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SCUTTLEBUTT 3727 - Wednesday, November 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: North Sails, Point Loma Outfitting, and Soft Deck HARNESSING THE BEAST With the cloud of death and destruction now hovering over the America's Cup and the exceedingly powerful AC72, let's assume for a moment the sailors will soon tame this beast of a boat. But for the four competing teams, their mission is complicated by the schedule. Taming won't be enough; they must have it fully trained. The Louis Vuitton challenger series is in July and August, otherwise known as the "season of nuclear winds". For the challenging team lucky enough to win (or survive), they will advance to the more moderate winds of September for the Match. But the defender is not much better off; they will be training during 'nuclear' season. Given the difference in San Francisco Bay wind strength from July through to September, can the same design work effectively in both realms? "I think the challengers and the defender will need to think about developing boats that work well through the range of windspeeds," anticipates Pete Melvin, who is a member of the New Zealand design team. "Average wind speed will be higher in the July-August period, but you can still get windy days in September. Since the protocol does state how competitors may substitute yachts between the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America's Cup Match, or between different stages of each series, this could lead to the development of specific modes for the conditions. "There is considerable debate as to how many measurement certificates will be allowed during a series, and the outcome of that debate will have a direct impact on how diverse your quiver of equipment will need to be," noted Melvin. "The AC72 Class Rule only allows one certificate at a time. "The AC72 Class Rule also stipulates that you can only measure in one set of hulls, daggerboards, and wing on a certificate. This was done to reduce cost and complexity, and to promote the development of all-around gear rather than condition-specific gear. "For both the LVC and the Match, the current proposal is to allow boats to have multiple pre-measured certificates. You would need to notify the measurement committee the evening before if you were going to change your configuration to a different certificate." Time will tell if configuration changes become the result of performance decisions or death and destruction. -- http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14805 NORTH SAILS INVITES YOU... North Sail invites you to come hear Ken Read talk about the Volvo Ocean Race, North Sails, and how North 3Di sail technology has changed the world of offshore racing forever. The talk will take place at the Hotel Viking in Newport, RI on Tuesday, December 4th from 4:00-6:00pm followed by a gathering with our Sales & Sail Care teams in the hotel bar. Come visit with your North Sails representative, ask questions about sail technology, and see an impressive presentation by veteran Volvo Skipper Ken Read. Please RSVP to: danielle@mktg.northsails.com. Seating is limited to 120 guests! IS YOUR BOAT SLOW OR IS IT SOMETHING ELSE? By David Dellenbaugh, Speed & Smarts As they say in therapy, the first step in solving any problem is acknowledging you have that problem in the first place. Most sailors are not shy about admitting they are slow; in fact, many are quick to blame poor speed for a variety of mistakes. But if you want to improve your racing results, you need an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses - otherwise you will waste time working on the wrong things. For example, if you get a bad start in every race of a regatta, it's hard to blame your poor finishes on boatspeed. It may be easier to tell other sailors that you lost the races because you were slow (rather than admit you are a bad starter), but that won't help you improve for future events. So, how do you know if you really have a speed problem? Start by asking yourself a few questions: - Have you been slow over and over in the same conditions? - Were there usually boats nearby to give you good feedback about speed? - Can you rule out strategic and tactical reasons for poor performance? In sailing, as in life, there are often several possible explanations for why a problem occurs. The secret to solving that problem is identifying the 'real' reason. When it feels like you are going slower than other boats, for example, do you really have a case of the slows or could there be another explanation? Here are a few possibilities... read on: http://tinyurl.com/NS-112712 FORK IN THE ROAD (November 27, 2012; Day 18) - The South Atlantic presented a fork in the road today for the top five skippers in the Vendee Globe. As a result of the St Helena High and a swirling depression off the coast of Argentina, there were two options on the table: Door #1: Head ESE