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SCUTTLEBUTT 3499 - Thursday, January 5, 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 Team One Newport. TWENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY Big-time sailboat racing is an expensive proposition. So is delivering a boat - any boat - to Key West, Florida, the southernmost point in the continental United States. Nonetheless, Quantum Key West Race Week, which takes place January 15-20, endures, despite the repeated buffeting of economic headwinds. SAIL magazine recently caught up with regatta organizer Peter Craig, president of Premiere Racing Inc. to find out why. SAIL: While numbers remain down from years past, Quantum Key West Race Week, now in its 25th year, continues to draw many top-caliber campaigns. Why is that? Peter Craig: The appeal of warm weather racing in January with world-class competition and professional race management draws the programs. The grand prix component of the Key West fleet - of those with professional crew - has the resources to draw on, and time away from work isn't as big an issue. There's no mystery why overall fleet numbers are down. The fourth year of a struggling global economy continues to impact owners and crews, and their ability to commit the resources necessary - both money and time. SAIL: What is new for Quantum Key West Race Week 2012? Peter Craig: We can start with a new title sponsor! It's likely we wouldn't be having this interview without Quantum Sails. We're going to start the racing a full hour later each morning with first gun at 1130. The evening parties are also starting a bit earlier, 1730-1930, so crew dinners don't run as late. Further, in responding to recent feedback, for the 25th anniversary event we've eliminated the need to purchase an access card to attend the evening socials and awards presentations. Admission is open, and we're looking to have everyone stop by and join in the shore-side activities. People will now pay for drinks, albeit with very special pricing, especially for Mount Gay Rum. SAIL: Are there any particular classes regatta watchers should pay attention to in 2012? Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SAIL-010412 SPEED DIFFERENCES BEGINNING TO EMERGE (January 4, 2012) - Team Telefonica secured overall victory in Leg 2 of the Volvo Ocean Race with a strong second place but there was joy too for Groupama sailing team on Wednesday as they notched their first win of the 2011-12 edition, snatching top spot ahead of their rivals in the dying moments of the sprint into Abu Dhabi. The French challengers closed the gap with Telefonica to two boat lengths within 20 nautical miles of the finish during the fast-paced 98nm drag race from the Sharjah coastline, before clinching the lead at the final mark rounding. Despite racing with a cracked hull, which the sailors attempted to fix before racing resumed, Franck Cammas' men surged to victory in a 20 knot northwest breeze and big swell, finishing just 52 seconds ahead of Telefonica. "We were very fast today,'' Cammas said. "This morning we were a little worried about the repair. Now, I think we were so fast we will leave it." A crowd of thousands lined the Abu Dhabi race village waterside in the late afternoon sunshine and welcomed in the boats after the thrilling race at sea. Not so fast today in the tight reaching conditions was PUMA and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, who are realizing now they are in the need for some speed. Observed Puma skipper Ken Read, whose boat is of a similar design as Telefonica and Groupama, "I just wish we were a little quicker. The last little bit (today) showed that Groupama is moded much differently than our boat. If today was light air down the coast, we would have been the boat to beat." As for Abu Dhabi's Azzam, watch leader Craig Satterthwaite said: "We're starting to find out about the boat. Reaching is not our fastest angle. Hopefully we're going to find points of sailing where we're faster than the other boats. Today we found out our weakness, hopefully we will find our strength." - Race media Course details: http://tinyurl.com/Piracy-121111 Leg 2 Stage 2 results 1. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 12:22:09 UTC 2. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 12:23:01 UTC 3. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 12:27:48 UTC 4. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 12:28:38 UTC 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 12:32:21 UTC Overall leaderboard after Leg 2 1. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 6-1-1-1, 66 pts 2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 3-2-2-2, 58 pts 3. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 5-3-5-4, 42 pts 4. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 2-DNF-3-3, 28 pts 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 1-DNF-4-5, 19 pts 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 4-DNF-6-6-SUS**, 4 pts ** Suspended Racing. If Team Sanya completes Leg 2 Stage 1, it will add 4 points to their overall score. Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos Original race schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas 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 ULLMAN SAILS WELCOMES A FRENCH LOFT Ullman Sails is pleased to announce the addition of Ullman Sails France Atlantique to our international group of sailmakers! Owner Charles Edouard Broc will be opening a full service loft in Lorient in February that will provide new sails and a complete range of marine services to the French market. Charles joins the Ullman Sails family with over 22 years of experience as both a sail designer and production/business manager. He also brings with him expertise in offshore racing projects for classes like the Mini Transat and Open 60, and the classic boat market. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com AVOIDING CONTACT AND OBSTRUCTIONS - CASE 30 This is an installment by International Umpire/Judge Jos M. Spijkerman (NED) in a series of blogposts about the ISAF Call book 2009-2012 with amendments for 2010. All calls are official interpretations by the ISAF committees on how the Racing Rules of Sailing should be used or interpreted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Summary of the Facts Boats A and B were running on starboard tack close to the shore against a strong ebb tide in a Force 3 breeze. A was not more than half a hull length clear ahead of B. B blanketed A, causing A to gybe unintentionally. This was immediately followed by a collision, although without damage or injury, and B protested A under rule 10. The facts were agreed, and both boats were disqualified: B under rule 12 because she was too close to A to be keeping clear, and A under rule 10 for failing to keep clear of a starboard-tack boat. A appealed on the grounds that she was compelled by B's action to break rule 10. The protest committee, commenting on the appeal, stated that B caused both A's gybe and the collision by not keeping clear when both boats were on the same tack. Decision... read on: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2011/12/pillowcase-of-week-5111-30.html SAILING SHORTS * Rondar Raceboats, Ltd has announced the formation of Rondar Raceboats, USA. Located in Peabody, MA, Rondar Raceboats USA has already begun production of collegiate racing dinghies for the USA market. The first delivery will be of 20 Firefly dinghies for Massachusetts Institute of Technology's sailing team in January. Rondar USA will soon begin production of Collegiate 420's and in the coming months, Flying Juniors, as well as the Viper 640 One-Design Sportboat for the retail market. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13064 * (January 4, 2012; Day 43 - 23:00:00 UTC) - It's now the final stretch for Loick Peyron (FRA) and his team on the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V in their mission to lower the non-stop circumnavigation Jules Verne Trophy record (48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds). They are aiming toward the finish, boat speed has increased to over 30 knot averages, and they're ahead of the record by 1,229.6 nm with only 1,349 nm remaining. Tracking: http://tinyurl.com/BP-JV-Tracking-2011-12 * As many as 30 college teams from 11 states and Washington D.C. and 60 high school teams from the West Coast are entered in the 27th annual Rose Bowl Regatta on January 7-8. The event, based at the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, is hosted by the USC Sailing Team and organized by the US Sailing Center of Long Beach. The collegians and high schoolers will race Club Flying Juniors on courses off the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier in the Long Beach outer harbor. The high school Silver fleet will race inside Alamitos Bay. -- Full report: http://www.uscsailing.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/rosebow2012preview.pdf * Napier, New Zealand (January 4, 2012) - After three days of fleet racing, the focus changed at the Optimist World Championship today with the first day of team racing, where 40 national teams were seeking to advance. At the end of the first days' racing, the following teams progressing through to the second day's racing are USA, Peru, Malaysia, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Croatia, Singapore, Thailand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Argentina and Poland. Thursday racing will see 16 teams contest for the team title. -- Event website: http://www.optiworldsnz.org.nz/ * (January 4, 2012) - Manuka Sports Event Management announced today the first four teams entered in the 2012 Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing this May. The Atlantic Cup is a three stage Class 40 event with ports in Charleston, South Carolina, New York City, and Newport, Rhode