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SCUTTLEBUTT 2207 - October 23, 2006
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is
distributed each weekday, with America's Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt
brought to you by UBS (http://www.ubs.com/sailing).
JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED
It was no secret that US Sailing's Olympic Sailing Committee was looking
for light air venues when they decided to conduct most of their trials
for the US Olympic Team in Southern California in October. At the dress
rehearsal held this past weekend for the Star Class at the California YC
in Marina del Rey, they got exactly what they were hoping for -- plus a
couple of bonus features, like fog that caused one race to be abandoned,
and even a few whitecaps to let the crews stretch-out their mini-hiking
muscles. But for the most part, the racing was sailed in four to seven
knots of shifty breeze - conditions that George Szabo and his crew Mark
Strube very obviously enjoyed. They won the first race and were never
headed in the standings. With finishes of 1-2-2-3-3-[12]-6 in the
23-boat fleet, they handily won the event by ten points.
The team of Andy Horton and Brad Nichol had never raced in Marina del
Rey before, and got off to a somewhat sluggish start in the three races
on Friday. However, they proved to be very fast learners and finished
the final four races in single digits (including two bullets) to capture
second place - five points ahead of Andy McDonald/ Brian Fatih. John
MacCausland/ Robert Schofield finished fourth with Jim Buckingham/ Mike
Dorgan in fifth. None of the competitors used a 'single-digit' finish as
a discard. - Complete results:
http://www.calyachtclub.com/cms/RaceResults/Series178.htm
Curmudgeon's Comment: The Cal Yacht Club website has posted ten video
interviews that I conducted with the heavy hitters from the Star
Pre-Trials:
http://www.calyachtclub.com/cms/index.cfm?vNavID=145&mainid=11
In the other pre-trial events conducted this past weekend in Southern
California, Morgan Larson and crew Pete Spaulding held on to win the
49er competition at San Diego, Bryan Boyd rallied for the Finn title at
Newport Beach as the three-day US Sailing Olympic Pre-Trials wound down
Sunday. Dalton Bergan, Seattle, and crew Zack Maxam,
Coronado---currently Larson and Spaulding's hottest rivals for the 49er
U.S. Olympic berth in 2008---overtook them by winning the first two
races on the final day. Then, as the breeze on Coronado Roads cranked up
from 12 knots---best of the weekend---to a peak of 23, Larson and
Spaulding won the last race to prevail by one point.
The breeze also was better with 9 knots fading to 6 at Newport Beach,
where Boyd, from Annapolis, came out of a three-way tie for second with
a 1-2-7 score line for the day. That was good for a three-point edge
over veteran Darrell Peck of Gresham, Ore., who with five races sailed
was able to discard a 40-point hit for being OCS in the first race
Saturday. First-day leader Andy Casey of Fountain Valley was another
point back in third, one point ahead of Zack Railey of Clearwater, Fla.,
the highest-ranked US competitor.
The Pre-Trials spectacle will finish Oct. 26-29 with four days of racing
for the men's and women's 470s at the US Sailing Center in Long Beach
and the men's and women's RS:X---the new Olympic sailboard---just down
the street at Alamitos Bay YC. A year from now the same venues will host
the formal Olympic Trials to select the one boat in each class that will
represent the United States in the Olympics at Qingdao, China in 2008.
-- Rich Roberts.
Finn (39 boats; 5 races, 1 throwout):
1. Bryan Boyd, Annapolis, (9)-3-1-2-7, 13 points.
2. Darrell Peck, Gresham, Ore.. (40/OCS)-4-7-4-1, 16.
3. Andy Casey, Fountain Valley, Calif., 3-5-6-(12)-3, 17.
49er (13 boats; 9 races, 1 throwout):
1. Morgan Larson, Capitola, Calif./Pete Spaulding, Lafayette, Ind.,
13.
2. Dalton Bergan, Seattle/Zack Maxam, Coronado, Calif., 14.
3. Tim Wadlow, Beverly, Mass./Christopher Rast, Wake Forest, N.C.,
25.
Event details at
http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/pretrials/default.aspx
THEY'RE OFF
Bilbao, Spain -- On Sunday, in a southwesterly breeze gusting 15 to 20
knots, six international skippers started the first leg of the Velux 5
Oceans, a solo round-the-world yacht race. Once the boats have rounded
Cape Finisterre, the skippers can expect to a bone shaker of a ride,
crashing upwind in winds of around 35 knots for several days.