in the breeze, make miles toward the Gough Island ice gate but gamble that the St Helena High won't swallow you whole, or Door #2: Head SSW, run out of breeze, bleed miles but position yourself for the big wind that is coming. The shuffling of the rankings show that Armel Le Cleac'h (FRA), Alex Thomson (GBR), and Bernard Stamm (SUI) took the northerly route and gained, while François Gabart (FRA) and Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) headed south and have fallen back. "You cannot be sure of anything," commented Le Cleac'h."We'll see how it goes in a few days. I'll keep on with this plan. We are entering an important moment of the race. At the beginning of the Vendee Globe, it was more a speed race and now it's becoming strategic." "While I have moved to second," noted Thomson, "there's no point in getting excited though as ultimately it is a question of strategy. Jean Pierre Dick has opted to take a more southerly route and will get the new wind first when it comes in the next 24 hours. I will be one of the last to get the new wind so I have to hope I continue to have wind for today and hope they do not!" Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/ Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Tuesday 27 November 2012, 20h00 (FR) 1. Armel Le Cleac'h (FRA), Banque Populaire: 19485.4 nm Distance to Finish 2. Alex Thomson (GBR), Hugo Boss: 155.6 nm Distance to Lead 3. François Gabart (FRA), Macif: 193.1 nm DTL 4. Bernard Stamm (SUI), Cheminees Poujoulat: 217.6 nm DTL 5. Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac Paprec 3: 304.2 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html BACKGROUND: Twenty skippers began the 7th edition of the Vendee Globe, a solo, non-stop around the world race in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Starting in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on November 10, the west to east course passes the three major capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn before returning to Les Sables d'Olonne. In the 2008-9 edition, Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) set a new race record by completing the course in 84 days. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ ANATOMY OF A SOUTHERN OCEAN STORM Welcome to the Southern Ocean. The Vendee Globe leaders are on the cusp of the Roaring Forties, where they will be swept into the depressions that roil ceaselessly across the Southern Ocean. By hooking into the right place on these depressions they could cover 500 miles a day for days on end - or fall a very long way behind their rivals. One thing's for sure: how and when hook into the first of these depressions could define the outcome of the race. "The speed of these boats is phenomenal," explained navigator and meteorologist Chris Tibbs. "If you were to take an average cold front running at 25-30 knots, the catching up speed is reasonably low. If they pick up quite a few hundred miles in front and it's only catching up at 5 knots they could ride that at a good 20 knots until the system fades, covering 500 miles a day." It's vital for a following pack of sailors to try and enter the Southern Ocean on the same low pressure system as the leader. If they don't and they 'miss the first train', they will not be able to reach any skippers ahead - it's not feasible to catch up across the ridges of high pressure that separate these lows. So there's a real possibility that winner of the Vendee Globe is in the making now. Barring damage or breakages, the victor is likely to come from the group that catches that first low pressure. -- Elaine Bunting, Yachting World, full report: http://tinyurl.com/YW-112712 SLAM SKIFF LINE - USED BY THE BEST - NOW CHEAP SLAM introduced their first generation of Skiff clothing a couple of years ago. It was quickly used by some of the best dinghy sailors in the world. Earlier this year they added a "Coldy" version for those that sailed in colder water, and needed the additional warmth. They also introduced the second generation of their original skiff line, a true refinement of an already good kit. So where does the "Cheap" come in? The first generation now needs to be cleared out, so we've reduced the price by 30%. Just in time for frost biting, and the Holidays! Check out these savings on some great gear at: http://www.pointlomaoutfitting.com/c/slam-clearance.html TOO MANY CLASSES MAKE SAILING A "HARD SELL" By Roger McMillan, Australian Sailing + Yachting In some ways the wide variety of craft that are sailed from our beaches enhance the sport. There is something for everyone, from a slow and safe tub for the conservative amongst us to a flying skiff or multihull for the more adventurous and sometimes plain mad! But the plethora of designs makes it very hard for sailing to be taken seriously by the mainstream media. I recall a situation in 2010 when Tom Slingsby had just won his third Laser World Championship and an Etchells