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SCUTTLEBUTT 1718 - November 24, 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. TESTING THE WATERS (This year's Big Boat Series at St. Francis YC included classes for one-design boats, the Transpac 52 box rule, Americap and IRC. Respected international navigator Stan Honey took an in-depth look at the results and drew some interesting conclusions in a story he wrote for Sailing World magazine. Here's a brief excerpt.) It's impossible for any measurement rule to fairly rate all boats, so for local racing where it's essential to rate all boats, the consensus is that a subjective, inexpensive-to-run, performance-based handicap rule is needed. In any discussion of rating rules in the United States, PHRF needs to be recognized as the most widely used handicap system in history. Being subjective, it can rate absolutely any boat. It has the disadvantage that, being subjective, it is inappropriate for use in serious racing. To return to the Big Boat Series, it's worth noting that after the demise of the IMS on the West Coast, the Big Boat Series used PHRF-derived ratings for a few years, but the subjective nature of the ratings caused too much heartburn for the rating committee, so the Big Boat series changed to Americap, and for 2004 to IRC. While there's no widespread agreement on the topic (and likely never will be), there appears to be an emerging model that racing can be sensibly thought of in three areas, that have different needs. Grand-prix racing, the most intense and competitive racing in sailing, can clearly have its needs met by racing one-designs or by racing in box-rule boats, although we need additional box rules in some different size ranges. Many expect that additional box rules will experience the success of the Transpac 52, so long as the boats that they define are fast, fun, simple, and safe, as is the TP 52. Serious - but not grand prix - racing needs a measurement rule that can rate a diversity of existing boats and provide simple scoring. The good news is that there are multiple options here, including IRC and Americap and its descendents; but clubs and other race organizers will have to push hard to provide enough events at this level to ensure ample competition. Finally local handicap racing will continue to need a system that can rate absolutely any boat. PHRF is meeting this need in the United States. - Stan Honey, Sailing World magazine. Do yourself a favor and read the entire story: www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=34967&typeID=419&catID=582 ADDITIONAL INCENTIVES There is less than a week to go before the start of leg 2 of the Global Challenge the first notorious Southern Ocean leg, which starts from Buenos Aires on Sunday. Crews are frantically preparing their yachts but behind the scenes the shore team is also busy getting everything ready for the off, including the compilation of all the daily logs, audio calls and feedback that will help the Media Team judge the result of the Media Prize, sponsored by Unisys/ EMC. This is the first time the Media Prize has been sponsored and reflects the growing need for communications from the yachts and the evolution of the website. Within minutes, even seconds, race organizers are able to upload images, daily logs and receive data from the yachts and then post them on the event website. The Unisys/ EMC Media Prizes will be awarded to the Crew Volunteer in each port of call who demonstrates prowess in the following: - Portsmouth Buenos Aires Best daily log - Buenos Aires Wellington - Best onboard footage - Wellington Sydney Most humorous log - Sydney Cape Town Best action footage - Cape Town Boston Best audio interview - Boston La Rochelle Most descriptive Daily Log There will also be an overall Media Prize for the Crew Volunteer who demonstrates the most aptitude for media communications during the Global Challenge. The winner's crew will also get a crate of beer, providing an incentive for the whole team to get involved! - www.globalchallenge2004.com FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER . . . Reflecting the changes that were determined at the recent ISAF Annual Conference, the Rolex Miami OCR on Biscayne Bay from January 23 to 28 will replace the Europe dinghy with the Laser Radial in the Women's Singlehanded discipline. Boardsailing disciplines for both men's and women's classes will be included if the newly designated equipment - the Neil Pryde RS-X - is made available for charter from the manufacturer. Other featured classes are the Finn, 470, 49er, Laser, Star, Tornado and Yngling as the equipment selected for the 2008 Olympic Games, along with the 2.4 Metre and Sonar for the 2008 Paralympic Games. The Notice of Race, Online Registration, and regatta information can be found online at www.ussailing.org/Olympics/RolexMiamiOCR TRIVIA Can you identify the USA lake with the longest name? (Answer below) HATS OFF TO YOU! Especially if you are wearing the new Ultimate Sailing Cap. $19.95 in navy with yellow and white logo. For our complete line of Ultimate Sailing products, visit