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SCUTTLEBUTT 2691 - Monday, September 29, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. HAS CLASSIC BOAT RACING BECOME TOO COMPETITIVE? A collision on September 23rd in Cannes, France at the Regates Royales led to one death. When an 8-Meter and a 1912-built 65-foot Nathaniel Herreshoff design collided, the 8 Meter was dismasted, and its helmsman was thought to have died instantly, hit by the mast and boom as it crashed down. After reading of the event, Scuttlebutt received a letter wondering why terrible collisions (with serious injuries) happen with alarming frequency at classic boat regattas. Among the comments received came from Jim Cassidy. Read on: “As an insurer of classic boats, organizer of classic regattas and an organizer of a series of WoodenBoat Regattas I have some very definite opinions on this topic. To recognize why some of the recent terrible collisions have happened is to review the history of such regattas and an evolution in the types of boats and the types of crew members they have aboard. In distant times, say the 1970’s and 1980’s, classic boat regatta fleets saw friendship sloops, gaff rigged cutters and schooners, work boats or work boat derivatives all. Then, slowly came the yawls, the CCA sloops, even some ketches. Slowly the faster boats, the Herreshoffs and the Sparkman and Stephens and the Fifes began, often after a complete restoration, to show up on the scene. The fleets then were extremely diverse. The proliferation of "performance" or more race oriented boats gradually drove away the slower, more wholesome boats, probably because, among other reasons, their owners felt outclassed speed capability wise. “With the steady influx of faster boats came another factor. Younger, more aggressive crew members who normally raced on "go fast" modern boats and wanted to get on these classics, fly chutes and make them go, but with no real experience on the difference in handling characteristics between the modern and classic boats. The heightened level of aggressiveness on the classic circuit was more evident this year than ever before. – Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/08/0927/ * Scuttlebutt also conducted a reader survey and received additional comments. Click here for the information: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/08/0924 A Q&A WITH THE WORLD’S FASTEST MAN by David Schmidt, SAIL Imagine sailing at a mind-boggling 49.84 knots. Everything is rushing at you at what appears to be warp speed, the trees ashore are rendered a mere blur, and the water reduced to a media similar to asphalt under a car’s tires. But now imagine that you’re going this fast on water that’s only 4 inches deep. Normal sailing this is not, but since kite surfing came on the scene, somewhere around 1999 or so, kite surfers have sought out stretches of flat water that’s uninfluenced by current or fetch. While some flock to places such as “the Trench” in Saintes Maries de la Mer in France, others, such as Robert Douglas, who attained this fantastic speed run, have gravitated towards the shallow, flat-water conditions off the town of Lüderitz, on the coast of Namibia. And judging by Douglas’s unbelievable attempt on the 50-knot barrier, there’s no denying that Lüderitz is fast. The question now arises if it’s fast enough to allow Douglas to break speed sailing’s Holy Grail. When asked what’s it like to take a full-value wipeout at speed on a kite-surfing board, Douglas replies, “It looks a lot worse than it actually is. If you do it right and relax, it’s not so bad – it's nowhere near as bad as crashing on a windsurfer. If you can get clear of the [kite-surfing] board – which is important to protect your knees and legs – you skip like a stone and you’re all right. What’s intimidating about Lüderitz is that you’re only sailing on 4 inches of water, which is a little bit of a concern, but if you skip, you bleed off speed as you go.” -- Read on: http://sailmag.com/racecourse/0908_Douglas * Lüderitz Speed Challenge 2008 webstit: http://www.luderitz-speed.com PROFESSIONAL WIND FORECASTS: FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS! Want a competitive edge in your next regatta? Get a forecast from PredictWind.com - the worldwide specialists in high resolution weather modeling. For the first time ever, you can access a forecast using a model that calculates the wind at an incredible 1km resolution for your local area. High resolution equals better accuracy. The web based forecasts are easy to use, and available in maps, graphs and even a text format that is accessible on your mobile phone. It is the system that champion sailors rely upon, and until January 2009 the forecasts are free of charge: http://www.PredictWind.com HEED THE WARNING OR RISK ATTACK Last month, the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Malaysia issued a red alert to ships "to be extra vigilant" while sailing through the Gulf of Aden following increased hijackings. The bureau specifically mentioned the Eastern and Northeastern coasts in Somali as the "high risk areas for attacks and hijacking," and advised vessels not making scheduled calls to ports in Somalia to keep "as far away as possible from the