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SCUTTLEBUTT 1782 - February 24, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest 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. THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM It was a quiet day at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney as sailors took a final opportunity to relax before the Rolex Farr 40 Pre-Worlds, which begin at 1100 hours tomorrow with three back-to-back races. Some crews were sweating it out in the sauna this morning before the compulsory weigh-in, but all 28 teams came in under the maximum combined crew weight of 760kg. A few boats headed out from Rushcutters Bay for some of last-minute boathandling and sail testing outside Sydney Heads. Russell Coutts, tactician on board Hasso Plattner's Morning Glory, acknowledges that the prevailing conditions outside Sydney Heads present some of the most challenging tests of any venue that he has experienced, "it's very choppy, you're getting a lot of backwash off the cliffs, there's the sun on the water [making it hard to see the wind on the water]. I think it's one of the trickier places I've sailed. I certainly haven't got it all worked out, but that's what makes it fun." With a light-wind forecast for the next three days, the ocean swell outside Sydney Harbour will present a significant challenge. But this regatta should prove a useful shakedown for the sailors as they move into the final phase of their build-up to the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds, which take place next week from 1-4 March. - http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1101 WALLY'S WORLD (Wally Cross is sailing with Philippe Kahn on Pegasus in the Farr 40 Worlds next week, and provided these comments as they prepare for the event) It is funny, the more I sail and the more I race with people that have all the tools the more I believe we all tend to make the sport harder than it is. Every morning we have long meetings on weather and local experts on what will happen. Sailing is not a science and nothing is absolute, yet the more you are convinced that it is, the more closed minded you are to possible changes. We get all the advice and assistance possible, get to the course with 10 to 20 minutes prior to the start and usually our information has been wrong. I had dinner with Kevin (Burnham, '04 470 Gold Medalist) a few evenings ago and listened to all his stories. He exudes confidence and an up beat attitude. He told me at the Olympics he would never listen to a weather adviser and would purposely avoid any local advice. I asked him what they did to get prepared and he mentioned they got out to the course early. I said we all do and he said, Wally you have no idea, we would sail upwind, downwind, take a break and sail upwind and downwind before the next boat got to the course. That is amazing and he mentioned with all that early sailing they got a feel what the day was going to do. What side had more pressure, less or more current, stability of the wind. He swears that is the secret in winning, getting out early and being prepare to win. I will always listen to advice, yet information has to be used as you use instruments. It is just information yet is not an absolute, yet a possibility. Your instincts will 9 out of 10 times beat expert advice. The moral of the story, get to the course early and convince yourself you and your team deserves to win. - Wally Cross NOT SHARK BAIT Dee Smith has a yacht racing pedigree to rival just about anyone, having decades of competing and winning at grand prix events as wide ranging as Mumm 30s to the Americas Cup, he has won world championships in many top events all over the world as well as winning the grueling Tour de France in 1999. Bangthecorner.com asked Dee a few questions about himself and the Volvo Ocean Race 2005: BTC: It was once said that it would be impossible for you to be eaten by a shark as they don't eat their own. Do you think that's a fair comparison or would you liken yourself to another animal? Dee: In this game all the top pros are sharks. So if you're not one yourself, you're bait. BTC: You have raced in both the Americas Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race are the personalities in them alike or do you get a different breed from one to the other? Dee: The America's Cup and Volvo are the premier crewed races in the world. In that, all the top pros want to sail in both events. I believe there is a lot of cross over. The people that don't make the cross are the ones that don't like sailing at night or get sick. The sailing is different but the competition is the same. BTC: Would you consider yourself as purely a driver or tactician? Dee: Over my sailing career I've done every job on a boat. People still see me forward of the mast but then you would have known there was a problem. Over the last 5 or so years I've taken a navigating role on the distance races. Bring down weather and understanding courses gives me a better look at a distance race than just coming in as a driver/tactician. Even sailing with America True in the AC in 2000, I was listed as the navigator. The last Volvo Ocean Race, I ended up sharing the navigating with Roger (Nilson) and making the calls. Working with the best weather guy, Roger Badham, aka Clouds, I learned so much about weather. This knowledge really helped in winning the last two Bermuda races, overall and breaking the elapse time record. For sure being a tactician helps but adding intimate knowledge of what is going on is fantastic. Complete interview at http://www.bangthecorner.com/da/15076 ULLMAN SAILS LAUNCHES "FIBERPATH" Comprehensive development by the Ullman Sails team now provides the release of FiberPath, arguably the smartest sails now available by any sailmaker. Stronger for its weight than alternatives, superior longevity, and priced with our customers in mind. Enjoy the best film laminate, proper primary load-bearing fibers, and strategic multiple fiber patterns to