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SCUTTLEBUTT 2435 - September 19, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday with the support of its sponsors. WELCOME TO THE 21ST CENTURY Some of the realities of dinghy sailing have kept time standing still in this genre of the sport. Any modern keelboat sailor might be shocked at the lack of support a dinghy sailor has onboard, where most class rules limit the assistance of electronic instruments, forcing them to rely on “the seat of their pants” to sail the boat. Restrictions are generally in place for practical reasons – the boats are too wet – or are there to limit spending. One popular dinghy class, however, is bucking tradition and has opened its doors to the 21st century. Due to the quality and relative low cost of waterproof, handheld VHF radios, the Lightning class now permits the option of using radio communication for its events. Some of the events this summer that used radios were the 2007 Lightning World Championship in Athens, Greece in July, and more recently, at the 2007 North Americans in August on the Chesapeake Bay. Speaking to class champion Greg Fisher, he noted that the class has made this option available to the PRO of the event, and it is up to the event organizer if they want to utilize the tool. Fisher was exceedingly pleased with how NA’s PRO Jeff Borland used the radio, where its value went well beyond notifying the fleet of OCS starters, but also was used to keep the competitors in the loop during all pre-start decisions. And while the communication was largely one-way from the committee to the fleet, Fisher recalled that some competitors did use the radio to notify the committee of breakdowns. Will VHF radios soon be as common in dinghy sailing as hiking boots? For your comments, and for some recommendations on radios that are up to the rigors of dinghy sailing, go to: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2007/09/welcome-to-21st-century.html A NAKED LADY ON LAKE TAHOE This isn’t a story about Lake Tahoe, but rather one about the Olson 30 Nationals, which was held there this summer. However, there aren’t too many events that get to this site, and it is possibly the most magnificent body of water in North America. With an altitude of 6,225 feet above sea level, and being 22 miles long and 12 miles wide, Lake Tahoe is the continent’s largest alpine lake. It is also extremely deep, with an average depth of 1,000-feet and a maximum depth of 1,645-feet, making it really hard to set racecourse marks. The water is also unbelievably pure, and if you are to believe the folklore, a white dinner plate can still be seen at a depth of nearly 70-feet. This is where we would spend our week. Naked Lady, owned by Jeff Blowers from the San Francisco area, competed in the Olsen 30 Nationals this summer on Lake Tahoe. We placed second overall, and among the seven-crew members onboard, I was, as so often happens, the only woman. We worked hard and had a blast – totally enjoying an extremely beautiful place to sail! Here’s how we spent our week, and what contributed to our success: -- Read on for the events of the week, and some great photo: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0913 ROYAL WEDDINGS (September 18, 2007) You have got to hand it to the Brits, they go big when the opportunity presents itself. And while Royal weddings and the long awaited announcement of their Olympic sailing team are not quite on the same scale, today’s release does present some big news. One must remember that the US is the only country that still picks its Olympic sailing reps by a single trials event; while most countries are like the Brits, where it is done by selection. And in taking a page from the days of New York YC lore, where the men in straw hats ran the selection of the America’s Cup defender trials, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) does not disclose much to their candidates as to what it takes to qualify other than, “just win, baby.” For arguably the strongest sailing country in the world, there were some surprise decisions, among them being that the RYA was not yet ready to give everyone the keys to the kingdom. They did decide to step over 2004 Yngling Gold Medalist Shirley Robertson, and go rather with a newer, fresher model (Sarah Ayton), but they weren’t ready yet to give 2004 Finn Gold Medalist Ben Ainslie the green light, deferring their selection decision pending further discussions with the recently announced TEAMORIGIN America’s Cup skipper. -- Read their complete announcement: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0918 DO YOU WANT TO ENERGIZE YOUR SAILING PROGRAM? The fall is a great time to sign up for O’Pen BICs in your 2008 Junior Sailing Program. The O’Pen BIC singlehander has proven to be a fun alternative for those kids who aren’t turned on by the traditional mold of pram racing…. or have out-grown of prams, either physically or mentally. To jump start your Junior Sailing Program, a special fall offer for 4 boats or more includes boats from $2199, AND free deck covers, dolleys or training sails. Orders must be placed by October 31, 2007 for delivery before May 15, 2008. Contact mailto:info@BicSportNA.com for more information, http://www.openbic.com OLD SCHOOL – GOOD SCHOOL The International One Design World Championship is a meeting of 12 teams from 8 fleets from the United States, Europe, and Bermuda to decide who are the best sailors of these beautiful, traditional sailboats. IOD’s were designed and built in Norway starting in 1936 on order of Cornelius Shields, a skilled skipper and New York banker, who wanted a low cost sailboat for inter-club competition. His concept was that the boats should be built and equipped to the same standards so that winning was based entirely on the skill of the sailors. Modern IOD fleets