American Tim Troy did not make it to the starting line -- his Open 60
'Margaret Anna failed the stability test by three degrees. Troy has
since been in contact with the boat's French designer Bernard Nivelt to
establish the best way to solve this. Nivelt has suggested 660 pounds of
lead needs to be added to the keel around the foil. Normally extra lead,
if it must be added, is put on to the keel bulb, but Nivelt adding it to
the foil will relieve some of the added loads at the crucial spot where
the keel enters the hull.
Tim Troy commented: "I would feel a lot better sailing the boat now the
way it is rather than making changes at the last minute and then going
out into the Southern Ocean without them being tested. It's been a
tremendous struggle. I have been working on this particular boat and
project for two years. Unfortunately or fortunately I still maintained
my regular job just prior to my sail here - I was still working 80 hours
a week at my job and evenings and weekends on the boat and still trying
to find time for my family. So it has been a real struggle to get here.
I've risked everything financially - I've second mortgaged my house."
Graham Dalton also missed the start due to severe damage to his mast
which was blown to the ground in a 60 knot gust of wind, cracking the
inboard end of the lower starboard spreader. Dalton, who has been
plagued with problems throughout his campaign, insists he will still
start the race, as soon as is practically possible, which under race
regulations, must be within seven days. Dalton is sailing the only Open
50 in the race -- all of the other boats are Open 60s. --
http://www.velux5oceans.com/
ANALYSIS
The (Velux 5 Oceans) race is all about three Britons: Mike Golding, Alex
Thomson and a certain Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, whose place in the
pantheon of sailors was secured in that glorious Chichester/Rose/ Blyth
epoch in the Sixties. Knox-Johnston was the first person to sail
non-stop around the world and to this day remains the only Briton to
have won such a race. Just as Golding wants to be the successor to
Knox-Johnston, so Thomson aims to dislodge Golding as Britain's
pre-eminent solo racer. The potential spoiler to all this is Bernard
Stamm, of Switzerland, the winner of the race four years ago and more
than capable of a repeat. -- Tim Jeffery, The Daily Telegraph, full
strory: http://tinyurl.com/ymkuov
LAST CHANCE CLEARANCE
Hall Spars & Rigging's annual inventory begins Oct. 30. Until then, you
can save on discontinued hardware, spools of line, pre-made rigging, and
even some small carbon tubes suitable for flag poles or other creative
uses. Hall polo shirts are also on sale. This clearance is web only.
Visit our site and click on "pre-inventory clearance" to see the deals.
http://www.hallspars.com
Curmudgeon's Comment: I took a look at the carbon tube, which looked
like it might also work as a sabot boom or a whisker pole.
SOLING WORLDS
Severn Sailing Association, Annapolis, Maryland -- Finally, there was a
good day for racing on Sunday at the Soling Worlds, and although the
ultimate winners, Hans Fogh/ Roger Cheer/ Gordon Devries (CAN) scored an
OCS in the penultimate race, they won the finale to claim the
championship. On Friday, the fleet got hit with winds up to 49 knots
came from the west, the race had to be abandoned after the second
downwind leg, with lots of boats in trouble. The average winds of 45
knots for more than 30 min and as a result two boats sank and many masts
were bent and other minor damage. The two boats that sank could not be
recovered. The 38-boat fleet also sailed in very light air on Saturday.
Final results (seven races with one discard): 1. Hans Fogh (CAN) 18pts;
2. Peter Hall (CAN) 25pts; 3. Gustavo Warburg (ARG) 31pts; 3. Roman Koch
(GER) 39pts; 5. Peter Galloway (USA) 45pts. -- http://www.soling.com
BUYING TIME
Team New Zealand are close to signing a deal which will see them fly
their new boats to Valencia in a giant Russian Antonov in mid-February.
The syndicate had planned to have both NZL84 and NZL92 on a ship before
Christmas for the five-week journey to Spain. However, with the start of
the challenger series now just 176 days away, Emirates Team New Zealand
managing director Grant Dalton said flying the yachts would allow his
team to continue sailing in Auckland until mid-February.
