|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1967 -- November 15, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.OPTIONS While the four boats still racing in the Volvo Ocean Race continued south in the Atlantic on their third day at sea, the three that were forced to leave the course after suffering damage during the first 24 hours were assessing their options last night. The biggest challenge appears to face Bouwe Bekking's Movistar, which fell off a wave, smashing its main bulkhead and the structure around the top of the swing keel. This is a serious structural failure and Bekking was concerned that his team may not be able to repair it in time to make the start of the second offshore leg from Cape Town on January 2. After docking in Portimão, Portugal, Bekking set out his options. "Stick the boat on a truck and drive it to the nearest port for shipping to Cape Town," he said, "or do the repairs locally, which means flying in a big building team and carries the danger of not making it in time to Cape Town." Paul Cayard, on The Black Pearl, has reached Cascais, also in Portugal, where the damage to the boat's keel controls was being assessed. The third boat to seek port was the Australian entry, Sunergy, which was on its way to Madeira where the crew planned a quick pitstop to repair the broken gooseneck. -- Edward Gorman, Times on Line, full story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-1872169,00.html * Ericsson had an issue with a sail and a halyard, and had been sailing since with the debris hanging off the appendages. It was only at lunchtime Monday that the conditions were judged safe enough to stop the boat and put the swimmers in the water to resolve the problem. Crewmembers Jason Carrington (GBR) and Richard Mason (NZL) took to the water to cut away ropes from the keel and rudder, and Ericsson is now sailing along nicely at 19 knots of boat speed. * In the 32-year history of the Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race, no boat has ever exceeded 500 nautical miles in 24 hours whilst racing. Until Sunday that is, when a day and a half after race start, Sébastien Josse and the crew of ABN Amro Two put down an impressive new record of 504 miles, equating to an average speed of exactly 21 knots. The previous record was held by last race winners, illbruck, who set a distance of 480 miles on a fast passage across the Atlantic. ABN Amro Two's 500 miles is just a touch short of the all-out sailing record of 535 miles, set by Movistar earlier this year during a delivery trip. Monday, 2200 GMT Position Report: 1. Brasil 1, 5523 miles to finish 2. ABN Amro One, +1 miles 3. ABN Amro Two, +8 miles 4. Ericsson Racing Team, +18 miles 5. Sunergy and Friends, +286 miles 6. Movistar, +634 miles 7. Pirates of the Caribbean, +690 miles Event website: www.volvooceanrace.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE "It is probably a blessing in disguise that these problems have happened early in the race and not in the inhospitable Southern Ocean thousands of miles from land." -- Glenn Bourke, Volvo Ocean Race CEO ANALYSIS (As the crew of the damaged V0 70 Movistar was limping to the South Portuguese coast they had time to look at the performance of the other VO 70s and have formed some conclusions.) We have been following the results of the other boats. It seems like that the Farr boats are doing just fine. Our feeling was always that if we could hang on to the ABN boats in big breeze, we would be able to sail past them in the medium-light conditions. As you can see already now having a spinnaker pole is nice, you can run more efficient. Brasil 1 and Ericsson have gained lots of miles. All our testing showed that clearly and we have never understood why the ABN boats have gone without them. Also the Pirates have dropped off their pole, maybe a bit desperate, to try to find last minute a miracle performance gainer. They will have a hard time to keep up with the others in spinnaker pole conditions. Well so much for that, we are the big losers of this leg, the others will laugh their heads off. The boat with the most miles has gone to port. I am not the happiest person right now, scratching my head, why this could have happened after all these miles. Have we been pushing to hard? Yes of course we were pushing hard, but we have done that before. We were fully under control, sail changes in time and just sailing faster than the others, because we knew the limits of this boat and ourselves. DON'T GET COLD FEET This fall, the Figawi Foul Weather Boot from Sperry Top-Sider® is ready for whatever Mother Nature sends your way. These fully insulated, knee-high boots feature seam-sealed waterproof construction and toggle closures to keep your feet warm and dry. Sperry Top-Sider's signature non-marking Super-Tack™ rubber outsoles with Quadro-Grip Wave-Siping™ keep you firmly planted on both wet and dry surfaces. And, their contoured EVA midsoles help absorb pounding waves, keeping you and your feet comfortable