|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3216 - Tuesday, November 9, 2010Scuttlebutt 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 U, and J Boats. FROM THE "FACEBOOK GENERATION" By Lindsay Foster, T2P.TV When describing the plan for the 34th America’s Cup, Russell Coutts’ now (in)famous line, “for the Facebook generation, not the Flinstone’s generation” continues to reverberate off yacht club walls, discussed on boats and docks, and either criticized or praised by sailing websites, publications, and blogs throughout the world. I’ve read both the praise and the criticism, I’ve watched the press conferences, and closely followed the happenings on Facebook, Twitter and the other media outlets. The one thing I have not seen, in all the discussion about the “Facebook generation”, is an opinion from someone who actually fits into that category. Facebook was created when I was a junior in college, when you needed to have a college email address to even register. Those days are long gone, but having used it since its inception for business and pleasure, I have a pretty good grasp on how to work it. This is where I think most of these editorials and publications are missing the mark: the types of boat and the location of the event actually have nothing to do with engaging the social media outlets. Mono or multi hull, San Fran, Valencia or Italy - it’s not going to matter to the millions of viewers Russell and Co. are hoping to reach, who are sitting behind their laptops watching the races on their Facebook and MySpace pages while texting and tweeting from their iphones and blackberries. What my generation (and I think others too) wants to see is exciting racing in performance oriented boats. We want to know the people racing the boats more intimately. We want drama - doomsday deadlines, arguments, broken boats, and dramatic finishes. Give us your blood, sweat and tears, and we will give you our attention. Connect it through our various social media outlets, and we will do the marketing for you. We will post the videos to our friend’s Facebook walls, update our statuses and twitters in support of our favorite teams. We will buy the clothes and drive the cars of the sponsors of those sailors - but you have to connect with us personally and make us love (or hate) you. The “Facebook generation” is stimulated heavily through visual multimedia. In short- just MAKE IT LOOK COOL! This is where the Volvo Ocean Race does an exceptional job - the Volvo Open 70, stripped down to white, probably wouldn’t be that exciting of a boat. But when you paint it red and splash a huge cat sail across it, people want to watch. We see the teams and get to know the guys sailing, we root for them to make it to the next port, we are engaged and emotionally invested in them. In turn, this increases and fulfills the branding of PUMA, and fulfills their ultimate goal of selling more shoes. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/10/1108/ AND NOW THERE ARE (OFFICIALLY) THREE (November 8, 2010) - Artemis Racing confirmed today the team’s entry as a Challenger for the 34th America’s Cup, which will include competing in the America’s Cup World Series in 2011-2012 and culminate with the Challenger Selection Series in 2013. Among the four entries that have been submitted since the entry period opened November 1st, Artemis Racing is considered the third entry following the Defender (BMW Oracle Racing) and the Challenger of Record (Mascalzone Latino Audi Team). Over the course of the next three years, Artemis Racing will be focussed on designing and building two AC72 yachts, while also developing a strong sailing team to compete in the AC45 World Series and the Challenger Selection Series. The clear goal is to challenge Cup holders BMW ORACLE Racing for the America’s Cup in 2013. “We have been orienting Artemis Racing toward the America’s Cup for more than a year. With much of the plan for the 34th America’s Cup now defined by the Defender, and an early start for the team, we have a tremendous opportunity to mount a winning campaign.” said Paul Cayard, CEO of Artemis Racing. Paul Cayard announced that world champion sailor Terry Hutchinson (USA) will be the team’s helmsman and that the design team will be led by Juan Kouyoumdjian, well known for his success with winning designs in the Volvo Ocean Race such as ABN Amro and Ericsson. The next event for Artemis Racing is the Louis Vuitton Trophy – Dubai, which begins on 14 November. Looking ahead to 2011, Artemis Racing will continue to compete on the RC44 World Championship tour, while joining the Extreme 40 Circuit and the America’s Cup World Series, which will be raced in