continue to honor that concept. In Nantucket, host of this year’s Worlds, not only are the boats stamped from the same mold and all the sails replaced this year from the same loft, but crews will rotate from boat to boat between races, perhaps two or three races in a day. At 33-feet in length and usually carrying a crew of 5, the IOD Worlds was completed last week, and was won by Charlie van Voorhis. For the complete event diary and results, go to http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0917 CONDITIONS MODERATE FOR SUCCESSFUL START Fort-Boyard, France (September 18, 2007) After their postponed start from last Sunday due to strong winds, the 89 entrants of the Mini Transat 6,50 Charente-Maritime/Bahia successfully started Tuesday in 15 knots, where they pulled in a mainsail reef and headed for the first turning buoy in the axe of the channel of La Rochelle, France. Less than 25 minutes after the start, the 23 years old Adrien Hardy (Brossard) was in the lead at the first turn. The 4,200-mile race is held in two legs, with the first 1,100-mile leg to Madera (Portugal), followed by a restart for the 3,100-mile leg to Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Among the boats starting are now two Americans, with Alex MeVay of Boston, MA being one of five boats added to the invitation-only event last week. MeVay is sailing Genasun (USA 332), and joins Clay Burkhalter as the 7th and 8th Americans to ever start the Mini Transat in the event's 30-year history. -- Event website: http://www.transat650.org/en -- Photos from the start by Amory Ross: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0918 COMING TO AMERICA: OPEN 40 On a recent visit to the busy French harbor of Les Sables d’Olonne, the start and finish of the non-stop Vendee Globe solo around-the-world race, I was struck by the number of trim 40-footers that looked like miniature versions of the Open 60s sailed in the Vendee. “Those are Pogo 40s,” said my boatbuilding friend who was showing me around. “The Open 40 class is really taking off over here.” I left France having missed a chance to sail one of the new breed of 40-footers, which are becoming more and more prominent in the shorthanded events that are such a huge part of the French racing scene. As it turns out, though, I may not have to wait long to sail an Open 40 here in the U.S., particularly if a couple of American sailors have anything to say about it. That was made abundantly clear at the recently concluded Newport International Boat Show in Newport, R.I., where the new Akilaria Class 40 made its stateside debut. -- Herb McCormick, Sailing World, read on: http://forums.sailingworld.com/blogs/?q=node/80 ANALYSIS OF MEDCUP TOP THREE The TP 52 Medcup Circuit consists of five events in different countries and many different sailing conditions - from light winds in Spain, to gear-breaking breezes in Portugal. It has attracted the elite professionals of the sport, wherein competition during the third season of this racing series in the Mediterranean visibly raised the bar, further redefining grand prix yachting along the way. Among the companies that had dedicated themselves to this class is Harken Yacht Equipment, which saw the top three overall Medcup finishers using their latest carbon winches and hardware, and two of the three boats also benefiting from their new Pro-Trim traveler system (Artemis and Patches). Explained Peter Harken, “Campaigning these boats is like managing a mini America’s Cup program.” Harken now provides the ‘buttheads with some of the behind-the-scenes details on the latest in TP52 racing: http://www.harken.com/sailing/tp52class.php SAILING SHORTS * Detroit, MI (September 14, 2007) -- With 56 entries received to date, and up to 8 more expected, the Audi 2007 Melges 24 U.S. National Championship on Lake St. Clair will be the largest U.S. Nationals in the 14 year history of the class. Racing will be held September 21-23, with the top contenders including current World Champion Dave Ullman, helming for Scott Holmgren on Rosebud, and current North American Champion Brian Porter and his Full Throttle team. -- http://melges24racing.com/nationals/PressRelease_5.asp * Nine men and seven women have qualified for the US Olympic Sailing Team Trials from the Last Chance Qualifier held at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT. They join the others previously qualified (24 men and 15 women) at the Olympic Sailing Trials in Newport, RI on October 3-14. Three races were held on Friday in 8-11 knots from the southeast, and three more were contested on Saturday in a shifty northwest wind of 15-22 with higher gusts. Sunday's one race was abandoned when the breeze vanished. Royce Weber and Reguli Granger won the mens and womens events, respectively. -- http://www.cedarpointyc.org/Default.aspx?tabid=163 * As America enters a new era of increased terrorist threats at home, citizens across the country are being asked to keep on the lookout for suspicious activities. BoatUS believes recreational boaters can do their part through “ America’s Waterway Watch,” a program that enlists the active participation of those who play, work or live around America’s waterways. Similar to the successful Neighborhood Watch programs that ask community residents to report suspicious activities to local law enforcement agencies, Waterway Watch is a combined effort of the US Coast Guard and its Auxiliary and Reserve components. -- BoatUS, read on: http://www.boatus.com/news/releases/2007/september/watch.asp * While the Scuttlebutt employee manual does not (yet) provide this day as an official holiday, don’t forget that September 19th is ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day.’ -- http://www.talklikeapirate.com * Correction: Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast were 5th in the 49er Europeans, not 6th as was initially stated in Issue 2434. EXPERIENCED SPAR ENGINEER NEEDED Hall Spars & Rigging, the world’s premiere manufacturer of carbon-fiber spars, is looking for an experienced spar design engineer to join our team in the U.S. This is an extraordinary opportunity to work on challenging, high-level projects, as Hall is experiencing steady growth in grand-prix racing, performance superyacht, and Cup mast construction. The ideal candidate will possess exceptional skills in AutoCad, SolidWorks, and Excel. E-mail resumes and samples of your work (project plans or photos) to mailto:resumes@hallspars.com EIGHT BELLS Notable Southern California sailor Burke Sawyer passed away this past weekend. How fitting to pass on the weekend of his favorite regatta, the "St Francis Big Boat Series". Burke's legacy as the owner of Watts Sailmakers and his sailing skills through the 60's, 70's, 80's, and beyond has given us sailors from that era some of our greatest memories. His giving attitude, will to win, and have fun at all costs made yacht racing what it was in this time of CCA, IOR, and big boat racing. Burke certainly has left a positive impression on all who had the opportunity to know him on and off the water. He will live on in our memories. -- Bill Peterson LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Frank Betz: (edited to the 250-word limit) Regarding Ken Guyer's letter in Issue 2433 about the Hobie 10, he's correct that it followed the hugely successful Hobie 14's and 16's, and he may have found it a blast - if he weighed about 100 pounds! But it was not designated the Monocat, which was actually the official name of another product added to the Hobie line, a twelve foot disaster with two hulls joined by a solid, rather flat, full length deck. Lesser known is the fact that the product brochure Hobie's marketing people put together for the Monocat featured a lithe young blonde named Collins putting it through its paces. Couple years later I was visiting the Hobie plant in Oceanside and was introduced to their new Marketing Director or Sales VP, an amiable and good looking California-looking chap named Paul Collins. It turns out that it was his daughter in the brochure, who was known other than the gal we now know as Bo Derek. Paul's tenure in that capacity was cut fairly short; a contributing factor could have been the fact that shortly thereafter he sailed off into the sunset in the company of Hobie's wife at the time. Anyway, the NJ dealership I owned then had zero success selling Hobie Tens and Twelves. So later I gave one of my Tens to Donald Street, who appended it to his illustrious Iolaire for several years while cruising around the West Indies. (That largesse on my part failed to generate additional sales, but Don also loved the tiny little thing.) * From Steve Gregory: Good stuff in Doug Wilson’s letter in Issue 2434 regarding the Brits losing their weather gear in China. What do ya know… the Brits were breaking a law that could have been upheld in any country, not just China. With the level of expertise now being applied to weather forecasting and yachting, this does seem to be a heck of deal for the home team. However, surely the Brits will sort this out before they host the Summer Games in 2012, and create an open source that all countries can utilize. Yea, and I have got a chunk of Fastnet Rock that I would like to sell ya. * From Chris Field: In Chris Ericksen’s letter in Issue 2434, he was commenting on remarks that Steve Adkins had made in the previous issue regarding a lack of safety boats during the Etchells New England champs last weekend. While being somewhat critical of Steve’s remarks, and noting how hard it is to assemble sufficient personnel, Chris wondered if Steve himself had sufficiently volunteered to help run events, saying "Maybe I have Mister Adkins wrong." Well, Chris certainly is due his opinion, but I am here to say that when it comes to Steve Adkins, you do have him wrong. He has volunteered for many years, cheerfully running a crash boat (before they became safety boats) at Essex, CT Frostbite. I think operating a 13' Whaler on the Connecticut River pumping out Interclubs in March right after the ice has melted constitutes paying your dues. If anyone can complain about the lack of crash boats, Steve can. * From John Tormey: It is shocking to read how the 49er class is switching to carbon rigs (in Issue 2434). Have the pricing of these rigs become so competitive with aluminum to make this a reasonable decision? It sounds like there are other factors too, but it does seem like a drastic change. They comment on the class being 11 years old, and that new technology exists, but they still are babies in the world of dinghy one-design, and would be far in the minority of dinghy classes that found this switch to be needed. * Frederic Laffitte: Having just completed the Mallory Cup in San Diego this past weekend, I want publicly congratulate the Southwestern Yacht club on doing a fantastic job on all fronts. With the help of Etchells Fleet 13, all the boats were ready to sail every day (all 22 of them as the Adams Cup was simultaneous), the race committee was flawless in tough weather conditions (light air prevailed but they got all the races in), the organization was equally flawless, the food was outstanding...every day, and most important we all felt very welcome. Congratulations SWYC and your army of volunteers on a job well done. Curmudgeon’s Comment: SWYC is often in the shadow of their neighbor, San Diego YC, so it is nice to see them get their props, particularly as they are hosting the 49er US Nationals this week and begin the US Olympic Trials for the 49er shortly thereafter. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I am less afraid of heights than I am of widths. Special thanks to O’pen BIC and Hall Spars & Rigging. |
