|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3663 - Monday, August 27, 2012Scuttlebutt 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: Samson Rope and Dieball Sailing. ADVICE FROM A MASTER OF SELF-RELIANT SAILING By Bill Schanen, SAILING magazine I'd like to go sailing with Robin Knox-Johnston sometime. I understand he can be a bit crotchety, but I think we'd get along. I admire his commitment to the ethos of the self-reliant sailor. Besides, anyone who recommends that sailors jump overboard instead of calling for help in some circumstances would have to be an interesting shipmate. RKJ, as he's frequently called to get around the clumsiness of a hyphenated surname, got my attention when he wrote: "Why are so many sailors frightened of the water? It's as if beneath the surface of the sea lurk unimaginable dangers and monsters waiting to trap those who enter." The comments rose out of his irritation over boaters whose first instinct when something goes wrong at sea is to cry for help. He was grousing specifically about sailors who call for rescue after wrapping a line in their propellers. "Whatever happened," he asked rhetorically, "to jumping overside with a knife or a hacksaw to cut the prop free?" I can picture RKJ leaping into the sea with a knife between his teeth. At 73, he looks tough enough to do it. In the photo over his column in Yachting World, the British sailing magazine with the same oversize pages as SAILING, his darkly-tanned, deeply-lined visage looks like a topographic map of Cape Horn. I agree with him about the diminishing self-sufficiency of sailors. I can also relate to his recommended remedy for a fouled propeller. Once after a spectacular yard-sale broach (sheets and sails and pieces of spinnaker arrayed everywhere as in a rummage sale) while crossing the finish line in a breezy race, I started the engine, put it in gear prematurely and promptly strangled the propeller in many turns of a spinnaker guy. I figured that if I was dumb enough to do that (the memory comes back every time we do a man-overboard drill), I deserved the honor of freeing the prop. I took a knife "overside" with me (in my hand, not my teeth), but found that it was little help. There were so many layers of rope that I'd still be sawing if I had relied on the blade. I was eventually able to unwind the mess, but I have to say it was not quite as easy as RKJ makes it sound. "Holding your breath underwater is not as difficult as it seems," he offered helpfully. I don't usually find that difficult at all, but doing it long enough, and frequently enough, to free a prop choked in snakelike coils of high-tech line is another story. But back to the old mariner's point. Making a mayday or pan-pan call because you can't use the engine on your sailboat (assuming you're not in imminent danger of fetching up on the rocks) is surely a trivial use of emergency services. After all, if you weren't interested in a swim, you could just sail the boat home and persuade or hire someone to deal with the problem at the dock. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SAILING-082612 HOME TEAM, HOME TOWN EXCEED EXPECTATIONS San Francisco, CA (August 26, 2012) - Oracle Team USA today captured the two championships of AC World Series San Francisco, thrilling the capacity crowds who had front row seats to close-quarter, fast-paced racing on San Francisco Bay. The day began with Russell Coutts, the four-time America's Cup winner, taking out teammate Jimmy Spithill in the Match Racing Championship. In a race that saw the lead change hands three times, Coutts eked out a 1 second victory with both boats screaming across the finish line overlapped at 20-plus knots. Then, about 40 minutes later, Spithill found himself in another charge to the finish line. This time he needed to overcome Team Korea (Nathan Outteridge) to capture the Fleet Racing and Event Championship. Spithill rounded the last mark slightly overlapped on Outteridge's stern and then got a penalty on his rival skipper. Outteridge was forced to slow down by the umpires, and Spithill sailed through to leeward and into second place for the race and a 1-point victory in the overall event standings. "This is a fantastic result for Oracle Team USA, to win the match racing, fleet racing and overall championship," said Spithill, the reigning ACWS champion. "I can't emphasize how much the boys fought around the race track. We battled our way back to the top in each event and were rewarded for it." The first AC World Series event in San Francisco, host city for the 2013 America's Cup, was hailed as a success by Mayor Edwin M. Lee, who presented the prizes to the top three crews in the Match Racing and Fleet Racing Championships. "This is the first of many races to come and we look forward to the second event (Oct. 2-7) when all of these teams will be back," Lee said. "Thank you to all of the teams for being here and to all of the city agencies who have worked in collaboration with the event." Local officials estimated that more than 150,000 people visited the AC Village at Marina Green over the course of the event. Both of the ticketed seating areas were sold out each day, and Regatta Director Iain Murray said that a larger than expected spectator fleet turned out on the water to watch the racing. "The response from the public has exceeded our expectations," said Stephen Barclay, the CEO of the 34th America's Cup. "This was our first event in San Francisco and our first opportunity to get a taste of racing the wingsail catamarans on the Bay. It's simply been wonderful for everyone involved." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-082612 Final results: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-0812-Results MORE: The Kiwis have done it, the Swedes have done it, and on Tuesday the Yanks will do it too. They are all splashing their first AC72s. But don't look for the defender to be immediately sailing. After a schedule of load testing, expect the defender to look for manageable conditions on SF Bay before releasing the dock lines. MORE MORE: The racing scene on SF Bay continues to sizzle this week as the 18-foot skiff class hosts their Annual International Regatta. Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14238 XCEEDING YOUR EXPECTATIONS - NEW FROM SAMSON: Xceed-78 is specifically for use on today's high-performance mega yachts where extreme loads on halyards and sheets demand a large diameter line. Available in sizes from 5/8" to 2" in diameter, Xceed-78 combines the high strength, low creep and extremely low weight of a 100% braided Dyneema SK-78 core with the protection of a heavy duty all-polyester cover. The cover is designed to protect the core from abrasion and provide grip for winches where necessary. The core incorporates Samson's proprietary Samthane coating, allowing the cover to be stripped to reduce weight. http://www.SamsonRope.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE "This America's Cup is a push to make sailing more appealing to a broader audience. Those of us involved are very hopeful that sailing will become a larger and better-known professional sport. Sometimes it's frustrating because we're so focused on making our sport useful commercially, but that's not the end goal. When you watch Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, they are making golf useful commercially. But the heart and soul of golf is not Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. It's those people who are waking up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday after a long week and taking an old set of clubs out to San Geronimo Golf Course. It's the same story for sailing. The important part of this sport is the kids who take their homemade boats out to Lake Merritt. What we do is just the tip of the iceberg." - Paul Cayard, Artemis Racing CEO, Challenger of Record: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/paul-cayard_n_1826547.html RETHINKING THE CURRENT TACTICS Professional sailing coach, Olympic Gold and Silver medalist and long time America's Cup crew and skipper, Rod Davis gives his insights on the effect of current on catamarans, and the new tactics, in San Francisco. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We are always learning in this new Cat world. You have to think a bit more laterally when comes to racing high-speed boats like cats, particularly in current. Be it San Francisco's America's Cup course, or anywhere else that you try to play the current. A few quick facts: In your 50 foot mono hull, you sail up wind at say 8 knots. If the current is 2 knots that means current is about 25% of total speed. The new Cats will sail up wind at, about 18 knots, a 2 knot the current is about 10% of the boat speed. That is two and half times different, and is a very big deal. When you play the shore short by tacking into the shallow water where the current is weaker, you can make big gains in your monohull. The wind shifts are a secondary consideration to getting that 25% boost in performance. With the cat it is only 10%, so balance between current and shifts enters a different equation. On top of that, a monohull loses about a boat length in a tack. A good tack in the cat costs you four boat lengths in smooth water, and more in waves. That's a big part of the new cat equation too. You can't afford to short tack up shore. The easy conclusion - no short tacking up a shore for current. Ahhhhh, not so fast. You don't abandon the current all together; just the current has a factor, given the new situation we are in at San Francisco sailing catamarans. There is a mind twister: Downwind in some conditions at cat will go two knots faster with just a knot more wind speed. So, in those conditions, you would sail out into adverse current of a knot, increasing the winds speed by a knot, and boat speed by two knots, to get to the finish faster. That's something you never purposely do in a normal boat. Strange but true. Still learning. Source: Sail-World, http://tinyurl.com/SW-082612 FLASH: U.S. DID MAKE THE OLYMPIC PODIUM At the London Olympics, Richland (MI) boat builder Jon VanderMolen pulled off a feat not even Michael Phelps could match: His PStar boats took gold, silver and bronze in the same event. In fact, VanderMolen's North American Sailing Center in Richland built 11 of the top 12 finishers in the premier Star-class sailing event. (The lone holdout: The U.S. sailing team.) "The U.S. snuck in there at seventh, so I'm proud for them. They had a respectable showing," said VanderMolen. For the teams, the medal round was a nail biter - with Sweden not realizing they had won gold until their coach told them. VanderMolen and his partner, German Olympic sailor and boat builder Marc Pickel, had the pleasure of watching nine of their boats sweep in almost simultaneously. (He and his crew had built some 37 boats, with 13 of their boats claiming 16 spots in the Star-class final.) "It was one of the most exciting races I've ever seen. All 10 boats finished almost overlapping - within 10 seconds of each other," said VanderMolen. Since the Olympics concluded earlier this month, VanderMolen said the company has had 15 inquiries for price quotes on its website. But right now, he said, he's competing with himself. "A lot of club races around the world are working feverishly to get their hands on those boats," said VanderMolen of the Olympic star-class boats. "Until some of the Olympic boats are sold, things will be a bit slow. It's irony. All these guys that have inquired, they want to know price of new boats, but also how to get their hands on the Olympic boats." VanderMolen, whose company also began building the smallest boat in the competition in June - the 2.4, which is sailed in the Paralympics - expects his order book to fill up as of January. "Because the Star Boat is granddaddy of the boats, the other boats classes have taken notice of our dominance and other classes want us to build boats for them now," said VanderMolen. "We're hoping our business could expand to other classes as a result of the dominance in the