World Championship within two weeks of each other. I contacted the sailing writer for a major Australian newspaper to point out Tom's successes, one of which was achieved on his birthday and the other of which was accomplished with John Bertrand, the first non-American skipper to win the America's Cup. The journalist in me said this was a damn good story. "Yeah, I heard about it," came the reply, "But I'm a bit busy with the Commonwealth Games at the moment..." I'm convinced that the reason we aren't taken seriously as a sport is because there are just too many "championships", both here and around the world. The really important and hard-to-win ones get swamped by the also-rans, which are given the same prominence and importance by our governing bodies. Did you know, for example, that to become an ISAF-recognised keelboat class (over 15m) you need only two boats in each of three countries on two continents? I'm guessing there's a financial benefit to ISAF involved in having lots of classes - it's certainly not in the best interests of the sport. Below I've floated some ideas on how we can correct this "problem". Some of them might not hold up to scrutiny from better-equipped brains than mine, but I think it's important we at least debate the subject. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/MS-112712 OLD AND STUBBORN When the 68th Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race gets underway on Boxing Day, December 26, in Sydney Harbor, at centre stage of the 628nm classic will be local yachtsman Syd Fischer, a national living treasure who is still in the grip of finish line fever. At the age of 85, when most men of his age might be shuffling around a retirement village in their slippers with their trousers braced up around their chest, Fischer wants to win line honours amid the 80-boat fleet - again. He's taken over the boat to do it, Investec Loyal, last year's first across the line. The 100-foot super maxi becomes the latest iteration of Fischer's Ragamuffin series, Ragamuffin Loyal. Syd - lean, leather-skinned, laconic, highly competitive and still the subject of discussion for his exploits on and off the water - personifies Sydney: he won't lie down. Fischer will be on his 44th Sydney-Hobart. He has already won line honours wins with Ragamuffin in 1988 and 1990, with an overall win in 1992 aboard an updated Ragamuffin. This year he is leasing Investec Loyal with a view to knocking off five-time line honours winner and race record holder (1:18:40:10 set in 2005) Wild Oats XI, whose skipper, Mark Richards, is just young enough to be his grandson. Last year Loyal, skippered by owner Anthony Bell, beat Wild Oats XI in the fourth closest finish in the race's history; three minutes and eight seconds. -- Full report: http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com/news/2012/pre-race/rshyr-launch-story/ SAILING SHORTS * The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association will be holding their Semi Annual (Winter) Meeting on Saturday, January 12, 2013 in Park City, UT. Any topic for discussion or which can properly be acted on at the meeting shall be submitted at least 30 days (Thursday, December 13, 2012) prior to the meeting. Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14825 * (November 27, 2012) - The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the establishment of a new Outright World and World "B" Division (150-235 square feet) Sailing Speed Record. On Nov. 16, Paul Larsen (AUS) piloted Vestas SailRocket 2 to a speed of 59.23 kts on Walvis Bay, Namibia. The previous Outright record of 55.65 kts was set in 2010 by Kite Boarder Rob Douglas (USA) at Luderitz, Namibia. The previous "B" category record of 54.08 kts was set in 2012 by Larsen. A further claim by Larsen for a speed in excess of these records is currently being assessed. -- http://tinyurl.com/WSSRC-112712 * (November 27, 2012) - Britain's Ben Ainslie, who cemented his place in sporting history by securing his fourth consecutive gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, today announced his retirement from Olympic sailing. Ainslie plans to focus on preparing his challenge for the 35th America's Cup. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/BA-112712 SOFT DECK Soft Deck's non skid is easy to install, and provides amazing traction wet or dry. Our soft, barefoot friendly material with a peel and stick backing can be installed over existing nonskid in minutes, and won't tear up your knees or elbows. More information at http://www.Soft-Deck.com 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 John Harwood-Bee: In Scuttlebutt 3726, Kiteboard Course World Champion Johnny Heineken comments, "I'm definitely disappointed in that this was the one shot I had to be involved with a sport at the highest level". Do not be disappointed Johnny. The Olympics can hardly be described as the highest level of sport when so many political and obscure