http://www.ultimatesailing.com VENDÉE GLOBE The anxiety shown by Mike Golding and Alex Thomson, the Britons who are lying fifth and sixth in the Vendée Globe solo round-the-world race, that an unassailable advantage was about to be snatched away by leader Jean le Cam and his pursuer Vincent Riou, seems well-founded. The leading pair have broken away in a good sailing breeze that those behind have been denied. Le Cam's Bonduelle lost ground to Riou's PRB, but the real story is in their wake. After 16 days of a 90-day race, this break could define the remaining 20,000 miles of the circumnavigation. - Tim Jeffery, http://tinyurl.com/6yugy Tomorrow morning's rankings look set to make rather stressful reading for 18 of the 20 competitors in the Vendée Globe, while the two frontrunners, Jean Le Cam (Bonduelle) and Vincent Riou (PRB) revel in the rewards reaped from earlier gains, the former with a 100 mile lead over third place. Their pursuers have clearly missed the express train to the Southern Ocean. - www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/ Leaders at 1900 GMT November 23: 1. Bonduelle, Jean Le Cam 2. PRB, Vincent Riou, 20.7 miles to leader 3. Sill Véolia, Roland Jourdain, 101.4 mtl 4. VMI, Sébastien Josse, 135.1 mtl 5. Ecover, Mike Golding, 207.0 mtl 6. Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson, 357.4 mtl 7. Virbac-Paprec, Jean-Pierre Dick, 419.1 mtl 8. Temenos, Dominique Wavre, 454.2 mtl 9. Arcelor Dunkerque, Joé Seeten, 503.1 mtl 10. Hellomoto, Conrad Humphreys, 520.9 mtl 11. UUDS, Hervé Laurent, 525.6 mtl 12. Skandia, Nick Moloney, 527.5 mtl 13. Pro-Form, Marc Thiercelin, 529.8 mtl QUOTE / UNQUOTE "The infamous Doldrums are a couple of days behind us now, but the experience is still fresh in my mind. The large, angry thunderstorms, torrential downpours, and the humidity are easy to remember. But what also lingers is the somewhat ominous atmosphere that I felt not only from the local storms, but from the knowledge that this area is also the primary breeding ground for the north Atlantic hurricanes. It is indeed a boiling cauldron of rising, evaporating water that is waiting for the right conditions for a larger storm to begin taking shape." - Bruce Schwab, Ocean Planet, www.oceanplanet.org/op/index.cfm NEWS BRIEFS * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified a new 'Singlehanded' Cadiz to San Salvador Discovery Route world record for the 90-foot Trimaran IDEC sailed by Francis Joyon from November 10-22. Elapsed Time: 11 days 3 hours 17 minutes 20 seconds. The 'outright' record for this route was set by Steve Fossett, and his crew on PlayStation, who took 9d 13h 30m 18s in February 2003. - www.sailspeedrecords.com/ * Consider taking some time out from turkey, football and shopping this Friday to watch the television coverage of Russell Coutts' record breaking seventh victory at Bermuda's King Edward VII Gold Cup. This is Grade 1 match racing event, the third leg of the 2004-05 Swedish Match Tour, also features James Spithill, Ed Baird, Peter Gilmour, Dennis Connor and more than two dozen other top skippers and crews. The half-hour program airs across the USA November 26th at 12 Noon EST on the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) and re-airs on Friday December 3rd again at 12 noon EST. * The largest fleet in a decade, together with logistical requirements for the live television broadcast, will see a two-line start and a later starting gun for the 60th anniversary Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia today confirmed the two-line start for the fleet that currently stands at 125 boats and announced that the starting time will be ten minutes later than the traditional start time of 1300 hours (1pm) because the telecast will not start until 1pm. The live television coverage will continue through for an hour. * With the deadline creeping up, an announcement will be made on December 15 regarding the future of OzBoyz in the America's Cup. Sad as it may seem, looks like there will be again no Aussie entry at the America's Cup. Unfortunately, many big money backers in Australia are loath to put their money into any type of sailing, more's the pity. However, the logistics of the West Australian program and their lack of expertise in managing an America's Cup campaign add to their problems. - Sail-World website, www.sail-world.com/ TRIVIA ANSWER Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, Mass. - It is spelled just the way it sounds. Unless you spell it differently, like in the sign put up by the chamber of commerce at the southern end of town, which has an O for one of the U's and an H for one of the N's. Or the postcards at Waterfront Mary's, the lake's best-known restaurant, which have smuggled an extra "gaug" into the name. Even for the locals, this sprawling central Massachusetts lake with the even more sprawling name, the longest place name in the country - is not for the tied of tongue. - Pam Belluck, NY Times: www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/national/20lake.html?oref=login IN MEMORIAM Offshore legend Willi Illbruck