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SCUTTLEBUTT 1965 -- November 11, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.GUEST COMMENTARY Following ISAF's incredibly bodged, face-saving (to the President) decision regarding Submission 25 please can we now all mark November 9, 2005 in our diaries as the day Olympic sailing began its exit of the Games. In the coming desperate years the present decision makers will be marked as the ones who didn't have the guts or the foresight to address what is really happening to sailing in the global eyes of the television companies that make up some 60% of the ISAF and national body funding. This is the beginning of the end and for every young, aspirational sailor out there hoping to emulate his or her heroes by aiming high for a medal - forget it. The elected stooges have let you down once again and sailing, sadly, will be cast aside within a generation. -- Magnus Wheatley THE JUNIOR COACHING DEBATE -- Craig Leweck Before my son began sailing, he was playing recreational baseball. He has always been a good fielder, a good thrower, but not that strong a hitter. He is now eleven, and is good enough to be on a club baseball team that travels through the region, but his hitting ability remained his weakness. Since his hitting skills were not improving through normal team channels, I enlisted the services of a college hitting instructor to work with him outside of his team's practice. The instruction was not cheap, but his hitting improved. Did the ends justify the means? In the yacht club sailing programs in the US (and likely the world), most kids learn to sail at 7-9 years, often within a group of kids that stay together at the club, working their way through the ranks of the club sailing program. Once proficient in the basics, more advanced classes prepare them for regattas. But when certain kids become better at racing than others in their peer group, what happens to the kids getting left behind? Will they soon lose interest in the sport? As a parent, you want your child to at least keep up with the others. Right? Enlisting the services of private sailing coaches occurs at the Olympic level, at the America's Cup level, and often on the Grand Prix keelboat level. It also is occurring at the junior sailing level too. Is this the normal trend in today's sports, or are the kids getting over-exposed to the need to keep up and/or succeed? Is there an age when this is too young? Are club programs fulfilling the needs of all the kids, or should some sailors seek out the "Advanced Placement" instruction? Is the joy of sailing (or sports in general) getting lost with the desire to succeed? Sailing at the pram level is not a team sport, so the notion for junior sailors to stay within a club program is not as obvious as that of attending one's baseball team practices. However, improving sailing skills is hard to do alone, and the concept of being pushed and tested amongst a fleet of boats is well proven. Club programs provide that critical mass to help the kids improve when they all participate, but when some choose private coaching, what happens to the group at the club program? Lots of questions to answer, but for now let's test the waters with a survey. To participate: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/05/jrcoaching/ SAFETY ON THE SUPERMAXIS (Following is a brief excerpt from a story by Teki Dalton now posted on the Sail-World website.) The inclusion of the super maxis in the Sydney Hobart race has caused race management to change several of the fundamental rules of sailing. Although sail stacking and moving of ballast is against the rules (Rule 51) and Rule 52 allows for only manual power to be used in operating running rigging and appendages, both the rules have been expunged in the Notice of Race for the 2005 Sydney Hobart Race. The winches on boats like Alfa Romeo and Skandia, used for the hoisting and adjustment of sails, have a mechanical power capable of 90 metres a minute at first speed and safety load actor of 9 tonnes. The possibility of clothes, limbs and fingers being caught in these winches and the numerous uncovered turning blocks is no doubt to should be of major concern. The friction on the winches develops so much heat that the casing of the sheet or runner tail will melt. "The super maxi Mari Cha melted a 20mm Dyneema spin sheet while surging it off a winch" (Bob Ross, Sept 2005, Australian Sailing) You don't have to sail on super maxis to know that yacht racing is dangerous. Falling or being washed overboard, injury and even death are potential dangers that are with all sailors regardless of the size of the boat. Neville Crichton, owner and skipper of Alfa Romeo, the red-hot favourite for line honours in the Hobart race, said at the Hamilton Island Race Week in 2005….that the canting-keel super maxis 'are certainly more dangerous than what we have been used to sailing. In the middle of a gybe doing 35 knots…. and you have a complete computer glitch, guys are going to get killed on one of these boats.' Many of the supermaxis, if not all, have a large proportion of professional crew and like it or not, that crew must be covered by workplace safety and occupational safety regulations. It was the aftermath of the 1998 Sydney Hobart Race, and subsequent legal actions against some owners that exposed these regulations and how they applied to yacht racing. Put very simply, the yacht under these circumstances is regarded as a workplace and occupation health and safety regulations apply. Again, very simply, this means the identification of workplace hazards and dangers, the provision of approved safety equipment and the preparation and implementation of a safety management plan are mandatory.