decisions are made regarding events, equipment, and participants. The true highest level in any sport will always be World Championships where you will be competing against the very best in your discipline. Forget the hype; just revel in your deserved success at the 'Worlds'. * From William Sandberg: A wise person once said that nobody is irreplaceable. That person never met Arthur Wullschleger. Patty O'Donnell's beautifully written piece captured the essence of this very special man (Eight Bells, Scuttlebutt 3726), but I'd like to add a little known fact. While I'm sure he occasionally accepted a drink, meal or even a hotel room on a rare occasion, he almost always paid his own way to and at every regatta. Granted he was successful enough in business to have the wherewithal to do so, but I suspect if he did not have two nickels he would have done the same. Arthur ran the best protest room I have ever seen. You quickly learned that you better have your facts straight or you were toast. Long drawn out hearings were not his forte; he cut to the chase and moved on. I know of no one who was as universally loved, admired and respected as Arthur. I'm sure I join with sailors around the world in saying "thank you Tuna for all you did. Our sport is better because of you. There will never be another like you." * From Louay Habib: I had the pleasure to meet Tuna at this year's BVI Spring Regatta. He may have been in his 90s but he still had all his marbles intact. He told me about the first use of on-the-water umpires in the America's Cup. He said prior to that, every night, the teams were in the protest room until the early hours and were not getting much sleep. So on-the-water umpires were introduced to stop that. Tuna was a guy who liked things settled on the water. I heard he could be a hard man to impress in a protest room, especially if you were trying to win a protest on a technicality and that is something we should all appreciate. Rest in Peace. * From Andrew Troup: Regarding Michael Craddock query in Scuttlebutt 3726 concerning the impact that volcanic eruptions have contributed to the Global Warming theory, volcanoes indeed do emit prodigious quantities of CO2, but averaged over time it's still only about 1/100 of what human activities emit. Moreover they've always done so, so even if their emissions were comparable to ours, they are not contributing to the steady increase in CO2 levels which nobody denies. This increase does, on the other hand, correspond closely with increasing human emissions, and carbon isotope fingerprints validate this linkage unambiguously. Finally, because of the particulates which volcanoes also emit, blocking incoming solar energy, their net warming effect is questionable. This link explains the information concerning the earth's natural carbon dioxide emissions: http://www.skepticalscience.com/volcanoes-and-global-warming.htm * From Kay Kilpatrick: In response to Michael Craddock query and the editorial in the NY Times, I must first admit I am indeed a card carrying scientist who studies global sea surface temperature for a living -- and therefore on the dole and can't be trusted -- I pause to put on armor and my life jacket. It is a good thing that we are all sailors; if the climate dialogue continues to be perpetually distracted by the question "Is climate change human induced?" rather than how are we going to deal with the consequences, our sailing skills will be in high demand in a future Water World. As the original editorial piece in the New York Times stated: "There are two basic ways to protect ourselves from sea level rise: reduce it by cutting pollution, or prepare for it by defense and retreat. To do the job, we must do both. We have lost our chance for complete prevention; and preparation alone, without slowing emissions, would - sooner or later - turn our coastal cities into so many Atlantises." Having just suffered through an election year in the US, we are all too familiar with the sound bite spin in regard to communicating important ideas by political parties. Unfortunately the same polarizing dialogue often hinders the climate discussion. -- Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14830#14830 EDITOR'S NOTE: The last time the topic of Global Warming snuck into Scuttlebutt, we were barraged with opposing views. This time the naysayers have been mostly quiet. Regardless, this thread is now closed in the Newsletter but is welcome to continue in the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14827 FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent boat ads: * Pearson True North 33 (2005) * 1996 Laser - Long Island Sound Area * Raffle for 18' Nomad View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - Ultimate Sailing - APS - Quantum Sails Mount Gay Rum - North Sails - Point Loma Outfitting - Soft Deck Ullman Sails - North U - Samson Rope - Team One Newport Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
