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SCUTTLEBUTT 2884 - Monday, July 13, 2009
Scuttlebutt 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.
Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt
Today's sponsors are Summit Yachts, MyBoatsGear.com, and Newport Shipyard.
THE FASTNET AT 30
The Rolex Fastnet Race 2009 will begin on Sunday, August 9th with 300
registered crews to set sail in the 608 nautical-mile offshore classic. This
year’s race will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the saddest chapter in the
race's illustrious history, a race that began in fine weather, and then
suddenly became a terrifying ordeal which led to 24 boats being abandoned,
five that sunk, and 15 sailors that died.
To honor this anniversary, Scuttlebutt is asking participants of the race to
share their stories. To quote John Rousmaniere, who authored the book on the
race ‘Fastnet, Force 10’, “Talking leads inevitably to stories, stories
attract people’s attention, and so, as long as there are veterans of that wild
August night telling those stories, lessons will be learned.” Here is a story
from Skip Allan, who sailed the race with his famous 39-foot Ron Holland IMP:
“How could I forget that night and the next morning? At 2000 hours the wind
had veered to the SW, leaving us with a 15 mile beat into what seemed like a
William Turner painting maelstrom.
“As the Fastnet Light came into view through the spume, our staysail stay,
with the storm jib hanked on, pulled out of the mast. We carried on under
triple reef main, making about 4 knots through the water and 3 knots sideways.
All hands were on deck, and (Don) Jesberg was soaked, having left his foulies
home ‘to save weight.’" -- Read on:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7785#7785
=> Curmudgeon’s Comment: I encourage others to share their stories as well.
They can be sent to mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com, or posted directly
into this forum thread, using the link above.
KEELBOAT HIKING FOR DUMMIES
It happens every time there's going to be a crossing situation, a windward
mark that's going to be tough to get around, or when that last little bit of
speed is needed. It comes from somewhere in the back of the boat, where the
instruction being given probably won’t apply to the person giving it -- "HIKE
[EXPLETIVE(S) OF CHOICE]!!!"
And with that kind, well-thought out request, you impale yourself with even
more force onto the 1/4” piece of wire or Spectra in front of you to squeeze
every bit of juice from the sails and foils. To outsiders, this practice must
seem ridiculous - and I think 98% of us would agree that hiking, for lack of a
better word, sucks. The remaining 2% of you are out of your damn minds.
Anyone who’s done it knows that serious hiking hurts. It leaves bruises and
marks that conjure images of medieval torture or an alien abduction. It leaves
you exhausted, never seems to end and rarely seems to be enough for the slave
driver in the back of the boat. But hiking is a necessary evil of our sport
and when the conditions warrant hiking, it’s the only way to get you around
the course with any speed or success. And since we’re all out there to beat
the other guy… -- Stern Scoop, read on:
http://blog.apsltd.com/2009/07/video-bloghands-on-hutchinson-skelly.html
SUMMIT YACHTS UPDATE
The Norwegian King 40, TEAM MAGIC, won first place in the Sandhamn Race Week
with 6 straight bullets… in her first major regatta! As a follow up, she won
her class in the Round Gotland Race, one of Sweden’s great classic ocean
races. Summit Yacht’s King 40 continues to win worldwide in IRC racing, and
will soon to introduce the new Summit 35, another great racer/cruiser designed
by Mark Mills. Check out both of these exciting Summit Yachts models at
http://www.summit-yachts.com
TRANSPACIFIC YACHT RACE
* Alfa Romeo, Neville Crichton’s Reichel Pugh 100, set a new elapsed time
record for monohulls in the Transpacific Yacht Race on Saturday, July 11th by
making the 2,225-nautical mile crossing in 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes and 20
seconds (subject to ratification). The sixteen-man crew beat the previous
course record set by Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory in 2005 of 6:16:04:11 by
over a day. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/kjor4j
* From the time that they left Transpac Pier at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach,
CA with their war flag flying and their red shirts on, Chip Megeath and his
Criminal Mischief crew has given race trackers something to watch. They bolted
off the starting line quickly, made a dare devil move and headed south into
breeze that was as light as 4 knots at times and then set a supersonic pace,
logging three consecutive 300+ mile days. Criminal Mischief, the second boat
in the fleet, crossed the Diamond Head finish line before sunset on Saturday,
July 11th. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/mf3yua
* On July 12th, J World, a J/120 out of Honolulu, HI, informed Transpac
officials of the boat's withdrawal. Skipper Wayne Zittel stated, "Vessel and
crew are fine, and there are no issues beyond significant damage to our
downwind sail inventory! Due to a variety of commitments, the crew has elected
to engage the motor and to motor-sail a portion of the remaining distance in
order to arrive in Hawaii in a timely fashion. --Full report:
http://tinyurl.com/mf3yua
* Lou Comyns, Director Emeritus of the Transpacific Yacht Club, passed away
July 12, 2009 at 10:36 am.
