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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 531 - March 21, 2000DEMYSTIFYING THE MAGIC(Bruce Kirby has written a thoughtful analysis of the America's Cup for the SailNet website. Following are some of the 'nuggets' excerpted from his comprehensive piece.) The black New Zealand sloop that won the event five races to none was a highly specialized weapon, conceived from the earliest design stages to do this specific job, and the fact that she did it so well is a tribute to the team that so thoroughly understood this multi-faceted puzzle. The boat would not have been the same had it been developed for fleet racing, or for a different venue. This was a boat that could point as high as the opposition when it had to, could accelerate faster when it wanted to, and could achieve a higher top speed when that was important. It was a boat that could turn faster during starting maneuvers and come out of a tack faster during a tacking duel. It was a match-racing masterpiece and it succeeded even beyond the dreams of its creators and the sailors who made it perform its magic. New Zealand's Laurie Davidson and American Clay Oliver were the co-designers of the New Zealand boats. Davidson was quick to admit that many of the final decisions were made through exhaustive sailing trials between the two virtually identical boats. "This phenomenon was particularly evident in the position of the wings on the keel bulb. The CFD testing could not give a definitive answer for placement of the wings. We tried them right aft like they were in NZL 32, and on most other America's Cup boats, and we tried them in the middle of the bulb, and halfway between these two positions. There was no conclusive answer. Then we did the same testing full size on the boats, and after hours of sailing the crew decided the wings worked better in the middle of the bulb. So that's where we put them." LUNA ROSSA and NZL 60 had very similar VMG (velocity made good.) numbers in moderate to light conditions. In upwind sailing VMG is the combination of pointing and footing that results in the best speed made good towards the next mark. In 12 knots of true wind, both boats sailed at 9.5 knots when making their best VMG. But when the wind got up to 14 knots, the Italian boat would sail at about 9.6 and the New Zealanders would jump to 9.8. The speed difference continued to widen as the wind rose. In the stronger winds NZL 60 could jump quickly to 10.2 knots if it laid off only a few degrees. The Italian boat did not have this high-end speed and would get to only about 9.9 when cracked off the same amount. It was this high-end capability that made the big difference. LUNA ROSSA designer Doug Peterson lamented, "You don't necessarily sail your best VMG in match racing." The potentially higher speed enjoyed by the Kiwis was partially due to the very sophisticated manipulation of the hull measurement rule. Her bow overhang was considerably steeper than the overhang on LUNA ROSSA and most of the other challengers. The distance between where this line meets the hull slope at the bow and stern is called LBG (length between girths). In measurement trim (no crew or extra gear aboard), the boats were virtually identical in length at this 200 mm waterline. But by having the more tipped-up bow profile, the New Zealand boat was a few inches longer at the actual waterline. With the crew and all its gear aboard, the boat could be trimmed a bit down by the stern, which would result in the long, flat stern overhang adding as much as two feet to the sailing length, while the steep, forward overhang would prevent the boat from getting shorter at that end. So in measurement trim, the boats sat on similar waterline lengths, while in sailing trim NZL 60 was considerably longer. If trimmed down by the stern, the Italian boat, with more balanced fore and aft slopes, would lose length as fast at the bow as it gained it at the stern. The sails on NZL 60, particularly the main, were noticeably fuller than LUNA ROSSA's sails. This too was part of the package. The boat was big and powerful so it needed powerful sails to produce the speed that was designed into the hull. When Russell Coutts and his crew wanted to foot off to get to the next piece of favorable wind, the sails could be powered up to make that happen. Before the match, Doug Peterson had questioned the wisdom of full sails on a high-pointing America's Cup boat; but after he had seen how well the sails suited the overall concept he was quick to admit that the system worked very well. "They could get the boat going very fast," he said, "and then they could go higher and higher. They could pinch us off when they had to, and make us head off in the wrong direction." Davidson and Peterson agreed that the revolutionary New Zealand rig had a great deal to do with NZL 60's success. The 105-foot, carbon-fiber spar was 600 mm (23.5 inches) longer than minimum in the fore and aft dimension of its lower portions. "We felt we were getting some useful area out of this configuration," Davidson said, "and by using the diamond stays we were able to go with only three spreaders instead of four, and that saved windage and weight." Peterson said, "I would think the rig may have been the most significant feature of their boat." The greater beam on NZL 60-about six