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SCUTTLEBUTT 1942 -- October 11, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.THE INTRIGUE HAS STARTED Alinghi is taking America's Cup intrigue to new heights with secrecy over its mast. When the slick racing yacht pulls into the dock there are sails cleverly packed to hide the lower section of the mast underneath the deck. While it may appear everything is open for show during the lead up events to the 2007 America's Cup, there are some things teams are trying to kept under wraps. Whatever the secret is, the Swiss are protecting it fiercely. During the last cup they were the innovators of the twisting rig, a concept designed to help reduce the wind resistance of the mast. It is possible that what they are hiding is in relation to that or they may be trying to stop their opposition figuring out what structure they have inside the boat. Then again, this is the America's Cup and they may be hiding nothing and are simply creating speculation as to what they might have. Secrecy and the cup go hand in hand. While teams may reveal a few more things next year already there is much debate about whether the challengers will race their new boats in next year's regattas in Valencia. Although most teams will have launched one new boat by then, there is concern about showing their hardware too soon and Alinghi, who aren't expected to launch their new boat until later in the year, getting an advantage. Then again if everyone is sailing in their new boats at Valencia, why not use them? Emirates Team New Zealand sailing manager Kevin Shoebridge believes it is a dilemma some challengers are grappling with. "Some of these guys will have to use their new boats if they feel like they are that far off the pace already. "You are not going to sail a slow one when you have got a faster one on the beach, especially if you have got another one coming." -- Excerpts from a story by Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ahrdr SAILING SHIPS WITH A NEW TWIST In the first half of the 19th century, ships began to adopt steam engines, first alongside and then instead of sails. Today, wind propulsion is for sportsmen and romantics, not shipping firms trying to make money. But the high price of oil and stricter pollution regulations are strong forces working to turn back the clock. Wind propulsion is coming back in a new form: kites, not sails. Next year, SkySails, a German firm based in Hamburg, will begin outfitting cargo ships with massive kites designed to tug vessels and reduce their diesel consumption. The firm estimates that these kites will reduce fuel consumption by about one-third-a big saving, given that fuel accounts for about 60% of shipping costs. The idea of reintroducing sails to modern ships is not new. A Japanese consortium tried it in the 1970s, but got nowhere. In the 1990s, the Danish government launched Project WindShip, but it was scuttled in 1998. Other teams met failure, too. The insurmountable problem in each case proved to be the mast. In unfavourable winds, large masts create a lot of drag. In gales, masts cause ships to heel, sometimes dangerously. Masts and their pivoting sails take up valuable container space on the deck. Loading and unloading is more expensive, since the cranes that lift containers must work around the masts. But the SkySails approach does away with masts and is much cheaper. The firm says it can outfit a ship with a kite system for between €400,000 and €2.5m, depending on the vessel's size. Stephan Wrage, the boss of SkySails, says fuel savings will recoup these costs in just four or five years, assuming oil prices of $50 a barrel. SkySails' kites are made of a type of nylon similar to that used in the sails of modern windjammers, but they fly between 100 and 300 metres above sea level, where winds are less turbulent and, on average, more than 50% stronger than the winds that sails capture. An autopilot computer adjusts the height and angle of the kite, the surface area of which can range from 760 to 5,000 square metres. When the wind blows too strongly, one end of the rectangular kite is released so that the kite flaps like a flag. A powerful winch retrieves the kite when necessary. -- Excerpts from a story in The Economist, full story: http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=4368130 GREAT FOR TACTICIANS The Camet Dry Erase Board is great for tacticians! Use for writing down wind angles, tides, tacking angles, and more. It's clean and simple to use. No more messy decks to rub clean. Simply peel, stick and write on, and wipe off! It's that easy to use, remove and use again. Place it on any flat surface of your boat...in the cockpit or in the galley...to make notes on where you are and what you