for hours on end. Available in charcoal grey with yellow accents, the Figawi Foul Weather Boot has a suggested retail price of $149.95. Additional information: http://www.sperrytopsider.com/Style.asp?code=1174 DOWN TO FOUR There are now only four ORMA trimarans still racing in the Transat Jacques Vabre out of ten starters .Whilst navigating through the Doldrums in manageable but variable conditions, Italian team Giovanni Soldini and Vittorio Malingri capsized on the ORMA trimaran TIM Progetto Italia. The boat was sailing at average speeds and Giovanni had switched to autopilot for the time it would take him to trim the sails. But the electronics failed and the trimaran luffed too quickly for the skipper to take the helm and control the boat, which slowly lifted up and capsized. Both Giovanni and Vittorio Malingri were unharmed and have not set off their EPRIB distress beacon. Their shore team are currently working out a solution to get a tow out to the boat. In the IMOCA Open 60 Monohull fleet, the duel continues for the lead, as Virbac-Paprec (Dick / Peyron) have responded to the charge yesterday by Jourdain and MacArthur on Sill et Veolia and have regained a 12 mile advantage over Sill et Veolia as they navigate southwards in an easterly breeze through a fairly inactive Doldrums maintaining average boat speeds of 13 14 knots. -- Leaders at 18:44 GMT Monday: IMOCA Monohulls: Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick & Loïck Peyron (+12.3 miles); ORMA Multihulls: Banque Populaire, Pascal Bidégorry & Lionel Lemonchois (+52.3 miles); Monohull Class 2: Gryphon Solo, Joe Harris & Josh Hall (+136 miles); Multihull Class 2: Crêpes Whaou!, Franck-Yves Escoffier & Kevin Escoffier (+979 miles). -- http://www.jacques-vabre.com/pages_uk/accueil_uk2005.htm BUILDING A MYSTERY There's a small mystery in the America's Cup world just now, centring on the construction of new Version 5 America's Cup Class boats. Each of the 12 teams is expected to build at least one new boat for their campaigns ahead of the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2007. According to the Protocol for the 32nd America's Cup, for the 2007 season, teams must sail boats that were built in the country of the Yacht Club they are challenging through. That means new teams like United Internet Team Germany, China Team, K-Challenge, Shosholoza, Desafío Español and +39 Challenge are obliged to build new boats in advance of the Louis Vuitton Cup, or, in the case of the French and Italian teams, acquire old boats that were built in their country. Last week, the Technical Director for the America's Cup Class informed the Cup community that another sail number, 86, had been issued. According to the ACC Class Rule, a new sail number is issued "when construction of the yacht has commenced." The Kiwis had the last of the 31st America's Cup sail numbers, NZL 82. The South Africans were the first in this Cup cycle to build a new boat, RSA 83. That means numbers 84, 85 and 86 have now also been assigned. The full sail number, with the identifying country code is assigned and released once a "measurement certificate is issued." At the end of the Trapani Louis Vuitton Acts, Emirates Team New Zealand tactician Terry Hutchinson spoke about launching and sailing '84' in January, so it appears the Kiwis will have NZL 84. At the same time, +39 Challenge team leader Luca Devoti spoke about "launching our new boat in Sicily in March." This implied building would have to start about now. Last week, the team acknowledged it had been assigned ITA 85, and building had begun. That leaves one 'mystery boat' currently under construction. -- Excerpts from a story by Peter Rusch on the America's Cup website, full story: http://tinyurl.com/77b2u ECONOMIC DECISION UK International (now UK-Halsey International) and Genesis International came to an out of court settlement in an alleged patent infringement litigation. As part of the settlement, UK-Halsey will stop selling Ultra sails made in its plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut until the expiration of the patent in question on June 11, 2006. "Our decision to settle this matter was made strictly on economic terms." said Charles Ulmer, President of UK-Halsey International. "We did not infringe the patent in suit and no admission of infringement attached to this settlement. Indeed, we consider the patent itself invalid. However, proving these points in a court of law is expensive, time consuming and distracting." Ulmer added," This is a momentary distraction. We will continue to sell our advanced Tape-Drive sails which remain the majority of our on going laminate business." the recently merged UK-Halsey group has over fifty lofts, service lofts and sales offices throughout the world. KEY WEST AND MIAMI - DOUBLE YOUR SUNSHINE Double your fun this winter with two Premiere Racing events: Acura Key West, presented by Nautica (January 16-20) and Acura Miami Race Week (March 9-12). Enjoy two world-class sailing venues and