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SCUTTLEBUTT 3589 - Friday, May 11, 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: Beneteau Yachts and The Pirates Lair. LESSONS IN WINNING FANS In case you were wondering what non-sailors thought about the sport, or what they may be reading, here's an article in a non-sailing publication.... about sailing: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The infrequent Volvo Ocean Race features unfamiliar athletes with skills you won't understand on expensive boats in the middle of nowhere. You won't be able to look away. Seriously. The Volvo Ocean Race practically dares you to give a damn. It involves the niche-est of niche sports (round-the-world yacht racing) where the majority of the action takes place in the middle of nowhere (the middle of the ocean), carried out by athletes you've never heard of (quick, name another world-class sailor other than Dennis Conner), on a handful of multi-million-dollar boats ($10 million or so to build), competing in a single race that's longer than most sports seasons (nine months) and occurs almost as infrequently as the Olympic Games (every three years). Sounds as irresistible as Christopher Cross. And yet the Volvo Ocean Race, which arrived Wednesday in Miami for a 10-day stopover, is using technology cleverly to outmaneuver those shortcomings. Its website is focused on bridging the distance--physical and otherwise--between spectators and the action in ways that other sports could learn from. Start with the breathtaking on-board video, like the clip below of a wave engulfing the Telefonica boat. The clip went viral (nearly 500,000 views) after fans shared and embedded it everywhere. Unlike sports leagues that are restricted by various broadcast contracts and often wary of rocking the corporate boat, this nautical marathon embraces social media as much as any sport. In addition to the 11-person sailing crew, each boat has a media crew member. He shoots photos and video and records audio dispatches, chronicling the grueling work of sailing 24 hours a day: the four-hour shifts on deck; the extreme weather, from snow storms near South Africa to brutal heat during multiple equatorial crossings; the three or so weeks at sea on each of the nine legs, during which sailors consume around 5,000 calories a day and still lose 20 or so pounds. "I don't think another sport puts a journalist at the heart of the sporting action," says Kevin Fylan, who covered sports for Reuters and works as editorial chief for the race site. "They're there to tell the story." -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-051012 CAN PUMA MAINTAIN THEIR MOJO? (May 10, 2012) - The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is now in Miami, the boats are in their cradles, and the race organizers are having their prayers answered. With three more offshore legs and four more in-port races to be sailed before the race finishes in Galway in Ireland this July, the top four all still have a credible chance of lifting the overall trophy. "The last couple days were so stressful," noted PUMA skipper Ken Read. "CAMPER was relentlessly breathing down our necks right to the very end - and they are a complete pain in the ass!!!!! And also please understand that I say that as a compliment with the highest regard for how they sailed this leg. "There are legs that are physically grueling. This was not one of those legs. But it certainly made up for it in the mentally grueling category. Tom Addis (navigator) was really on top of his game this leg. I think he and I are working better together each leg, and it shows with confident placement on the race track, and certainly there's faith in the team and the boat to win a type of race that is such a grind. "We are home for a bit. Back in the USA. It is meaningful to finish in to our home country in first. A short flight home now for a few days to watch my daughter play tennis, and actually be a dad, a husband and a friend to a shedding golden retriever. Then back at it next week with a renewed energy and a hopeful focus that we can keep this momentum rolling and make this race closer by the minute." While Ken Read and his Juan K designed PUMA are clearly on the upswing, Ian Walker is openly admitting that a lack of raw boat speed has made it difficult for his Farr designed Abu Dhabi to be competitive. "This is not what any one of us is here for," explained Walker, "but we know how tough this fleet is and we just don't seem to have the legs at the moment to hang with the other boats and that's making life very difficult for us. It's just been a tale of bleeding miles. The fleet spent a lot of time in similar wind, sailing the trade winds, sailing a very similar strategy and for whatever reason we weren't sailing as fast as the other boats. "Day in, day out, those miles add up. It puts a lot of pressure on Jules (navigator Jules Salter) and myself to try