need to buy. Great for sail and powerboats! Camet Padded Shorts, Pants, Rashguards, Coolmax shirts, Mylar bags etc. Visit the Camet web page: http://www.camet.com THE GATE A subtle but important innovation for this 32nd America's Cup, about which I have seen little if anything written, is the inclusion of a leeward gate. According to BMW Oracle Racing Blog site, "The adoption of a leeward gate for the Cup has, by all accounts, been well received by the sailors, both for fleet and match racing. And it presents a new set of tactical challenges, and conflicting choices. "All other things being equal (which, of course, they rarely are), the foredeck and helmsman prefer to round the end of the gate which permits the fastest approach and takedown, and cleanest exit from the gate -- which normally, but not always, means avoiding a jibe. Add to all those considerations that the navigator probably can't tell which end of the gate, if either, is favored -- more upwind -- until the last 500m or so of the downwind leg (if ever); and if you are the trailing yacht, you sometimes can't tell which end the lead boat will round until the last few seconds. Several times here in Trapani we have seen good and bad calls at the gate that have made a big difference in the outcome of the races." -- Tom Ehman, BMW Oracle Racing, full story: http://bmworacleracing.twoday.net/stories/1041973/ IMAGES The Ericsson Racing has announced Thierry Martinez (FRA) and Rick Tomlinson (GBR) as their official team photographers for the imminent Volvo Ocean Race. It is a unique combination to have two of the world's best sailing photographers working together in one Volvo Ocean Race team, with the brief to get the best sailing pictures the world has ever seen. Both Tomlinson and Martinez have been involved with the Volvo Ocean Race, formerly know as the Whitbread Round the World Race, for many years. Tomlinson has sailed in four Whitbread's himself and is best known for capturing the Southern Ocean at its most treacherous from the decks of various yachts in the Whitbread. He sailed his first Whitbread onboard Drum in 1985, alongside Skip Novak and Duran Duran singer, Simon le Bon. His photos were a huge success and redefined onboard photography with his trademark slow exposure night time shots of the Southern Ocean. After this, Tomlinson's career in yachting photography was set in stone. Martinez has been involved in four Whitbread / Volvo Ocean Race campaigns. He began his collaboration with Tomlinson in 1997/98 when they worked together as official team photographers for the victorious EF campaign, project managed by Atlant; who are also Project Managers for the Ericsson Racing Team. "The Whitbread changed my life," commented Martinez. "It started my career and inspired me to become a sailing photographer." The two photographers both went on to shoot for the Volvo Ocean Race 2001-02. For updates and pictures on the Ericsson Racing Team's participation in the Volvo Ocean Race, please visit: www.ericssonracingteam.com COASTAL WIND JETS A study led by UCL (University College London) scientists has unraveled the physical mechanism behind the poorly understood weather phenomenon of coastal wind jets - which are thought to have helped the British sailing team strike gold at the Olympics. Reporting in the journal Weather they explain the physics behind coastal wind jets, which are rivers of fast flowing air that form close to coasts. The jets are well-known to successful yacht-racing strategists and may have been used to advantage in races. But, until now no one properly understood how these jets form. Working with colleagues from the University of Reading, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany, and the Laboratoire Des Ecoulements Geophysiques et Industriels, France, they say that by predicting when they will form, could give the upper hand in planning a race strategy. Dr Andrew Orr, of the UCL Department of Space and Climate Physics and the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, says: "The jets can gust up to 40 per cent higher than normal wind speeds, but are sometimes only a few kilometres wide, and consequently are often under-predicted by operational weather forecast models. Improved understanding of them may enable us to optimize wind energy along our coasts. We also hope this will lead to better prediction of flooding in high winds as they can force strong, localized storm surge in the ocean." -- Full story: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-10/ucl-suh100605.php J/109 FIRST, SECOND ,THIRD UK-Halsey swept the silver in the J/109 class at American Yacht Club's Fall Series. These owner driven boats used full inventories of UK-Halsey. Third-place Barry Gold, with his all amateur crew, had no