experience twice the distinctive international competition, professional race management, endless sun and fun! Double the grand prix excitement in 2006 with the first ever IRC National Championships and Swan 45 Gold Cup in Key West, and Transpac 52 Globals in Miami. Entrants only: time to order your official event gear. Hats, vests, polos, high-tech shirts. Details, entries, and more: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com IT'S OFFICIAL Building on the partnership with the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), Nautor's Swan officially announced the launch of the Club Swan 42 Class. NYYC members have now committed to twenty-six Club Swan 42's, thus establishing the foundation for a one-design class. With the first fleet established, Nautor, in continued collaboration with the NYYC, will move to the next phase of class development. The plan calls for expanding the class through partner yacht clubs across the country and around the world. These next phase discussions with several key clubs in the U.S. are currently underway, according to Enrico Chieffi, Nautor Group vice president of marketing and sales. Currently, the Club Swan 42 design has been finalized, the molds are under construction at the company's facilities in Pietarsaari, Finland, and production is scheduled to begin shortly. The first boat is expected to be launched during the summer of 2006. NEWS BRIEFS * Glenn Darden and his crew were named the top overall boat of the 2005 Lands End NOOD Regatta of Galveston Bay. Darden won the 11-boat J/80 class -- the largest class in the 10 class event. Darden will now move on to meet the other eight winners of Lands' End NOOD Regattas at the overall NOOD championship at Sunsail's Club Colonna in Antigua in January 2006. -- http://www.sailingworld.com/ * It was revealed yesterday morning in Moscow that Valencia will indeed host the World Indoor Athletics Championship in 2008 - one year after staging the most important yachting race in the world - the Americas Cup. The Championships will take place in the Luis Puig stadium on March 8 & 9 2008 - just a few days before the Fallas, and the stadium will be modernized in order to accommodate some 6,500 people. More that 700 athletes from 160 countries will be competing, with the event receiving worldwide media coverage. -- Valencia Life Network, publisher@valencialife.net * Fourteen teams representing seven countries and comprising 70 sailors competed in the inaugural Nanny Cay Nations Cup held in the British Virgin Islands last weekend. Crews rotated through seven one-design IC24s in 10 flights giving a total of 18 races for the weekend with each team competing in nine races. Winning six of their nine races, the BVI's Mike and Robby Hirst won the event with 16 points. Colin Rathbun, also representing the BVI, was second (21 points) and Scott Nixon from Annapolis, USA, was third (24 points). Full results and photos: www.racinginparadise.com * The Scuttlebutt story in Issue 1965, The Junior Coaching Debate, and the ensuing poll and comments make it clear that one size does not fit all. If you care about junior sailing, you owe it to yourself to spend a few minutes to review the poll results and the submitted comments (along with the letters below): http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/05/jrcoaching RICK TOMLINSON PUBLICATIONS There is still time to purchase the exciting 2006 Rick Tomlinson Portfolio and Desk Calendars. Also the new edition of Shooting H20 is now available - a portfolio book of Rick's pictures, with 2 additional chapters on the Volvo Ocean Race and the Americas Cup. See http://www.rick-tomlinson.com/ or email mailto:cathie@rick-tomlinson.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 John McLeod: The reckless disregard of race boat designers and owners for the lives of their crews continues to boggle my mind. Time and again we read of high-performance boats experiencing major structural problems during ocean races. At the end of last year it was sinking super- maxis in the Sydney-Hobart. Now it's multi-hulls coming apart in the TJV and buckling bulkheads and other major issues in the Volvo 70 fleet. In every case, these catastrophic failures took place in unexceptional, predictable ocean sailing conditions. Regardless of their much-discussed high-tech features, in the areas where it counts most these boats are under-engineered, under-tested and, in the end, simply not seaworthy. Design practices that needlessly put lives at risk are unacceptable in any other sport - indeed, in virtually any other kind of human activity. Yet in sailing, a sport that already involves more than its share of danger, for some reason we take them for granted. Am I the only one who thinks this is just plain wrong? * From Peter Commette (re new Olympic scoring format): Well, we certainly have cleared everything up for the lay observer now, haven't we? That last race will be so much more interesting and easy to follow now. Even more incredible than