"Time is something we can't buy at this end of the campaign ... it
became unrealistic to lose five weeks in shipping. It had been tossing
around in my mind for a long time, I woke up one morning and thought, 'I
have to solve this'." He said flying was an expensive option "but it is
one of those things where we have found outside money to pay for it. It
isn't affecting us anywhere else." -- Julie Ash, NZ Herald, full story:
http://tinyurl.com/y5rckv
SLINGSHOT TOWARDS SICILY
The start line for the Rolex Middle Sea Race out of Marsamxett Harbour
in Malta is arguably the most spectacular of any yacht race in the
world, but it is narrow and so the race committee phased the fleet into
six divisions, starting with the smallest and graduating up to the Maxis
who started 50 minutes after first class. The Maxi start was one of the
closest, with Paul Cayard steering Thuraya Maximus into pole position,
crossing the line less than two seconds after the 25-pound field guns,
operated by the Armed Forces of Malta, sent the last of the fleet on its
way. Alfa Romeo is regarded as the most potent SuperMaxi in the world
and despite a slightly more conservative start, Neville Crichton's boat
had already drawn level with Thuraya Maximus by the Rolex buoy. An hour
after starting Alfa Romeo had eked out a half-mile lead on the other
SuperMaxi. Indeed the sleek 100-footer had overhauled every other yacht
in the fleet, even those that started 50 minutes earlier, some 6 miles
after the St Paul's Bay turning mark. -- There is much more:
http://www.rolexmiddlesearace.com
DAVID DELLENBAUGH'S NEW RULES DVD
David Dellenbaugh's two disk Rules DVDs takes you all the way around the
course. Get yours from NorthU.com along with DVDs and CDs on boat
handling, boat speed and tactics. You can spend a lifetime learning to
be a better sailor. NorthU accelerates the process.
http://www.NorthU.com
SAILING SHORTS
* Betsy Alison defeated Anna Tunnicliffe 3-0 in the finals of the Rolex
Osprey Cup to win the event for the fourth time. Alison's team went
undefeated through all 21 matches of this ISAF Grade 1 event sailed at
the St. Petersburg YC in Sonars. In the Petit- finals Claire Leroy
defeated Liz Baylis 2-1 to capture third place.
http://www.rolexwomensmatch.org/ROC/2006/OSPREYHOME.html
* South Africa's America's Cup challenger, Team Shosholoza, announced
final afterguard configuration for 2007: Skipper - Mark Sadler; Helmsman
- Paolo Cian; Strategist - Ian Ainslie; Tactician - Tommaso Chieffi;
Navigator - Marc Lagesse. Cian and Chieffi are both Italian professional
sailors who joined Team Shosholoza earlier this year as specialist
crew/coaches. Cian was a helmsman with the Italian Mascalzone-Latino
America's Cup Challenger in Auckland in 2002/3 and is currently ranked
No 2 on the ISAF world match racing leader board. Chieffi has been a
member of the afterguard of four previous America's Cup challenges. -
Full story: http://www.teamshosholoza.com
* For the first time in the 109-year history of US Sailing members will
be the ones who elect the members of the organization's Board of
Directors. Online votes are now accepted from US Sailing members for
nine board positions. The polls will be open through midnight, Eastern
time, on Wednesday, November 8. -- http://www.ussailing.org/BOD/election
* Voting to decide the winners of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the
Year Awards 2006 closed last Friday, where each of the 121 ISAF Member
National Authorities had been invited to cast their vote for the one
male and one female sailor/team who they believe should be the 2006
winners of sailing's pinnacle award of recognition. The winners will be
announced at the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards Dinner and
Presentation on 7 November 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. - Details:
http://tinyurl.com/y46o8l
* Mumbai, India: The Indian team won their first-ever title at the 40th
World Military Sailing Championship with a convincing lead over second
placed Russia and third placed Sri Lanka at the Indian Naval
Watermanship Training Centre at Pilot Bunder, Colaba (last week). -
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=206026
* About 800 people gathered at the Auckland base of America's Cup
challenger Team New Zealand for a ceremony to name the latest boat built
for its campaign next year in Spain. The boat, numbered NZL92, will be
known simply as New Zealand. It will begin serious testing next week
before being shipped to Valencia early next year foRadio New Zealand,
http://tinyurl.com/y326kw
SCUTTLEBUTT REP NEEDED
Scuttlebutt received an invitation to an Open House on October 25, 2006
for the 65-foot Fast Cruiser powerboat, 'Predacious'. Looks like winter
in the northeast has arrived, so the Scuttlebutt staff can't make it,
but we are seeking a representative to attend this event. 'Predacious'
is designed by Sparkman & Stephens, built by New England Boatworks, and
the Open House is happening from 5:30-7:30pm next week in New York at
the North Cove Marina at the World Financial Center, Battery Park City.
If you want to check out a pretty cool boat, enjoy an Open Bar, and
write a quick report for Scuttlebutt, send a note to Scuttlebutt:
mailto:info@sailingscuttlebutt.com
"AN EXCELLENT BIT OF KIT." - SAILING WORLD
Ocean Racing's new waterproof backpack will keep your laptop dry, even
when you get wet! Together with the matching duffel they make the
driest, most functional & best looking sailing luggage no matter where
you go, and possibly the perfect gift for the sailor on your list too.
http://www.OceanRacing.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may
be edited for clarity or space (letters shall be no longer than 250
words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot,
don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal
attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, there are no word or frequency
limits on comments sent to the Scuttlebutt Forums.
-- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com
-- Scuttlebutt Forums: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum
* From Morgan Stinemetz: (regarding story in Issue 2204; edited to the
250 word limit) Someone in the United States Coast Guard hasn't read his
history. The Coast Guard says it wants to have live fire exercises with
heavy machine guns on the Great Lakes so that it can deter terrorists.
Having live fire exercises begs the question: How will the Coast Guard
find the terrorists in the first place?
A number of years back, when Ronald Reagan was president, US Customs
bought a bunch of go-fast boats. The program was called Blue Lightning
and they based the fleet in South Florida. It wasn't long, however,
before all the gee-whiz equipment and the steely-eyed cops tired of the
game of trying to catch would-be drug runners. First of all, rattling
one's fillings skipping off the tops of waves at night in a muscle boat
loses its panache very quickly. Customs agents complained that they were
just punching holes in the ocean. In about a year, the Blue Lightning
boats were seen on trailers at county fairs; they had no constituency
among the cops, who didn't want the boats because they were
uncomfortable and not effective.
Now the Coast Guard thinks that live fire exercises will make it more
effective in catching terrorists coming across the Great Lakes from
Canada? To find them, if they even exist, the Coast Guard will have to
seal the maritime border. It can't do it for the same reasons the Blue
Lightning fleet of South Florida failed: Not enough assets, too much
water, and perps who just shifted their strategies.
* From Nigel Rollason: (regarding the 'STRANGE CRAFT' story in Issue
2206) Even without resorting to finite element stress analysis, this
crafts structure is far less seaworthy than even Pete Goss's "Phillips"
catamaran, which lacked diagonal strength and caused the hulls to
parallelogram and break up. This has been designed to ONLY go in
straight lines on flat water...large cross seas will cause the structure
to buckle and unhinge. I would not wish to be in an ocean storm in that
flimsy gondola with ONLY 40 ft waves!! It can ONLY be for some
futuristic film project...........'cause they can't really be serious ?
* From John Hoff: (edited to our 250 word limit) Our sailing club in New
Jersey has turned the corner on this problem with a very simple
solution: make sailing fun for all ages. We race four one-design classes
from May to September, averaging 45 boats across these fleets, double
ten years ago. We do lose a number of twenty-somethings as they move on
with their very busy lives, but we also have a number of them involved,
and an increasing number of thirty-somethings coming back. We do two
things: we keep the on-course intense but "collegial", and the post-race
activity loose and fun; also, we make a major effort to get our older
boats in the hands of young skippers. Recently a college student was
given a competitive but older E-Scow for next season, with the only
caveat that, when he is done, he gives it to another young skipper.
There is no question that young people today are often extremely
over-programmed with competitive activities (often not of their
choosing). Once the coach and parents are out of the picture, they often
go a different direction. We have found that seeking out these people,
regardless of their prior sport (lacrosse, hockey, baseball appear to be
a common theme), brings in excellent crew who often bring young families
in tow. The core of any sport like sailing or golf must be at the
club-racing level. The future of the sport is encouraging new entrants
at the club level, which can be done with minimal investment of time and
money.
* From Ralph Taylor: Some have indicted "short-course" racing. Perhaps,
there is no perfect world and idealistic theory has to give way to
realities. Most of the kids I coach need work on starts. (Seems to me, a
good start is a big factor in winning a race, even when the course is
miles long.) Short courses enable more races, thus more starting
practice. Also, many youngsters get bored when they're not doing well. A
short course, followed by another race, gets them back in the game with
a chance to do better next time. Should short courses be the only
format? Absolutely not. We have them work their way up to longer
courses, spinnakers & trapezes.
* From Eric Steinberg (re Ian McWilliam): Very sad news, the type of
news that makes one pause as to why such good people can be taken so
early in life. I knew Ian well from his first days with B&G in the USA,
we became friends as he contributed to my success with the B&G product
line. He was always respected for his honesty and technical capabilities
and when it came to instruments, Ian's name was ubiquitous with West
Coast yacht racing. We have lost a great citizen of our community.
* From Russ Hancock: You recently published a link to a very addictive
Parking Game (on the Scuttlebutt website). I think I have come pretty
close to mastering the game, with a personal best of 22.8 seconds. I
think this is the world record, pending WSSRC ratification, but would be
interested to find out if anyone in the Scuttlebutt Universe has a
faster time...
Curmudgeon's Comment: Anyone who is up to the challenge, you can get the
game link and post your scores here:
http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/2006/parking
CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM
Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
Special thanks to Hall Spars and Rigging, North U, and Ocean Racing.
America's Cup coverage in Scuttlebutt is brought to you by UBS.
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