problem sailing faster than the fourth place boat, stacked with crew and sails of a different brand. "UK Halsey has figured out how to make the boat maximize its potential. They've set the standard for the fleet. Their sails are fast and easy to trim both upwind and downwind," said Gold. For winning sails, on-line rules quizzes and free downloads, call 800-253-2002 or go to http://www.ukhalsey.com MOVING DAY After 33 days of refitting and training in Cascais for the Volvo Ocean Race, Brasil 1 and its crew leave the Marina de Cascais. The sailboat was out of the water for three weeks, while the shore crew did some adjustments and the sailing crew got some time off. They trained in Portuguese waters for 10 days and will complete the preparation for the race in Sanxenxo, Spain. Brasil 1 is scheduled to arrive in Sanxenxo in the afternoon of Friday the 14th of October. The race starts with an in-port race in Sanxenxo on November 5th and the first leg starts in Vigo, Spain, on the 12th. -- http://www.brasil1.com.br/site_ing/home/home.aspx INTER TROPICAL CONVERGENCE ZONE Sailing conditions have changed quite dramatically over the last 24 to 36 hours in the Clipper 05-06 round the world race. Gone are the blissful 100 mile plus 12 hour runs, with a couple of gybes and maybe a spinnaker peel to keep everyone on their toes. Now the fleet has the grind of the Doldrums, with continually shifting wind, squalls approaching all the time, and the awful, soul-destroying slap, slap slap as the windless mainsail flops from side to side in the swell. The fleet is at the northern edge of the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone, and are heading generally south as fast as possible to try and reach the south east trade winds first. These seem to be at about 5 degrees noth of the equator, so only 150 to 200 miles away from current positions. The forecast looks for the trades to fill in from the south east, so once again we may see a serious shake up in the fleet. Western Australia and Liverpool are both 1380 miles from the Leg 2 finish line in Salvador, Brazil, with Glasgow just seven miles further back. http://www.clipper-ventures.co.uk/n05_06/homepage.php# NEWS BRIEFS * Australia's highest ranked female match racer and triple Australian champion Nicky Souter, has joined forces with current NSW and former Australian champion Katie Spithill , to tackle the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championships to be sailed in J24 class keelboats in Hamilton, Bermuda commencing next week. Souter, 21, will helm, with 23 year old Royal Prince Alfred club mate Spithill calling tactics, reversing the roles they played in the Annapolis Women's Worlds last year, where their team placed sixth in a field of 16. -- Excerpt from a story on the Sail-World website, full story: www.sail-world.com/news.cfm?Nid=19490&RequestTimeOut=180 WEATHER ADVISORY: WARM AND SUNNY FOR ACURA KEY WEST 2006 Entries roll in as autumn temperatures drop. Don't miss the best "winter" has to offer. Make your plans for North America's top regatta - January 16-20, 2006. PHRF, IRC, and One Design competition. Details, current entries, and online entry: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com DID YOU KNOW? - -Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable. - No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. - Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. - Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite. - There are more chickens than people in the world. 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, and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Henry L. Menin: As chairman of ISAF's Match Racing Committee, I want to thank Scuttlebutt for picking up the news about the most recent postings on the ISAF web site for the Nations Cup. The Nations Cup gives an opportunity for all match racers from around the world, no matter how large or small the National Authority, to take part in international competition at minimal cost. Everyone is welcome, even the Curmudgeon. The dates and locations of the various Regional Finals, boats to be used, requests for invitation, etc. are all there on the web site. But I did want to emphasize to all your readers that even though the deadline for Member National Authorities to indicate their participation is December 15, individual competitors, whose National Authority does not respond to that deadline, may submit a request for invitation after that date. Anyone with a question about the event should contact Craig Mitchell <craig@isaf.co.uk> at ISAF or me, Henry Menin <hmenin@compuserve.com>, for further details. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS You know you are getting old, when everything either dries up or leaks. |
