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SCUTTLEBUTT 1740 - December 27, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART The biggest spectator fleet in years packed Sydney Harbour with hundreds of fast powerboats escorting the supermaxis as they sailed, almost boat for boat, out to sea. Near the sea mark, the water was white with the wash of the yachts and powercraft. In the headlands around Sydney Harbour, several hundred thousand people watched the biggest fleet in a decade tack their way down the Harbour in the light north-easterly breeze on a warm summer's day. Race leaders Konica Minolta from New Zealand and Australia's Skandia are this morning sailing towards Bass Strait in their extraordinary repeat boat-for-boat duel for line honours in the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The two 98-footers were in a virtual dead heat at the head of the fleet, with Nicorette just 10 miles back. In last year's Rolex Sydney Hobart Race, Skandia beat Konica Minolta, then called Zana, across the finish line by a mere 14 minutes after 628 nautical miles of ocean racing. The heavy weather conditions they had been warned about in the preliminary forecast on Christmas Eve appear to have eased, though there are still two south-westerly fronts headed towards Bass Strait and for most of the fleet it will still be a rough, uncomfortable sail for much of the race. Early Monday morning the front runners will sail into the first southerly front a little earlier than expected, with winds expected to reach 15 to 25 knots and freshening to 25-35 knots over the course of Monday and Tuesday. Offshore, conditions will be more testing with winds peaking at 40 knots and 4-6 metre seas. Even though the peak wind speed has been reduced "…it is still going to be cold, windy and miserable," said Peter Dunda from the Bureau, with the forecast still for showery squalls and cold temperatures out in the Tasman Sea. - Peter Campbell, www.rolexsydneyhobart.com ELLEN Ellen MacArthur's 75-foot trimaran B&Q spent Christmas day in Gale-force winds - getting pounded with 40 knots of breeze that gusted to 50 (Force 10). "The only white Christmas about this Christmas, is the breaking waves all around us," she said. "The conditions are horrendous, the waves are huge and the boat is getting physically thrown around." B&Q fell out of the back of the big frontal system in the night and now there is a whole lot more to come! "I've done 12 sail changes in 12 hours, from 3 reefs and storm jib to full main and genoa," MacArthur said. Now the frontal system that passed over her by the end of Christmas has stalled ahead and B&Q is sailing back into the same storm. "Now back all the way down to 2 reefs and staysail. More to do yet, as we are now right on the back of the first front and crossing again into the 40 knot plus northerlies." Winds expected to increase to 35-40 knots, gusting 45 knots. "I've got a few days of this kind of weather and I'm not even going to think about opening my Christmas Box until we are through the worst of this and I can get some decent sleep … probably New Year then!" B&Q is presently ahead of Francis Joyon's record pace by 25 Hours 10 min. - www.teamellen.com OPINION Yacht designer Greg Elliott points out that this is why the Volvo Ocean Race has a hard time getting entries as it is solely based around professionals rather than owners. He also has grave concerns about the TP52 class. "To me that will be a flash in the pan. Firstly the boats are ridiculously expensive for their size and it will all be about professional yachtsmen taking over, so that the one with the most amount of money and able to buy the best jockeys has probably got a better chance of winning. That is what will happen to that class if they are not careful." - Excerpts from a story on The Daily Sail subscription website, www.thedailysail.com KEY WEST 2005 WEATHER WORKSHOP Peter Isler joins host Bill Biewenga, Commanders' Weather & OPC meteorologists to help you ramp up for Key West 2005. Study the trends and options for the races ahead. Dig into the research and discuss the expected weather with the pros from the comfort of your own computer. The online discussions will be archived for later reference for your own strategy sessions with your team. The award-winning WxLIVE! online interactive weather seminar is convenient to your schedule. Early registration holiday discount still available for the January 8, 2005 online event. More details at http://www.weather4sailors.com VENDÉE GLOBE The fleet is spread out more 4,000 miles or the width of the Pacific to within a hundred miles. Divided up into several groups, it is obvious that they are sailing in very different weather systems. One of the revelations of this edition of the Vendée Globe because of his ability to stand his own in an old boat from 1998 against the best skippers, Sébastien Josse (VMI) unfortunately hit a growler last Thursday. His chances of victory have been sharply reduced. The youngest competitor in the event, whose jib boom is broken, must do without his fore sails downwind. In addition to that, he has a problem with the rudder that he hopes to solve tomorrow, when the weather eases off. For Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac-Paprec), the race changed quite a while back, when he began to have power problems, as he entered the Indian Ocean. With two broken gooseneck fittings, and a problem