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SCUTTLEBUTT 2321 - April 12, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). MIDNIGHT OIL The hard work continues at the base of the Italian Challenger +39. Easter holidays are over, they have been celebrated with 'carbon fibre spaghetti' as an Italian daily titled. The bottom part of the (mast) profile has already reached already 'phase two', that is to say to the lamination process. 'Positioning from 50 to 100 skins of unidirectional fibre - explains the team's shore manager Sebastiano Morassutti- is the second step. Before there was gluing, layering and laminating. The third phase is the curing, that will be done in the oven that was given us by the Shosholoza team and which is ready to work. For superstition too, I'm not making any definitive programme. Let's say that we are hoping to substitute the mast during the first Round Robin. There are 12 to 14 people working now, some from the Soleri and Sicilcraft shipyards, some from the mast builder Marstrom, the whole shore team, 2 technicians and, in shifts the whole sailing crew and the design team.' On +39 is already stepped a generation 4 mast, that will be tested over the next days by the crew led by Iain Percy before the start of Round Robin 1. On Monday 16 April, Percy, Walker, Bruni, Trujillo and Co. will then find themselves face to face with the competitors from Areva Challenge and the Spanish hosts of Desafio Espagnol. -- +39 media as posted on the Sail-World website, http://www.sail-world.com/uk/index.cfm?nid=32532&rid=3 WHY? (Following are excerpts from a story just posted on thedailysail subscription website about Ken Read's about his new Puma-sponsored round the world Volvo race campaign.) So why is (Ken) Read all of a sudden going offshore? "I was tired after the last (America's) Cup," he admits. "It didn't go perfectly and I guess at the end of the day it just wasn't a whole lot of fun. I kind of saw in the Volvo experience it was pretty easy to get the fun back into the thing. I have a young daughter and we weren't prepared to move to Europe for years and do an America's Cup stint that way, so this just makes sense. The other aspect is that there are only so many windward-leewards you can do before it gets a little tiring and I've been doing a lot of windward-leeward race courses for the last 25-30 years, so it is time for a bit of a change within the profession. " While Read is best known for his inshore racing success, he has also competed in many 'distance races' (as they are known in the US) including Bermuda Races, the Transpac on the Ed Dubois designed maxi Genuine Risk, numerous Admiral's Cups and Fastnets, the most fun one he remembers being on board Gianni Agnelli's all-black maxi Stealth around the time of the America's Cup Jubilee in 2001. This will be the first time Read has run such a major program, but says that he has plenty of managerial experience thanks to his (vice president) role at North Sails. "Part of my management job at North Sails feels like one big racing program, that's what I do every day anyway." -- http://www.thedailysail.com RENAMING The boat renaming story we ran yesterday has stirred up a lot of interest and reaction - enough so that we would like to pass along the self-proclaimed "proper protocol for renaming your vessel" that Hal Burchard instituted two years ago and has subsequently been used in renaming a 151 motor yacht with apparent success, as all is going well: "Renaming a boat is, of course, not something to be done lightly. Since the beginning of time, sailors have sworn that there are unlucky ships and the unluckiest ships of all are those who have defied the gods and changed their names. So, is there a way to change a name and not incur the wrath of those deities that rule the elements? Yes, Virginia, there is. "According to legend, each and every vessel is recorded by name in the Ledger of the Deep and is known personally to Poseidon, or Neptune, the god of the sea. It is logical therefore, if we wish to change the name of our boat, the first thing we must do is to purge its name from the Ledger of the Deep and from Poseidon's memory. "This is an involved process beginning with the removal or obliteration of every trace of the boat's current identity. This is essential and must be done thoroughly. Don't forget the life rings and especially the transom and forward name boards. Do not under any circumstances carry aboard any item bearing your boat's new name until the purging and renaming ceremonies have been completed! Once you are certain every reference to her old name has been removed from her, all that is left to do is to prepare a metal tag with the old name written on it in water-soluble ink. You will also need a bottle of reasonably good Champagne. Plain old sparkling wine won't cut it. "Since this is an auspicious occasion, it is a good time to invite your friends to witness and to party. Begin by invoking the name of the ruler of the deep." The instructions for doing this have been posted on the Scuttlebutt website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/renaming/ ULLMAN SAILS POWER "BLAKELY ROCK" WINNER Congratulations to Ken "KJ" Jones and his crew aboard the San Juan 34 "Penetration" for finishing 1st in Class 3, and capturing Overall honors in the 2007 Blakely Rock Benefit Race. Annually, this is a well-attended Seattle regatta, hosted by the Sloop Tavern Yacht Club, with over 80 entries. "Penetration" raced with a full inventory of Ullman