one person thinking up the scoring format for the 2008 Olympics, is a bunch of fools voting for it. Of course, if what is really intended is to make the winner take all last race format more palatable, that certainly has been accomplished. Maybe viewers should be treated to interactive slide rules and calculators for the last race. * From Rory Paton: Well that's really clear then! If the broadcasters are really going to understand the non-discard able double points system and work out the math, are they really going to be able to present it to the viewers? I doubt it, so all ISAF has done is make the system more likely to produce surprise medallists. If ISAF had really wanted the sailing to be more appealing to television audiences, they should have gone for two or three boat team racing. With coloured boats, sails etc, a round robin then a knockout formula would make great viewing especially in a harbour, with grandstands, camera cranes and big TV screens to make the sailing more accessible then ever before. Hopefully they'll have the guts to go for this for Weymouth 2012. * From Peter Kelly: Only rarely do I find myself in tune with Magnus Wheatley, but for once I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiments on the Olympics. The fact is that things are much much worse than Magnus portrays them. First, the elected stooges allow themselves to be hoodwinked into sailing at a windless foggy venue with tides to rival San Francisco. The chances are that any kind of a decent regatta will be almost impossible. If there is any sailing at all, it's a fair bet the TV cameras will not be able to see it through the fog and haze. And then they choose a regatta format that is little fairer than rolling dice. If they carry on as planned, I'll bet now that the results from Qingdao (the Chinese sailing venue) will be a joke and that the elected stooges will be in a total panic three years from now. Once again, it will be down to those damn Brits to save the day with a decent regatta to a sensible format in 2012. If that does not happen, kiss good-bye to Sailing in the Olympics. Alternatively, The ISAF Council (who still have to vote on the whole) thing might just see sense. * From John Hammel (Re: Craig Leweck's letter about private coaching - edited to our 250-word limit): It seems to me that the issue is the kid's motivation. At the Optimist level on Long Island Sound, there are over 2000 kids sailing Optis. Most of those kids are content to sail at the club level, or less. Some kids just get really excited about it, probably 5%. It's difficult to organize a club program around 5% of the sailors, so those sailors (and their parents) seek out something more. On Long Island Sound, we have LISOT, a parent-run group operating under the (loose) guidance of the JSA of LIS, which provides more intensive coaching off-season on the sound and for events off the sound during the summer. LISOT is open to any motivated Opti sailor regardless of ability. It's not about getting a leg up on other club sailors, it's providing a group setting for those 1 or 2 kids from each club that want to sail on weekends in the fall and spring, and want to travel around the country at big Opti regattas with a team. It's been my experience that you can't just throw money at coaching for a child and expect him/her to get better; the child has to be kind of driven. LISOT does make it fun, but it is hard work, and not for everyone. That's why it can be open because it's self-selecting. It works, too: LISOT has placed a sailor in the top 5 in the Nationals or Team Trials for each of the last 4 years. * From Bill Sandberg: You raise a very good point that can't be answered with a simple yes or no. There's no doubt that the need to win among junior sailors (and their parents) is doing real harm to our sport. The pure love of sailing that I grew up with seems, in many cases, to be gone. You're either a "winner" or a "loser". The kids today call the latter group the "happys". Interesting that they use the term in a derogatory way. The "winning is everything" mentality is killing our sport, as it is many others. Too many children are turned off to sailing because they don't like to race, and that's a shame. Whatever happened to just "messing around in boats". On the other hand, if a child is really committed to the sport (notice I say "if a child is committed", not the parent), then there is a need for futher coaching beyond the club junior program. Such a program exists. It is called Long Island Sound Optimist Training (LISOT), and it works. The kids gather at different clubs on the Sound. It is not just for the superstars. It's for kids who really have the bug and want to compete against the best. Most importantly they have fun. The point is that parents should listen to their kids and not their own voices. Let them choose. In the long run, they will be happier. Shouldn't that be what every parent wants? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what's for dinner. |