AC45s. -- Full report: http://www.artemisracing.com/news/25573 Replay of Press Conference: http://tinyurl.com/Artemis-110810 Artemis Team video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHUMyoG4wxQ START TO FINISH Looking for a place to get your holiday shopping done start to finish? With great gifts for sailors like Gore-Tex socks, Suunto watches, or the ever popular Dr. Crash calendars APS, "The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors", is poised to throw you a life ring and save you from holiday shopping hassles. So, keep your eyes peeled for our annual holiday mailing to be arriving any day or visit our gift ideas page. APS makes it easy by breaking down your gift options by price and the type of sailor you're shopping for. Now start finishing your shopping! http://www.apsltd.com/GiftIdeas SF GIANTS, AMERICA'S CUP TUSSLE OVER PIERS Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who wants a deal to bring the America's Cup regatta to San Francisco in place before he leaves his job as mayor in January, plans to introduce a binding agreement between the City and race organizers at the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. But this deal isn't going to please the Giants. The world-famous yachting race needs space and piers to build boats and show them off to the public. The first proposal was to center the operations at Piers 48-50, which need costly infrastructure work. In exchange for paying to shore up the piers, the city would give up the long-term leasing rights for the site. The Giants complained that might interfere with their plans to build in the area, a development that could include a new basketball arena or concert hall. So Newsom started pushing for the America's Cup to be put on the northern waterfront, where the piers don't need much work. Alas, the new deal was summarily rejected Thursday by representatives for Oracle's Larry Ellison, who, as the current cup winner, gets to make the final call. Now Newsom has little choice but to stick to the original plan at Piers 48-50 if he hopes to get a deal done before the clock expires. As for the Giants, they declined our request for comment, saying that they preferred to negotiate in private. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/SFGate-110810 DOES MOTIONEAZE WORK? Tom Lochhaas writes about sailing for the About.com website, and is seeking seasickness prevention input. Read on: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I was talking to a sailing friend today who related a story about his wife's seasickness. Seems it had been so bad in recent years that she lost all interest in sailing, and they were about to sell their boat. Then she tried MotionEaze, a liquid product of natural substances that is rubbed behind the ear. He said it worked very well for her - and also for a sailing guest who had begun feeling very queasy. Having done research and writing about seasickness prevention and cure, and having not taken this product very seriously, I'm now intrigued. If you have tried MotionEaze and found it works (or doesn't) for you, I'd like to hear from you via a comment on this posting. If it seems a good solution for people who have suffered from seasickness in the past, I'll help spread the word. Thanks for your input! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some of the comments already posted: (1) J.D. Ralph says: My wife tried it with some success, but it wasn’t very effective unless conditions were calm. She now uses scopolamine with much better results. (2) DM Patten says: On a recent delivery from Charleston to Boston I brought my (then) ten year old along as he has developed a love for sailing and the ocean. While he is not prone to getting seasick, I did make sure to have a variety of meds along just in case. About halfway through the trip we had some horrible weather and were getting tossed around quite a bit. We were off shift and below decks when I looked over at him and he had “that look”, the one where you know it’s just about to get real bad real fast. I knew if I gave him anything orally at that point it would just bounce right back out so I went with the MotionEze. A generous dose behind the ears and within 10 minutes he was back to himself and wanting to know what there was to eat……. Needless to say, I have MotionEze in my bag at all times now for anyone on my crew who starts to get sick! Add your comments here: http://sailing.about.com/b/2010/10/30/seasickness-does-motioneaze-work.htm GROWING THE SPORT - WOMEN’S KITEBOARDING The 2010 ISAF Annual Conference in Athens, Greece has commenced and continues to November 14th. Here is a report from a presentation that was