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SCUTTLEBUTT 3622 - Thursday, June 28, 2012Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors,providing a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: Ullman Sails and APS. DEAR CURMUDGEON * From 2-time Olympic medalist, JJ Fetter: I had recently sailed an Etchells regatta, and was thinking about how much fun leeward gates are (for everyone but the leader). Gates have really added to our game by creating so many more tactical options and opportunities for separation for a boat behind to quickly get back in the hunt. But I have no idea who created the gate. Do you know? It doesn't seem right that whoever invented such a good idea doesn't get more recognition (and it's probably some race committee veteran who rarely gets thanked for spending all their time running races and for whom setting gates added to their daily workload). -------------------- * From rules guru and match race champion Dave Perry: The first I am aware hearing of the concept of the gate is from Paul Elvstrom (no surprise there!) in his book "Expert Dinghy and Keelboat Racing" published in 1967. I have scanned three pages from the book for you to read. Fascinating stuff: Courses: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/courses.pdf Starboard rounding: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/starboard.pdf For better racing in 1967 he was advocating: - starboard roundings - leeward gates - a mid-line buoy on the starting line - using a powerboat as the reaching mark for instantaneous adjustment depending on the breeze strength. - windward gates Current trends for better racing: - starboard roundings are the norm for team and match racing - leeward gates are the norm (and have been since the '80's) - mid-line buoys are more and more common - using powerboats for marks is what they are doing in the current AC World Series events. Windward gates have also been used by the Etchells Jaguar Series in Florida when the fleet size warranted it. Here's a paper I wrote advocating the use of windward gates in big fleet racing: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/windward_gate.pdf ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know who it was that first put the idea of leeward gates into use? Let us know at editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com SAILING'S MOST DRAMATIC EXPERIMENT Consider the 34th America's Cup to be the sailing's most dramatic experiment. Lots of investment has been made to increase interest in the event, largely from the non-sailing corners of the world. So what do these people know about the event? Here is what the New York Times fed them this week... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Two years ago the officials who run the America's Cup made an important decision: they were going to change professional sailing into a sport that was actually fun to watch. This was a big shift for a sport that has traditionally been indifferent to the idea of an audience. But new revenue was needed to help sailing teams struggling to raise the tens of millions of dollars needed to build and sail the boats for the Cup, so the organization decided to chase the broadcast television deals and sponsorships that are the lifeblood of many other sports. The basic strategy was to add increasing speed and danger to sailing, by using winged catamarans, boats that move much faster, but also capsize easily, and holding races close to shore, where wind patterns are less predictable. The America's Cup will get its first chance to test its product with a United States audience this weekend, when a part of the World Series race in Newport, R.I., will be broadcast on NBC. This is the first time a professional sailing race will be shown live on a major American network in 20 years. Assuming that faster, more dangerous races can generate interest, there is still one major challenge: even sailors acknowledge that their sport can be almost incomprehensible to the naked eye. The task of changing this belongs to Stan Honey, whom the America's Cup hired as its director of technology last spring. Honey has made a career out of creating augmented reality for sports broadcasts. He is best known for the glowing first-down line in football telecasts, and he has also developed glowing hockey pucks for N.H.L. games, the illuminated strike zone for baseball and various graphics for Nascar races. Sailing is in more dire need of augmented reality than perhaps any other sport, said Honey, a former professional sailor. Boats tack back and forth, trying to catch pockets of wind that will propel them through a race's various legs. It can be difficult to determine who is ahead, or what strategy is being employed to remain there. "If you don't put the graphics on the water, you end up with people saying, O.K., white triangles on a blue background," Honey said. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/NYT-062712 OBSERVATION: The last few days have demonstrated how fond social media users are of AC45s on foils or colliding with other boats. Makes us wonder if the first AC72 incident could sink the Internet. Regarding the collision, it was Team New Zealand's AC45 that collided on Tuesday with a race committee boat during practice prior to the start of the AC World Series in Newport. Skipper Dean Barker said he had to luff to avoid a couple of spectator boats and lifted a hull to avoid the official boat.... just not high enough. Full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10815843 BROADCAST: The AC World Series begins in Newport on Thursday. Here are the broadcast details: https://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt/posts/337002359715986 QUOTE / UNQUOTE "We feel fast on the open course, but we need to start well. That is key. All the things that you can control, you have to control. Competition, Mother Nature and the current are going to be the biggest variables in performance here. The