inches at the waterline--gave her more stability, and this was part of her overall superiority in winds above 12 knots. When she was cracked off to gain speed, not only did she have the extra length to carry her along, but the additional stability meant that she would not heel over as much as LUNA ROSSA would under the same circumstances. She would squirt ahead instead. Topping it all off was a team of sailors who performed so well that finding any fault at all in several hours of competition was next to impossible. Peterson said that whereas LUNA ROSSA had one good tactician in Torben Grael, the entire New Zealand crew knew the gulf better than any of the Italians. Peterson, among others, has said that the New Zealanders would have won no matter which boat they sailed. Maybe so, but it would have been a much closer contest if the crews had exchanged boats, because there's no doubt that the speed on demand provided by the exquisite black boat was the key to one of the most astonishing sweeps in America's Cup history. -- Bruce Kirby, SailNet website CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Do yourself a favor and read Kirby's full story: http://www.sailnet.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=kirbyb093 ONE-DESIGN SAILING Does membership slowly trickle out of your class? Does your fleet effectively recruit new members? Are you looking for a way to boost participation at your sailing club? If these concerns affect sailing in your area, join the One Design Class Council for a panel discussion on "Growth and Promotion" during the US Sailing spring meeting in Chicago. Learn proven techniques and helpful tips to improve participation and class growth at the Chicago Yacht Club on Friday, March 24 from 4-6 pm. The panelist, who are all well-versed in what works for promoting classes, include: - Kerry Nielan, Thistle Class Officer in charge of Growth and Promotion. The Thistles are one of the largest one design classes in the US. - Ali Meller, Vice President of the International 505 Class. Ali has made great strides improving the 505 class communication though the Internet. - Dave Kirkpatrick of Vanguard. Dave runs clinics for dinghy sailors and operates a hotline for sailing questions. Hear what the boat building industry has to say about promoting sailing. It's free and open to anyone interest in promoting sailing and expanding class size. Chicago Yacht Club is located at the foot of Monroe Street in downtown Chicago. (312-861-7777) There is plenty of free parking at the club. For more information: http://www.ussailing.org. 49ER WORLDS After 11 races: 1. DEN, MICHAEL HESTBAEK / J.PERSSON (25 pts) 2. FIN, THOMAS JOHANSON / J.JARVI (27) 3. ESP, SANTIAGO LOPEZ-VAZQUEZ / J.DE LA PLATA (34) 4. NOR, CHRISTOFFER SUNDBY / V.ARNHOFF (37) 5. FRA, MARC AUDINEAU / J.FARNARIER (41) 6 GER, MARCUS BAUR / P.BARTH (43) 7. GBR, IAN BARKER / S.HISCOCKS (46) 8. USA JONATHAN MCKEE / C.MCKEE (48) 9. AUS, CHRIS NICHOLSON / D.PHILLIPS 52 10. POR AFONSO DOMINGOS / D.CAYOLLA (54) 13. USA ANDY MACK / A.LOWRY (66) Complete Standing: http://www.49erworlds2000.org/press/index.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) Letters selected to be printed are routinely edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude personal attacks. But only one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if people disagree. -- From Mark Skipwith -- The NSL sounds so very exiting. The kind of excitement you start to think that you just want to quite your job. Till you realize that it is sailed in 48-foot boats. Nice, but how exiting? I was not part of the sailing community when there was a pro circuit in the US -- the Ultimate 30's. I would not pilgrimage up to SF to watch four or six 48 footers sail around the bay. And that's with God driving and all Playmates as crew. And I am certain, if you pick some exiting boats you will have one more fan. Me. -- From Alan S. Bomar -- The best of luck to the NSL. However, all popular professional and armature sports have a large following of gamblers. The gamblers create an interest in the sport that draws people in to watch and follow the sport. Gambling creates excitement that makes the sport interesting and appealing to the public. Gambling follows NASCAR, Golf, Football, and Basketball, etc. and makes sports big. Gambling gives the public "personal involvement in the outcome". Take for example all of the pools (professional and armature) that are played during the NCAA Basketball tournament. These pools are played everywhere from Las Vegas to all other small localities in America and get America to follow 127 basketball games over 3 weeks. This gambling creates the "March Madness" that the Advertisers need to benefit from their investments. Until sailing in America has a following of gamblers, sailing will not be able to generate the advertising revenue that other sports in America enjoy. Gambling, be it from Casino boats watching races or betting pools in the betting parlors around America, is going to be the determining factor that creates public interest in sailing large enough to support a professional league without the league being funded (floated) by multimillionaires. What did you loose during the America's Cup, a little pride or some dollars? I guarantee that with dollars on the line, the races are more interesting to watch, even if