|
SCUTTLEBUTT No. 726 - January 10, 2001PARIS, FRANCE, January 9, 2001 - The two front-running boats in The Race of the Millennium were battling for the lead tonight as they worked to maintain maximum speed through the squalls and calms of the Horse Latitudes. Team Adventure, the American catamaran skippered by Cam Lewis, from Lincolnville, ME, had caught her rival, the French entry Club Med, sailed by New Zealander Grant Dalton, when first one and then the other entered the Doldrums. However, Dalton continued doggedly to stay just in front.At 10:25 PM GMT, Lewis calculated Club Med had a five-mile lead. The French boat was located about the same distance south as Team Adventure but was 40 miles further east, and closer to the African continent. Later Club Med increased her southerly edge to 25 miles. They were both less than 100 miles from the Equator. "Today was, and still is, like being in stop and go traffic at rush hour, I just came off a two hour driving stint. We experienced boat speeds between three knots and 29,7 knots. There was blinding rain as we sped white knuckled through the night in 30-knot squalls, the full moon giving little light through the thick dark cloud cover, sail skipper Cam Lewis. "We are now doing one knot. This is normal just after as squall passes. All the air has gone vertical, sucked up by the rise of heat in the squall, leaving us to slat back and forth. No wonder these latitudes became known for horrific life the early navigators faced crossing here. Scurvy, drought, heat, sailors going mad, The Horse latitudes. An area where sailors were forced to eat their animals or throw them to the sharks for lack of food and water for them, or at least that is how I remember the history of the naming of the equatorial zone." - Keith Taylor, www.nationalgeographic.com/teamrace * Flash: Casualty: There has been an injury aboard PlayStation: Nick Moloney has severely sprained an ankle during a manoeuvre. Promoted ship's doctor for the circumstances, David Scully had to improvise the making of a plaster to immobilise the ankle. Nick will be off watch for at least 24 hours. - http://www.therace.org/asp/accueil.asp STANDINGS at 2300GMT: 1 Club Med, 2 Team Adventure, 23 miles behind leader, 3. Innovation Explorer, 286 MBL, 4. PlayStation, 509 MBL 5. Warta-Polpharma, 881 MBL, 6. Team Legato, 2018 MBL/ MORE ABOUT THE RACE With Club Med and Team Adventure launching a concerted one-two battle at the head of the fleet, the four boats behind are struggling to stay in contact.All four have already experienced major problems on board and this has resulted in them being off the pace, putting added pressure on them to close the gap. After leading at the weekend, Innovation Explorer has dropped back to third place, more than 300 nautical miles (nm) behind Club Med. This was due in part to co-skippers Loick Peyron and Skip Novak choosing a more westerly course than the pacesetters and losing ground in a search for a faster route through the doldrums. Tuesday has seen Innovation move closer and then drop back again. At 04:30 GMT, the French boat was 322nm off the lead. By 07:00 GMT she was within 258nm, but by 12:00 GMT she was once again more than 300nm adrift. This loss of ground in late morning came with Innovation racking up the fastest speeds of the day, at 22 knots. Some 300nm behind the Peyron/Novak boat, PlayStation has mirrored the Innovation decision to move further west than the leaders. Navigator Stan Honey said: "We are tracing our route west through the Cape Verde Islands. It will be more penalizing to do it later, further south. "Apparently, Innovation Explorer made the same deductions as us. It will be interesting to know when, and if, Cam Lewis or Grant Dalton will decide to go a little further west." - Colin M Jarman, http://www.now.com/feature.now?cid=997704&fid=1131750 GOOD STUFF Have you ever wished you could find all of your sailboat hardware needs in one stop? At Sailing Supply we are distributors for Harken, Schaefer, Lewmar, Ronstan, Forespar, Spinlock, Davis, Titan, Holt Allen, RWO, Tylaska, Wichard, Samson, Yale, Marlow, Loos, Gill, Camet, Johnson, Hayn, and ACR, plus much much more. Our rigging shop makes custom halyards, sheets and standing rigging every day. At Sailing Supply we have the knowledge to support the products, and the service to support our customers. Please give us a call at 1-800-532-3831 or check out our website at www.sailingsupply.com VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot Tuesday, January 9 - Vendee Globe leader, Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB), this morning lay just 355 miles from the legendary Cape Horn and was still finding himself propelled along by favourable winds to maintain a 13 knot average speed. He expects to round the Horn in the afternoon of January 10th. This will be his