Island. The entries are Dragon, Icarus Racing, Gryphon Solo 2 and Bodacious Dream. Teams Dragon and Icarus both competed in the 2011 Atlantic Cup finishing 2nd and 4th respectively. Gryphon Solo 2 and Bodacious Dream are both brand new Class 40s for which the Atlantic Cup will provide their first major test. -- Event website: http://www.atlanticcup.org/ * Santiago, Chile (January 4, 2012) - An 84-year American making his seventh attempt to sail alone around the tip of South America was found tired but alive by the Chilean Navy on Wednesday after his mast broke far from land in the South Pacific. The Chilean Navy located Thomas Louis Corogin on his 32-foot sailboat more than 520 miles (850 kilometers) south of Easter Island, stranded but in relatively stable weather, with ocean swells of about 15 feet (5 meters). -- USA Today, full story: http://tinyurl.com/USA-Today-010412 HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THANK YOU The Team One Newport family wants to thank you for your business in 2011 and looks forward working with you in this New Year! We have been the Foul Weather Gear Experts for 27 years and specialize in outfitting both individuals and teams all around the world. Call us for all your sublimation, embroidery, heat pressed and screen printing needs. No project is too big or too small. Call 800-VIP-GEAR or 401-847-4327 x503 to start your project or shop online at http://www.team1newport.com. World Renowned For Service, Selection & Expertise. CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Jan 7-15 - IFDS World Championships - Punta Gorda, FL, USA Jan 11-13 - Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race - Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Jan 11-14 - National Sailing Programs Symposium - Long Beach, CA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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: * Ribcraft offers special pricing for yacht clubs and sailing programs * Sea-Sure to be sole distributor for Schaefer Marine products in UK * Sail1Design announces all-new professional marketplace & brokerage! View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 David Munge: The rules for the 2012 Wight Vodka and Scuttlebutt Europe Best bar prize should have only those who have sailed to all the bar venues be allowed to vote. How about that for a sailing race? * From John Rousmaniere: Concerning the curious Rule 41 (Outside Help) decision in Scuttlebutt 3497, an ISAF requirement for safety-at-sea seminars is the topic "Giving and Receiving Aid," covering the legal and ethical obligations of sailors to go to other sailors' assistance. The clearest and most succinct rule I know is RRS 1.1: "A boat or competitor shall give all possible help to any person or vessel in danger." This admirable "shall" is crippled if a jury is empowered to second-guess sailors' safety decisions and even impose a penalty. How is this a good thing? * From Richard Hinterhoeller: Regarding Dave Perry's Racing Tips in Scuttlebutt 3497, I think the rule-makers should consider the unintended consequences of rule 41. In an ideal world, boat Z would execute a quick-stop crew recovery and resume racing. The victim, if a knowledgeable sailor, would decline the offer of assistance from boat T so that boat Z would not break rule 41. In the real world boat Z is now down two crew, the victim and someone watching him. The now stressed short-handed crew have to execute a complex sequence of manoeuvres. Chances are that something will go wrong, potentially causing a fatal delay. The latter is certainly how it played out one race when we were boat T in a similar scenario. Within 45 seconds of slipping overboard the victim had declined our offer of rescue. Having, in an unrelated incident, been the crew overboard I too would have declined assistance. At 45 seconds wet you don't recognize how quickly your situation is deteriorating. You're mad at yourself for causing your boat to lose positions recovering you so you are not going to cause your boat to be disqualified as a result of accepting outside help. When every second counts, you're not going to think things through, you're going to react based upon your training. Rule 41 inadvertently trains the victim to decline rescue from another boat. Before someone causes himself to drown I think rule 41 should be altered to permit boat T to rescue the victim without disqualifying boat Z. * From Chuck Lantz: Concerning the America's Cup race course announcement (Scuttlebutt 3498), why am I not surprised? And what's the deal with the aversion to reaching legs by practically every contemporary course planner? I've heard all the usual excuses about reaching legs being parades, but if the AC planners are looking for drama, what better than blast reaches by the monster boats? Besides that, I just recently read somewhere that they were adding reaching legs, and now this news puts that out of the picture. That, plus the