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SCUTTLEBUTT 1895 - August 4, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.CANTING KEELS (The Daily Sail subscription website looked at the numerous breakages suffered by canting keels and projected how this might affect the Volvo Ocean 70s. Here are a couple of small excerpts from that story.) While canting keels represent a fantastic leap ahead in monohull technology, for some reason over the last year a number of boats have been experiencing problems with them. In recent months we have seen the capsize of Grant Wharington's 100ft Skandia maxi during the Rolex Sydney Hobart race when sailing upwind in 35-40 knots she launched off the top of a wave breaking both the hydraulic rams used to cant the keel. After the crew had been rescued, the keel fell out of the boat and she turned turtle. Meanwhile there has been the spate of canting keel trouble in the Open 60 class over the last year, for different reasons. More mysterious in the Vendee Globe were the keel foils simply snapping on Nick Moloney's Skandia and Mike Golding's Ecover. Fortunately in both cases the skippers were fine, both managing to keep their boats upright, Golding even managing to finish the race... The common factor to these two incidents were that both keels broke with similar hours on them and both boats were designed by Owen/Clarke Design Group (along with Rob Humphreys, Alain Gautier and SP System's Giovanni Belgrano in the case of Skandia). "We've done lots of testing and analysis and we think that with 90% probability it was a fatigue failure, but why it should have occurred after that many hours we haven't been able to come up with a satisfactory answer for," admits Neal Graham, Technical Manager of the Offshore Challenges Racing Team who is responsible for the Skandia Open 60. -- There is much more to this story on the Daily Sail, http://www.thedailysail.com/ LIKE FAMILY "His safety valve was sailing," remembers Owen Parker, who, for 12 amazingly successful years spanning the Seventies, was Sir Edward Heath's sailing master. These were the Morning Cloud years in which Heath achieved unique success. He was one of only three British winners of Australia's Sydney-Hobart race, and the only premier to lead a national team to victory in an international sporting competition when Britain won the 1971 Admiral's Cup. Parker was among those at Heath's funeral last week and this week, during a break in Cowes Week, he was remembering his old skipper. Seventy, but spirited and sprightly, Parker is one of four original Morning Cloud crew to have outlived Heath. "He lived in a pressure cooker," he said of Heath's Westminster life, in and out of office. "I thought he was a bit of lonely man, to be honest. I know he had his politician friends, but with us, we seemed to be a bit of a family to him. I could have sailed on any boat but sailed with the skipper for 12 years. That says it all. There was no politics on board; whatever was said afloat never came ashore and there was no alcohol. Mind you, we made up for it ashore. 'Champagne if we win' was our motto!" -- Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/ds9oo ISAF WORLD SAILING RANKINGS Three new leaders rise to the top spots in this release of the ISAF World Sailing Rankings with 2005 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Champion Paige Railey (USA) leading the charge in the Laser Radial. Seven-time World Champion Robert Scheidt (BRA) regains the lead of the Laser Rankings as he starts his Beijing 2008 Star campaign, whilst Ekaterina Skoudina, Diana Krutskikh and Tatian Larsteva (RUS) take over the top spot in the Yngling. Germany, Spain, and the Ukraine have teams holding positions in top three positions in three separate classes, whilst Great Britain still leads the way with six top three places. Ukraine is the only country that leads in two classes (Mens Windsurfer and Womens Windsurfer). ISAF website, full report: http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j6qFh5,vB&format=popup Curmudgeon's Comment: The only major event in the current rankings' period was the Yngling World Championship, which was won by Americans Sally Barkow Carrie Howe, and Debbie Capozzi, and moved them up from 15th to 9th…yippee! THE BOAT OF CHOICE Milwaukee Yacht Club, Indian Harbor Yacht Club, Hyannis Yacht Club, New York Yacht Club, Pleon Yacht Club, Stamford Yacht Club, Wianno Yacht Club, Toms River Yacht Club, Houston Yacht Club, and Mantoloking Yacht Club. What do all of these clubs have in common? They're just a few of the many yacht clubs using Ribcraft RIBs for their sailing programs and race committees. It's no coincidence that Ribcraft is their preferred choice. Now's the time to join these prestigious clubs by contacting Ribcraft to learn how the Ribcraft line of RIBs is ideally suited for you and your club. http://www.ribcraftusa.com ONLY