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SCUTTLEBUTT 3423 - Friday, September 9, 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: New England Ropes and Quantum Sails. THE ROAD TO RIO Following a successful collegiate coaching career, Gary Bodie was head coach for the US Sailing Team at the Olympic Games in 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing. Under his leadership, the program won 8 medals at the Olympic Games, 5 medals at the Paralympic Games, and 12 medals at the Pan Am Games. Bodie continues to be involved with US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR as Regatta Chairperson and is a member of the ISAF Events Committee. Here is an excerpt from a recent interview on Clever Pig: * Can you give us an overview of the 2016 Olympics for the sport of sailing? What are the major changes compared to the 2012 Olympics? GARY BODIE: The 2016 Olympic Games will not have any keelboats. The venerable Star class will be eliminated after 2012. Women's Match Racing will only make one appearance in 2012, and then it is gone for 2016. The Rio Games will however include a women's skiff event and a first ever mixed event in multihulls. There are also likely to be significant changes in format for 2016 that have not been determined yet. These format changes may be even more significant than the boat changes. * How does the outlook to Rio 2016 change the game for Youth Sailing? GARY BODIE: My advice is don't be afraid to try something really different. Too often our best sailors do not consider all of the options simply because they have the most experience with a club 420 or FJ, and those look the most like a 470. Go for the multihull, the board and the skiff. Listen to our elite coaches from the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. If they tell you that you're too small, too short, or too large for one event then get their advice on which event is best suited to your body type. And carefully consider your pathway. If you are truly one of the elite youth sailors in the USA, then you don't need to spend eight years roll tacking an FJ in High School and College. Move on already. And finally, don't expect to win the US Trials or an Olympic Medal in a two year campaign after college, no matter how good you think you are. Those days are long, long gone. The future pathway toward an Olympic medal is getting involved with the US Sailing Development Team and its collaborative team culture and coaching by the best in the world. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/CleverPig-090811 MUST HAVE MASS TV EXPOSURE Where can I watch the Volvo Ocean Race on TV? That's the question that people will be asking as the teams line up on the start line in Alicante this October and as the race makes its way around the world. Thanks to an increasing number of channels requiring high-quality content, fans of sailing events like the Volvo Ocean Race can follow the stories of the sailors offshore around the world and in shorter in-port races. In many cases coverage for the 11th Volvo Ocean Race will be live. The Volvo Ocean Race and host broadcaster, IMG Media, have announced the first group of broadcast partners for the 2011-12 edition of the race. The coverage will be distributed to 57 broadcasters covering over 50 countries. More than 75 percent of the outlets have agreed to take the live production of the In-Port Races and Leg Starts. YachtRacing.biz asked Adam Binns, Director of Television (for the VOR) about how TV fits into the Volvo media package. * Much has been made of live-streaming sailing free via the internet, why is TV still important? ADAM BINNS: While online streaming is an ever-growing medium for sports viewing on the whole, TV is still the best way to reach a general sports audience and mainstream viewers. Without mass TV exposure, be that through news or dedicated slots, growth is constrained by the size of the online community aware of your event. We're confident that our offerings online, with the live events, video conferencing, video diaries and daily highlights, will keep the sailing fans engaged but TV will provide the platform by which we can showcase the incredible stories the Race will generate over course of the nine months to many who have never been touched by the Race before. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/YachtingRacingBiz-090811 VOR broadcast announcement: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/11/0908/ SURVEY: In November 2010, Scuttlebutt surveyed its readers about their viewing preferences. When asked to make a choice between watching the Volvo Ocean Race, the America's Cup, and the sailing events at the Olympics, 48.16% of the respondents said they would prefer the VOR while the America's Cup and the Olympics received 28.76% and 23.08% of the vote, respectively. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/10/1116/ HIGH PERFORMANCE CORDAGE YIELDS HIGH PERFORMANCE RESULTS In competitive racing, your precise reaction time, exceptional skill, and years of experience are what can make you a winner. At New England Ropes, we know that consistently creating high performance racing cordage that provides our customers with the tools to perform at this high level is what makes us a winner. STS-12-75 and STS-12-90 are both made from 100% Dyneema fiber, are exceptionally strong, ultra-low stretch, and are the ideal choice for high performance racing. Available at leading shops nationwide, visit http://www.neropes.com to find out more about these products. PRACTICALITIES OF SEAWORTHINESS When mistral conditions cancelled the first day of racing this week at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, Italy, a cry of 'What The F#@K' came from the sidelines. Was this another instance of offshore race boats being unsuitable to go offshore? Hugh Welbourn, Principal at Hugh Welbourn Design in Southampton, United Kingdom, joins the conversation: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitiful indeed to be cancelling because of 25 knots, when I can well remember frequently starting and racing in Sardinia in full Mistral conditions and having some of the best racing and fun days ever. One of those days was the first of many occasions racing with Bruce (Naval Architect Bruce Nelson) in fact, and rolling the good old IOR boats downhill in seriously interesting conditions around the many rocks off Porto Cervo! But how have we got to this stage? You have to lay some of the blame on currently having rules and race organisers that on the whole take no interest in the actual practicalities of seaworthiness. That's something that is totally separate from basic issues of stability and structures which have mostly been dealt with, but is more along the lines of ensuring that it is possible to work the boat both above and below decks in severe conditions if necessary. Ever increasing pressure on short course racing results has created super efficient sail handling and deck layouts for sure, but 'conveniently' brushed under the table are such basic seaworthiness points of no deck penetrations that allow water below, or indeed as with current TP52's then the sheer mass of string running all through the internals of the boat. And watertight integrity? Got to be joking! Of course the TP52's and some others in current guise would run a mile from doing any real offshore event and even deliveries between events are cause for looking for benign weather windows. But yachts of this ilk shouldn't be sailing in events such as Sardinia where challenging conditions are so often encountered and also should be so much of the fun. Yes, the modern boats are harder on the crew, the motions are more violent, but sanitising the racing because some of the boats can't deal with the conditions is plain crazy. So surely its time that the rules and race organisers recognise that this state of affairs must not be allowed to continue - racing boat numbers are shrinking everywhere and part of the issue is for sure that they are becoming less and less suitable for the general mix of offshore/inshore racing. Killing off the races in such great waters as Sardinia just because some of the fleet can't deal with it? Pitiful. BACKGROUND: Regarding the sailing conditions on the first day, Scuttlebutt has learned that the race committee stationed a RIB at the starting area and was recording winds of 28-31 knots on the deck. The morning winds were already stronger than predicted and the forecast was for stronger winds to come. The RC postponed until approximately 2:00pm before cancelling for the day. -- http://www.regattanews.com/event.aspx?eid=192&year=2011 A SHOW OF PATRIOTISM This Sunday, Sept. 11, on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the U.S., Sail Newport along with the local sailing community will hold a race to commemorate the tenth anniversary of that fateful moment in history and to raise funds for wounded veterans and Rhode Island servicemen and women's families. "We want to help those servicemen and women and their families who have suffered or are suffering as a result of fighting for our freedom since 9-11," says Scott Murray, co-founder of the annual sailing event. "We don't want to take their sacrifices for granted.and we will never forget," he adds. The original Sail for Pride was organized three weeks after the 9 -11 terrorist attacks when over 200 boats sailed and over $100,000 was raised for 9-11 charities. The sailing event has been held every year and since 2001 in excess of $800,000 has been donated to over a dozen charities. The regatta was founded by three local sailors, Brad Read and Scotty Murray, both from Middletown, RI and Newporter Mick Harvey. In 2001, the name "Sail for Pride" was retired and the event was renamed "Sail for Hope" which incorporated the Ocean State's motto. The name Sail for Pride will be used again this year to commemorate the tenth anniversary event. For a show of patriotism, entrants will be asked to fly their ensigns during racing as the boats navigate around Conanicut Island and into Newport Harbor. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12556#12556 A MOST APPROPRIATE MALAPROPISM While word processing software can catch our typos, it can't save us when we correctly type the wrong word. So when Darrell Nicholson - editor at Practical Sailor - received a letter from a subscriber asking for his opinion about a J/24 for 'cursing', Darrell couldn't resist. Here is his response: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- In my opinion, a J/24 is a little too small for serious offshore cursing. They are pretty sensitive boats and might not hold up to well to a long, hard curse. Then again, I know plenty of sailors who wouldn't hesitate to curse a J/24. I should mention that these are mostly racing sailors, and they do a lot of cursing. Some people will tell you too that cursing any boat under 30 feet is madness. I completely disagree. A friend and I cursed a Balboa 26 during a one-week charter down in the Florida Gulf. It's only a little bigger than a J/24, and it was fine for cursing - particularly when we ran aground. We would just lift the centerboard and carry on cursing. If you really want to do some intense cursing, try exploring shallow waters in the Gulf some time. I must warn you, however. Once you start cursing, it's hard to stop. I have this problem myself. My wife blames the rum - says that the more I drink, the more I want to curse. I say that's crazy, cursing is in my blood. And she says, that's her point. She doesn't curse as much as she used to. Neither do I. But we're looking forward to the day when our boys are old enough so we can curse together as a family. Fair winds and happy cursing! More comments here: http://www.practical-sailor.com/blog/-10592-1.html QUANTUM SAILS POWER FARR 30 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPION Congratulations to Deneen Demourkas on the Quantum-equipped Groovederci 706 on her Farr 30 North American Championship. This is Deneen's second North American title and a great warm-up to this week's World Championship. Strong contenders for the World title also include Groovederci 35 and Barking Mad - both with Q sails and strong finishers at the NAs. Quantum's Farr 30 guru Scott Nixon is at Worlds and available for boat tuning and set-up assistance. The Quantum Pacific Loft is providing overnight sail repair for Worlds with pick-up at StFYC every afternoon. For best in class sails and service, check out Quantum Sails at http://www.QuantumSails.com SAILING SHORTS * San Francisco, CA (September 8, 2011) - If two- and three-way ties for first are indicative of heated competition, four classes set the stage in today's opener at the Rolex Big Boat Series for some fiery showdowns over the next three days of competition. A total of 81 boats took to San Francisco Bay for the 47th annual event, with seven classes--four for IRC and three for one-design (J/105s, J/120s, Express 37s)--completing two races each and an eighth for one-designs (Farr 30s) completing three. -- Full report: http://www.rolexbigboatseries.com/Files/Day%201-1.pdf * San Francisco, CA (September 8, 2011) -Rough ebb-against-tide waves and a constantly building breeze gave an emphatic welcome to the Farr 30 World Championship fleet with three races to open the event. Race 1 started shortly after 11 AM in less than 15 knots of wind, but the Bay's famous thermals built quickly to a recorded 30 knots before the end of the final race. Local rigger Scott Easom aboard 8-Ball sailed the most consistent day with a 2-4-1 scoreline to take the overall lead. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Farr30-090811 * Co. Dublin, Ireland (September 8, 2011) - The weather gods finally allowed a full day of racing at the Star European Championship on Dublin Bay as a moderate westerly breeze allowed for three races. With their form unchanged since Sunday, Italians Diego Negri and Enrico Voltolini extended their overall lead in the 26-boat fleet, counting one win plus a third place while discarding their eighth place in race six. Canadians Richard Clarke/Tyler Bjorn rolled a 2-13-7 to move up to third overall. -- Event website: http://www.rsgyc.ie/stareuro2011/ * Porto Cervo, Italy (September 8, 2011) - As the wind abated for the third day of the 2011 Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, the majority of the 45-boat Maxi fleet were dispatched on a 36-nautical mile coastal race, while the Mini Maxi yachts had three windward/leeward courses of 8.8-nautical miles each. Top of the class were: Y3K (GER), amongst the Wallys; Aegir 2 (GBR) in the Racing/Cruising Maxi division; Esimit Europa 2 (SLO) in Maxi Racing; Hetairos (CAY) in the Supermaxi class; and Niklas Zennstrom's 72-ft Ran 2 (GBR) won two of the three Mini Maxi races. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Maxi-090811 PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include classics, backwards, victories, planning, sunsets, triplets, twins, and 40s. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0909/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK What do you eat, drink, sleep, breathe? This week's video titled 'Eat, Drink, Sleep, Breathe Windsurfing' takes us to the Hawaiian Islands, and provides some highly revealing footage of what it means to be addicted to wave sailing. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/11/0909/ BONUS: This Sunday is the 10th anniversary of the September 11 suicide attacks against targets in New York and Washington, D.C. which resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths. This video, HERO, is an amazing accomplishment, a performance you watch with your heart, and a tribute to safety personnel everywhere: http://youtu.be/QZFkZiwMLZ4 BONUS: Viewers can watch the racing at the America's Cup World Series in Plymouth (Sept. 10-18) at the America's Cup YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/americascup. Featuring a multi-screen player, viewers can choose from live onboard footage, a graphical overview or an eagle's eye view, as well as from expert sailing or standard sports commentary as part of the daily livestreaming. The racing will also be available on demand. Race schedule here: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-Plymouth-2011 BONUS: In this week's September 9 "World on Water" Global Boating Video News Report we feature the WMRT finals St Moritz, the finish of Leg 2 of the Clipper Round the world race in Rio de Janeiro, the Perini Navi Cup in Porto Cervo, the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championships on Lake Ontario, The roll-out of the Vitruvius Yachts "Galileo G" Ice Class Motor Yacht, the Audi MedCup Soto 40 Class finals Cartegna, the 29er XX Women's Downhill Skiff Cross Event in Cesme Turkey, and the capsize of the new America's Cup Spanish entry Green Com Racing in Plymouth. See it on www.boatson.tv approx 1200 BST, 0700 EDT September 09. SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.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 Jerelyn Biehl, One Design Management: Having managed international one design classes for 18+ years, we've seen regatta communication evolve from magazines to faxes to the internet to social media and we are always trying to keep our sailors and fans informed. From the regatta management end, some yacht clubs are up to the task, and some not so much, and it's a give/take on imposing a website on organizers vs. having them create their own. The 9er classes have evolved and now have 49erworlds.org, 29erworlds.org, 49ereuropeans.org, 29ereuropeans.org as well as 29erxxregattas.org. The Snipe Class has archived its Worlds results on snipe.org from the 1934 Worlds to present as the early years were published in Rudder Magazine and as we know, many domains go dormant after the event is over. Either way, you must be diligent to archive if you want to keep your history alive. * From Scott Murray: I read Mac Jacobi's letter (in Scuttlebutt 3422) regarding racing being postponed in Porto Cervo Maxi series with some interest. What Marc may be unaware of is that in the glory days of Clipper/Kenwood cups there was a relatively protected harbor from which to leave and return to and, once outside, a long swell and sea state, which, though challenging provided perfect conditions. I have no doubt that the boats competing in Porto Cervo would relish the conditions we enjoyed so much in those days. Trying to leave and re-enter the harbor in Porto Cervo in a full blown mistral can be a sketchy prospect, and once outside, the short ugly sea state bears no resemblance to the perfect conditions in Hawaii. I remember several occasions in the same era where the old maxi fleet was held in port due to similar conditions described in the Sardinia report, although the wind speeds were similar to those found in Hawaii. * From Steve Greatrex: Depending on where Lorne Cheesman wants to sail (Scuttlebutt 3422), he should be able to find a local, online Crew List service, where he can find a listing of skippers looking for crew, or crew looking for crew positions. Here in the San Diego area, there is one at sdwaterfront.com, and some of the local yacht clubs have their own crew lists, as well. Perhaps Scuttlebutt could gather a listing of crew lists from around the country. COMMENT: There is a section on the Scuttlebutt website where Local Sailing Resources are listed. We just added sdwaterfront.com for San Diego, and will welcome any other sites for North American sailing venues. The current list is on the Suppliers & Resources page: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION My karma ran over your dogma. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails - Southern Spars Morris Yachts - Atlantis WeatherGear - LaserPerformance APS - Ullman Sails - New England Ropes - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