boats are so fast, that you are punished if you don't do things properly." - Terry Hutchinson (USA), Artemis Racing skipper, about the race course at the AC World Series in Newport, RI. ULLMAN SAILS POWER BIG WINS AT LONG BEACH RW Last week's Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week hosted three days of exceptional racing with sunny skies and breeze up to 20kts. Congratulations to several Ullman Sails customers who swept up trophies in one design and handicap classes! John Laun's "Caper" convincingly won the J/120 class by 10 points and Gary Mozer's J/105 "Current Obession2" finished first in class by 8 points. In the 15-boat Viper 640 fleet, Jim Sears on "the F.N.G." won first overall with Ed Feo's "Locomotion" finishing a close second. And Jay Steinbeck's "Margaritaville" won PHRF-1 powered by a new Ullman Sails GP Race mainsail. http://www.ullmansails.com KEEPING SCORE The competition for the 34th America's Cup will be on San Francisco Bay for the sailors, but another scoreboard will be following the action on land. And this action is vital to the success of the event. The San Francisco Travel Association, the official tourism marketing organization for the City and County of San Francisco, announced that the city welcomed 2,872,000 international visitors in 2011, an increase of nearly 10 percent over 2010 and a nearly 30 percent increase over 2009. Tourism is San Francisco's largest private-sector employer. Europe continues to be the largest overseas market for San Francisco, with the United Kingdom as the number one market, Germany a close second, and France in third. Asia is the second largest overseas market for San Francisco, with Oceania as the third. "The continued growth in the overseas market is a positive sign that our economy is improving and that San Francisco continues to be a desirable destination for both business and leisure travelers," said Joe D'Alessandro, San Francisco Travel president and CEO. "We look forward to welcoming the America's Cup World Series later this summer and the America's Cup in 2013, which will attract even more visitors to San Francisco." The tourism industry generated $526 million in taxes for the City of San Francisco, up 8.6 percent from the previous year. Tourism supported 71,403 jobs in 2011 with an annual payroll of $2.06 billion. In 2011, there was an average of 129,499 visitors in San Francisco each day. Visitor spending equated to $23.19 million daily (including spending related to meetings and conventions). Source: http://tinyurl.com/SFC-062712 SCUTTLEBUTT TRIVIA The 2012 Olympics will be the third time London has hosted the Summer Games. When was the last time that London hosted the Games? TRYING TO PROVE HISTORY WRONG By Ken Read, PUMA skipper It's crunch time. Last chance at the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12. Three scoring chances left. An In-Port Race here in Lorient, France; the short leg to Galway, Ireland; and finally the In-Port in Galway. Then it is over. This 39,000-mile odyssey is over. Forget about The Race for a moment. When this race starts it is impossible to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is really daunting. So many oceans to cross, so many storms to survive. Man-made obstacles. Naturally made obstacles. Whales, albatross, dolphins, starry nights to admire and jet-black skies torn apart by lightning. It goes on and on. Day and night blend together, 20-day leg after 20-day leg. Short stopovers and even shorter time with families and friends. The ocean is the highway and we are cruising it as fast as possible without crashing and burning. What an adventure. And we have 400 miles to go before this is in the books. When I did my first circumnavigation of the globe in 2007-08, I thought it was crazy. I never for a moment thought I would do a Volvo, never mind two. This race has been different. The race has been relentless. No room for a single mistake. And if you made one, you paid dearly. The competition is simply that good. When you sign up to do anything against the best, you surely expect to get pushed. We have been pushed. Ever since we broke our mast on Leg 1, we have fought an uphill battle. Most thought we would never have a chance. In fact, no one has ever won the Volvo after they were unable to complete a leg. With our broken mast in the middle of the Atlantic on Leg 1, we couldn't finish. Since then we have been trying to prove history wrong. Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/KR-062712 FOR SALE: Puma's Mar Mostro, competing now in the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12, is on the market. "Mar Mostro is an amazing yacht, whether sailing around the world or on an IRC race track," Ken Read, Mar Mostro skipper. "We were very pleasantly surprised when we won the only two IRC events we sailed in! Around the buoys and in the Transatlantic Race, both against very stiff IRC competition, Mar Mostro was fast and reliable in all conditions. Whoever buys this boat will share the wild ride PUMA Ocean Racing has been on during our epic and exciting around-the-world race!" For boat specs and details, visit http://www.pumavolvo70forsale.com SCHEDULE: Competition resumes again this Friday for the Pro-Am Race, the In-Port Race on Saturday and the final offshore leg from Lorient to Galway, Ireland (485nm) on Sunday. Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles around the world via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Max Skelley Joins North Sails * Melges appoints Andrew Lowe as General Manager * Nautor expands into Asian market View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news SAILING SHORTS * San Francisco, CA (June 27, 2012) - Continuing a tradition of firsts in Grand Prix Yacht Racing, organizers at the most prestigious inshore racing series on the U.S. West Coast, the Rolex Big Boat Series, have announced today their decision to form both an HPR (High Performance Rule) class and a Catamaran class as competing divisions at this year's event, taking place at St. Francis Yacht Club on September 6-9, 2012. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0627a/ * Gothenburg, Sweden (June 27, 2012) - The opening round of the 2012 ISAF Women's Match Racing Worlds was completed today, with the top four teams from Group A and Group B advancing to the Gold group to sail for the World title. The winners of their groups were Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Silja Lehtinen (FIN), who both posted perfect 7-0 records. Racing continues with the Finals on Saturday. Current standings: http://www.gkss.se/en/Events/WMRWC/Section/Results/ * The Bermuda Race Organizing Committee reports that two boats returning to the U.S. from the Newport Bermuda Race had faced emergency situations that are being managed by Bermuda Radio and the US Coast Guard. The 41-foot 'Avenir' reported rudder damage, requiring the crew to be rescued by the Cruise ship 'Norwegian Star'. Also, the 42-foot 'Convictus Maximus' was in need of assistance after a crew member onboard suffered a suspected spinal injury. -- Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0627/ * (June 27, 2012) - The ISAF World Sailing Rankings for the Olympic fleet racing events have been released, with the next release to follow the Olympics in August. Top North American is Amanda Clark/ Sarah Lihan (USA), third in the Women's Doublehanded event (470). -- Details: http://www.sailing.org/38798.php * Vancouver, BC (June 24, 2012) - The Farr 30 Canadian National Championships attracted eight teams from Canada and the US for ten races over three days on picturesque English Bay. Hosted by the beautiful Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, conditions ranged from moderate to light breeze and pouring rain on day one, to glorious sunshine and a stable eight to ten knot breeze on the final day of racing. Taking the title was Canadian Andrew Hamilton on 'Through'. -- Full story: http://www.farr30.org/news/421-2012-farr-30-canadian-national-title.html SEND US YOUR RACE REPORTS Posting your event information on the free, self-serve Scuttlebutt Event Calendar tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. But don't stop there... send us your race reports too. Here are some of the upcoming events listed on the calendar: * Jun 30-July 2 - Lake Huron International Regatta - Port Huron, MI, USA * Jul 4-7 - Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship - Newport, RI, USA * Jul 5-8 - Junior Olympic Festival - Annapolis, MD, USA * Jul 5-8 - Extreme Sailing Series, Act 4 - Porto, Portugal View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar IN MPX WE TRUST Do you have faith in your foul weather gear? The Musto MPX Race Smock, Jacket, and Salopettes (http://bit.ly/LRPdTh) are built to perform at the highest level and last. Designed with inshore and round-the-cans racers in mind, the MPX Race line is perfect for men and women who need trimmed down high performance gear paired with a broad range of movement for performance sailing. You can put trust in your gear because Musto uses only top end Gore-Tex brand Pro Shell Laminate in the MPX. APS knows wet, cold, and drained is no way to spend your valuable time on the course ... so upgrade to MPX Race and focus on winning: http://bit.ly/LRPdTh TRIVIA ANSWER The last time London hosted the Olympic Games was 1948, and for sailing, Torquay was the venue. The equipment used was the Firefly, Swallow, Star, Dragon and Six metre. Despite the apparent home advantage, Britain won just one medal, a gold in the Swallows, while the American team scooped up four medals in the five classes. It was at these Games that 20 year old Paul Elvstrom began his impressive Olympic career, winning the Gold medal in the Firefly. Full coverage from these Games at Yachting World: http://tinyurl.com/YW-062712 GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Tom Materna: I read the SPOT non-action (in Scuttlebutt 3617) with great concern and posted it to our rider group that uses them. Roger, who has been doing adventures for years, has this info set up to make SPOT work better which may have helped save a life. It may in the future. This is a reply I got: --------------------- This is why I created a website (http://whereamiriding.com/) that monitors every update from every user every 10 minutes. If someone hits their HELP button, I know about it regardless of who it is and if I'm one of their 'lucky 7' on their SPOT details page. If you hit the 911 button, that information gets sent to SPOT and they make the calls to the emergency contact you've setup on your account. When people register they also have the option of filling out some "Emergency Contact" information so I can get on the phone and call people even if I don't know them. Had this user been registered on my site and hit the HELP button prior to 911, a pair of digital eyes would have known he needed help before a pair of real eyes do...and to me that's better than not having any eyes at all watching over you. Doesn't it completely suck that if you hit the 911 button, that information doesn't get sent to your SPOT page?? SPOT needs to fix that. The 'HELP' button information does though, so if you need to hit the 911 button, I'd say hit the HELP button first, then the 911 button after that. At least your people get notified, THEN your contact will get a call from the GEOS center. Just a hint if you need it sometime. -- Scuttlebutt forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14070#14070 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION I didn't make it to the gym today. That establishes a new record. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Quantum Sails - Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails US Sailing - Allen Insurance and Financial - IYRS - Summit Yachts KO Sailing - Ullman Sails - APS - Pure Yachting - Henri Lloyd Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