news that fewer than one million viewers watched the ACWS on YouTube, doesn't bode well for the actual AC, at least at this point. Regarding their leaning towards putting at least part of the show near Fisherman's Wharf, hasn't anyone on their team noticed that there is very little area there where people can see the Bay? Besides a couple of pier ends, as in San Diego, most views are blocked on both sides. All this could have, and should have, been anticipated and addressed early-on, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors had the opportunity to include a strong oversight component into the mix, rather than handing practically everything involving course planning over to the ACEA. At the early public presentations, every speaker, from Mayor Newsom and Larry Ellison on down, heavily touted "the view" and the "amphitheater quality" for the spectators on shore. That emphasis has apparently cooled-off a whole bunch. NOTE: Posted today in the SF Chronicle: "Under a set of boundaries outlined in the event's final environmental impact report, the yachts will stick close to the waterfront. The course is roughly bounded by the Embarcadero, Piers 27 to 29, an area north of Alcatraz Island and a spot just beyond the Golden Gate Bridge." -- http://tinyurl.com/SF-Chronicle-010412 * From Lucia Nebel White, 88 year old Star Boat sailor: I was very touched by the article that Chris Caswell wrote for Sailing Magazine "Growing the Sport", reprinted in Scuttlebutt 3497. It reminded me of the time when I took a young boy, age 12, to Cape Cod with us, and I taught him how to sail. His parents were having a divorce at the time, and my husband said "Let's take him with us - he is having a rough time." He became a good sailor and later on bought a 50 foot Cutter. He asked me to come on the boat and go through the Panama Canal with him and his wife. They had sailed the boat down from Sausalito, Ca to Balboa, Panama City - and were going through the Canal and heading east. I was so excited to be asked because my father, who was the sculptor, had made the bronze Placque in the Gaillard Cut, and I had never been through the canal to see it in place! This young man also named his boat for me - and gave back to me two fold for teaching him to sail. * From Peter Commette: Chris Caswell, in Scuttlebutt 3497, stirs passions, as good writers do. However, I disagree. Our sport still is filled at every level with those older sailors who say, "Hey, wanna go sailing?" The tradition Chris believes challenged for more has plenty and is thriving, from old and washed up sailors contributing to our youth programs with time, money, and/or sail-alongs, to older gods doing the same (Bill Koch, Gary Jobson, Augie Diaz, Tom Lihan), to our sport's gods in their prime (Russell Coutts, James Spithill, Ed Baird, Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk, Brad Funk), to top youths helping the even younger ones (Williford brothers, Mac Agnese, Wade Waddell, Luke Lawrence), to various sailboat classes (Melges-32's, Snipes, Lightnings, Scows). Meanwhile, there is a strong trend for yacht clubs to open their youth programs to non-member children; yacht club walls are not holding youth development back. Chris, don't be so curmudgeonly. NOTE: Peter hails from Lauderdale Yacht Club in south Florida, a club that appears to be doing well due to the examples he mentions above. MAKE SCUTTLEBUTT WORK FOR YOU There are limited advertising opportunities in Scuttlebutt...limited because we want to make sure they are effective for our clients. A new client this year is Ross Champion, whose company Soft Deck provides nonskid decking solutions. Here is a note he sent us after his first ad was posted in Scuttlebutt earlier this week: "We were in Orange County this week finalizing plans to get some product on the new Columbia 32's that are coming out this year, and we visited a couple of potential accounts while we were in the area. Of the two places we visited, both had heard of us through our first ad this week in Scuttlebutt, and one of them had actually sent us a sample request earlier that morning. "When I got home, I pulled up our site analytics and saw the ad had directed over 500 unique visitors the past two days...that is 500 new people who are beginning to be made aware of us thanks to your hard work in putting together a great comprehensive publication." To view current advertisers, or to inquire about advertising in Scuttlebutt: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers/ CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION New Year's Resolution for 2012: Instead of sending my wife an email at home, I will walk to the room she is in and talk with her. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Morris Yachts - Doyle Sails - Soft Deck Point Loma Outfitting - North Sails - Amazon.com Ullman Sails - Team One Newport - Summit Yachts - North U Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