and pull a rabbit out of a hat and find something extra and make up for that. It puts a lot of pressure on us just to stay in touch with everyone let alone to try and make any gains." "As the leg went on we took more and more risk to try and get a bit of leverage to try and get back to Groupama," Walker said. "That didn't work out for us in the end. The only other option was to just follow in their wake and just lose more miles, so that makes it a very difficult place for us. I think anybody following the race would see we have a speed issue and it's an issue that we see pretty much on all points of sail, some more than others." The Pro-Am Race is on May 18, the In-Port Race is on May 19, and the 3590 nm Leg 7 from Miami to Lisbon, Portugal begins on May 20. -- Event media Final Standings - Leg 6 - Itajai, Brazil to Miami, USA (4,800 nm) 1. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), May 9, 017d 01h 13m 59s 2. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), May 9, 017d 02h 21m 24s 3. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), May 10, 017d 07h 29m 03s 4. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), May 10, 017d 08h 06m 38s 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), May 10, 017d 15h 57m 37s 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), Did not start Overall Standings 1. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 164 pts 2. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 153 pts 3. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 149 pts 4. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 147 pts 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 68 pts 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 25 pts Tracker/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles around the world via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com TIME IS RUNNING OUT! Only a few days left to save during Beneteau's Sail into Savings event. Award-winning yachts like the new Oceanis 41 and 45, built in Marion, South Carolina, can now be yours at an exceptional value. Also available are incredible savings on the ever popular Oceanis 31, 34 and 37 as well as the high performance First 30 and the luxurious Sense 43. Once these world-class yachts are spoken for, so are the world-class savings. For more information on the Sail Into Savings event or to find a Beneteau dealer near you, visit http://www.BeneteauUSA.com WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG? By Chris Museler "Ok, so you're by yourself most of the time, you don't bathe, you sleep in your wet clothes on the floor, you poop in a bucket and pee outside, and all you eat is candy and Ramen Noodles. For a week. That sounds horrible!" That was what the woman sitting next to me on my flight home said after I told her about sailing the Class 40 Dragon some 800 miles out of sight of land for five days on a non-stop delivery from Mystic, Ct., to Charleston, S.C. Maybe I'd been avoiding the reality of sailing doublehanded in a small, speedy sailboat in the open ocean. My seatmate's comments made it clear that this discipline is a lot more challenging than heading out in a big, heavy, fully-crewed boat. Hard times offshore usually are forgotten, leaving only glorious memories that keep us coming back. But now I admit that doing it in a Class 40 can be downright miserable, with occasional crying-for-mommy moments. As I prepare for the Newport Bermuda Race aboard Dragon, I'm finding that doublehanded sailing is much more than a simple sailing experience. It's more like graduate school, getting your master's in a tough subject. It demands doubling-up on preparations, precision in maintenance, and patience in practice. In a series of columns, I'll describe the preparations and sailing of a Class 40 and its crew of two. Rob Windsor was my co-skipper for the delivery, and Michael Hennessy is my co-skipper for the Atlantic Cup and the Bermuda Race. I'll start with our delivery to Charleston, where the boat will race in the Atlantic Cup before returning north to Newport at the end of May. Whatever your impressions of the freaky community of shorthanded sailors, I hope my experiences will reveal how complete and grounded these sailors are. Dragon sailed more than 10,000 miles last year. Many 40s do a circumnavigation's worth of miles annually. Along the way, we'll learn some mental and technical tips that will help us all better enjoy sailing in the open sea. First, let's get Dragon down the East Coast to Charleston. What could possibly go wrong? Diary #1: http://tinyurl.com/CM-Diary-1 Diary #2: http://tinyurl.com/CM-Diary-2 Diary #3: http://tinyurl.com/CM-Diary-3 BACKGROUND: The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing is the United States' premier Class40 sailing race. The 2012 race will kick off in Charleston, South Carolina May 11th. From Charleston, 15 teams will race double-handed to New York City. There