Sails. KJ selected his sailmaker for boat speed, reliability, and service, which is appreciated by so many Ullman customers. For your next sail or inventory, contact the nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com PETER ISLER SAYS If the challengers didn't know already, America's Cup holders Alinghi won't be giving up the auld mug easily. Alinghi were the dominant team in last week's final pre-Cup regatta off Valencia and remain one of the best prepared outfits. The challenger series starts on Monday night and Peter Isler of American syndicate BMW Oracle, has little doubt the Swiss are the benchmark. Isler says the good thing for the challengers is that they have the next 2 months to get up to speed to challenge Alinghi. -- Radio New Zealand, http://tinyurl.com/262jrs CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar NOT WHAT WE THUNK The crew list for the Luna Rossa Challenge 2007 listed seventeen people on the boat, with 5 of them in the afterguard. That's nearly 30% of the team in upper management'. One of the positions is called the 'traveller', which we figured meant that the mainsheet traveller on an America's Cup boat was such that it needed a dedicated person to adjust it. Now we understand that is only partly true. Among those who fill the 'traveller' job on the Luna Rosa team is American Andy Horton, where his responsibilities includes being the weather spotter' at the top of the mast on light days or manning the mainsheet traveller and standing behind the helmsman with the tactician when the wind and/or wave conditions do not allow someone to be up there. Therefore, in ACUP parlance, 'traveller' is the noun form for 'travel' as in one who travels up the mast or to the back of the boat. -- Excerpt from Scuttleblog, http://tinyurl.com/3xdmpl SAILING SHORTS * The boss of Team New Zealand Kevin Shoebridge said, "We will use NZL 92 with Dean Barker at the helm on Monday (for the start of the Louis Vuitton Series), but we need flexibility as the competition will be long and we could also race with NZL 84 and our number two helmsman Ben Ainslie." -- http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=170877 * Liz Baylis (San Rafael, Calif.) has won Rolex Women's Match at St. Petersburg YC, April 5-9. Sailing with Baylis were Lee Icyda (Stuart, Fla.), Karina Shelton (Watsonville, Calif.) and Suzy Leech (Simsbury, Conn.). A total of 10 teams competed in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 3 match-racing regatta. Second place went to Rachel Silverstein (St. Petersburg, Fla) with Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass) taking third and JoAnn Fisher (Annapolis, Md.) finishing fourth. Baylis and Silverstein gained an automatic invitation to the ISAF Grade 1 Rolex Osprey Cup at the St. Petersburg YC in October. - http://www.rolexwomensmatch.org. * One thing most observers agreed upon last week (at Act 13) was that Mascalzone Capitalia was one of the teams that showed most improvement and consistency. Finishing third not only were they the best Italian syndicate, they managed to position themselves a mere point behind Emirates Team NZ and ahead of the other top challengers BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa. Although they didn't win any of the races they never crossed the finish line worse than 6th. - Valencia Sailing, http://tinyurl.com/35sult * The Scuttlebutt website has posted a list of tips for online viewing of the 32nd America's Cup submitted by the 2008 Horton-Nichol Olympic Star Campaign (USA), wherein Andy Horton is among the crew on Luna Rosa Challenge (ITA). -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0412/ * The Morning Light team---15 young sailors living a common dream---return to Hawaii this week for their fourth and final monthly training session in preparation for the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race from Los Angeles to Honolulu in July. And, by the way, they're making a movie about it, but that's the last thing on the sailors' minds. Team member Chris Schubert said, "For us it's really about the Transpac. Our goal is to get to Hawaii first. It's not to make a great movie . . . [although] we hope that's a nice by-product." - http://www.pacifichighproductions.com/ BEAUTIFUL RIDE As builder of the TP52 'Morning Light', Goetz Custom Boats has an interest in the ongoing training of the youngest crew ever to sail Transpac. In a conversation with Eric Goetz, Charlie Enright, a 22-year old Rhode Island native and sailing coach at Brown University, as well as a member of the 'Morning Light' team said, "I had a chance to drive the boat down the north side of Molokai in 30+ knots of breeze and 10-foot seas. The boat performed like a champion; impressive stuff, lots of fun. Just wanted to thank you for the beautiful ride." http://www.goetzboats.com EIGHT BELL William W. Robinson, editor, author, and sailor, died in his sleep Tuesday, April 3, at Navesink Harbor, Red Bank. Editor-in-chief of Yachting Magazine, he presided over the world's largest sailing publication from 1967 until 1978. When Yachting was sold, he "retired" to competing Cruising World as editor-at-large and added a dozen new titles to his list of books, bringing his lifetime total to 27. His favorite among them was A Sailor's Tales, a piecemeal autobiography that he dedicated "to my grandchildren, to save them the hours of having to listen to their grandfather in his old age." His lone novel, Destruction at Noonday, was based on his uncle's heroics as a ship captain