Moro Di
Venetzia' will be suspended, 'sailing,' on the lawn in front of the Museum
of Fine Arts in Boston. During the school term, about 1,500 school children
will dropped off by buses on the driveway surrounding the boats. 'Il
Moro's' stern overhangs the sidewalk in front of the Museum's main
entrance, adding to the drama of the display for passing pedestrians. The
yachts are suspended on rod rigging from distant, 45 foot-long carbon fibre
poles supported by rod-rigging, in a classical crossing-tack diorama, right
there on the front lawn of the Museum.
* From J.Paul Riou: I can only support the contributions on the lack of
reaching legs. Hugh Welbourn's words are to say the least frightening, and
raise questions on the administrators of the sport following some "experts"
away from their organizations original goal - push the development of
better boats through racing. To my experience most of cruising is
statistically reaching, we used to say that a good boat should "also" be
able to climb upwind of coast dangers. Let's hope we will not in the future
have to make huge efforts to distance travel with uncomfortable round the
cans beasts. Jeremy Walker brings back superb memories of a time when crew
handling was a must. I would add that I felt the end of it when in a Ton
Cup, after completing an "on the buoy" peel in gybe, we were soon
overpassed by a 3/4 rig who had taken 6 boat lengths to complete the manoeuver.
* From Robert T. King: I almost hesitate to admit it, but I visited the
"dark side" last weekend... after a lifetime in keelboats, I now savour the
memory of driving Jude Stoller's F25C 'Makika' during the Northwest
Multi-hull Championship on Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island, BC. Reaching at
speeds up to 25 kts in a twenty-five foot multi-hull was an absolute blast!
On a triangle, when the breeze is up, those of low stability, tender rigs,
timid spirits, or those lacking on-board assets (sail inventory,
experienced crew, or big wallets) can reach with a #2 headsail can have 60%
of the fun at a mere portion of the cost of gear failure. Reaching is an
integral part of sailing, and anything that we can do for our sport that
pumps up the adrenaline level will likely translate into increased
participation and better media coverage. Remember, "life is a reach..." My
vote: Pole forward!
* From Enrico Ferrari: Jeremy Walker's phrasing about reaching boats going
to lie down for a bit bring back many memories on bringing the boat back to
vertical. There are not too many sailors that deal with that situation
quickly and efficiently but you can certainly tell which boats they are on
by who picks up and gets going again. One can pick up a lot of lead if you
are the first one to recover. It is a pleasure to race on a boat that is
crewed well enough to take a knockdown in stride and then just get going
again without the hysterics. As a bow man, I always loved it when the
helmsman got wet on his upper body in a 'lie down'. Lord knows they always
found ways to throw enough water over the bow!
As an aging cruiser/racer I am now very interested in the new kites that
fly way up in the air replacing chutes. The loaded attachment points for
the kite to the boat do not include the mast so the lever arm for broaching
is drastically reduced. I still haven't seen one flying (although I am told
they exist) in the Seattle area but I am still seeing very entertaining
wind cells come down from the sky and bowling over multiple boats.
* From RogerVaughan: I'd say Sharon Green's photos of the Waikiki Offshore
Series in yesterday's Butt are the last word on the subject of reaching. --
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/wos/
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always depend on the support
of Paul. -- George Bernard Shaw
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