THE ELITE This year's bi-annual "Monaco Classic Week" from September 13-18 will focus on only the elite of Traditional and Classic Yachting. This year, the Yacht Club de Monaco has paid particular attention to inviting Classic vessels which can be considered as possessing exceptional qualities, either because of their histories, their sporting careers, their renowned owners, or because they are issue from highly esteemed Yards or Designers. Shamrock V is the oldest known surviving example of the Class J. Ranger and Velsheda, are the two other Class J yachts that will be in the Principality for Monaco Classic Week. That is to say, three out of the four Class J craft known to be in existence ! They will compete in the Bay of Monaco against Candida and Cambria, two 23-Metres, whose tonnage-ratings have been adapted to conform to this fabulous class. This seventh edition of Monaco Classic week, dedicated to vessel owners and the art of living yachting, offers many delightful and fun features : Traditional Yacht Regattas, Class J Challenges, Elegance Contests, an Onboard Chefs Competition, a Restoration and Heritage Trophy, Regularity and Maneuvers Trials and Skill-Testing, Cocktails, and Evening Galas, to cite but a few. KING EDWARD VII GOLD CUP 2005 Seven-time and defending Gold Cup winner Russell Coutts and ISAF ranked number one in the world, Peter Gilmour are set to meet in Hamilton Harbour October 15-23 for this year's Investors Guaranty presentation of The King Edward VII Gold Cup. Also vying for the historic and coveted Cup are top seeded skippers Ed Baird, Mathieu Richard, Philippe Presti, James Spithill, Dean Barker and Gavin Brady. Eight unseeded skippers will have the daunting challenge of racing against this list of world-class sailing talent in hopes of reaching the finals. This field will include the top six of the ISAF Grade 3 qualifying rounds and the winner and runner up from the ISAF Women's Match Racing World Championship 2005, to be sailed concurrently with the Gold Cup qualifier event. All of the skippers have a chance at winning The King Edward VII Gold Cup and a share of the $100,000 purse. - http://www.kingedwardviigoldcup.com PIRATE SHIP (Washington Post columnist Angus Phillip talked with Paul Cayard about his recently announced Volvo Ocean Race campaign with the Disney-sponsored Black Pearl. Here's an excerpt.) In a phone interview from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where he was competing in a big-boat regatta, Cayard said he's assembled a crew of 10 from seven nations and expects to start training around Sept. 1, as soon as boat construction is completed in England. Nine of the crew have been around the world in the Volvo or Whitbread before, he said, and four were on winning boats. Disney's sponsorship was late arriving, and Cayard's team will be one of the last to begin preparations. The team with the most experience is Movistar, a Spanish entry that began sailing last February and completed a trial run from Australia to England via Cape Horn. "Our campaign has to be catch-up," said Cayard, "and we may not catch up till we're three-quarters of the way around the world. The good news is, at that point, only one-third of the points will have been awarded. "Our idea is to get a good crew, learn and improve as we go and reel the others in. The only thing that matters is having the most points at the end of the last leg." Disney will use the sponsorship to promote its upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie sequel. Cayard says he'll work with a budget of 12 million euros ($14.6 million), "which is probably a little less than the others." -- Angus Phillips, Washington Post, full story: http://tinyurl.com/alam3 SKIP ALLAN'S TRIVIA In one of those ironic twists, the Transpac 52's Alta Vita in 2003, and Rosebud in 2005, both won Division and Overall Corrected Time Honors in the Transpac. Yet neither won its class. Bonus trivia points for those who can name the Transpac 52 class winners in 2003 and 2005. -- Answer below NEWS BRIEFS * Two races were held on Wednesday at the Optimist Worlds in Engadin, Switzerland, but with one day of racing remaining, leader Tina Lutz (GER) seems a hot favorite for a medal of some color with a fourteen point edge on the fleet. If so she will be the first girl medalist since Lisa Westerhof (NED) who won gold in 1996. -- http://www.optimist.ch/ * The second day of the US Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship for the Leiter Cup enjoyed a sunny 10-12 knots in Marina Del Rey, CA, providing a four-race day for the 60-boat fleet. Stephanie Roble from Wisconsin continued the winning pace she began with on day one, and now has built an eleven-point lead over Maryland's Morgan Wilson. Sarah Lihan from Florida is just two points further back in third. -- http://calyachtclub.com/cms/RaceResults/Series149.htm Photo gallery