will be approximately a 4-5 day stop-over in New York before the race restarts and competitors sprint to Newport, Rhode Island. Once in Newport, skippers will race an inshore grand prix with a crew of six. -- http://atlanticcup.org/race/ SAILING SHORTS * The Border Run International Sailing Event has grown to become the largest point-to-point ocean race on the West Coast for the last two years. This summer, Border Run organizers will introduce a new event for Southern California sailors: the inaugural Border Run2, to be held on one of the longest days of the year -- June 29. The race is scheduled the week after Long Beach Race Week, June 22-24, starting from Long Beach and finishing at three different destinations: Newport Beach, Dana Point, and San Diego. Details: http://www.theborderrun.org/ * Quantum Key West 2013 will take place in Key West, Florida on January 20-25, 2013. Kicking off the New Year is North America's first major regatta of the winter season. Now in its 26th year, this spectacular event offers five full race days and world class competition. Details on invited classes, information on logistics and planning will be posted on: http://Premiere-Racing.com * Annapolis, Md. (May 10, 2012) - This weekend, May 12-13, the U.S. Naval Academy will host the Intercollegiate Sailing Association's (ICSA) National Championship Western and Eastern Semi-Finals at the Robert Crown Center. Thirty-six college teams, representing the seven ICSA districts, have advanced to compete in C420s and CFJs Two semi-finals of 18 teams will vie for the top nine slots in each group to advance to the 2012 ICSA/GILL Dinghy National Championship in Austin, Texas on June 6-8. -- http://2012semis.collegesailing.org/ * Boltenhagen, Germany (May 10, 2012) - Going into today's races Tom Slingsby (AUS) had a comfortable 20 point lead on Croatian Tonci Stipanovic in second place and 14 to 18 knots of wind were ideal conditions for the defending World Champion. Finishing ten places ahead of Stipanovic meant that there was no need for Slingsby to compete in the last race, this winning his fifth Laser World Championship title. Stipanovic has also already secured second overall. Canadian David Wright is the top North America in 15th position. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/Laser-051012 * Hyeres, France (May 10, 2012) - One more day with extremely light winds at the Zhik Star World Championship. It was a day of ups and downs with Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) scoring a 5th while Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) came 17th. After five races, the British duo hold a five point lead over the Brazilians, with the final race six scheduled for Friday. Canadians Richard Clarke/Tyler Bjorn are the top North American team in 19th position. -- http://www.starworlds2012.com/ GRAPHICS THAT SELL! THE PIRATES LAIR Want to sell more gear at your regatta? Then trust The Pirates Lair to create them. Hot, relevant artwork and printing by dudes who actually sail and race. For your event or team order, email ken@pirateslair.com or go to the online store and log on: http://www.pirateslair.com/SFNT.html PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include awkward moments, 6000 feet, being ballast, May calendar, good story, Miami, ground zero, and four in row. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/PHOTOS/12/0511/ * The Snipe class is so serious about their motto, "Serious Sailing, Serious Fun", that they registered it. Here is some of their recent fun in Ft Lauderdale: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0508/ 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 If you were to bet on which event in the 2012 Olympics would most likely bring home a medal for the US Sailing Team, all arrows point toward Women's Match Racing. In no other event was the U.S. nearly as strong, or as deep. The team had narrowed the candidates down to four crews, which then saw the two strongest teams face off in a "first-to-six-wins" final match-up. Would it be Anna Tunnicliffe and her Team Maclaren or Sally Barkow and her Team 7 Match Race? Click here to see the highlight video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/12/0511/ Bonus Videos: * This week on America's Cup Uncovered Episode 38, we look back at the AC World Series Match Race Final in Naples. After an intense elimination series Sweden's Artemis Racing battles Italy's Luna Rossa Piranha for the title of Match Race Champions. Commentators Gary Jobson, Mitch Booth and John Rawlings give us a detailed analysis of the race from Naples. We also profile Artemis Racing skipper Terry Hutchinson, from his four Cup campaigns, to sailing in home waters in Annapolis, Maryland. Tune in on Saturday May 12 at approx 0800 PDT 1600 BST: http://www.youtube.com/americascup * The May 11, Week 19, "World on Water" Global Boating Video News Show reports on the Antigua Sailing Week, the