with the link between his rudder/pilot, Jean-Pierre hasn't stopped doing little repair jobs for the past month. Tomorrow, it will be Jean-Pierre's turn to enter the iceberg danger zone, but he will be facing that without any radar, because of the lack of power on board. Consequently, the sailor from Nice is going to have to keep further to the north than his opponents to limit as much as possible the risk of an encounter with an iceberg. Like Sébastien Josse et Jean-Pierre Dick, , three other competitors still in the race are having to sail below their normal potential. With a broken jib boom and a weakened mast head, Marc Thiercelin (ProForm) had to face up to reality and change his way of looking at the race. As if that wasn't enough, Marc hasn't brought aenough gas with him and is going to have to eat cold meals, while down in the south. Patrice Carpentier (VM Matériaux) is also suffering, having to repair his broken boom alone at sea. Just in front of Patrice, Joé Seeten (Arcelor Dunkerque) spent more than an hour yesterday evening at the top of his mast trying to release his solent, which had exploded in last night's gale, as gusts reached 60 knots. - www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ Standings at 1900 GMT December 26: 1. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam, 9669 miles to finish 2. PRB, Vincent Riou, 152 miles to leader 3. Ecover, Mike Golding, 214 mtl 4. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 487 mtl 5. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 1151 mtl 6. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick 1477 mtl 7. Skandia, Nick Moloney, 2071 mtl 8. Pro-Form, Marc Thiercelin, 2196 mtl 9. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, 2475 mtl 10. VM Matériaux, Patrice Carpentier, 2633 mtl 11. Ocean Planet, Bruce Schwab, 2951 mtl 12. Max Havelaar/Best Western, Benoît Parnaudeau, 3294 mtl 13. Roxy, Anne Liardet, 3532 mtl 14. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, 3563 mtl 15 Akena Vérandas, Raphaël Dinelli, 4083 mtl 16 Benefic, Karen Leibovici, 4261 mtl abd - Sill Véolia, Roland Jourdain 01:00 AM abd - Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson 01:00 AM abd - UUDS, Hervé Laurent 01:00 AM abd - Brother, Norbert Sedlacek QUOTE / UNQUOTE "Do we want the America's Cup to be governed by two guys that all of a sudden get together in a back room somewhere and decide to change the rules for whatever reason? No matter how the cup has been governed in the past ... maybe it is time to look at a new way of doing it. I think it needs to be more transparent, so we can understand the processes, instead of these back room discussions." - Russell Coutts, www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3137918a1823,00.html FERN RIDGE LAKE The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dropped the high-water limit at Fern Ridge Lake because of deterioration of the lake's dam, dealing a devastating blow to boaters across the region and businesses in and around Veneta. The corps will restrict the water level to 360 feet - 13.5 feet below normal - and will maintain that limit until repairs on the 63-year-old dam are completed in 2007 at the earliest, spokesman Mike McAleer said Monday. Restricting the water level will ease concerns of a break in the dam, but it virtually eliminates boating in the comparatively shallow lake because the water won't reach any of four ramps. "You're not going to see any sailboats out there the whole time it's drawn down. You would definitely get in the mud if you were trying to put a rowboat in," McAleer said. Some say the lake 12 miles west of Eugene is the most-used sailing venue in the state (of Washington). www.registerguard.com/news/2004/12/21/a1.fernridge.1221.html NEWS BRIEFS * On December 28, the first of two Volvo Ocean Race yachts for Team ABN AMRO will exit the wharf at Schaap Ship Care and go on transport. Destination: Portimão, Portugal - the Team ABN AMRO's base camp for the next seven months as the crew and shore team test and fine-tune the new gear. This is the first Volvo 70 class yacht to hit the water in preparation of the Volvo Ocean Race, which starts from Galenxia, Spain, in November 2005. The actual christening of the yacht takes place in Portimão on January 17. www.abnamro.com/pressroom/releases/2004/2004-12-24-en.jsp WARM HOLIDAY WISHES FROM HENRI LLOYD As you take in all the sights and sounds of the season, we at Henri Lloyd thank you for taking us along. We appreciate your loyalty to the Henri Lloyd brand and will work to sustain that trust as we sail into 2005. Best wishes for a most joyous holiday season. http://www.henrilloydonline.com 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 not 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.) * From J. Paul Riou: Only with a blink in someone's eye could both "a politically correct Christmas" and Eric Matus's contribution end up in the same issue of 'Butt. There is a major set back in his project - How does he expect professional sailors, be they navy personnel or oceanic researchers, to accept and live the conditions met by Cheyenne, Geronimo, and Orange crews, to work their long hours, night and day? Workers with a status, would quickly sue their skipper for moral abuse! Get large multihulls into some registry, classification society, ISM, SSCW 95, and they will suddenly lose their leading edge. Yacht sailing is useless, probably is it why