one does not know the difference between a lift and a header. -- From Robert W. Bussard -- AmericaOne lost to Prada because it was a faster boat. And Prada lost to NZ-60 because it was A FASTER BOAT than Prada. The Kiwis are better designers than are we, and while Doug Peterson helped with the NZ-32 95 design, he didn't invent the innovation that carries NZ to victory, and could only take away what he saw and learned in the 95 design exercise. The real designers are Laurie Davidson and Tom Schnackenberg, who actually know what they are doing. They have produced the FASTEST A-Cup boats for two series now, 10 races never lost, 50 roundings never headed! This is NOT just the result of smart crew work. If Cayard had sailed NZ-60 he would have drubbed the Italians just as badly. What did they do? Simple. They used a LIFTING keel-wing system in 95, that reduced their virtual displacement by about 3% and their wetted area, thus reducing displacement drag and friction drag. Enough to give about a 1% speed advantage on the upwind course. Peterson knew this and put it on Prada, but he put it aft, as in NZ-32. Meanwhile, Schnackenberg et al realized that the bulb-aft location of the wings gave a forward pitching moment on downwind course, and moved it to the bulb center to avoid this, thus gaining a speed advantage downwind too. Do we know this? Absolutely. Do our designers care? Apparently not. No US designer has yet admitted this possibility and none have incorporated it into their designs. -- From Seth Radow -- I just don't get it. The A-Cup in the States has never been, other than for marketing purposes, a "National" campaign. Each campaign has been, at best, a regional campaign and, in reality, an individual yacht club campaign. There is so much sailing talent in this country and the country so geographically diverse, I see no reason why each region can't have their own campaign as was the case with the most recent A-Cup. The reason for such a super-challenge is the massive costs involved in fielding a campaign. I believe there is an opportunity for significant cost reductions and a huge increase in the quality of each campaign if the American teams combined forces under one team with multiple challenges within that team. (I believe this might require a legal interpretation of the A-Cup deed). Rather than a "super-challenge", why not consider a "super brain trust" so to speak. R&D is an enormous expense in these campaigns and often takes designers down the same roads. Huge dollar figures are being spent from multiple directions all to achieve the same goal with, what I am told, is ZERO technology transfer amongst the American teams. If the R&D dollars can be coordinated the costs can be reduced significantly. The results of the R&D can be interpreted by the individual challenges from within the American team. Therehere is still quite a bit of art involved in yacht design and that leaves plenty of room for interpretation from one campaign to the next. -- John Roberson -- Well said, Bruce Parsons, Doug Lord, Tom Donlan and everyone else who wrote in condemning Bill Koch's attack on Team New Zealand. Team New Zealand both won and defended the Cup with a combination of hard graft and some inspiration. How they funded it is their business and that of their contributors, and no-one else's. I initially refrained from commenting on Bill Koch's "piece" because I felt I was too close to the action, but am delighted that his own country men have come out against him. -- From Scott Diamond -- As long as they did not violate any New Zealand law, or rule in the Deed of Gifts, is it really any of our business how they got the money, or what they are doing with it? How does where and how they got their money have anything to do with the fairness of the regatta? The only fact is that TNZ won on the race course, and it was a fair course. All the other information is speculation and rumor to this point. "A source close to the regatta" what does that mean? If this is a credible source how about a name or direct quote. Having relatives in New Zealand and forwarding Koch's comments to them. They were amused. -- From Justin Smart (re Bill Koch's commentary) -- How can lack of candor spoil such a victory? I don't think the nation of NZ really cares how their boys became the first nation other than the US to successfully defend the Americas Cup, however i think their interest will be spiked by such a thinly disguised display of sour grapes from such a source. Commentary of this kind to a nation of sailors the caliber of Peter Blake & CO, will be remembered next time around. -- From John Fracisco -- Team New Zealand doesn't need to explain themselves to anybody, least of all an American. Maybe the journalists in NZ don't have as an acerbic view as their American counterparts, and can appreciate the victory as it stands. Sports scandal? Hardly. This is not the Olympics, the Tour de France, or the World Cup. The sailors aren't hitting the steroids (I think), officials aren't getting paid off to convince organizers that they should host the event, and there aren't packs of rabid fans knocking each other around on the docks. The money being quoted would barely get a motorsports team on a starting grid. Think of it as something for a rainy day. I bet NYYC or SDYC wish they could have the same luxury of sitting on a fat war