|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2329 - April 24, 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 support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). NEXT VERSE – SAME AS THE FIRST Valencia, 23 April, 2007 - Light conditions continue over the waters off Valencia and on Monday, racing was postponed in Flights 4 and 5 of the Louis Vuitton Cup (now 6 days postponed out of 8). It was a clear, bright, and sunny day, but the sunshine generated a weak sea breeze that battled the Northeasterly gradient wind to a stalemate. At altitude, the gradient wind was blowing onshore at up to 15 knots, but this only suppressed the circulation so vital to developing a strong sea breeze. On the day, winds never exceeded the seven-knot threshold that would allow fair racing on either race course and at 16:10 the Race Committee postponed racing for the day. Under the revised schedule for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the postponed flights of racing are rescheduled to Tuesday. Matches scheduled for Tuesday Flight 4 1. Areva Challenge vs. Emirates Team New Zealand 2. Desafío Español 2007 vs. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 4. United Internet Team Germany vs. China Team 5. Team Shosholoza vs. Luna Rossa Challenge 6. Victory Challenge vs. BMW Oracle Racing Flight 5 1. +39 Challenge vs. Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team 2. Emirates Team New Zealand vs. Desafío Español 2007 4. Victory Challenge vs. United Internet Team Germany 5. Luna Rossa Challenge vs. BMW Oracle Racing 6. China Team vs. Team Shosholoza Provisional Leaders (Bonus Pts - Matches Sailed - Matches Won - Total Pts) 1. BMW ORACLE Racing (USA 98) 3-3-3- 9 1. Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA 94) 3-3-3-9 3. Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia (ITA 99) 2-2-2-6 3. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL 92) 4-2-1-6 3. Victory Challenge (SWE 96) 2-3-2-6 6. Desafío Español 2007 (ESP 97) 3-2-1-5 6. Areva Challenge (FRA 93) 1-3-2-5 8. Team Shosholoza (RSA 83) 2-3-1-4 9. +39 Challenge (ITA 85) 2-2-0-2 10. United Internet Team Germany (GER 89) 1-2-0-1 10. China Team (CHN 95) 1-2-0-1 Note: 2 points are awarded for each match won. * To help the ‘buttheads keep track of all the information, the Scuttlebutt website has a bunch of handy links now in one place on the ‘Latest Issue’ page (on the left side under the navigation). There you will find updating headlines, free written and radio on-the-water commentary, free daily videos, and most important of all, a link that contains the schedule and results, plus loads more. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com * Scuttlebutt and her sister title Scuttlebutt Europe have been given exclusive access to 20,000 free digital preview copies of ‘There is no Second’ - the Seahorse guide to the America’s Cup. Among the writers are Paul Cayard, Russell Coutts, Dennis Conner, Chris Dickson, Tim Jeffery, and Tom Schnackenberg. Move fast if you want to get a free copy to download, as access will be cut off when the meter hits 20K. -- http://www.seahorse.co.uk/americas/us * Santiago Lange, traveller, Victory Challenge, commenting on the waiting game, “Sailors are used to situations like this. Waiting isn’t the problem for us. But we have to learn to switch off when there is no activity and then back on when need be.” * Ross Halcrow, genoa trimmer aboard BMW Oracle Racing noted, "the weather outlook for Tuesday does not look too promising. We give it a 50-50 chance of getting one flight of matches away. But it does look as if the weather will start to improve after that. I have sailed in a lot of regattas around the world, but I have never lost so many days before. Usually, however, you are doing regattas in season. At the moment in Valencia, we are still out of season.” BUSY DOIN’ NOTHING For one who is 'trying to find lots of things not to do,' Valencia is ideal, particularly if yacht racing is on the agenda. Each day passes without wind and little promise of it. The official forecast from ACM for Tuesday was: 'Warmer and less cloud, but less wind.' Any less and the heavens will have to suck. There have now been just three of the twenty-two flights sailed and there are nineteen outstanding and there are fourteen days and two reserve days left. Betting that there will be no racing on Tuesday ('less wind'), it will mean that to complete the two rounds robin, there will need to be perfect conditions to have the eight round robin 1 races over in four days and leave nine days and the two reserve days to have one race per day. That scenario would be pushing luck to the extreme and thus the race committee will have to schedule two races a day in round robin 2 in case there is a repeat of the current situation. No one envies (PRO’s) Peter Reggio and Harold Bennett the jobs they have to do and their situation is made worse by the refusal of ACM to change the scheduling. OK, there is the little matter of