|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3478 - Tuesday, November 29, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: APS, North Sails, and North U. SISTER SAILORS LOVE THE CHALLENGE By Erin L. Schanen, SAILING The J/30 is sailing on the final downwind leg of the last race of the season in the hotly contested women's series and although the boat is not in contention for the season championship because of missed races, it's looking pretty good in this race. It's not easy sailing: a leftover lumpy sea and a dying breeze require a good deal of concentration and it would be great if the boat could make it to the finish without having to jibe. The crew is in full race mode, constantly looking over the transom to see how the competition is doing. And then, a question pierces the concentration. "Who is your chemistry teacher this year?" So goes life sailing on a boat sailed by teenage girls from 14 to 18 years old. Other quirks to expect: a constant supply of Tootsie pops, a cornucopia of snack foods and sodas that appears in the cockpit as the race committee's finish horn quiets, and a fair amount of gossip. And one other thing: a whole lot of great sailing. The leaders on Rafiki are a pair of sisters younger than most of the sails on their boat. Whitney Kent, 18, is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Alison Kent, 17, is a high school senior. Both started sailing Rafiki two years ago after their stepfather Eric Jones, a yacht broker, found the J/30 languishing in a boatyard. Since then the pair have been the core of a crew of teenage friends on Monday nights, and a crew made up of other family members and good friends for other series, and even a crew of their own. This summer the two sailed the Queen's Cup, a nighttime race across Lake Michigan, doublehanded, something their parents didn't allow until after a thorough quiz of what they would do in various scenarios, their mother Cheri Kent said. The race was one of the fastest on record, with big seas and fluctuating winds, challenging even for the fully crewed boats. "We took turns sort of dozing in the cockpit while the other person steered," said Alison, affectionately known as Gator. "Our arms were so tired." Whitney said she likes the doublehanded sailing challenge. "It's really fun when it's just the two of us," she said. "It's certainly harder, but I think it's more rewarding. It's fun to try to do everything on the boat." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/Sailiing-Nov11 FREE SHIPPING, FREE GEAR, & HOLIDAY CHEER FROM APS 'Tis the Season of Giving - and APS, the World Leader in Performance Sailing, is here for you. Shop APS for all your gifting needs, and get FREE Beanies and Personal Rescue Knives from Gill, FREE Bibs and Storm Barrels from HL, and FREE Shipping* on web orders at APS. Find details at http://www.APSltd.com/Promotions. Plus, whether you're browsing for yourself or shopping for friends, the APS Holiday Catalog is chock-full of Gift Ideas, Holiday Promotions, and New Products sure to impress. Click here to check out the digital 2011 APS Holiday Catalog to find what's at the top of every sailor's wish list: http://bit.ly/APSHoliday BETTER THAN SOME - WORSE THAN OTHERS (November 28, 2011; Day 24) - The worst is yet to come for the frustrated crew on board Groupama 4, as the windless ridge stretches further across their chosen route to the finish in Cape Town and the crew play games to keep themselves amused. Despite the obvious frustrations, multihull sailing champion and Groupama sailing team skipper Franck Cammas was able to remain philosophical about this team's position, especially as third in Leg 1 and overall was all but guaranteed. "Third is not that bad, some others are in a much worst situation,'' he said. "But we are disappointed because, especially at the end of the leg, we didn't get to come back on the others. "The Doldrums stopped us from getting the same weather system that the others had. We were 10 hours behind CAMPER, we are now more than two days away - it's frustrating, for sure. But that's the sea, that's the weather, that's sailing. It happened to us and it will happen again - that's the game." Their saviour will be a low-pressure system that will build increasing southern winds overnight. The southerly change means Groupama will be able to gybe Monday tonight, and finally point and accelerate for the finish at Cape Town. However, closer to South Africa's shores awaits a hostile greeting similar to that afforded to CAMPER with Emirates Team New Zealand, with winds gusting in excess of 30 knots and confused seas from at least 50nm from the finish line. A finish could be expected Tuesday morning, possibly 0900 UTC. Team Sanya and Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing both expect their boats to arrive in Cape Town on Wednesday after Leg 1 offered them hull damage and a dismasting, respectively. Upon arrival, Team Sanya boat builders will be replacing a section of her bow while ADOR will step their replacement mast. PUMA Ocean Racing powered by BERG remain in Tristan da Cunha as they wait for a ship that left Cape Town on Monday morning. Their best hope is to get back to South Africa on December 6, leaving little margin for error as they get their new mast stepped in time for the start of the In-Port race on December 10. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-112811 Standings as of Monday, 28 November 2011, 22:04:26 UTC 1. Team Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), Finished Nov. 26, 21:05:14:25 GMT 2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), Finished Nov. 27, 21:21:48:04 GMT 3. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 226.2 nm Distance to Finish Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR) - Retired from Leg 1 PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA) - Retired from Leg 1 Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL) - Retired from Leg 1 Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com BACK IN THE DAY When we saw this story in the November issue of Latitude 38, we couldn't help but share it. This comes from an era when big fleets of IOR boats filled the harbors, professional sailors were often the sailmaker, and top crew gear was a matching polo. Good times! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Back in mid-August, Leading Lady, the old Peterson 40 that Bob 'Big Daddy' Klein owned in the early '80s, gave her last performance. Neil Weinberg from the Boat Yard at Grand Marina reported that the current owner had passed away and, since he had no family, the county was "disposing of the assets." A salvage company took possession of the aluminum boat and hauled her away to be dismantled for scrap. "It's sad to see her go," noted Paul Kamen, who sailed aboard the Lady many times under Klein's ownership, "but it was a design from the dark years of the IOR. In this market I can understand why she's not worth trying to save as a cruising boat." Nevertheless, Kamen recalled two vivid memories of his time aboard. "Leading Lady had an all-aluminum hull and deck, which made it very noisy downstairs when things were happening above your bunk. On our first Vallejo Race to Coyote Point - back when the fleet was so big they had to split it up into two different destinations - we were racing in the same IOR division as Chris Corlett, who I think was sailing the Serendipity 43 Scarlett O'Hara that year. We were all in our pipe berths at around midnight when, not two minutes after the last cabin light was turned off, we heard a group of sailors marching down the dock to where we were berthed. Corlett's voice was chanting 'Hup-two-three-four . . . .' Corlett's crew climbed on board and did a full military close order drill, stomping on the aluminum deck for five minutes, then marched back up the dock! "Another time, during the Big Boat Series, we still had some of the crew from the previous campaigns. There was some friction between Bob, who always ran a very competitive but very friendly family program, and the self-styled pros. On the way back from one race that went badly, Bob confided in me: 'Paul, never go racing with people you wouldn't also go cruising with.' Words to live by!" -- Read on (page 64): http://www.latitude38.com/eBooks/2011/L38201111.pdf ROOM TO TACK AT AN OBSTRUCTION - CASE 35 This is an installment by International Umpire/Judge Jos M. Spijkerman (NED) in a series of blogposts about the ISAF Call book 2009-2012 with amendments for 2010. All calls are official interpretations by the ISAF committees on how the Racing Rules of Sailing should be used or interpreted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As two close-hauled boats approached a shore, L hailed W for room to tack. W replied 'You tack' and L then tacked immediately. After tacking, L bore away in a seamanlike way and passed under W's stern, which she cleared by three feet (1 m) or more. L protested W under rule 20.1(b). The protest committee decided that W failed to give room as required by rule 20.1(b) and disqualified her. W appealed. Decision: W's appeal is upheld, and she is to be reinstated. L's actions showed that she had room to tack and avoid W. W therefore met her obligation under rule 20.1(b). Jos M. Spijkerman explains: The exact wording in rule 20.1(b) is: ... ,or by immediately replying 'You tack' and then giving the hailing boat room to tack and avoid her; ... In Case 35 boat L made the mistake in thinking that after she was given the reply "You Tack" she was free to do as she pleased. That she was free to tack and go in front of W. But the obligation to keep clear under rule 13 and then under rule 11, is not switched off. The only thing she 'gained' is that W took the obligation to give her room to do so, and while L did everything to keep clear, to avoid her. Right of way is NOT changed by this rule. The hailed boat only gets an additional obligation to give (more) room and make sure that she avoids L. If L would not have been able to bear away - or only in an un-seamanlike way - then W would not have given her enough room and would have broken rule 20.1(b). The failure to keep clear by L in that case, would be exonerated under rule 20.2 Source: http://rrsstudy.blogspot.com/2011/11/pillowcase-of-week-4611-35.html NEED FAST SAILS? HEAD NORTH & SAVE (THROUGH NOV 30)! North-powered J/24s dominated the 2011 World Championship from Nov 11-19 in Buenos Aires, Argentina finishing 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,9 & 10! If you need fast sails for your J/24 (or other One Design boat) NOW is the time to buy. Through November 30, you can save on all one design sails plus free shipping (valid in NA only). When performance matters, the choice is clear: http://www.onedesign.com IT ALL BEGINS THIS SATURDAY After years of preparation, the racing for the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships will commence this weekend for all ten Olympic event classes in Perth, Australia. Held every four years, over 1,100 sailors from 78 nations will come together to claim their class World Championship and to qualify their nations for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. Here is the schedule: Women's Match Racing (Elliott 6m), December 3-16 Women's Windsurfer (RS:X W), December 5-11 Women's One Person Dinghy (Laser Radial), December 5-11 Men's One Person Dinghy Heavy (Finn), December 5-11 Men's Two Person Dinghy (470 M), December 5-11 Men's Keelboat (Star), December 11-17 Men's Windsurfer (RS:X W), December 12-18 Men's One Person Dinghy (Laser), December 12-18 Women's Two Person Dinghy (470 W), December 12-18 Men's Skiff (49er), December 12-18 The first event to begin on Saturday is the Women's Match Race event, where six separate winners came out of the six World Cup regattas that featured the event. Nonetheless, ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) took the overall title after finishing on the podium at four World Cup regattas. In fact the American has finished on the podium at 11 of 13 regattas sailed in during 2011 and will be one of the front runners in Perth. Twenty seven crews have been confirmed, with nine of the top ten Women's Match Racers registered. The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships website will provide results, tracking, live updates and all the latest news both on and off the water. More than 25 international and national broadcasters have signed up to take the television coverage of Perth 2011 and viewers will also be able to watch live coverage of all ten Medal Races on the Perth 2011 website. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/37436.php SAILING SHORTS * (November 28, 2011; Day 7 - 23:45:00 UTC) - It has barely been a week of racing and already good news show up for the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V. By crossing the equator after 5 days 14 hours 55 minutes and 10 seconds at sea, Loick Peyron (FRA) and his men are now the fastest of all time on this section of the Jules Verne Trophy. After a 24 hour run of 639.6nm, the team is now 178.9nm ahead of the current record of 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds set by Franck Cammas on the 103-foot Groupama 3 in 2010. -- http://tinyurl.com/BP-112811 * (November 28, 2011) - EUROSAF announced today that the former EUROLYMP Sailing Circuit, which operated from 1985 until it was phased out in 2004, will be re-introduced as the EUROLYMP Sailing League from 2013 onwards, when the new ISAF Sailing World Cup format comes into force. The EUROLYMP Sailing League will initially consist of up to five events, which will be dovetailed into the European segment of the ISAF Sailing World Cup. Each event will conform with the new ISAF World Sailing Rankings system, as well as facilitating the new European League. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12940#12940 * Calling all creative types and graphic artists! Would you like a chance to win a $50 gift certificate to APS? Well, here is your chance. Turn in the best logo design for the 2012 Southern Circuit, and it's yours! Your design will be seen by hundreds of people on shirts, glasses and in advertisements for the regattas. The creative design must include recognition of the three regatta stops: Savannah, Miami and St. Petersburg. We are looking for a .jpg file with a maximum size of, 2.25 inches high by 3.5 inches wide. Please send any questions or submit your entry to: southerncircuit@lightningclass.org by November 30, 2011. FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent ads: * 1922 PIYA Sir Thomas Lipton Challenge Cup for sale * Sailing Director - Indian Harbor YC, Greenwich CT * Flying Scot for sale * OPTI Coach in Darien, CT View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads NORTH U BLUE TUESDAY Racing, Match Racing, Cruising, Weather... Order your holiday gifts now with FREE Shipping and a FREE large (one size only, while supplies last) BLUE North U Tactics Tour Long Sleeve T-Shirt for Scuttlebutt readers (North America Only). Use Coupon Code: SBUTT667848 at checkout. Also learn more about upcoming seminars, webinars and clinics. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better sailor. Accelerate the process at North U: 800-347-2457 http://www.northu.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Scot Citrin: Having followed the last couple of Volvo Ocean Races fairly regularly, I have to say the publishing of content, commentary and media coming off the boats has decreased by a wide margin. I understand there are fewer boats, but what shows up on the website is minimal. Also the race data and tracker show so much less data and options than they did in past races. The lack of timeliness in publishing breaking news like broken masts is also surprising (more than one schedule after they happen). Because of this I am less engaged as a sailor, and now just looking intermittently instead of regularly at the site. Too bad this event has taken a step backwards in its coverage/ media dissemination despite the advances in technology over the years. There is still a lot of time for them to get their act together, so people will want to follow it. I hope they do. * From Gunther E. Hering: If the happenings at the Monsoon Cup and the suspension of Rule 41 are a harbinger of things to come - beyond the outrage of coaching in the mommie's cup races - then I suggest that we start sailing races only on the computer or TV screen with a Play Station. All can stay home, avoid bad weather, finish their six packs and don't have to worry about tailing lines, flogging sails etc. Burn the boats and turn the sport over to the nerds. * From Gregory Scott, Kingston Ontario: As I listen to yet another lead up to a climate condition meeting - this time in Durban SA - I begin to question one of our premiere sporting events. I really like the Volvo Ocean Race, as we all see real examples of the techniques and technological advances developed on these campaigns. But at what cost? In the Whitbread era the teams set off and we did our best to follow. Now teams fly around the world as support - three boats are now using fossil fuels to get them to Cape Town because of breakdowns. Puma needed to dispatch a ship to retrieve them. Masts are in aircraft and teams of support workers are all flying to destinations to facilitate all it takes to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Three of the six boats won't get to start leg two without massive amounts of fuel to make it happen. Yes it will be argued the flights and ships were going regardless but I think we need to step back and think. There is great irony in the VOR being in Cape Town while nations pretend to debate emissions and climate change in Durban. * From Peter Rugg: If we are to change the course side references to red and green, perhaps that 'rightie' should now be called a 'greenie', indicating it is beneficial to boats to the green side of the competition. Hopefully this won't create confusion as it could be mistaken for a Heineken. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "The male is a domestic animal which, if treated with firmness and kindness, can be trained to do most things." - Jilly Cooper, English author SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - West Marine - APS - North Sails North U - Melges Performance Sailboats - Ultimate Sailing LaserPerformance - Ullman Sails - Point Loma Outfitting J Boats - Doyle Sails - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