chest. -- From Eric Johnson (re the curmudgeon's observation about the fine line between a "hobby" and "mental illness.") -- I would disagree in that I have found that there is a very large gap between sailors and "frostbite sailors". You may not see the line as you approach it...but once you're on the other side, there is no doubt that you are there. LASER WORLDS CANCUN, MEXICO, Day five - Despite a poor showing in the first race of the day, Brazil's Robert Scheidt tightened his grip on the championships with yet another win in race ten. Remarkably with just one discard so far allowed he is counting just one second place amongst an extraordinarily consistent series of firsts. Behind Scheidt, Australia's Michael Blackburn opened out a gap to in second pace while a poor day for current World Champion, Ben Ainslie saw him moving down to fourth behind Sweden's Karl Suneson. Reflecting on yet another good day's work Scheidt is clearly confident of winning an unprecedented fourth Laser World Championship. "It looks pretty good" he said. "I have one bad race and all the rest are very good. I am looking forward to tomorrow to being consistent again. There are still four races to go and a lot of things can happen in the finals". With the split into Gold and Silver fleets now completed, South Africa, Malaysia, Hungary, Chile and Turkey can be sure of places at the Olympic Games in 2000 by dint of their Gold Fleet status. With eight qualification places up for grabs at this event three countries from the Silver fleet are still able to qualify and this if nothing else will ensure that the battle for supremacy is as tight here as it undoubtedly will be for the overall World Championship prize. -- Peter Bentley Racing continues tomorrow (Tuesday) with two days of finals. 1. BRA, Robert Scheidt, (10 points) 2. AUS, Michael Blackburn (30) 3. SWE, Karl Suneson (41) 4. GBR, Ben Ainslie (46) 5. USA, John Torgerson (52) 6. NED, Serge Kats (60) 7. GBR, Paul Goodison (63) 8. SWE, Daniel Birgmark (63) 9. FIN, Roope Suomalainen (66) 10. USA, Mark Mendelblatt (70). Event website: http://www.laserinternational.org/wor2000.htm SWEDISH MATCH TOUR AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Veteran New Zealand skipper Chris Dickson heads the scoreboard at the end of the second day of the Steinlager/Line 7 Cup, the opening event on the Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. Dickson, the oldest skipper in the event, had a "good day at the office", winning all four of his matches today, to put himself in a strong position for a place in the semi-finals. At the end of the first of two round robin qualifying rounds, he now has six wins from seven races, and is one point clear of the up-and-coming young Kiwi skipper Gavin Brady. Still undefeated, but three races behind schedule in the round, is New Zealand's new sailing hero, Dean Barker of Team New Zealand, the successful defenders of the America's Cup. With racing delayed for three hours due to lack of wind, Barker and the seven other skippers in group two, only got one race completed today, with the young hero defeating fellow Kiwi Phil Douglas. French America's Cup skipper Bertrand Pace has kept his hopes of a semi-finals place alive, by winning two of his four races today, to give himself a 4 win, 3 loss ratio. Still languishing well down the scoreboard, with a 3 - 4 ratio, is former world champion Peter Gilmour of Australia, who with his Pizza LA sailing team is representing Japan. With good winds forecast for Wednesday the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, who are hosting the event, are hoping to put the regatta back on schedule, with the semi-finals due to be sailed on Friday, and the finals on Saturday. -- John Roberson Scores (after six flights)
Scores (after four flights)
OLYMPICS New Zealand Olympic Selection Trials - First in each class: TORNADOS - Chris Dickson & Glen Sowry 470 MENS - Simon Cooke & Peter Nicholas 470 WOMEN - Melinda Henshaw & Jenny Egnot EUROPE - Sarah Macky MISTRAL MENS - Aaron McIntosh MISTRAL WOMENS - Barbara Kendall The Yachting New Zealand Olympic Selection Panel are expected to announce the New Zealand Olympic Team within the week. - http://www.boatingoz.com.au/newsail000315b.htm SNIPE WINTER CIRCUIT The annual migration of Snipers to Florida for the Winter Circuit was internationalized this year by several teams from South America. The first stop (Clearwater, for the 64th running of the Midwinter Championship) quickly showed they grow 'em fast in Argentina: 21 year old twins Javier and Nicolas Ocariz came within inches of dethroning defending champs George Szabo/Carol Cronin before falling victim to a poor start in the last race. Traditionally a light air venue, hiking breeze predominated for five of the six races.
2nd Stop: Miami's Coconut Grove Sailing Center. The fleet grew in numbers and depth with additions from the US and Uruguay. The Ocariz brothers started off slow with a 6,7, but when several teams fell victim to the dreaded OCS, their steady top ten finishes paid off and they topped the final score board by one point. Defending champs George Szabo/Carol Cronin were one of the OCS victims and dropped to eighth overall.
THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM What do people in China call their good plates? |
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