Somali coast". "They should ideally sail more than 250 nautical miles until a more permanent and encouraging sign is seen. Mariners are advised to report any suspicious boats to the centre," read the warning from the bureau's website. The bureau alert came only 48 hours after four ships had been attacked and hijacked and crews robbed and captured by the armed Somali pirates. The pirates, warned the bureau, fired automatic weapons and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) in attempts to board and hijack vessels. -- Read on: http://allafrica.com/stories/200809280100.html * Pirates in Somalia have demanded 24 million Euros to release a Ukrainian freighter containing tanks and grenade launchers that was seized last Thursday as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The crew of 21 was also taken hostage, and three of its members are Russian, which led to Moscow sending a warship to the area. It has also been revealed that the pirates are currently holding about twelve large vessels, but released a Japanese vessel yesterday after a ransom of $2 million was paid. However, later on Saturday the pirates sprang into action again, this time taking a Greek chemical tanker with a crew of nineteen. -- Valencia Life Network, mailto:publisher@valencialife.net LIFTING THE LID OFF THE VOLVO OCEAN RACE by Louay Habib, Bang The Corner For the first time in history, the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will have a dedicated media crew on board each yacht, as they hurtle through the world’s oceans. Beaming back; high definition video, high resolution pictures and text of life at the extreme as the drama unfolds. This has only become possible by innovations in satellite communication technology. “We are entering new territory, this has never been done before but we have an amazing opportunity with the on board media to reveal a fantastic story,” commented Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Knut Frostad. “A lot of it has never been told and it will be very personal, it will be easy for viewers to relate their own circumstances to the life on board a Volvo 70, racing around the world. We will show how people react to disappointment or success and how people react when they get scared. We have a story to tell which will be compelling to everybody, not just a sailing audience. It will be a tough job for the journalist and it will be difficult for the teams but it is something that we must do. I look at this almost like a war reporter; someone telling the story from the front line, showing what life is really like in such extreme conditions.” -- Read on: http://www.bangthecorner.com/news/read/7964 RICHARD’S ROLL CONTINUES AT TROIA PORTUGAL MATCH CUP Troia, Portugal (September 28, 2008) - After a long day that started with having to defeat one of his own team mates from the French Match Racing Team, Sebastian Col (FRA) and his crew of Gilles Favennec, Christophe Andre, Philippe Mourniac, and Olivier Douliard have won the Troia Portugal Match Cup. Getting past Magnus Holmberg (SWE) and his Victory Challenge team 2-0 in an exciting Final series, Col and crew have taken the top prize of US$30,000 of the $125,000 purse and earned 25 points on the 2008 World Tour leaderboard. -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6468 Final Results 1. Sebastian Col (FRA), French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge $30,000 2. Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Victory Challenge $20,000 3. Mathieu Richard(FRA),French Match Racing Team/Team French Spirit $18,750 4. Damien Iehl (FRA), French Match Racing Team $13,750 5. Paolo Cian (ITA), Team Shosholoza $10,000 6. Torvar Mirsky (AUS), Mirsky Racing Team $8,750 7. Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar $7,500 8. Alvaro Marinho (POR), Seth Sailing Team $6,250 9. Adam Minoprio (NZL), Emirates Team New Zealand/BlackMatch Racing $2,500 10. Bjorn Hansen (SWE), Alandia Sailing Team $2,500 11. Manuel Weiller (ESP) $2,500 12. Nick Cherry (GBR), Cherry Racing Team $2,500 * With two events remaining on the World Match Racing Tour, defending champion Ian Williams has narrow six point lead over Sebastien Col in second, with Mathieu Richard lurking five points further back in third. The next event will be October 7-12 on Bermuda’s Hamilton Harbour at the King Edward VII Gold Cup. -- http://www.bermudagoldcup.com GO IL MOSTRO GO!! The crew at Team One Newport wants to wish Puma’s IL MOSTRO and all the Volvo Ocean Race boats great luck and safe passage. The first Inshore Race is October 4th and the start is October 11th. You can get the Volvo Ocean Race official gear and Puma sailing gear by visiting http://www.team1newport.com or calling 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327). You can also see the latest from the top manufacturers of sailing gear including Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Patagonia, Gill, Atlantis, Ronstan, Suunto, Extrasport, Astral Camet, Kokatat and lots more! For the best service and selection go to the Experts at Team One Newport. BERTARELLI/ELLISON SUMMIT EASES AMERICA'S CUP TENSIONS (September 28, 2008) -- The paralysis which has gripped the America's Cup for over a year seemed to be relaxing over the