-- Teki Dalton, Sail-World website, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/87f92 FOR THE RECORD Olivier de Kersauson's Capgemini and Schneider Electric trimaran Geronimo is in the final stages of preparations for a go at the 2215 mile Transpac record. Joining Geronimo's regular eight man French team attempting to break Bruno Peyron's five day, nine hours, 18 minutes and 26 seconds record will be USA sailors Cam Lewis and Larry Rosenfeld, who will be involved with the navigation and tactics on this trip. Geronimo's management have been closely monitoring the weather patterns for the cross Pacific run and a favorable weather window has arrived and now the crew are in a countdown for a weekend departure. The maxi-trimaran will leave San Diego this Friday night USA Pacific time, spending time settling into the boat again before they head north to Los Angeles to cross the start line early Saturday morning USA Pacific time. Long range race items have been removed to reduce the overall weight of the boat to ensure the team has every opportunity to set a new record. Once in Hawaii Geronimo will have a two day stopover before she heads back to California. Tracking of the progress of this attempt for the Transpac Challenge by Geronimo can been seen at: www.superyachting.com UK-HALSEY BREAKS AC HEGEMONY One sailmaker doesn't "own" the America's Cup: UK-Halsey has powered up The China Team - since last spring. It's a worldwide UK-Halsey effort: Sylvain Barrielle (UK-H/San Francisco, with 20 years AC experience and 5 French challenges) is project coordinator; John Fries (UK-H/Mystic, CT - where most of these sails are made) is chief designer, UK-H Hong Kong builds spinnakers - fast, and UK-H Spain re-cuts on-site. So, even if you're in an America's Cup campaign, you don't have to be struck in the same old mold. More details (as well as useful, free info and downloads) are at http://www.ukhalsey.com PITCHPOLE A third multihull has capsized in the Transat Jacques Vabre twohanded race. Following Monday's air-sea rescue operations in the Western Approaches for Foncia and Orange Project, another airlift was planned yesterday evening for the race leader, Groupama 2. The 60ft trimaran flipped head-over-heels 40 miles north-east of Palma, in the Canaries. Skipper Franck Cammas was staying with the boat to supervise its salvage but a helicopter was sent out for co-skipper Frank Proffit, who was on the helm at the time. Proffit was believed to have hurled forwards and possibly sustained broken ribs. The capsize occurred at 1750 GMT Thursday and the pair had been pushing their boat hard in classic tradewind conditions. They had been making 25-knot boatspeed in a similar amount of windspeed, recovering lost ground having pulled into Santo Porto, Madeira, for five hours to repair their steering. This had allowed Banque Populaire to take the lead. From a field of 35 starters last weekend, eight entrants have now been forced out. -- Tim Jeffery, the Daily Telegraph, full story: http://tinyurl.com/a6j9t * Transat Jacques Vabre class leaders: Virbac-Paprec (IMOCA 60), Banque Populaire (ORMA 60), Gryphon Solo (Open 50 Monohull), Crepes Whaou ! (Open 50 Multihull). http://www.jacques-vabre.com/pages_uk/accueil_uk2005.htm DAMIAN FOXALL - ONE LUCKY IRISHMAN (In a story just posted on The Daily Sail subscription website, Foncia's crewman Damian Foxall describes their capsize in the Transat Jacques Vabre and how he was clobbered by the boom. Here's an excerpt.) The boat was pretty flat in the water with 20 knots of wind and just at that time a big gust of 45+ knots came through, with a big lift, and the boat just came up and by the time either of us managed to ease the sheet the sails weren't pushing boat any more - the tramp was and over she went." Most unusual was that the capsize was not a pitchpole - the trimaran was flipped over to starboard the mast crashing against the water before the boat fully turned turtle. "Armel was at the helm and he fell as the boat capsized onto the main and he managed to get out from under the boat. I was in the cockpit. I managed to hold on to some lines [on the port side of the cockpit] and when the mast and boom hit the water I guess the mast must have broken because the boom was able to come and crush me against the cockpit winches, so my sternum was on the winches and my back was on the boom underpinning me. Then I guess a wave moved the boom and I was able to get out and get a quick breath of air from underneath the tramp and then swim out from underneath the boat. Then Armel helped me get on the boat. I had quite a lot of pain in my chest so I felt I needed to lie on my back. -- www.thedailysail.