* At the 0600 roll call on July 12, 2009, three boats had finished and two had
retired from the 47-boat fleet. With 201 mile to the finish, John Kilroy, Jr.
and his team aboard the TP52 Samba Pa Ti were the overall leaders. --
Standings: http://tinyurl.com/mfov2j
OLYMPIC CHAMPIONSHIPS
* Copenhagen, DEN (July 11, 2009; Day 6) - Following the final fleet races on
Friday, 2008 Olympic Silver medalist Zach Railey (USA) returned to the top of
the leaderboard with 1-7 to go in into Saturday's medal race with a narrow
three point lead over Jonas Høgh Christensen (DEN). During the medal race,
Railey rounded the first mark in the lead with Christensen in second, but the
Dane was able to harness the lead at the leeward mark. From there, Christensen
controlled the tempo to secure the race win, and with Railey slipping to third
in the race, Christensen also earned the title by one point over the American
in second. -- Photos and final report:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0711
* Kiel, GER (July 11, 2009; Day 6) - World number one Star class sailors
Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada from Brazil clinched the 2009 Star European
Championships title on Saturday. Topping a world-class fleet of 89 boats,
Scheidt/Prada went into the last day's racing with just a one-point lead over
early leaders and Olympic gold medallists Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (Great
Britain). But they extended it to a four point victory in a dramatic final
showdown between these long-standing rivals, with fellow Olympic medallist
Fredrik Loof/Johan Tillander from Sweden snapping at their heels in third
overall tied on points with the Brits. Top North Americans Mark
Mendelblatt/Mark Strube (USA), who had entered the final day in fourth, rolled
a 35-16 today to drop to seventh overall. -- Full story:
http://www.starclass.org/artman/publish/article_427.shtml#6
* Charlottenlund, Denmark (July 12, 2009) - After two days and four races at
the European Laser Radial Championship in Charlottenlund, Denmark, the sailors
were able to discard their worst score from their points. Current World
Champion Sarah Steyaert (FRA) remains in the lead of the 96-boat women’s
fleet, joining fifth place Charlotte Dobson (GBR) and sixth place Paige Railey
(USA) as the only competitors to be counting all their scores in the top 10 so
far. -- Full report:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7800
VOLVO YOUTH SAILING ISAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The world’s top young sailing talent is gathered in Buzios, Brazil for the
39th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship, which is open to competitors
who do not exceed the age of 18 during the calendar year of the event. Entry
is restricted to one boat per nation for each of the seven events, and running
parallel to this is the Volvo Trophy, awarded to the top-performing nation at
the championship.
Racing commenced on Saturday, July 11th for close to 300 entrants, with two
races completed across all seven events. On the opening day, experience was
the common denominator amongst the leading crews, with the top standings all
dominated by teams who featured at the championship in Århus, Greece last
year. Seven different nations currently occupy the top spots: France, Germany
and Great Britain got the European challenge off to a strong start; Australia
and New Zealand both hold a top spot apiece; whilst Hong Kong and Singapore
are at the forefront of the Asian challenge. The hosts Brazil also made a
strong start with four of seven crews holding top-10 positions.
Racing began Saturday in 10-15 knots, but as the day progressed the breeze got
lighter and much shiftier. Racing was abandoned on Sunday due to 30 knot
winds, with the forecast on Monday is for light and shifty winds. Top
performing North Americans after the first day were third place Isabella
Bertold (CAN) in the Laser Radial and fifth place Morgan Kiss/ Laura McKenna
(USA) in the 420. -- Race website:
http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/editions/2009/index.php
IRIDIUM 9555 SATELLITE PHONE
Iridium satellite phones are used by Governments, Military, Rescue Teams,
Emergency Workers, and boaters for full Global communications. MyBoatsGear.com
takes a look at the features and benefits of the new iridium 9555 phone.
