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SCUTTLEBUTT 2862 - Wednesday, June 10, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are Summit Yachts and New England Ropes. YALE UNIVERSITY: BEST COLLEGE TEAM In the realm of college racing, nothing screams “good season” like winning the Fowle Trophy, which is awarded to the school with the best overall performance in the six National Championships: Men's Singlehandeds, Women's Singlehandeds, Sloops, Women's Dinghies, Team Race, and Coed Dinghies. The winner of the award for the 2008-2009 season was Yale University, which last week completed the spring nationals where they won the Women’s Dinghy, were fourth in Team Racing, and were second in the Coed Dinghy. The conditions were pretty snotty for the Women’s and Coed Dinghies, with the San Francisco site serving up its typical summer brew of big winds and current, and during the ebb tide, chunky waves too (see photos). To be successful, the combined points total by the A and B Division teams in each event would be vital, with each division sailing 14 races in the Women’s and 18 races in the Coed’s. Scuttlebutt checked in with Yale coach Zack Leonard following the event to get some insight: SBUTT: What other venues compare with the Women’s and Coed courses? ZACK LEONARD: “Racing off the breakwater from St Francis Yacht Club was not too different from our home site at Yale and others like Kings Point, Charleston, and possibly Navy or Brown on the right day.” SBUTT: How much background did you do to understand the big currents? ZACK LEONARD: “I've sailed there before in I-14s, so I've seen what it can be like, plus we sail in Charleston a bunch where current is strong, so we didn't do too much scouting. The courses in college are so short that macro knowledge can sometimes mess you up. The factors affecting our course were so obvious that it really came down to execution. “ SBUTT: What strengths did the course and conditions play to? -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0608 THIS LEG MAY NEVER BE FORGOTTEN (June 9, 2009; Day 4) - Agonizing. There is no other way to describe the look of PUMA on the Volvo Ocean Race Tracker. After she blew the head patch off her big spinnaker, she lost touch with the fleet. They went right, PUMA went left. The problem is that a Low got in between, and with the counterclockwise wind rotation, the fleet was soon reaching while the shoe was beating - and getting a beating. Gulp… here is how it looked: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/VOR0609.jpg Some comments from the onboard Media Crew Members: Gabri Olivo, Telefonica Blue: “What a day... It went all wrong hour after hour - probably someone didn't go to church last Sunday. This morning we were just in front of Ericsson 4, Delta Lloyd and PUMA, catching up with Ericsson 3 and quite happy about the battle that we had during the night to keep our position. Then we decided to go a little lower than the others and slowly, but continuously, we got sucked into a mixture of a header and a less favourable tide that we never got out from. Things went from bad to worse when we had to stop the boat three times to clear some weed from the keel. Within four hours we lost sight of all the others.” -- http://tinyurl.com/TBlue-6-9-09 Guy Salter, Ericsson 4: “Without offending anyone who lives to the east of the Greenwich meridian line I have to say how much I dislike sailing in the North Sea and always have. As soon as we passed through the Dover Straits the sea changed colour and became extremely choppy, a very uncomfortable slamming choppy which is near impossible for the lads to drive through without shaking a few of those old fillings loose. I think that the North Sea is best represented by any five year old’s picture of a ship at sea - where there are almost five waves per length of the vessel and each one shaped like a shark’s fin.” -- http://tinyurl.com/E4-6-9-09 * VOLVO OCEAN RACE: Began in Alicante, Spain on Oct. 4, 2008, crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Finish is in St Petersburg, Russia on June 27th. Leg 8 from Galway to Marstrand, Sweden (950 miles) started on Saturday, June 6th and is expected to finish by June 10th. -- http://www.volvooceanrace.org/schedule/ Current positions (as of June 9, 22:00 GMT): 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 248 nm Distance to Finish 2. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 7 nm Distance to Leader 3. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 13 nm DTL 4. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 13 nm DTL 5. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 17 nm DTL 6. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 25 nm DTL 7. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 43 nm DTL Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, Did Not Start Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 KEY WEST IS THE TARGET How would you like to be among the fastest Racer/Cruisers at Key West Race Week? The new for 2010 Summit 35 will have its debut at The Newport International Boat Show, and we have several of the Mark Mills designed boats that will be available in time for Key West Race Week. You will be all tuned up for next spring’s early races. For you European buyers, use KWRW as a tune up for next year’s Commodore’s Cup. Continue the winning ways of Summit Yacht’s other successful model the King 40. Visit us at http://www.summit-yachts.com WORDS OF WISDOM The TP52 Audi MedCup circuit brings its parade of elite professional sailors to France this week for the Marseille Trophy, which saw Riccardo Simoneschi’s team on Audi Q8 decipher the difficult, changeable breeze on the Rade sud best to win the practice race on Tuesday for the 11 teams. Double Olympic medallist Charlie McKee (USA), tactician onboard Audi Q8, describes this week’s racing: “Small fleet racing where everyone is super-smart, then whenever you tack and gybe in the right places you are going to do well, and if you don’t you can be last. That’s the bottom line. “It is puffy and shifty enough so that really is very difficult to sail conservatively. It is trying to sail your shifts and puffs that come to you the best you can. That