Grand Prix Guyader, France, GOR finish in Charleston, Virginia,the Star Worlds Hyeres, France, PWA Surf World Cup, Podersdorf, Austria, and the huge crash in the F2 Grimstad Powerboat Show. See it on http://www.boatson.tv 1000BST, 0500 EDT. * Chalk Talk, Episode 9: The regular college sailing season is winding to a close, with the last few districts finalizing their Nationals spots. This weekend we begin the post season with the ICSA Semifinals in Annapolis. Chris and Jane give an in-depth look at this regatta and point out the teams to watch this weekend for the 18 spots to ICSA / Gill Dinghy Nationals in June. View here: http://ussailing.blogspot.com/2012/05/chalk-talk-episode-9.html 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 Bill Bennett: After reading his article about racing with his son (in Scuttlebutt 3588), I am very proud to say that Chris Lanza is a friend of mine. * From D. B. Tanner: Send Chris Lanza a coffee cup - with all the bad news we've had to read recently, this one put a big smile on my face. Best story so far this year! * From Deb Schoenherr, Sailing Mom, Senior Judge, International Umpire: The story by Chris Lanza... absolutely fabulous! Those are the sailing experiences that remain with us forever, and I am sure will be well remembered as one of your best races ever. It is amazing if we take the time to sail with our children...how much they know and how content that can make us feel. Revel! And that shot of the moon: Fabulous! * From Brad Avery, Orange Coast College School of Sailing and Seamanship: In Scuttlebutt 3588, Scott Kaufman's question "how does the average sailor get enough experience to be safe at sea?" is a loaded one. We are never safe at sea, whether we are professionals or amateurs. We are always one bad decision away from disaster. My goal is to sail error-free on each cruise or race, but I know this is impossible to achieve. The quest for a voyage free of mistakes goes on. Time on the water, training, humility, and constant vigilance are the keys to being "safer." Knowing you're never safe also helps. * From Luke Cragin, President, University of Texas Sailing Team: We are trying to gauge interest in the 2012 ICSA Afterguard Regatta. Please pass this along to any alumni who might be interested or take a minute to read it if you are an ICSA alumni and might attend. The Afterguard Regatta would be held on Tuesday May 29th at the Austin Yacht Club. It would consist of racing in FJs throughout the day followed by awards and a meal at AYC. Please note that the ICSA Annual meeting will be happening at the same time, so attending both wouldn't be possible. We want to do this but only if there is enough interest, so please take one minute to take this survey to indicate how likely you are to come: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P52R8QQ The survey will close Sunday, May 13th, and if there is enough interest, the NOR will be sent out on Monday the 14th. * From Zvi Ziblat, Israel: In response to the "Pope of Sailing" Paul Henderson (in Scuttlebutt 3587), to whom I rarely disagree, I have to now. Paul tells us that when we put on the scales the legacy sailing leaves behind, especially marina facilities,against big cost, maybe he overlooked the genius ISAF Council that cleverly made a list of classes that don't need a marina. In Brazil, ISAF should decide on all classes "beach start" with heats of 8 boats per heat with a knockout format and we can wrap up the entire event in 5 days. No need for judges - on the water pumping will be allowed. No expensive race committee boats for "beach start" and finish. Marks would be deployed from the beach with het bikes. And so sailing will be the least expensive sport not to mention the most televised bearing in mind it will be run from the "Copa Cabana" beach with all the thong bikinis in the foreground. Let's have fun. * From Barry McSherry: We are having a ridiculously hard time trying to get out on the water to view the VOR Miami In-Port Race (on May 19). There were a couple of Groupon deals on offer, but these were very short on details, very expensive ($350ea), and were available for only a short period (now withdrawn). We've tried contacting the Miami stopover organisers and Groupon without success...have you heard of anyone else having the same complaints? Thanks for a great newsletter. COMMENT: I haven't heard much of anything from the Miami stopover organizers. However, if they want to send Scuttlebutt an update, we will do our best to publish it. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION All mothers are working mothers. Happy Mother's Day! SPONSORS THIS WEEK BIC Sport North America - New York Yacht Club US Sailing - North Sails - Pure Yachting - Doyle Sails Summit Yachts - Soft Deck - US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider Ullman Sails - Beneteau Yachts - The Pirates Lair Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