Iridium has 66 satellites and provides voice and small data communication from
anywhere. For around $1,500 for the 9555, it is a great communication tool for
anyone venturing out of Cell Phone range. Full report at
http://myboatsgear.com/mbg/product.asp?prodID=1808
YOU'RE NEVER HOME UNTIL YOU'RE HOME
American Zac Sunderland, who departed June 14, 2008 from Marina del Rey, CA in
an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by
yacht (with stops), has had to postpone the date of his official arrival.
Initially announced as July 14th, slow transit north along the Baja Peninsula
now has his arrival to Fisherman's Village, Marina del Rey on Thursday, July
16, 2009 at 10:00am. -- http://www.zacsunderland.com/
* Surely nothing can stop him now - but you're never home until you're home.
Zac was reminded of this recently when he had a near miss with a ship at sea.
He explains:
“Last night as I was sending off my blog my AIS alarm went off showing that I
had a ship 30 miles off. Its track looked like it would pass a few miles off.
I finished sending off my blog just as the 16 mile alarm went off. The track
still showed that it would pass well clear so I set the alarm for 4 miles and
went to get some sleep thinking that it would pass clear of Intrepid.
“A few minutes later, the alarm went off again. The ship must have altered
course after passing Guadalupe Island and now was headed directly at me. I hit
the data button on the AIS and saw that the ship's name was Maersk Kure and it
was going 19 knots which is really fast for a container ship.” -- Sail World,
read on: http://tinyurl.com/kwsxq7
IRISH BOAT UNDERFUNDED, UNDERWEIGHT
There’s a famous old saying in sailing that weight is only useful in a
steamroller. For the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race Green Dragon team, weight wasn’t
the problem - it was where they put it. The story of how Green Dragon got
around the world without ballast or money is truly unique.
The Dragon was one of only four boats in a fleet of seven to finish all the
legs of the race, but this was not the original vision for the “serious
contender” and the State’s biggest-ever backing of an Irish yacht. The crew
came together only three months prior to the start of the race and were up
against teams with four and five times the budget who had a three-year head
start.
British skipper Ian Walker, though, had assembled a crew capable of winning:
three were from Ireland – Justin Slattery from Wexford had won this event last
time out on ABN Amro One; Kerryman Damien Foxall, former winner of the
Barcelona race, was on his eighth journey around the world; and the navigator
from Belfast, Ian Moore, was a member of the winning Illbruck team in 2002. --
The Irish Times, read on:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2009/0711/1224250462592.html
10 GREAT PLACES FOR SAILORS TO TAKE A BRAND-NEW TACK
Summertime invites boaters to sail away, but you don't have to be
regatta-ready to enjoy the wind at your back. Chris Santella, author of Fifty
Places to Sail Before You Die, shares favorite spots to raise the sails.
Annapolis, Maryland
Citizens of Newport have been known to dispute Annapolis' moniker as
"America's Sailing Capital," Santella says, but the city is undeniably the hub
of the mid-Atlantic sailing community. "While it is home for some high-profile
races - and the U.S. Naval Academy - a favorite nautical amusement for many
Annapolites are the Wednesday night races, sponsored by the Annapolis Yacht
Club, where 150 boats or more may compete," he says. 888-302-2852;
visitannapolis.org
Marblehead, Massachusetts
"Quaint Marblehead is custom-made for sailing, with water on three sides and a
deep natural harbor," Santella says. "Historically, it was where Bostonians
came to moor or race their sailboats." The port is a popular spot for starts
and finishes of numerous races. "If there's one week to soak in the ambience
of Marblehead, it would be the Marblehead Race Week, held each year at the end
of July," he says. 781-631-2868, visitmarblehead.com
Read on: http://tinyurl.com/kknbhb
GAME ON, NEWPORT BUCKET
HANUMAN vs RANGER, AVALON, P2, TIMONEER, CHIPPEWA…Bucket yachts converge for
the 24th Bucket since the early Nantucket days. Put the tops on your St Barts
Bucket bikinis and run down to Newport Shipyard this weekend. --
http://www.NewportShipyard.com
SAILING SHORTS
* Hampton, VA (July 11, 2009) - Racing on the third and final day of the U.S.
Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship was cancelled today due to
insufficient winds. However, the team of Chanel Miller (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)
and Yuri Namikawa (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) was the clear winner through
seven races, beating out Deirdre Lambert (Cumberland, Maine) and Tracy Doherty
(Sea Cliff, N.Y.) by a ten point margin. In third was Georgie Ryan (San Diego,
Calif.) and Haley Kirk (Long Beach, Calif.). -- Full story:
http://tinyurl.com/lpchv7
* Cooper Weitz from Marina del Rey’s hosting California Yacht Club turned the
US Opti West Coast Championship into a one-sided rout, winning the 28-boat
event by 15 points. Weitz won half of the eight races, and after discarding a
fifth place finish his worst ‘keeper’ was a third. Esteban Forrer finished
second - one point ahead of Frank Dair who took third in the championship that
was essentially sailed in 6-9 knots of breeze. Next week the fleet will be
moving south to the U.S. Optimist National Championship, hosted by Cabrillo
Beach Yacht Club. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ncu6ax
* Malcesine, ITA (July 12, 2009) - The fight for the podium positions of the
Malcesine RC 44 Cup, between Team Aqua, Artemis, BMW ORACLE Racing and No Way
back has been fantastic. Showing great stamina, Chris Bake’s Team Aqua squad
managed to overcome a backstay breakage to remain in the fight. But Torbjorn
Tornqvist, Dean Barker and their team on board Artemis dominated the last race
and won the event. -- Full story:
http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2102
* Falmouth, UK (July 11, 2009) - The finish of the Dragon Edinburgh Cup,
sponsored by Aberdeen Asset Management, could not have been more gripping as a
first mark pile up in today's final race threw the 27-boat fleet and the
results into disaray. Ultimately it was Bill Hardesty from Chicago, with owner
Quentin Strauss from London and Nigel Young of North Sails Ireland, who
claimed the historic Edinburgh Cup trophy. -- Full story:
http://www.britishdragons.org.uk/news/news_article.asp?id=109
WE’LL SEE YOU IN VALENCIA, OR THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE
The America’s Cup defender, the Swiss Alinghi team, has until August 8th to
disclose the sailing venue for the 33rd America’s Cup, with the racing to
begin on Feb 8, 2010. The Swiss will keep their American Challenger of Record,
BMW Oracle Racing, guessing as long as possible, and have likely helped to
spread all forms of rumor as to where the site might be. The Americans might
be losing their sense of humor on this issue, and last week sent this letter
to the Swiss team’s club to remind them of their options:
“Let us again reiterate, the Deed and the Order and Judgement are clear that
you may not select a Northern Hemisphere venue, other than Valencia, without
our mutual consent. Justice Kornreich's May 14th order contains nothing that
even suggests, let alone ‘stated’, otherwise. To the contrary, Justice
Kornreich ordered ‘SNG (Société Nautique Genève) to hold the race as per the
order of the Court of Appeals and Justice Cahn in February as the order
required.’
“As further proof that our reading of the Deed and the Judgment and order is
correct, you agreed with it when light and truth were original to you. In your
May 11, 2009, court papers you agreed that ‘the Deed of Gift unambiguously
prohibits sailing a match between November 1 and May 1 in the Northern
Hemisphere... There is nothing in the order that suggests that a race should
be held in contravention of the terms of the the Deed of Gift.’" -- Read on:
http://www.ggyc.com/GGYC-SNG%208%20Jul%2009.pdf
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
Please submit your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’).
Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words
(letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). 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 Daria Blackwell: Good article about lightning strikes (in Scuttlebutt
2883). But the article about lightning protection linked into your piece has a
problem statement: “Put any movable electronics on the oven. This may sound
silly but an oven is a faradays cage.” Putting electronics on the oven won’t
do much to protect them. Putting them in the oven, however, will.
We once had a boat that was struck by lightning - TWICE - both times at the
mooring in the harbor. The more direct and severe hit blew a hole in the
bottom of the keel and fried all the electronics, including handhelds. Luckily
we were not aboard, but people on shore saw the strike and told of their hair
standing on end hundreds of yards distant from the strike. We learned that if
we had had plastic thru-hulls like on some newer boats, they probably would
have melted and the boat might have sunk. The less direct strike we suspected
on another occasion caused some electronics failures but it was not
catastrophic - that one was hard to confirm as a strike but the pattern of
electrical issues was highly suggestive. As a note of interest, we had one of
those lightning dissipater brushes on our masthead during both strikes. Our
opinion was that it attracted lightning rather than deflecting it.
By the way, there’s a great BBC video that shows what it would be like if you
were struck by lightning while in your car. --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve6XGKZxYxA
CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION
If the shoe fits, it's ugly.
Special thanks to Summit Yachts, MyBoatsGear.com, and Newport Shipyard.
Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers
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