at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/leiter * Lexus dominated the first part of Wednesday's offshore race, crossing the finish line well ahead of the fleet. The 93.8-mile course will have another finish, which will mark the second classification and the end of the offshore race. The fleet is forecasted to finish around midnight, with lighter winds likely to shuffle the positions. Second to cross the line was Caixa Galicia. Copa del Rey-Agua Brava TP52 standings: 1. Caixa Galicia (29); 2. Lexus Quantum Racing (27); 3. MoviStar (25); 4. Cristabella (24); 5. Atalanti XV (21); 6. Bambakou (18); 7. Siemens (13); 8. Bribón (14); 9. Orlanda-Olympus (14);10. Balearia (6); 11. Aifos (6). -- http://www.medcup.org/ * Fawcett Boat Supplies, Inc., an Annapolis based yacht chandlery, recently purchased Oceana, Ltd, a marine distributor also in Annapolis. Founded in 1980, Oceana supplies marine related products and services to marinas, boat builders, repair yards, and retail marine supply outlets in the Mid-Atlantic region. The sale of the business will become final in September 2005. * Brest, France - The International 420 Worlds have two race days remaining, and California youth sailors are holding on to some of the top spots in this class that is mostly raced overseas. In the Open Gold Flight, Adam Roberts/ Nick Martin (San Diego, CA) sit in second, while Tyler Sinks/ Myles Gutenkunst (San Diego/ San Francisco, CA) are also second in the Open Silver Flight. Megan Magill/ Briana Provancha (San Diego, CA) are presently in fifth in the Womens Flight. - http://420worldchampionship.srbrest.com/ * An All-Star team of college sailors traveled to England last month for the bi-annual ICSA-BUSA Tour. The team, comprised of Jefferey Bonanni, Andrew Campbell, Charlie Enright, Ben Gent, Justin Law, Harrison Turner, and coach Bill Ward, competed in 5 trophy matches . There was 2-on-2 team racing in Sonars, 2 matches of 3-on-3 team racing in Fireflys, 3-on-3 team racing in Lasers and a match race in Elan 333's. ICSA and BUSA were even at two events each going into the final event, which was won by BUSA during the last race of the final trophy match. - Harrison Turner "FASTEST SAILS ON THE PLANET" JUST GOT FASTER! Ullman Sail's new FiberPath sails are arguably the lightest, strongest load-bearing fiber sail construction process available. Stronger for its weight than alternatives, superior longevity, and priced with our customers in mind. FiberPath sails use high quality aramid fibers, oriented along both primary and secondary load lines, structurally bonded under high heat and pressure, thereby eliminating cloth delamination. Are you ready for the "Fastest Sails on the Planet?" To learn more about FiberPath sails, visit http://www.ullmansails.com TRIVIA ANSWER Beau Geste in 2003 and Pegasus 52 in 2005 won the Transpac 52 class, yet yielded overall honors to their sisters. As Bill Lee succinctly points out "The Transpac handicap rule is intended to rate a wide range of boats, without giving advantage to the latest hot setup. The TP 52 trophy is awarded under their class rules and goes to the first class legal TP 52 to finish. The later TP 52's are significantly faster than the earlier ones. They have a longer sailing length and also quite a bit more stability. Pegasus 52 wins TP 52 trophy. TransPac Yacht Club division trophies are awarded by a handicap system that tries to realistically assess all of the factors. Less sailing length and lower stability yield slower rating. Rosebud wins Division II and Overall." -- Skip Allan 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, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Joe Cochran: It is unfortunate that you have decided to end the thread on alternative handicapping systems while in the same edition you include comments about the ORC Club handicapping system that considers such items as conventional sail materials for determining ratings and includes a statement that there "was a need to … rekindle interest in a dwindling fleet". This appears to be a different and important step towards recognizing the average competitor. Declining participation at the club level is a nationwide concern and ignoring the determining factors is akin to putting ones head in the sand. There is old saying that "if you did what you always did, you will get what you always got". It wasn't to long ago that buying championships was discouraged. Recently we have seen that the ability to win is an issue of money for buying the best crew, exotic sails, instrumentation, etc. Many competitors simply do not have the resources or refuse to allocate that level of their personal time and wealth to compete. The trend of recognizing and rating only what money will buy will not bring the average sailor back to the race course. Locally we use the term "club" as opposed to "golf" handicap. We also run dual systems, one geared to performance