television scheduling, but that has already gone to hell in a hand-basket and one cannot help wondering what the television companies have said to ACM. Most of it would be unprintable, judging by what they have had to put up with thus far. And there is also corporate hospitality with its pre-booked flights and hotels; not that the guests are seeing anything that would linger in their memories, and one feels sorry for the 'celebrities' that have been brought in for the ride in the 18th man seat. Theirs has been a dull and uncomfortable time, but they are booked throughout the Cup summer. No one in their right mind would hold a regatta at a venue out of season, and no one has ever ventured to hold a regatta in Valencia in April, at least not according to a local sailor who is working for one of the superpower syndicates in an advisory capacity. -- Bob Fisher, Sail World, full story: http://tinyurl.com/2ldrwd MELGES RACING The Full Power Melges 24 World Championship will be hosted by the Santa Cruz YC in early May. With this Nor Cal site capable of providing epic conditions, look for some of the hottest one-design racers to be racing the world’s hottest one-design boat. Equally big news is the growth of the Melges 32 class. Nearly twenty boats are entered so far in the Annapolis NOOD/ East Coast Championship - proving to be an exceptional area for the class. The Melges 32 is easy to maintain, cost-effective with unmatched performance! Check out the excitement in both classes at melges24.com and melges32.com, or http://www.Melges.com * The Pacific Coast Championships for the Melges 24 were dealt ideal conditions in San Francisco Bay last weekend, preparing many for the World Championship coming up in Santa Cruz, CA on May 3-12. Winning by 8 points was Brian Porter with crew John Porter, Harry Melges, and Andy Burdick, with David Ullman in second and Shark Kahn in third. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/33prxz FRENCH SAILING OLYMPIC WEEK Hyeres, France (April 23, 2007) The sailing conditions were again challenging Monday with a light and shifty sea breeze allowing for minimal racing in most classes. One of the challenges when running large Olympic events like this is in course management, and when the wind direction is not stable, the quality of racing can be sacrificed. Comments Carrie Howe of the American Yngling team, “There are six race courses positioned inside this 27 square mile bay off Hyeres, and our course was tucked under a peninsula with the sea breeze coming down one side and fighting with a land breeze dominating the other side. There was breeze on both sides of the course, and both sides were paying, so it was necessary to make some tough calls.” As a group, the North American contingent mostly made a charge today in the standings, moving up from their position of the previous day. Americans Anna Tunnicliffe and Brad Funk made the greatest leaps in the Laser Radial and Laser fleets respectively, but positions are also quite strong in the Tornado and Yngling classes. The bad news of the day befell Americans Erin Maxwell/ Isabelle Kinsolving (470 W), who more than doubled their score by rolling a 51st, and Paige Railey, who inexplicably scored a DNF for Monday’s first race, dropping her from 6th to 19th overall. -- http://sof.ffvoile.net Results of Top North Americans (position / total entrants): Laser Radial - Anna Tunnicliffe (USA, 3/105; up from 11th) Laser - Brad Funk (USA, 4/188; up from 17th) Tornado - Oskar Johansson/ Kevin Stittle (CAN, 4/43; up from 6th) Yngling - Sally Barkow/Carrie Howe/Debbie Capozzi (USA, 4/29; up from 6th) Finn - Geoffrey Ewenson (USA, 19/68; up from 24th) 49er - Rob Dale/ Hunter Lowden (CAN, 21/74) 470 Men - Mikee Anderson-Mitterling / Dave Hughes (USA, 22/113; up from 23rd) 470 Women - (USA, 26/60; down from 9th) RS:X Women - Dominique Vallee (CAN, 38/71; up from 48th) RS:X Men - Zac Plavsic (CAN, 53/108; up from 60th) SLEDDING TO ENSENADA IS BACK Newport Beach, CA -There are about 450 reasons for sailing the 60th Lexus Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race that starts at noon this Friday, one for every boat in the race. A few, like Doug Baker's Magnitude 80, will be sailing seriously for records and others will be going strictly for fun, while others still will be sailing seriously for fun. Those would include a half-dozen ultralight displacement (ULDB) 70s---the celebrated "sleds" that once ruled the West Coast waves from the mid-80s to mid-90s before migrating to the Great Lakes. Now they're coming back, as evidenced by seven entries in the recent Newport-to-Cabo San Lucas race and six in this event, including a couple of past campaigners: Ed McDowell with Grand Illusion and Brack Duker with Holua. The West Coast revival is led by McDowell, who has homes in Hawaii and Hermosa Beach, Calif. and never really left the class even as it disappeared around him. Most of the boats wound up with new owners on the Great Lakes, where they enjoyed