delivered at the Women’s Forum on Monday: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Kristin Boese, 9-time World Kitesurfing Champion and Rolex World Sailor of the Year nominee, is on a mission. Kristin wants to give to give as many girls as she can the chance to get out on the water enjoying the fun and excitement on kiteboarding and in so doing give females a platform in the sport and make the a stronger force in a male dominated sport. Kristin launched KB4girls in December 2009, and at the Women’s Forum at the ISAF Conference gave on update on how she is getting on. So far KB4girls has taken 400 girls kiteboarding in Australia, USA, Egypt, Spain, Germany, Sweden and the UK. The youngest was age 9 the oldest 70. Five participants have gone on to achieve championship podium places. All this was achieved on a very small start up budget. On top of this KB4girls has been raising money for charity along the way. Kristin has more plans for the future to grow KB4sail and get yet more girls out on the water. Here is the video she played at the forum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNoPeBD6lYI KB4sail: http://www.kb4girls.com/ ISAF Annual Conference updates: http://isafconference.wordpress.com NORTH U GIFTS, SEMINARS You can’t play the game if you don’t know the rules. To learn the Racing Rules of Sailing, get the North U Rules Pack, with David Dellenbaugh’s Rules DVD and Dave Perry’s Understanding the Rules and Rules Quiz books. Or Learn Match Racing with Menin & Cutler’s 3rd Edition “Match Racing” and get the “Welcome to Match Racing” DVD for free… Or try our Racing Library and receive a free backpack. Learn about NorthU gift packs and also our 2011 “Hit the Shifts” seminars, race weeks, clinics and coaching at http://www.northu.com BUSY WEEK ALONG BAJA PENINSULA Simply stated, if you are to go offshore racing, it is hard to beat races that go downwind in warm weather, with Carne Asada and Margaritas waiting just beyond the finish line. The Southern California races to Mexico created a breed of boat that does them well, but sadly not too many do them anymore. While there are only five boats currently on Long Beach Yacht Club's 804-nautical mile race to Cabo San Lucas, that doesn’t mean they aren’t having fun. The moonless nights have been shared with whales, dolphins, birds, various other sea life and even an aircraft carrier. “This morning I was awakened by a yell for Artie [Means] to bring up a camera, then a loud roar of a jet buzzing us,” said Chuck Skewes from Per Petterson's Alchemy, an Andrews 68. “A U.S. aircraft carrier [USS Carl Vinson] was out doing maneuvers within a mile of us. We talked to them briefly on the radio to get course and direction so that we would stay out of their way. It was pretty impressive out here in the middle of nowhere to have so much activity for a while.” Doug Baker’s Reichel/Pugh 78 Akela leads the fleet at the halfway point on Monday, but there is no shortage of action along the Baja Peninsula. “Last night was a little more exciting than most nights out here in the ocean,” remarked Skewes. “We had 22 knots of wind for awhile and changed to the A4 for about an hour and then back to the A2. At about 11 p.m. we had a very close encounter with Holua. She had no nav lights and came out of the darkness and called starboard. We had to crash gybe in 20 knots to avoid. Took about 15 minutes to straighten out with an all-hands drill. Will [Stout] was on the foredeck in his underwear. “At 4 a.m. we came within a few feet of hitting a whale. It cleared the boat by about 4 feet and splashed the crew on deck. We have no moon and with some clouds it is extremely dark out. At about 5 this morning we had another close cross with Vincitore (Reichel/Pugh 52). They had to luff their kite to skate past our stern. “When the sun came up this morning we had gained a couple miles on them and they are now straight astern. I have lost count of the lead changes but I am sure Dave Ullman and Bruce Nelson on Holua (Santa Cruz 70) know that they are one down on us. We are heading toward Cabo just south of Cedros in 15 knots of wind and pretty big swell. We have also had a lot of kelp and are now evaluating how to get one off the rudder.” -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10739 SAILING SHORTS * The top two entrants in the Velux 5 Oceans came even over the weekend, but Brad Van Liew (USA) has regained his lead on the final dash across the South Atlantic to Cape Town. The 42-year-old American solo sailor has pulled out to a margin of 179 nm over second place Zbigniew Gutkowski (POL) with 1696 nm to the finish. -- Race website: http://www.velux5oceans.com * (November 