wind direction in the bay was tricky because the puffs were angling from the left, off the beach, but then there is sort of a steadier wind out to sea. You really can’t work a strategy round that. What you can do is do the best that you can with your puff-lull sequence and that is what is critical. And we had some nice luck. “At this top level of the sport it is no one thing, it is a whole bunch of little things. And so you go away and look at everything, everyone in their area tried to do the little things. When you are losing you are never as bad as you look, and when you are winning like we were today, you are never as good as you look.” -- http://2009.medcup.org/news/index.php?id=742 MATCH RACE CENTER UP AND RUNNING Don Wilson had his doubters. “Last year when I said what my vision was for this match racing center, there were many people who said it could not be done on our own,” said Wilson. But now with the completion last weekend of Chicago Match Race Center’s inaugural ISAF Grade 3 event, chances are the crowd of doubters is dwindling. Wilson is the prime mover behind the Chicago Match Race Center’s infrastructure of eight brand-new Ceccarelli-designed TOM 28’s, umpire and race committee boats, and the shoreside venue situated at the north end of Chicago’s Belmont Harbor. Besides weekday evening match race sailing throughout this season, CMRC has two more Grade 3 and one more Grade 2 event planned in each of the next three months. Invitees include prominent international and national match race talent, as well as those local-based teams who can qualify through feeder events at CMRC. This and other features makes CMRC the only fully-functional program dedicated to match race sailing in the Western Hemisphere. -- Full story: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7647 DARWIN NOMINEE? When 21-year-old Zebulon Tryon and 18-year-old Chris Reuter planned to sail their newly purchased 27-foot boat the 288 miles from Catalina Island to Monterey, CA, they did so with little sailing experience but with the promise of communicating daily to family. They left last Friday, and after failing to check in as promised, their family called the Coast Guard on Sunday to initiate a search. The Coast Guard had an airplane and two helicopters searching by sunrise on Monday, soon finding the duo and later issuing them three citations in Port San Luis where they must now stay until they get those citations corrected. "They just didn't have the right radios or equipment on board. Their cell phones had died and couldn't be charged so they just didn't have contact with anyone," Petty officer Cory Mendall of the Coast Guard said. The two sailors were cited for not having a personal flotation device, not having a sound producing device, and not having a visual distress signal. Scuttlebutt question… is there anything else you would want to cite them for? Perhaps a Darwin Award? -- Comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/06/darwin-nominee.html NEW ENGLAND ROPES PARTNERS WITH US SAILING New England Ropes announces continuation of their support for the US SAILING Team AlphaGraphics for 2009. "Our affiliation with US SAILING has been instrumental in design and development of our Dinghy Line range," said New England Ropes’ Marine Market Manager, Kevin Coughlin. New England Ropes - the leading cordage manufacturer in North America - makes a full range of products from Optis to Volvo 70's. For more information on New England Ropes, visit their website at http://www.neropes.com CITY'S SAILMAKING INDUSTRY NOW A DYING ART (Annapolis, MD) - Inside a 6,500-square-foot loft on Severn Avenue in Eastport, employees of Scott Allan Sailmakers practice a tradition dating back to Colonial times: They stitch and assemble hundreds of cruising and racing sails in the port of Annapolis. Sailmaking used to be a thriving industry here. Now, Scott Allan Sailmakers is one of the few sailmakers left in Annapolis. Many of the big sailmaker labels still have sales and service offices in the city, but their manufacturing has moved to countries like China and Sri Lanka. That has created a sense of loss for those who remain committed to the craft locally, as well as those who have left it behind. "What makes this place unique is its maritime heritage," said Jeff Holland, director of the Annapolis Maritime Museum. "It is the fact that there's people, craftsmen, working today on the very same skills, the very same craft, as they were back two or three hundred years ago. If that disappears then, yes, we will be losing a major element of our heritage and our character. We might as well be in Indianapolis, Indiana, than Annapolis, Maryland." -- The Capital, read on: http://tinyurl.com/ohl73s SAILING SHORTS * With dire predictions of another slow year for last Saturday’s 2009 Delta Ditch Run in Northern California, a lot of skippers loosened their rigs, lightened the boats and got half-ounce spinnakers ready. But then they ended up with a nice windy run from Richmond YC 67.5 miles inland to warm and friendly Stockton Sailing Club. It was not as windy as some years, or as hot, but we will take the sunny 15-20 knots any day. A record 162 boats entered, “a 26% increase,” said DDR Chair Bob Doscher, especially gratifying “in this down economy.” -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/DDR-6-9-09 * The Portimao Global Ocean Race fleet continued to squeeze the best speeds from the light north-easterly breeze, with race leaders Felipe Cubillos and José Muñoz on Desafio Cabo de Hornos (CHI) holding a 60 mile advantage over Boris Herrmann and Felix Oehme in Beluga Racer (GER), who have just reported that they have incurred a spreader failure. The Germans will continue to the finish with a double-reefed main, possible stopping in the Azores for a repair. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/PGOR-6-9-09 * Newport, RI (June 9, 2009) - The end may be near for the volunteers who stand watch both in the 2009 Annapolis to Newport Race Committee Headquarters at Harbour Court and at the Lighthouse , as a steady stream of activity in the past 24 hours saw 37 finishers (of the 60 starters) between 1300 on Monday and 0900 on Tuesday. All but one class has finished all their competitors, and if the forecast holds the last two boats should finish by the first daylight shift on Wednesday morning. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/A2N-6-9-09 * Skip Dieball, who had been the North American One Design Coordinator for Quantum Sails, has now formed Dieball Sailing group, specializing in one design and small offshore products and services for his full service loft in Toledo, OH. -- Full report: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/471725/d4e2c2bd4a/TEST/TEST * Proving that despite a major setback, the will to sail and compete at the highest level can prevail, Maureen McKinnon-Tucker was honored with the annual Leadership in Women’s Sailing Award at ceremonies capping the day-long Women’s Sailing Conference held June 6 at Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. The award is co-sponsored by BoatUS and the National Women’s Sailing Association. The award honors a male or female who has a record of achievement in giving something back to the sailing community as well as inspiring and educating women. -- Read on: http://www.boatus.com/news/PR_Full.asp?ID=409 * The 29erX, which has a high-powered rig for the existing 29er hull, is offering free entry fee for the 29erXX Gold Cup! This event is being held in conjunction with the 49er Worlds, truncated to 3-days on July 14-16 at Riva del Garda, Italy. Registration and charter information available at http://www.29erworlds.org LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get one letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From David Greenlee: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2861) How many America's Cup owners does it take to change a light bulb? One. He holds the bulb and the world revolves around him. * From John Vandemoer, Stanford Head Coach: (edited to the 250-word limit) I would like to reply on the youth coaching segment (in Scuttlebutt 2861). First, I am a full time college sailing coach and do youth coaching in the summers. I have done USODA coaching as well as been on the board. I find it fascinating that we blame the coaches for anything to do with youth sailing. Youth coaches are paid to do a job and by all accounts this pair of coaches were doing a very good job, doing all they could to get the right information to the sailor. This is what they are paid to do. Don't have a problem with the coaches - have a problem with the parents or boat owners that are setting up this situation and hiring the coach. Being upset with the coaches is like being mad at Lebron James for making all that money; he makes the money because we pay him. Youth coaching is a noble thing. If you have a problem with it, it should be because the coach was unethical or something worse, not because the coaches were doing their job. Sailing is one of those rare sports that really builds character, self reliance and maturity. However, you can't just drop a kid in a boat and “Bam!” he is now a mature strong character adult. Sailing does this for so many because of the mentors along the way like fellow sailors and yes, that dirty word… coaches. Without these mentors, like Bradley's dad, these kids wouldn't get the maturity and character they need out of sailing. * From Taylor Grant: I read with interest the article on youth coaches (in Scuttlebutt 2861). My son sailed sabots 20 years ago (southern California Optimist) with training during the week but very little coaching and none on the water. He also played water polo and swam competitively. Trust me the sailing had no “coaching” compared to water polo and swimming. Current baseball, football, tennis, name the sport, still makes sailing look relatively low key. It is up to the parents to control what they feel is appropriate for their child. Extra help on the course, from the stands, between innings, between swims, before and after the event, scouting reports for 12 year old basketball players? The world has changed. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I totally agree that as long as the rules are not broken, a coach should not be blamed for doing the best job possible. Regarding the guidelines, I received a comment from a SoCal parent: “My child is an avid Naples Sabot sailor and that class has it right. At Nationals, coaches are not allowed to communicate with kids on the water. Further, parents are not allowed on the water. This is the way events should be run. Let the kids sail and learn for themselves.” Additional comments are posted here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/06/youth-coaching.html * From Susie Pegel, Laser 170757: Ran across the topic on-line "7 reasons to hate Laser sailors." (in Scuttlebutt 2861) My response…the trick is defining what is REALLY a Laser sailor. A REAL Laser sailor is someone that has been sailing and racing a Laser since the early '70s and is still at it today. A REAL Laser sailor is someone who has always had a Laser even while campaigning a different type of boat. A REAL Laser sailor is someone who has upgraded their equipment and techniques and has stayed active in the class. A REAL Laser sailor is someone who drives their own boat to a regatta and sails the event unaided by coaches or support boats. A REAL Laser sailor keeps at it because he/she loves the boat, the fellowship and the freedom of NO CREWS. A REAL Laser sailor is someone like Dick Tillman, not Brodie Cobb. If you want to see REAL Laser sailors in action, go to a Laser Master's regatta! BOAT SHOW ADVERTISING Advertising in Scuttlebutt is limited, with ad slots typically sold out well in advance. For marine companies interested in promoting their participation in the fall boat shows, now is the time to reserve strategic Scuttlebutt ad placement while openings in August through October remain available. As for November and December, those months are already sold out. Email for details at mailto:advertising@sailingscuttlebutt.com CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “I put tape on the mirrors in my house so I don't accidentally walk through into another dimension.” - Steven Wright Special thanks to Summit Yachts and New England Ropes. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