weekend after a one-to-one summit between the Swiss holder, Ernesto Bertarelli, and the man challenging him in the courts over the structure of the next event, the American Larry Ellison. The two billionaires met in San Francisco on Saturday for something over an hour in 'a private environment', but there were different interpretations afterwards, Bertarelli's Alinghi syndicate saying it was "positive", Ellison's BMW Oracle that it was "cordial". In New York, one of Ellison's senior advisers, Tom Ehman, was putting the finishing touches to a lengthy deposition to be lodged today (Monday) with the New York Court of Appeals. -- Stuart Alexander, The Independent, read on: http://tinyurl.com/SButt092808a * The BMW Oracle Racing trimaran arrived in San Diego, CA by barge on the morning of Friday, September 26th, and was promptly offloaded to its new base near the Convention Center in the downtown area of the city. The team will now be readying the boat for its next round of training that is expected to begin October 7th. Photos on Scuttleblog: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog * Someone needs to remind James Spithill that he is a famous America’s Cup helmsman, known for humiliating his opposition during the pre-start. Spithill has gotten bitten hard by the multihull bug, and while you will not find him this week sailing the BMW Oracle Racing team’s Extreme 40 or the BOR 90, you will find him up in Santa Cruz prepping for the A-Class Catamaran North American Championship. See report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6466 SELLING TEAM SCHWAG TO MAKE ENDS MEET The ugly side of yachting's becalmed America's Cup has reared its head. "Cash-strapped" Team New Zealand crew member Nick Heron was forced this week to sell the uniform he proudly wore in the regatta in Valencia last year. Heron was made redundant when the cup was plunged into limbo by billionaires Larry Ellison and Ernesto Bertarelli scrapping for control of the cup in the courts. To make ends meet Heron took the drastic action of flogging his team issue shorts and shirt on TradeMe, where he's asking for about $200. "I've been out of work for months and I'm basically pretty broke as a result," Heron told the Sunday Star- Times. "I had a heap of uniforms, some of them still in their wrappers, just sitting in a box in my wardrobe and thought: 'why not?'. "I've been holding on in the hope this thing would sort itself out. But it hasn't and I needed the money. I'm cash-strapped" Heron joined Team New Zealand in 1988 and hasn't missed a campaign since. But last year's regatta in Spain now looks as if it will be his last. "I tried my best to hold on and even turned down several job offers in the hope the whole thing would get going again," he said. "But it just dragged on too long. There's no telling when it will end so I've taken a normal fulltime job [with Southern Spars] on the condition I stay put for a while and don't take off [to another America's Cup]. So that's ended my [America's Cup] career." -- Read on: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4708703a1823.html SAILING SHORTS * Dun Laoghaire, Ireland (September 26, 2008) - Geoff Carveth (GBR) and his Hayling Island crew have been crowned champions at the inaugural 130 boat Laser SB3 World Championships after a high-pressure finish in Dublin Bay. After an early dogfight with his closest rivals in the final race, Carveth pulled off a stunning comeback from the bottom half of the fleet to finish second and take the world title. -- Event website: http://www.sb3worlds2008.com * The Notice of Race for 2009 Transpacific Yacht Race is posted, and the most significant change is to allow any boat to use power and stored energy instead of old-fashioned manpower. The Transpac board of directors last April voted to raise the race's LOA (length overall) limit to 30.48 meters (100 feet) without a rating limit. The minimum LOA has been raised from 26 to 30 feet, the minimum rated speed to that of a Catalina 36 with spinnaker, 155% jib and a solid three-bladed propeller. The early entry deadline is Feb. 27, 2009; US Sailing members get a $50 discount. -- http://www.transpacrace.com * The Maltese Falcon, the biggest privately owned yacht in the world, sailed into the San Francisco bay on Saturday. Considered the most technologically advanced yacht in the world, the 289-foot ship arrived as the tide was low enough to allow its 191-foot masts to clear the bridge by a mere 20 feet. The ship is owned by Belvedere billionaire, Tom Perkins. -- SailKarma, read on: http://www.sailkarma.com/2008/09/maltese-falcon-enters-san-francisco.html * KeyBank’s departure from the marine and RV lending business is raising concerns from analysts about the supply/demand imbalance in the industry. “Shrinking credit availability has the potential to further destabilize these industries,” said Edward Aaron in a report for RBC Capital Markets issued Thursday after the KeyBank announcement. -- Soundings, read on: http://preview.tinyurl.com/SButt092808b * A group of Annapolis, Md.