Star class." In the meantime, he said, his first Olympic experience couldn't have been any better unless he was standing on the podium himself. "It's always been a dream of mine to build a Star boat. I've sailed them since I was a teen," said VanderMolen, who described himself as a "professional amateur," and whose children all sail. "To see these guys do what they're doing in my boat is probably the most rewarding thing that could happen to me in sailing, outside of winning one myself." -- http://tinyurl.com/MLIVE-082612 BIG FINISHES FOR DIEBALL SAILING It's been a great summer for everyone at Dieball Sailing! Our customers saw big finishes at Highlander Nationals, Thistle Nationals, T-10 North Americans, as well as many of the local one design and off-shore racing events. But summer is not over yet - lots of fall events to still be had! Call for more information on the Fall Discount information: 419-726-2933. SAILING SHORTS * Campione del Garda, Italy (August 26, 2012) - The 2012 Zhik Nautica Moth World Championships went down to the wire and were decided in the very last race in fabulous conditions. Joshua McKnight (AUS) kept his calm, sailed nearly flawlessly and prevailed over fellow countryman Scott Babbage with two bullets in three races. Rob Gough had a very good last day as well to snatch third place overall from Anthony Kotoun (USVI) to make it an Aussie sweep on the podium. The 2013 World Championship that will take place in October on Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Moth-082612 * (August 24, 2012) - The Atlantic Class national champion for 2012 is Norm Peck III from Niantic Bay Yacht Club, with his crew of Robb Wylie, Don Landers and Dave Samson. The final day of racing had to be called off in frustratingly light and fickle conditions. Peck hasn't won the event since 1981, but has been at the forefront of the class for years. In second place was Ben Wells from the home club, Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club, with Tomas Hornos, Massimo Soriano and Charlie Hatfield. Third were Terry Britton, Charlie Britton, Joe Raynes and Dana Nicholson, also from KYC. -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14346 * Seven years later, those caught in the destructive path of Hurricane Katrina are being urged once again to prepare for the worst, as the threat of Tropical Storm Isaac grows by the minute. Isaac is likely to be the first significant hurricane to make landfall along the Gulf coast since September 2008 when Hurricane Gustav struck south central Louisiana and Hurricane Ike hit the upper Texas coast. Wednesday marks the seventh anniversary of the day Katrina struck New Orleans and nearby Louisiana parishes, causing massive flooding and billions of dollars in damages. -- Full story: http://www.weather.com/news/isaac-threat-new-orleans-20120826 * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified a new outright record for sailing Around the Isle of Wight. Skipper Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) and a crew of 9 onboard the MOD70 Foncia completed the 50nm route on August 16, 2012 in 2 hours 21 minutes and 25 seconds; an average speed of 21.3 knots. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/WSSRC-082612 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Peter Swanson: After reading Richard Hazelton's post in Scuttlebutt 3662, I would be curious to hear what the instructors of our sport are doing to teach sailors seamanship rather than an over reliance on technology. I pray that these instructors, prior to allowing a student onboard, is stripping them of all their electronic tools. When we rely on tools to make our decisions, or to save us from our mistakes, we fail to focus on learning proper seamanship. Sure, these tools provide the experienced sailor with an additional layer of knowledge to make good decisions, but the foundation needs to exist first. * From Donald Street: Regarding Patrick Blaney's note in Scuttlebutt 3662 about the Irish regulation regarding life jackets, when I climb into my 18' clinker dinghy to row about 100 yards to our 74 year old dragon for day racing in Glandore harbor, having sailed for 70 of my 82 years, and never having worn a life jacket, I am not about to start now! Some people say, "you might get arrested for not wearing a life jacket!", to which I reply, "I will have so much fun arguing with the prosecuting attorney, and the judge, it will be worth the fine! Also my fellow yachting writers will love it. Think of the wonderful copy they will be able to write about how Don Street, at 82, who has sailed continually for 70 years, who is the oldest, and longest serving (first article in Yachting Sept 1964 Going South) yachting writer in the world, that is still sailing and racing a 74 year old dragon, and still drinking Heineken, is arrested and fined for not wearing a life jacket." Then some people say" but you might fall overboard and drown!", to which I reply, " a much better way to die than in a nursing home". * From Derek K Bouwer: To all who question the wearing of a life preserver while sailing, they need only have to ask themselves one question: "How long can I tread water?" in sea boots and foul weather gear? The answer is not very long, thought the good thing is it only take 5 minutes to drown Q.E.D. WHAT ARE YOU MARKETING THIS WEEK? The Scuttlebutt website allows marine companies to post their personnel, product and service updates. For free. As a bonus, each week the Scuttlebutt newsletter includes some of the recent updates. Are you in the marine industry? Post your updates in the Industry News section of the Forum. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION An ounce of application is worth a ton of abstraction. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Samson Rope - Dieball Sailing - Gowrie Group - North Sails KO Sailing - Summit Yachts - US Sailing - Allen Insurance and Financial Melges Performance Sailboats - Ullman Sails - Doyle Sails - Pure Yachting Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