first passage sailing solo, although he has rounded the "Rock" during the Whitbread on board "Cote d'Or" as a crew for Eric Tabarly. PRB's progress has surpassed that of his main rivals. At 500 miles from the Horn he was 500 miles from Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) - the equivalent of the Bay of Biscay. A comfortable lead, perhaps, looking at it in this way, however the 7000 mile Atlantic ascent will be hard going, mostly upwind, and thus heavily stressful on boats, which have already endured two months of stress, wear and tear. Michel admitted that he could be going 20 % faster according to his routing software, which calculated that he was only at 85% of the boat's potential. Ellen, fierce in her efforts to maintain Desjoyeaux's pace, has unfortunately made an unexpected gift to the seas. Her gennaker halyard chafed through and fell, bringing the sail down lock, stock and barrel. She blew the main halyard to stop the boat, and fought for an hour and a half to recover the sail out of the water. "My worst fears were realised as I saw the leech was damaged, and on further hauling huge rips were present. My heart sank, I hope to God we can fix it. Again up the mast." With a lengthy repair job in sight, which she doesn't anticipate before Cape Horn, despite the lighter conditions, this is sure to boost the hopes of Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere), Thiercelin (Active Wear) and Coville (Sodebo) in hot pursuit. Jourdain certainly knows what it's like when such disasters strike. He is at walking pace compared to the fleet leaders, stuck with two reefs in his main in light airs. He is still set on finding sheltered waters, knowing that he must spend most of one day climbing up the mast at least three times to fix on his mast track piece and re-hoist the genoa. - http://www.vendeeglobe.com STANDINGS: 1 PRB, Michel Desjoyeaux, 2. Kingfisher, Ellen MacArthur 561 miles behind leader, 3. Sill Matines & La Potagere, Roland Jourdain, 782 MBL, 4. Active Wear, Marc Thiercelin 865 MBL, 5. Sodebo Savourons la Vie. Thomas Coville, 1169 MLB. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net) (Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.) * From: "Dallas Johnson" texana@iagmn.net REFINED CURMUDGEON'S OXYMORONS: "Friendly competition between foreign countries" * From: Charles Schmeckle CSchmeckle@aol.com Try to explain why junior sailors are required to wear PFD's while sailing dinghies, yet others don't have to comply because they are sailing on a windsurfer. What is the difference? Are those sailing windsurfers less likely to become struck with the wishbone or the rig? US Sail is very specific about wearing PFD's while sailing dinghies at JO events, but doesn't seem to take concern with the windsurfer PFD issue. After talking to some adult windsurfers, I was told that under certain conditions, they actually wear helmets also. I feel that this is a safety issue for all sailors (young and old) around the water. * From: "Campbell Field" campbell@bandg.co.uk [Re T.L. Lewis on Bananas] - I have grown up with this same suspicion in NZ from a highly suspicious racing father. I have lived and sailed for many years in the US and Europe and have not been able to convert many. I believe the original suspicion came from fishing, an oily discharge from banana skins once thrown in the water is supposed to repel fish. It just got twisted from there... * From: Ben Beer BenBeer13@aol.com I too have been on the international sailing circuit for many years now. It was not till I was racing with a Kiwi sailor by the name of Ross Fields that I was afforded the knowledge of the superstition of bananas on boats. I was so intrigued by this piece of lore that I did some research. Here is what I found. The ancient Polynesians and other seafarers of the pacific used to stock their dugouts with a great variety of provisions. Not only were these people great navigators but their ability to master the wind and current is legendary. Bananas as you know spoil very quickly, what you may not realize is that when a spoiled banana is in close proximity to other fruits and provisions it causes those provisions to spoil much quicker. Bananas put out a gas as they spoil much like onions and potatoes and therefore should not be stored together. This, however, is not true of most other fruits. P.S. green boats are bad luck too. * From: Steve Wright wright@sanderkessler.com To Answer T.L. Lewis' question about bananas not belonging on boats, the answer is "banana peels are slippery when stepped on." * From: Carol Hogan Kalolah@earthlink.net In Hawaii it is also strictly taboo to bring bananas on a fishing boat and the marlin fleet in Kona is especially observant of this superstition. It's interesting to note also that in ancient Hawaii women were also taboo on a boat. * From: Markham Nolan mnolans@gofree.indigo.ie I have never heard of carrying bananas being considered unlucky on board. However, I am told that many people are certain that it is tempting the worst kind of fate to whistle or talk about rabbits while out on the water. * From: Bjoern Anker-Moeller Bjoern.Anker-Moeller@mail.tele.dk The new ISAF Eligibility Code states in item 21.2.1(h) that ISAF Eligibility is required for "all events using the Racing Rules of Sailing". I suppose this means that all crew members aboard all boats racing in even the smallest local regatta must now be members of a sailing club? It seems to me that this is a big change, and I find it hard to believe that this was the intention of ISAF. * From: "Helen Johnstone" helenj777@hotmail.com [edited to our 250-word limit] How long and how far can Club Med and Team Adventure, who are presently and impressively leading "The Race", continue to push their 110-foot catamarans, gear and crew to the extreme? As Sean McNeill, for Quokka Sports, states in the most recent butt': "sailing the 110-foot catamarans at top speed is a fine line between exhiliration and catastrophe". The race has virtually only just begun in conditions that have been quite "tame" and the entire fleet, except for Innovation Explorer, has already suffered what each skipper quoted to be "a major setback or a close setback". In 30 knot trade winds, Skip Novak, on Innovation Explorer, chose to douse the gennaker to maintain stability and control and, in doing so, chose to sacrifice a couple of knots because he felt that the unsteady steering with the gennaker up was "hard on gear and hard on the crew both above and below decks". When these catamarans encounter Mother Nature's more unpredictable, extreme conditions, which catamarans are going to have the MOST exhiliration, endurance and strength in gear and crew to emerge from even more challenging weather conditions without encountering further setbacks? Skip Novak's Innovation Explorer, so far, seems to have found a "happy medium" between "the fine line of exhiliraton and catastrophe". This race is not just about speed, it is about pacing oneself in the right places at the right time, just like winning marathon runners do. * From: Don Ricketts donricketts_1999@yahoo.com It's unfortunate that the America's Cup is losing - or has lost - its characteristic as a battle of nations. Certainly that nationalistic component has been what has driven interest in the past and was the fuel that fired the intense Kiwi campaigns of the 1990's. What is even more unfortunate is the attitude expressed by Coutts, et al that it is naive for anyone to hope for the Cup to retain its nationalistic character. Clearly what is good for the participants (bidding wars, ability to cross borders at will, etc) does not match what seems to be the desires of the audience. Obviously this trend has been in the making for some time, but we're getting close to the point where the Cup will no longer come close to resembling USA v AUS or NZ v ITA, but instead will be an on-the-water version of the old James Caan movie "Rollerball," substituting "Software" and "Pharmaceuticals" for that movie's "Air" and "Food" multi-national corporate teams... Last thing: I know there are a lot of folks heavily involved in the Cup who view Formula 1 car racing as the ideal model for high-end sailing. I'd suggest that though a small minority of participants would benefit greatly, it would be a bad model to emulate. * From: Howard Spencer howieandfrances@ezysurf.co.nz As a proud Kiwi, I find it quite humorous that in this day and age every cup contender (and most campaign's, Volvo RTW, etc) has some form of Kiwi contribution. There must be something special in the water here if a nation of 3.5 million of which less than O.5 million sail can have this much influence over the world's premier sailing events. If we defend the cup again or not, we win because you can't win without a kiwi! It is amazing that a nation such as the US with over 280 million people needs to come and pay top dollar for NZ talent. To those people who argue that there should be restrictions on nationality for the AC, where would you be with out a bit of kiwi know how???? It would be New Zealand's Cup. On another note I would like to congratulate Ellen McArthur on her Vendee Globe effort, in a hard race such as this against tough competition, she is coming up trumps. This effort will change the face of sailing, brawn is not everything. If she does hold her position and come 2nd or even 3rd, explain why we need separate woman's events for sailing? Ellen has proven in one of the world's toughest yacht races that woman can compete and win against men on the same playing field. Guess where her boat was built!!! A SAILOR'S NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (Peter Isler took a look