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar GETTING READY With just one day to go to the start of the first offshore Leg of the Volvo Ocean Race 2005-06, thoughts are now towards the first Leg and the weather conditions for the start. Leg one will start from a line just off the sea wall in Vigo. From there the teams will do a short leg in the Ria de Vigo up to a set mark and then head back through the starting gate. From there they head down the coast and out to sea, via three further gates, and towards the first scoring gate at Ilha de Fernando de Noronha where the teams can pick up half the Leg points. The time round the teams will be entering the trade winds within a few days of the start line, because the race begins further south on the Atlantic coast of Spain. Crossing the trades in these fast boats will take as little as three days, and then one of the first big decisions comes; where to cross the Doldrums? This is the latest time in the year in the history of the race that the teams will be approaching the Doldrums and it is quite a good time of the year for the crossing, as the band of extremely light winds is general starting to narrow. The navigators will be trying to cross in the narrowest area, and in the days before they will be studying the wind patterns to ensure they spend the least amount of time in the light winds. Once they make it into the southern latitudes it really becomes a race to dig south. The shortest distance route has a big obstacle, the south Atlantic high pressure zone, an area of light wind and headwinds. Unless this weather system is pushed really far north, the teams are likely to head far south, where they will race to pick up the strong westerlies that make up the Roaring Forties. -- www.volvooceanrace.org NEWS BRIEFS * After several days of rig problems on the Jersey Clipper, a cause has still not been found leading skipper Mark Taylor to make the tough decision yesterday (Tuesday 9th September) of diverting his course to Cape Town, where the rig will be professionally inspected by the manufacturers. The rest of the fleet continue to jostle for the podium positions in the home straight into Durban, South Africa. Current leaders are Uniquely Singapore, followed by westernaustralia.com and New York in third position, just 18 miles from the leader. -- www.clipper-ventures.com * The final three races were sailed today in the Volvo Extreme 40 Class. It was an nail-biting finale with two boats tied going into the ultimate race. Tommy Hilfiger with skipper Randy Smyth and the Volvo Ocean Race catamaran with skipper Carolijn Brouwer. Tommy Hilfiger sailed just a bit faster and smarter today to secure the victory in the light and fluky airs in the Sanxenxo Bay, Spain. "There is a lot of champagne going down tonight," Randy Smyth said. Final Results: 1. Team Tommy Hilfiger; 2. Team Volvo Ocean Race; 3. Team Holmatro; 4. Team CHR-Motorola; 5. Team Basilica. -- www.volvoextreme40.org * The U.S. Coast Guard recently announced that the total fatalities resulting from recreational boating accidents declined to 676, the lowest on record since 1960. However, 484 boaters drowned in 2004, and 90 percent of those who drowned were not wearing a life jacket. While fatalities from boating accidents are decreasing, wearing a life jacket is still key to surviving an accident. The new statistics indicate a steady drop when compared with 750 fatalities reported in 2002 and 703 fatalities in 2003. -- US Sailing website, full story: http://www.uscgboating.org/waypoints/nov05/art1_fatalities.htm A WINNING COMBINATION! Ockam offers integrated instrument solutions with proven race-winning performance for all boat types. The powerful Tryad processor supplies a smarter, faster & lighter platform that includes built-in RS-232, GPS & NMEA ports and a polar module. All of your data streams unimpeded throughout the system's simple "daisy chain" network eliminating the need to purchase a separate processor. Add the Teeter-Todter 3D compass and get the most stable, accurate numbers available. And take advantage of the versatile Matryx display's 18 user defined pages including graphical stripcharts of any function. Cross to the front of the fleet, contact Ockam. mailto: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. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Richard Jepsen CEO OCSC Sailing (edited to our 250-word limit): In the interest of full disclosure I am the owner of a sailing school and, like Tom Hubbell, another US Sailing volunteer. And, I won't argue that introducing more adults to sailing directly helps Mark or other sailors who are already in the sport. However, I do believe there is another reason for all sailors to promote increased participation and more visibility for the sport. Sailing is good for our children's' development. More sailors, more participation and more visibility mean more children choosing sailing when the time comes. Sailing does a better job of allowing children to grow, mature and improve than many, many other popular sports. It fosters appreciation for nature, risk management, leadership, courage, confidence, personal satisfaction, self-reliance, socialization, communications skills, situational awareness, problem solving skills. Additionally, sailing skills allow access to the water in a special, unique way that fosters a heightening of the senses, heightened appreciation for the beauty of the maritime environment and the an appreciation for the need to protect it. Competitive sailing has better role models and sends a better message about sportsmanship and citizenship than many other sports. We're human, not perfect, and yes -- there are some stinkers out there. But aren't most of us, most of the time, pretty impressed with those at the top of our sport? I would love for more kids to have the quality of heroes and role models that I generally see in sailing compared to that of baseball, football, basketball and hockey. * From Rich Nicholls: Somehow the idea that sailing is a sport that desperately needs promoting (see about 25% of Butt's letters) seems wrong-headed to me. There may be particular events that need better promoting/better access to viewing by the public, but the essential pleasure of sailing is not selling it like graham crackers, it's the experience of the act itself. It doesn't really affect the experience whether the number of people doing it goes up a little or down a little, people who love sailing will continue to sail. See the emergence of one class racing for Ranger 33s, the first since 1978. I doubt any of those people were sucked into sailing by various promotional efforts of sailing organization. We have a sport with a proud tradition. We shouldn't feel desperate about getting others revved up to join it. What we really should be doing is get more of the polluting stinkpots with their huge wakes off the water. * From Mark Weinheimer (re Olympic scoring): The idea of averaging in some way to allow the "cream to rise" is flawed. The current system performs this function automatically over a series. The best boat has the lowest cumulative score. There are plenty of sports that operate on cumulative scores. Figure skating uses accumulated points over several routines. Diving is scored on accumulated points. Gymnastics has a fairly complicated overlapping scoring system with both individual and team points counted for three different medals at the same time. It seems to me that the point of all this is simply to explain to the public how the scoring system works, not change it to a more complicated "weighted" (however that happens) scoring. Even figure skating, with its arcane subjective scoring, is working to become more transparent and more accountable. I think the reason people other than sailors won't watch sailing on TV is the lack of immediate drama. The on board cameras have added real people doing real things to the America's Cup, coupled with very professional commentary explaining how precise and choreographed the maneuvers must be to be successful. The question is how to bring this dramatic immediacy to all sailing we want to be televised. Or just bag the whole idea and go sailing….. * From Bruce Matlack (re Choosing the top sailor in one race): As far as having a, " inner takes all single yacht race", to determine a champion at any level … nonsense. That idea reminds me of the residential real estate annual trophy contest that I gladly just retired from. That business virtually survives by the huge supply of very mediocre agents that come and go through a revolving door. It is common for the biggest sales trophy to go to the person with the largest dollar sale. Often it means someone who got a lucky bite on a freakin' bus seat ad, and sells a single, 10 million dollar deal, is the one all the accolades go to, while the agent doing 12 million in the same time frame, by doing consistent, monthly $300,000 home sales in good or bad markets, is shucked off in obscurity somewhere. Of the two, which agent would you call to sell your home? Do you want sailing champions determined by mediocre sailors winning the lottery, or those that through hard, dedicated work have dialed in a duplicatiable, unmatched, consistent race record? * From John Callahan: (re Olympic scoring proposal) This is the continuing struggle between Corinthian "sport" and televised "entertainment". NASCAR and the NFL seek balance in the exact same questions. Much like the chicken or the egg. Which came first: the event or the checkbook to support the event? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when you're sailing. |