capability and the other for everyone else. No one competes to loose and if we want the average competitor to join in we need to find a way to allow them to win something. * From Chris Ericksen: We in Southern California know of the quality of Nick Scandone, who won the singlehanded division at the US Sailing Independence Cup/North American Challenge Cup for disabled sailors ('Butt 1894). What is perhaps equally impressive is that Nick, is still sailing against able-bodied sailors and recently took fourth in the Senior Division of the Naples Sabot Senior Nationals in Long Beach. * From Gus Miller: Ken Legler is correct about reaching legs in Scuttlebutt 1893. The old Finn Gold Cup course with two big long reaches was everything except boring. Make it long enough and there are all kinds of tactical moves and techniques to use, especially big air and waves. The very tight reaches on trapezoid courses just aren't long enough. Windward-leeward courses should be just for light air. * From Alun James: If you don't reach (kite or headsail) you don't broach (as often). It is reaching where the men get sorted from the boys, things get uncomfortable and edgy and (sorry) gear gets broken. It is also, as said when the real adrenaline kicks in and the Woooo Hooo factor is relived. If the course is always set for you and it is always windward/leeward then skippers and crew may never feel tempted or prepared to venture out of the harbour when you have a destination to get to (or around) irrespective of the wind conditions. * From David Villiers-Child: I've never been sure why we went to windward-leeward courses, (except to fiddle with something that worked!) which necessitates a short beam reach at the windward mark to clear the boats approaching the mark but yet to round. And then: "oh joy oh rapture" (Heavy sarcasm!) a gate at the leeward mark(s). The advantage of the old Olympic Course was a long beat followed by reach - reach (In dinghies always and in heavy weather universally the gybe mark was fun at least for the spectators! - And a true test of boat handling skills.) and then the beat, a run, the whole thing repeated and then finishing after a final windward leg. 5 Beats, 4 reaches 2 runs an all-around test that kept us out of protest meetings and avoided overnight repairs and the lottery of gate leeward marks both of which have increased exponentionally since we "progressed"! * From Ben Glass: (In response to Ken Legler's piece in 'Butt 1892) I whole-heartedly agree the sailing should be about having fun, but reaching is not the answer. What makes a boat fun reaching is that it lacks the power to provide the "yahoo!" feeling in regular windward leeward racing. In a boat like the 29, I-14, 18 Footer, etc. you get plenty of "yahoo" all the way up and down the course, no reaching needed. Even the 5o5 with its new larger kite is better off without reaches. I say: power up, not head up. * From Thomas Manco: No reaching legs! Windward/leeward courses offer much more position changes then courses with reaching legs, that's why we don't do that any more! Want to reach along? try distance racing where all you do it seems is reach (for a large part of the time). Many local 'beer can' races during the week, send classes to bouncing from government to government mark, usually plenty of reaching there. For most boats with A sails they are reaching at much higher angles then symmetrically rigged boats. Which brings to mind an ugly scene of asymmetric boats and symmetric boats going along reaching legs, some on plane going mach speed while older boats lumber along trying not to wipe out! And what about cost? Owners that can will build sails, specifically designed for those reaching legs and those who can't? They might just have another reason to leave the sport. One last thought, they tried reaching legs in the America's Cup, and they don't have it now. Why? Boring! * From Mary Lees Gunther: Wasn't PHRF designed to rate boats on all points of sail? So if we continue to race windward/leeward races, aren't we eliminating part of the equation? * From Phil Garland: (Re: Chris Ericksen's comment that Etchells don't plane) I'm pretty sure mine was planning in 20-25 knots of wind--and it seems to pay to sail hotter angles downwind in those conditions. Given enough wind, I guess almost anything will plane. * From Tim Patton: Whilst I have an opinion on the subject of windward leeward vs. reaching courses, I shan't insert my oar at this time. I must, however, respond to Chris Ericksen's contention that Etchells don't plane "at all." I would like to invite Chris to come to San Francisco Bay in just over a month to watch 90+ Etchells doing just that at the World's Championship being hosted by the Richmond YC on the Berkley Circle. Curmudgeon's Comment: Chris will be at the Worlds -- racing his Etchells. CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity? |