address secondary loads. End Result: Sails that are fast out of the bag, and stay faster longer! If you and your crew are ready, let Ullman Sails bring FiberPath technology to your sails. Call your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com ORANGE II Bruno Peyron and team aboard the maxi-catamaran Orange II are continuing to clock up almost 700 miles in 24 hours on their round the world record attempt. Paying more attention than ever to the ice, the crew will be keeping on a course relatively far to the north at 55°S. There is still one sailor out at the front on the central beam watching for ice with the help of infra-red binoculars. Peyron commented: " We're not really aiming at covering the magic 700 miles a day, even if that is within reach. The changes in watch are always a tricky moment, especially at night; there must be a smooth handover to the new team, who must be able to take control of all the parameters linked to the very high speed. It's particularly difficult for the helmsman, who suddenly is given a monster hurtling along at more than 30 knots." Thursday at 03:40 GMT, the distance covered in the previous 24 hours was 580 nm, with 8,117.40 nm to go. Orange II is 3,357 ahead of the Jules Verne record, and 2,548 ahead of the absolute record held by Cheyenne. - http://www.maxicatamaran-orange.com ORYX QUEST 2005 This is the part of the race where it all gets interesting. At the 07:00 GMT poll on Wednesday morning Doha 2006 was deep in iceberg country sailing at 53 degree south. They had been deeper during the night, but around 22:00 GMT on Tuesday they turned north, perhaps as a matter of prudence. Below decks navigator Will Oxlee has spent most of the night monitoring the radar, looking for solid water. It's not an easy task as he points out in his daily log. "It is pitch black outside. We are hurtling along at 30 knots, and it is freezing!" he wrote. "I am huddled down below at the nav station staring bleary eyed at the radar screen. We are at 53 30 south, around 1200 kilometers due south of Tasmania. The water temperature is 5.4 degrees Celsius and we are just north of the Antarctic convergence zone. The best information we have suggests that there is no ice in this part of the world, but with the water temperature below 6 you need to be really careful." - Just as dawn was breaking (Wednesday), the massive trimaran Geronimo made landfall in Fremantle, Western Australia, to begin the work necessary to repair damage the boat sustained five days ago when it was pounding upwind in the southeast trades. - Event website, http://tinyurl.com/53db3 Reports Geronimo skipper Olivier de Kersauson, "Thanks to the skill and fantastic commitment of the Fremantle Sailing Club and its members who provided Geronimo's crew with five RIB's and the club's tug, the massive Capgemini/Schneider Electric trimaran has been towed safely into the marina and finally moored alongside a 40-metre stretch of quayside at the centre of the club. Thanks to the enormous amount of human, technical and logistics resources put in place by the Milner boatyard and the Swiss composite materials (carbon fibre) specialist Patrice Allaz, work began immediately on the cracked starboard crossbeam that forced Geronimo off her racing track and into the Australian port for an enforced stopover. Curmudgeon's comment: It is an interesting hour-by-hour recap of the local support, technical analysis and repair that is detailed further on the event website: http://tinyurl.com/4z5hn NEWS BRIEFS * From 4-9 April, the 2005 ClubSwan Caribbean Rendez-vous will be played out for the third year running amongst the idyllic British Virgin Islands. Nautor's Swan's premier pure cruising event is open to all Swan owners, with the Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC) hosting ClubSwan members, guest and friends for a leisurely calendar of events. Contact Jennifer Hall for additional details: mailto:jennifer.hall@nautorswan.com * Author Michael Kennedy is currently working on a book about the Cal 40, and is seeking the assistance of owners and crew of early Cal 40s to collect stories about the boat for the book. Net proceeds (if any) would go to the class association. Contact Michael Kennedy by phone at 949-756-2812 or mail: PO Box 481, 27525 Puerta Real, Suite 100, Mission Viejo, CA 92691. * The C&C 99 Class has now launched its website. The site features Class Rules, Tuning Guide, Polar Diagrams, Race Schedule, Forum, and Photos. - http://www.cncyachts.com/99owners * US Sailing has posted a warning on their website that there may have been some Internet IRC applications that were never received. Near the end of 2004 US Sailing changed the firewall for email and some bonafide email was blocked. This problem has since been corrected. For questions or concerns, please e-mail mailto:irc@ussailing.org THE NEW MELGES 17 IS TURNING HEADS Melges Performance Sailboats now has nearly 40 confirmed Melges 17 orders in just 6 short weeks since the introduction. The Melges 17 was sighted at the St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta this past weekend sailing around, giving test rides. There was always a flock of press boats following the boat snapping photos of this exciting new product. The Melges 17 has a National Championship set for 2005 and a Midwinter Series being planned for 2006. Check out this new boat up close at http://www.melges.