spirited competition for several seasons. Duker, like almost everybody else, lost interest when the class moved away. He sold his boat Evolution and bought a Farr 40, which was fun buoy racing but not fun offshore. "The next step would be a Transpac 52," Duker said, "but I didn’t care for those boats in part because it’s becoming more Mediterranean and East Coast oriented, and it seemed that every new boat that hit the water obsoleted the boats [built] ahead of it. It left me asking myself what is a good platform for me to go offshore." Then, as the Great Lakes fleet ebbed, from out of the past some sleds came calling on the market. -- Rich Roberts, read on: http://www.nosa.org/06_races-press.html DRINKING AND SAILING In the Caribbean sailing is one of the most popular pastimes…and it seems to go hand in hand with drinking. I suppose we can attribute this to the Royal Navy’s tradition (defunct since 1970) of supplying each man with a daily tot of rum. In the days of great naval battles under sail, men were often issued a double ration before engagements began – Dutch courage, I suppose. More rum was issued after a victory. The ration was as much as half a pint per man before Admiral Grogram ordered the daily tot to be diluted with water. His name is now associated with the feeling you get on the morning after – ‘Groggy.’ Today there are numerous hangover recipes, many containing alcohol, and called ‘hair of the dog’ (that bit you.) However, it’s rather like getting credit at the bank – you have to pay sometime. Better antidotes include drinking large quantities of water flavored with vitamin C rich citrus. The other day Charlie was out sailing with some guests and he learned of another apparently marvelous cure for that party scourge, the hangover. – All at Sea, full story: http://www.allatsea.net/specificissueeditorial.php?featureid=1249 HIGH DEMAND FOR LIGHTWEIGHT, BREATHABLE CLOTHING To meet these needs, Camet International has introduced a new line of sportswear to satisfy it's sports-minded and outdoor enthusiast customers. The collection offers an array of possibilities from highly technical products that scream "performance," to lightweight, wrinkle-free products for on-the-water and off-the-water activities. We look for fabrics that move perspiration away from the body, dry quickly, and are wrinkle-resistant; characteristics sought by adventurers and sailors alike. The summer line not only serves a purpose, it is also very fashionable. With solid color schemes, Hawaiian prints, and multi-functional designs. Check them out at http://www.camet.com SAILING SHORTS * The 2007 Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Afterguard (Alumni) Regatta will be hosted by the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD on Saturday, May 26th. Racing will be in 420’s, and held in conjunction with the U.S. Naval Academy Dinghy Sailing Team Alumni Regatta. Contact Ali Sharp for information at 410-293-5613, mailto:sharp@usna.edu * The Water Channel will stay on the air, even though its parent company, MCE Television Networks Inc voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisation last February. The company is based in Everett, Washington, and launched The Water Channel about 18 months ago. The Water Channel began offering 24-hour-a-day programming last fall on Dish Network's Channel 217 and on cable systems scattered around the East Coast. It offers programmes about fishing, boating, waterskiing, surfing and related topics. -- IBI Magazine, full story: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20070316164454ibinews.html * Photos are now on the Scuttlebutt website of KKMI's new floating service center that was on display last week at the Strictly Sail Boat Show in Oakland, CA. KKMI recently won the American Boat Builders and Repairers Association's (ABBRA) "Boatyard of the Year" award - saluting the first time any company from Northern California has received the award. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/0421 * The Women's High Performance Dinghy Evaluation Event concluded on last week after four days of testing in Hyères, France. Some of the world’s top women sailors put the 29er, 29erXX, RS800, Cherub Daemon, Carbonology GT60 and International 14 through their paces in the Evaluation Event being held in advance of the decision on the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Games. The ISAF Equipment Committee Mid-Year Meeting took place in Hyères after the conclusion of the Evaluation Event. The Evaluation Panel will present a report on the event at the ISAF Mid-Year Meeting, to be held in Paris, France from 4-6 May. -- Full details and photos: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j62FnA,BB&format=popup * Thanks to the generosity of nearly 3,000 donors and hundreds of dedicated volunteers, the Coast Guard Foundation raised over $8 million in cash and cash equivalents during 2006. This represents an increase of $1 million over 2005's results, and $3 million more than what was raised in 2004, prior to adopting a new fundraising strategy and enhancing the Foundation's professional staff. The performance translates to a 60% increase in revenues during the past two years, compared to less than 10% in the same period for the average non-profit organization. -- Full story: http://66.51.113.87/foundationrecord.html * This week, the Sperry Top-Sider National Offshore One Design (N.O.O.D.) Regatta sets sail to Annapolis Yacht Club (AYC) in Annapolis, Md. From April 27-29, competition in 16 one-design classes will take place on the Chesapeake Bay. While most of the 262 boats registered to date are from the greater Annapolis/Baltimore/D.C. region, a total of 24 U.S. states are represented along with Canada and the U.K. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/32tl4h O'PEN BIC APPROVED BY FRENCH SAILING FEDERATION (FFV) O'pen BIC fleets have been selected by the FFV, and their outside sponsor, Orange (telecommunications company), to increase enthusiasm for sailing at over 20 sailing schools in France. In North America, contact mailto:info@BicSportNA.com for information on Fleet Pricing, Dealer Inquiries, Industry Insider Offers, or to join the 2007 Demo Tour. Energize your kid today! http://www.OpenBIC.com 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 Frederic Berg: Regarding Bill Clifford's comment (in Issue 2326) on there being no place where the wind never fails to blow at some point. While technically correct, we in Hawaii enjoy trade winds year round with only a couple of months where we may risk not having any wind for one entire day, never two in a row. I invite any potential Cup winners to investigate the conditions here and seriously consider Hawaii for the next America's Cup. But PLEASE leave the bickering and politics behind. We just love to sail! * From Ari Barshi, Cabarete, Dominican Republic: I live in a town in which the wind powers the economy, and the 'feel good factor' of most visitors. I remember asking once a hotel owner if the sailors like his new hotel. His response was: "when the wind blows they love it. If it does not blow for two days in a row, people find things to complain about, such as the distance between the toilet paper hanger from the toilet bowl". Curmudgeon’s Comment: It might be helpful to know that Ari runs the Laser Training Center in Cabarete, which is also a mecca for kite and windsurfing. -- http://www.caribwind.com * From Tim Patterson: When sailing in the North Atlantic in 1984, we used a Firdell Blipper (mounted as specified in the directions) on my 45 foot wooden Catamaran, whose only metal was rigging, rudder posts, and fittings on the centerboards, hatches, winches, and a wind generator. Despite this, we were identified as an iceberg first by a ship at about ten miles, then when he noticed we were making 8 knots, saw us as a small container ship. The Firdell seemed to give us a good radar signature in all seas. The most useful piece of gear on the boat with regard to other ships was the Lokata Radar detector. Regarding Elaine Bunting's commentary on reviews on radar reflectors, I recall one within the last 2 or 3 years from one of the US cruising magazine that I read sometimes so it must likely have been Cruising World or Sail. The article had quantitative testing involved. * From Warren Nethercote, Peng, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Some years ago, in a consultant naval architect role, I boarded an 8000 ton dredge exiting the Thames, and went to the bridge for the departure. We were under the control of a pilot, but once the pilot departed, everyone else left the bridge except the officer of the watch, who operated the ship on auto pilot. It was night, and we could see lights from fairway buoys off in the distance, blinking away. The OOW looked at his radar display, scanned the horizon ahead, and then said to me and my naval architect colleague, "I'm off to get a coffee - I'll be back in 5 or ten minutes." More recently I toured the bridge of a large container ship in Halifax. At sea the bridge is manned by the OOW and a lookout - who was genearlly occupied doing 'rounds' of the ship, rather than looking at radar or out the windows. The bridge is scattered with alarms with cancel buttons. These alarms beep every 20 minutes, and if the OOW or lookout don't cancel them within 30 seconds, the ship fire alarm goes off. It is a method to keep the OOW's head out of his paperwork. I could tell other stories, but two serve the purpose. It doesn't matter how good or bad a sailboat's radar reflector is if there's nobody home on the container ship! An empty bridge can't respond to automatic collision warning alarms. Keep a look-out! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION If the world was a logical place, men would ride horses sidesaddle. Special thanks to Melges Performance Sailboats, Camet International, and BIC Sport. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