8, 2010; Day 9) - Franck Cammas is in the throes of what should logically be his final tacks on 31 meter Groupama 3 this evening, ones which should take him to a sweet but hard earned victory in this ninth edition of the Route du Rhum-La Banque Postale. Cammas, who holds a margin of over 265 miles on his next nearest rival Thomas Coville (Sodebo), was on the breeze making 12 knots, poised waiting for the breeze to make its expected veer to the SW which would allow him to tack and lay the west side of Guadeloupe and the finish line off Point-à-Pitre. -- Event website: http://www.routedurhum-labanquepostale.com/en/s01_home/s01p01_home.php * The annual IRC Congress was held in Istanbul, Turkey over the weekend of October 16-17. The IRC Technical Committee reported that the number of IRC rated boats in 2010 had held up to the same level as 2009. Delegates considered 30 submissions for changes to IRC rules and processes. The most significant of these are now online: http://tinyurl.com/IRC-110810 * (November 8, 2010) - The 2010 Snipe Class International Racing Association Women’s World Championship got underway today in St. Petersburg, Florida, where 24 teams representing 9 countries are vying for the title. Two races were completed, with Trixy Agusti/ Yuyu Agusti (ARG) holding a one point lead over Anna Tunnicliffe/ Molly Vandemoer (USA) in second. Four boats were scored OCS in the second race, including Aine Fretwell/ Jessie O'Dell (USA) who had finished second in the opening race. Nine races are scheduled, with the event to conclude on Friday, November 12th. -- Results: http://tinyurl.com/SPYC-110810 J/122'S INCREDIBLE SEASON ROLLS ON As if winning at Chicago-Mac, Bayview-Mac, Rolex IRC Nationals, and IRC Great Lakes weren't enough, owners have now added a sweep of the IRC East Coasts (40' division) and an IRC win at Rolex Middle Sea Race. This 40 footer does it all....ocean race, buoy race, one-design, daysail and cruise. http://www.jboats.com/j122 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 Bill Canfield, St Thomas VI: Chris Caswell could not have hit the nail on the head more perfectly or harder with his comments (in Scuttlebutt 3215) concerning the next America's Cup. As a 45 year avid follower of every Cup (even the last one), I have thrown up my hands in disgust and frustration. I have simply lost all interest in the next go round for the very reasons that Chris cites in his article. For me the drama is gone, match racing is gone and the beauty of the event is gone. What is left I have no interest in following. It is for another type of sailing fan whom I don't believe exists. Too bad, but I have wonderful memories. * From Art Ahrens: Well put Chris Caswell! I hope that the BMW team had some buyer’s remorse when they watched the only C cat representing the USA capsize in Newport last summer. I sure hope the US 72 foot cat doesn't suffer the same fate and we end up giving the cup to the challenger. * From Jim Champ: (re, letter by Merv Shenson in Scuttlebutt 3215) On the other hand ‘sailing’ is an International sport, and the rest of the world doesn't necessarily think like the USA... I do get bored with all this knocking before its been tried. History tells us that the vast majority of America’s Cup races have been boring processions, so maybe it’s worth trying for boring processions in a different style of boat. * From Russell Painton: Let me offer a strong second to Chris Caswell's rant (in Scuttlebutt 3215) about the America’s Cup's current situation. As an older Facebook sailor, I am not interested in a video game drag race by professionals from every country on every team. Let's get back to the basics here, and make the Am Cup the "Cup" once again. * From Dennis Toews: In my antiquity I must confess to being a "Flintstone". This past week I had the good fortune to renew acquaintances with Tom Ehman when he and the BMW Oracle Team put on a great presentation of the technology inherent in the recent America's Cup winning "yacht" at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. Perhaps we should all dismount our "high horses" and allow the Facebook group to show what it can do. Then we can in the fullness of time see if the animal can clear the hurdles or come a cropper. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Who was it that decided Paper beats Rock? They’re wrong, and I will gladly prove it to anyone who will hold up a sheet of paper. SPONSORS THIS WEEK: Ultimate Sailing - Quantum Sails - APS - North U - J Boats North Sails - JK3 Nautical Enterprises - LaserPerformance Hall Spars - Ullman Sails - Holmatro - Southern Spars Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