has passed away last Sunday at an age of 77 in his hometwon Pattscheid, Germany. Together with Hans-Otto Schümann, Willi has dominated and formed German Offshore Sailing in the Eighties and Nineties. Illbruck´s Pinta teams have won the Admiral´s Cup twice (1983, 1993). Two One Ton Cup victories and a Sardinia Cup win in 1984 only mark a few of his sailing career´s highlights. Willi was a very successful entrepreneur and a passionate, dedicated and stormy type of yachtsman who will always stand for fair sportsmanship and a true fighting spirit. - Tatjana Pokorny HAPPY THANKSGIVING Like many Americans, the curmudgeon will be enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday with his family, and there will not be a Thursday issue of Scuttlebutt. Your next issue should arrive at the normal time on Friday. THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE NUMBERS What makes Ockam data better? Almost 30 years of research and utilizing a scientific approach to solve the issue of instrument accuracy. Ockam allows for the calibration of sensor inputs to ensure more reliable and accurate data into the CPU while also providing a simple way to refine your numbers using the Matryx display. This combined with up to 8 times per second processing by our proven Pentium-powered Tryad CPU means your race winning decisions will be more reliable than ever. Break away from the middle of the pack by contacting Ockam: lat@ockam.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 Jack Butefish (Edited to our 250-word limit): The most exciting yacht racing for the media, sponsors and the general public was the AC in Perth. I was there and I can tell you the AC 12's concept (with appropriate minor adjustments for on site weather) could have been the start of a new flow of sponsor support based on the TV ratings alone. AC could have been the IROC of sailing! It was the "level" match racing competition and not the boats that generated sailing fan and public interest. Anyone could understand what was happening on the race course. Unfortunately, with the "state of the art professionals" driving the bus and the legal battles and lack of boat equality we took the sport "off the plate" when we tried to dig up sponsorship and TV coverage. With all the competition for air time among the many well watched sports you have to "keep it simple" and have a "show" that doesn't require you to be a marine architect to understand what you're watching! If we don't start building a less expensive, fan identifiable sport, AC and sailing in general will never grow in the eyes of the public and sponsors. Until then we'll just have to beg for sponsor support (donations?) and delay the day when we can tell the average family about a sport that has brought us all many hours of fun, great friends and at times almost more excitement than we could handle! * From Ron Wall: 1996 Lahaina YC Commodore: Not included in your comprehensive list are Steve Tupper's contributions to the Vic-Maui International Yacht Race, sponsored every other even year by the Lahaina and Royal Vancouver Yacht Clubs. For as long as anyone can remember Steve has been the official Starter and at one time or other has officiated over Rules, Handicapping, Judging, and Safety. Heck, the guy even has a sense of humor! * From Ted Livingston: The piece today on Steve Tupper was wonderful. So much better while he's still around than as an "obit" after he's gone. Let's hear it about other "good guys" every now and then--or even as a fairly regular feature--and preserved in a special folder in the archives as "must" reading for Opti sailors, "rock stars", and AC aspirants. * From John Sweeney: Please clarify that the John Sweeney writing and commenting on the AC is not the John Sweeney of Sausalito Challenge 2007. * From: David Howie: Thanks to Scuttlebutt for keeping me informed of what's happening in NZ sailing. It's interesting that though I am a New Zealander, now residing in NZ, that I learn about sailing news here from a US newsletter. Curmudgeon's Comment: Hmmm. Sounds like it may be time to start a Kiwi Scuttlebutt. * From Phil Bedlington: I am writing this letter as a boat owner who has sailed under IMS, AMS PHD and IRC (for the last 4 or so years) and have won the occasional race under each system. It appears to me that if you have your boat in the best condition you can afford, your crew are well drilled and you sail to your polar diagram you can win. If you screw up you don't. I think if more people worried about the above instead of trying to work the rule and win because they can buy a result, they and sailing in general would be better off. So instead of bemoaning the rule get your boat and crew out training, get your skill levels up and try and win. If you sail your best but someone sails better they deserve to beat you. * From Scott Ridgeway: IRC seems to be the prettiest girl on the block right now. We know however, that she will age, become hated and another prettiest girl on the block will show up. Such is our sport. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age." - Lucille Ball |