back at '00 identifies a few areas of his game that need tidying up for '01. Here's a brief excerpt from his story on the Quokka Sports website.) There must be something in my psyche that craves the element of risk and danger because, left to my own devices, I tend to find any excuse to get just a little more leverage on the competition. But the plain truth is that a batter who hits a bunch of singles will end up with a better average than the slugger swinging for the fences every pitch. As long as you have decent speed in a big fleet, you're better off employing conservative tactics most of the time. At the (Etchells) Worlds we'd be asked, "Which corner did you hit? Left or right?" The answer was invariably, "Neither. We went up the middle." And we never rounded the first mark in first - but we were always in the top 10 or 15, clear of the chasing pack and close enough to begin picking off boats one at a time. It's always tempting to go for the golden ring in the corner. I can remember Steve (Grillon) mumbling to himself something like, "We could go a little farther and if we just got a small left shift we'd cross that entire pack, but let's tack here. We've gained enough for now." That takes discipline, and over the long run that conservative, up the middle of the fleet philosophy will win out over the corner shooters. I've learned that lesson over and over, but somehow in the heat of battle, I need a reminder. Of course there is a time and a place for hanging it all out. My wife, JJ, and crew Pease Glaser played that rule to perfection by sailing a very conservative regatta at the Olympics until the final run, when it was prudent to take a risk because staying with the fleet meant no medal. But on the first beat of the first race, hit me over the head if I'm anywhere near the layline. - Peter Isler, for Quokka Sports Full story: http://www.quokkasailing.com/expert/2001/01/SLQ_0108_isler_WFC.html PUERTO VALLARTA RACE MARINA DEL REY, CA - The preliminary entry list for the Del Rey YC's February race to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico shows 28 boats competing in five racing classes. Additionally, there are 15 boats entered in separate cruising classes, where the boats make three scheduled stops along the 1125-mile passage, and the crews are allowed to turn on their engines to power through the light spots. - www.dryc.org CARIBBEAN RACING For the first time, it looks very promising that the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta (March 2, 3 and 4) will boast a Super Yacht Class! A number of Super Yachts have already inquired regarding participation in this 2001 event, and at least two have indicated that they will race. It has been made known that Kokomo is challenging Hyperion for a grudge match, as Kokomo was beaten by mere inches in the Millennium Race in New Zealand. There will be a separate class for these prestigious yachts, and for safety sake, these giants will start first each morning. The mega yachts will utilize the same courses as the Big Boat Class. SAN DIEGO - Betsy Alison, currently ranked second in the world, will be among 16 competitors in J/World's first West Coast Women's Match Racing Championship to be contested on San Diego Bay March 7-11. Also invited but not yet confirmed are top-ranked Dorte Jensen of Denmark, winner of the recent ISAF women's worlds at St. Petersburg, Fla., and Scotland's Shirley Robertson, an Olympic gold medalist recently honored with the ISAF's Sperry Award as the world's woman sailor of the year. The San Diego competition will be in J/80s, a lively 26-foot sportboat class with an asymmetric spinnaker flown from a retractable bowsprit. They will be sailed with crews of four. J/World will provide eight J/80s to be sailed in rotation by the 16 crews. The format will be a round robin, followed by quarterfinal (double elimination) and final sailoffs. A windward-leeward course will be set off Harbor Island at the north end of the bay, providing close views of the racing from shore. Matt Jones, former director of racing for the St. Francis Yacht Club, will serve as principal race officer. Pete Ives, an international senior judge from Long Beach, will be chief judge. - Rich Roberts, www.jworldsd.com CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS February 17-18: Southern California Yachting Association Midwinter Regatta, hosted by 25 yacht clubs from Santa Barbara to San Diego, and including Arizona. More than 40 one-design classes are invited, several in multiple venues so that more sailors can participate than ever before. PHRF, Portsmouth, land-sailors, model boats and Predicted Log competition. - http://www.scya.org/midwintr/2001/mw2001.html THE CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM If a woman is called a meter maid, does that make a man with the same job a meter butler? |