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 John Rumsey: I have never tried kite surfing or sailing but it looks like a great challenge and thrilling sport. It is amazing to me how they keep the kites up in the stronger winds aloft and go in the direction they want. To rate kites in the same class as conventional fore and aft rigs with sails fastened closely to the spars and rigging is stupid. Kite craft should have their own races and their own records. I might add that canting keels should have their own classes and records also, or at least an asterisk by their name - it is sort of like being on steroids. * From Doug Lord: I'm absolutely amazed that ISAF would so overstep its rightful authority by trying to ban kites from speedsailing, (especially) after never once talking to the chief kite sailing guru Dave Culp!! It's outrageous and should matter to every sailor because if they can ban kites on a whim, what's next? No hydrofoils? No canting keels? Will they "arrest" the Moth class for flying too high? Or ban Neil Pryde's hydrofoil windsurfer on the same grounds? This kind of gross violation of the spirit of innovation in sailing is the kind of thing that can bring an august body like ISAF into serious disrepute amongst all sailors -and rightly so! * From Alex Watters: Here is an interesting little conclusion, which really has no meaning. Vincent Riou raced around the world on his Open 60' monohull, PRB, in an astonishing 87 days and change. Ellen MacArthur bombed around virtually the same course in her 75' trimaran in an unbelievable 71 days and change. Both are remarkable achievements, but under closer inspection, Riou's is perhaps the most impressive. Forget the (rather important) fact that we're comparing a monohulls performance to that of a multihull, and simply use the size of each craft as the determining factor. Ellen's boat at 75' is 25% larger than Rious' 60' therefore it should be proportionately faster. Using this highly oversimplified and perhaps silly logic, multiply Ellen's 71 days by 1.25 and you find her corrected time increases to 88.75 days, over a day slower than Riou. Obviously it also works the other way, Roiu's boat is 20% smaller than Ellens' etc. etc. His corrected time going that route is 69.6 days, once again, and no surprise, Riou's faster. Now the Vendee course is a bit shorter, so after all this nonsense I think I'll call it a draw. All I can deduce from this is that two very special people have achieved two very remarkable (and speedy) global go-rounds. Cool! * From Spencer Ogden: I was raised on cleating with a half hitch, but quickly learned working on large yachts that, especially with heavy dock lines, the hitch is unnecessary. In fact, contorting some of the larger lines is impossible. However I think on small sailing boats the hitch has its place. Today we use light, thin, stiff lines, that won't stay neatly in place with the jostling and shaking on a small boat. For contrast, I've been using the "new-fangled way" for 16 years and never had one jam. Know you lines, know your knots, and don't learn seamanship on an 80' yacht. * From Margaret Tew: Almost forty years ago I was sailing in Area A Sears Cup Eliminations in Luders 16s at the Northeast harbor fleet (Maine). As jib trimmer on the genoa I was responsible for making the tacks as swift and smooth as possible. During a practice round another crew member (our alternate) put a half hitch on the jib sheet cleat unbeknownst to me. When we went to a practice crash-tack, I came in off the rail and was confronted with the half hitch. I started swearing a blue streak about it as I fumbled to uncleat the sheet. I was normally very quiet, so the rest of the crew was startled by my outrage and thought something was drastically wrong. When I explained what the problem was, they were chastened and promised never to do it again, but mostly were amused by my outburst. We one every race of the subsequent series and had a fantastic trip to the Sears Cup finals held by the St Francis YC in San Francisco. Heady stuff for a sixteen-year-old back then. Curmudgeon's Comment: Normally we don't cut off threads so soon, but I think this ship is in the slip. Time to cleat off the docklines, half-hitch or not, and walk away. * From Simon Rrobins: As an ex-seafarer (300,000 ton tankers), Coast Guard ship inspector (10yrs), and currently in the marine salvage business, my passion is racing sailboats (a Laser and an International 6 metre). My concerns are the over-simplification of the results of reckless actions. - That merchantman may be manoeuvring to avoid another vessel that you cannot see. - When entering confined waters we needed 6 hours notice to ready the 38,000 hp diesel engine for manoeuvring. You only get one crash stop out of such a machine! - What about the pollution from a damaged tanker? We have seen a very large tanker holed by a small trawler. The tanker was at anchor; the other guy was watching TV! - Who will need to risk their life and property in order to sort out you & your mess? - How about the lives of other seafarers who may be depending upon rescue by a passing yachtsman who turns out to be in bed at the time? There is no doubt that navigating without keeping lookout is wrong, whoever you may be. The problems of poor seamanship in the merchant marine are well documented. What appears to be significantly different is that regulations are enforced; these people are imprisoned. I would never wish to see the limits of sailing remain unchallenged. A compromise might be for solo sailors to reduce risk when necessary, by using a guard ship. Other industries spend huge sums of money doing this when a significant risk of collision exists. * From Simon Rosier: It's about bloody time that someone put their money where their mouth is and put sailing right in front of the viewers. Bravo Neville Crichton and Lang Walker (impressive website: http://www.f1sail.com). I don't know what would be more rewarding to do with my money if I were that prosperous... buy a massive "sled" or plug it into dinghy sailing. The same dosh could pay for shipping and transport (and in some cases the air fare) for a whole class for the same amount of time that the sled "would be" competitive. Anyhow, I'm sure that there are many people out there that have contributed to sailing in one way or another. No disrespect intended, it's just that summer is on its way soon, and I can't wait for the moaners talking about how to tie up a cleat to get out there and experience the joy of the beam reach. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Most of us go to our grave with our music still inside of us. |