it is one of the last free worlds, please leave it unnoticed by government agencies. * From Richard Clark (Re Eric Matus's comments - "Just image a 400' version of Cheyenne silently hunting submarines. Running at its potential hull speed, using a combination of wind, solar, and fuel cell power, it could locate its target (with passive technology made effective by its silent propulsion) and launch a strike before the submerged target is aware it is being stalked?") Huh? With all the technology in the world we still can't find one bearded dude on the Pakistani border, so put the money into kids sailing programs and let's just get on with life. * From Clark Chapin: Without being privy to the thought process behind the locations for the speaker series, I think I can answer Bob Klein's question: It's easy to get speakers at Miami, Annapolis, and Newport but much harder without financial support to get speakers in the sites that have been selected thus far. My personal wish is that there will be some funds in reserve to assist in speakers for the Second Annual One-Design Symposium next fall, wherever it will be held. This year's event was a success in part because the "name" speakers (Perry, Cronin and Whyte, to name three) were within an easy distance. The temptation to move from Newport, site of this year's event, to Annapolis or Miami is strong, but that's not where the need is greatest. As a pond sailor in Michigan, I think that growth in sailing depends on participation away from the traditional centers. * From Doug Metchick: C'mon Curmudgeon ... how could Bob Klein's comment on the Mount Gay Rum Speaker Series even make it to print?! Mount Gay is one of the sport's biggest promoters and they support sailing programs in more markets than I can think of. Same with US Sailing. What's more, getting behind seminars that help sailors around the country understand the new racing rules is a great idea. With all due respect to Newport, Miami and Annapolis, it's a great big world out there and the notion of limiting sailing programs to these markets is a joke. * From Thomas Carroll In response to Mr. Klein's comments about the Us sailing speaking tour- I think that the point of these seminars is to reach out to sailing areas that US sailing does not have as much foundation. US Sailing is losing touch and I think it's a great step! I commend it and as a New Yorker I look forward to going to Blue Point. * From Chris Luppens: I believe the wording was "grassroots, educational series", and since Gulf yachting Association worked on this for some time in order to have a speaker at their annual winter meeting, and since over 100 people will attend, it seems more than a little appropriate. Is it that hard to believe that a whole lot of very good sailing goes on outside the east coast of the United States? * From Alun James: Instant gratification is the anti thesis of sailing. In a cruising sense you must enjoy the journey because if you are focused only on the destination then you better make yourself comfortable. In a racing sense the gratification comes to those crews that manage to maintain the hunger for the duration of the race. Frequently the dividends from decisions made early in the race do not become obvious for many hours (or even days) later in the race. I have taken colleagues racing who have been astounded when yachts that were previously many miles apart on opposite tacks cross within feet (or inches) of each other. With yacht racing, as in real life, large projects have to be broken down in to a succession of small but clear wins, a good tack, a smooth spinnaker gybe or the magic moments when the cockpit crew are calling out the higher and higher numbers as the yacht approaches her all time speed record on a good surf. If, at the end of the race you end up with gun smoke or even a handicap place then it is a bonus. * From Patrick Blaney: Sailing is one of the few lifetime sports. We encourage our children into sailing so they too can enjoy this lifetime sport whether pottering about in boats or competing in the Olympics or anything in between. Sailing covers it all! It doesn't really matter what boat our children learn to sail in provided they can cope, can sail with their friends, have enough competition while making it fun for all. If they have fun, make friends, acquire skills and enjoy sailing they will come back for more. The single most important skill in life is the ability to work with others, sailing in a crew is a big part of that, a skill single-handers must acquire. There is, to my mind, simply too much focus on winning, and on the elite, which in turn drills down into junior sailing and how to get more and more young sailors onto a path which starts at Optimists and ends at the Olympics. This narrow focus is wrong and contributes to the drop out problems. In my experience, those (lucky few) among us with Olympic talents will succeed with our (organized) support and encouragement, but we should not start with the premise that everyone should try for the Olympics because 99.99% will be disappointed, think we are failures, and probably drop out. Let's remember the objective … the lifetime enjoyment of the sport, and give children the support and encouragement to find that part of the sailing spectrum which best suits them, not us! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Experience is the thing you have left when everything else is gone. |