-based investors has offered an alternative to the city for the production of the U.S. Powerboat and U.S. Sailboat shows held at City Dock. Dowling is joined in this effort by Jim Barthold, former general manager of the shows. The group submitted an ordinance to the City Council at a Sept. 22 meeting. The ordinance is expected to be open for public comment in October. -- Soundings, full story: http://tinyurl.com/SButt092808c BOAT SHOW SEASON IS UPON US! After a successful Newport Boat Show, we will be heading down to Annapolis - come and visit the Onne van der Wal Gallery road show in Tent A, Booth 48 and get 15% off anything and everything! Our newly designed 2009 wall calendars will be the hottest item at the show! – http://www.vanderwal.com DEBAUCHERY AND REVELRY FOR GOOD CAUSE (September 27, 2008) - The International Sailing Federation has devised hundreds of pages of carefully calibrated rules for racing, few of which apply to the colorful shenanigans that took place Saturday on the high seas of Louie’s 10th Last Regatta. Competitors mooned each other, danced about in German beer wench costumes and generally cavorted in a fashion wholly lacking the requisite respect for a dignified pursuit and the largest regatta in Milwaukee. Clearly, the pre-race nourishment of bagels, beer and Bloody Marys contributed to the midrace debauchery on Lake Michigan and the post-race revelry on the riverside docks of the Milwaukee Ale House. It seems the race officials allow a good bit of rule-bending in deference to the real serious business at hand: raising money for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. -- Journal Sentinel, read on: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=800050 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Hal Smith: (re, lead story in ‘butt 2690) I pay attention to the competitive sailing world, but Tom Slingby's name had never caught my eye. Now I feel like I know him as if we had been friends for years. His words of reflection about his disappointment in Qingdao are eloquent and inspiring. I copied those words and sent them to my grandsons, so that they might gain in their growth as teenagers becoming young men in a competitive world. Tom wrote about much more than a sailboat race. Thank you for articulating the best parts of the game we play. Now if you will excuse me, I think I have a mountain to climb. * From Bill Seifert, Warren, RI: (re, Naval Academy story in ‘butt 2690) Your story should have mentioned the commitment to buy additional new sailboats, the need of which is certainly questionable in light of the current decision to have less involvement in sailing. Reminds me of Navy housing in Newport area, RI which was rehabilitated then torn down a few years later. As taxpayers, we should expect better long term planning for our money. * From Mike Doyle. Honolulu, HI: If the Navy Academy cuts back on sailboat training, they had better anticipate some heavy ship repair bills from the numerous collisions these midshipmen/women will produce as they become ship Captains. * From Derek Bouwer: (re, Brad Butterworth interview in ‘butt 2689) Sailing in not a complicated sport, but we make it complicated by one not understanding its rule or by not even bothering to read them. We know the rules of the road, and sailing has similar rules but put in different words. What makes sailing complicated are the sailors who have lost their sportsmanship and want to win at all costs. * From Sean Tracy: I could not agree more with Brad Butterworth's opinion about the RRS being far too complex. I've studied the rules for more than 20 years and I still find them confounding. Despite that, I'm known as a local expert serving on the jury of most regattas I attend. I wish that the rules committee for the 2009-2012 RRS would have taken to heart one of the comments that the famous mathematician Stephen Hawking wrote about his book on the cosmos, "A Brief History of Time." Stephen wrote that his publisher had told him that for every mathematical equation he put into his book that he would cut his audience in half. In the case of the RRS, every added parenthetical phrase and every added limiting condition noticeably reduces the number of people who really understand the RRS. * From Bryan McDonald, US Sailing Appeals Committee Member: Wonderful to see so much racing rules press on Scuttlebutt recently! I was delighted that you showcased Mr. Gohl's synopsis of the changes in the rules for 2009-2012 (in ‘butt 2690). One thing I noted that may be improved by his synopsis is the subtle point regarding new rule 64.1(b) for 2009 (which is a rule about Penalties and Exoneration). Mr. Gohl says that there was no such rule in 2005 when I believe this is actually a new place for old rule 44.4(b), Limits on Penalties, from the 2005 rule book (and more information about this can be gleaned from ISAF Sub 127-06 from the RYA (which basically said it was unclear if the scope of existing rule 44.4(b) applied only to rule 44 penalties, to rule 31.2 and rule 44 penalties or to penalties for breaking any rule. The addition of the final words in the 2009 rule 64.1(b) prevents a boat escaping a DNE penalty by retiring)). CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Old is when going braless pulls all the wrinkles out of your face. Special thanks to PredictWind.com, Team One Newport, and Onne van der Wal Gallery. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