during the Yokohama earthquake in 1922. With his late wife Jane Dimock Robinson, he lived in Rumson from 1946 on. For most of retirement they spent winters aboard their sailboat based in Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Though he enjoyed racing, cruising was his passion, and most of his writing focused on adventure under sail. Robinson is survived by his son, William Wheeler Jr. of Marshfield, Mass.; daughter, Martha Robinson Bliss of Spring Grove, Pa.; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. A third child, Alice Clare Robinson, died in 1999. A family graveside service will be held in Bridgeport, Conn. A gathering in celebration of his life is planned for 5 p.m. Friday, July 6 at the SSYC. Worden-Hoidal Funeral Home, Red Bank, is in charge of arrangements. - Asbury Park Press, http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704100367 * Michelle Dunne, a significant member of Ron Holland Design for over twenty years passed away last Thursday evening, April 5th, after a short illness. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Linda Frederick: In response to 'Permission Denied' in issue Scuttlebutt 2318, please extend my thanks to the Challenger Commission for staying true to the long, ugly history of no sportsmanship that is indeed the America's Cup. Just when we thought they might be acting human, encouraging broader participation, and the like--well, guess we should have known better. I understand that there's big money at stake here, but would it hurt these miserable, petty bastards to do the gracious thing just once? +39 Challenge seems unlikely to be all that formidable. And if they could be, all the more reason to help them stay in the game. Someone needs a good, swift kick in the transom, since we clearly can't count on anything like a sense of fairness or gallantry here. They just make us feel so proud to be sailors, don't they? * From Ken Sutton: Richard Shulman is fast to point out the number of IRC, ORR and PHRF certificates have been issued. How about IMS? IMS racing was nonexistent. It isn't much fun racing in the Annapolis Newport Race with three IMS boats in your class. Now with IRC there were two classes. PHRF is alive and well for those who want it. Shulman seems to think that it has disappeared. IRC has done what it was supposed to do, replace IMS, and get boats on the starting line. It just sounds like sour grapes that he wasn't consulted when the decision was made. * From Andrews H. Hooker: I read with humor and a very strange sense of truth John Vigor's note on boat renaming (#2320). Having raced sailboats for over half a century, I have learned that Neptune demands our respect. In 1969 my father purchased a C&C Redwing 30, which I raced, polished, and maintained the teak for 16 years. In 1985 I purchased Pegasus, and set about doing some major restorations on areas of maintenance that my father had "taken care of". As I had planned to upgrade everything eventually and make her a better, stronger, faster boat, I felt that I could just modify the name to Battlestar Pegasus without insulting Neptune. At the time I was unaware of any re-naming ceremony, and just changed the name on the transom. Since then I have lost one mast racing in 60 knots, replaced the rudder and repaired keel from striking a submerged bridge foundation in the Niagara River whirlpools, been rammed while on the mooring requiring the replacement of the hull deck joint, and a few other minor mishaps. She has survived a full upgrade from bottom of keel to tip of mast inside and out, but I will definitely be following John Vigor's renaming ceremony as soon as she is splashed this spring. PS Pics of the finished product and crew are available at www.redwing30.homestead.com * From John Wade: Richard du Moulin's comments in today's 'butt is an interesting point of view, but somewhat questionable. If PHRF is the "building block for U.S. handicap racing" why is it considered "limited" for large national and international events? "The answer my friend is blowing in the wind". I think the big expensive boats don't want to be in competition with the old , inexpensive, maybe smaller boats, on a level playing field. Let's face it, any boat that sails to its rating can win, regardless of the system. If I have $4 to $5 million tied up in a 50 to 80 foot boat, maybe I don't want to compete against some club racer in a $15K, 5 knot, t-bucket who might beat me. It just wouldn't look good; or feel good for that matter. So let's make a special rule that the poor guys won't participate in, and sail within our own group. We can all finish within a relatively short time period, and we don't have wait for some Joe to come over the horizon to see who won. From an outsider's perspective, it's not the system (PHRF or whatever) that is deficient, it's a monetary differential that is driving the new rules. Richard said the rule is owner driven, but admits that boats are being designed to it. So who are the "owners"? It sure ain't some duff in a Cal 34. * From Juergen Klinghardt (Bremen, Germany): (in addition to Mr. Richard Shulman's and Mr. Paul Kueffner's comments on the IRC reality in the U.S. in Scuttlebutt # 2319) Please don't forget to mention that IRC is issued and supported not by an independent regional, national or international authority (like e.g. ORA, US-Sailing, ORC), but in the end by an individual yacht club residing far away where the IRC rating office directly belongs to and the IRC propaganda comes from. Do you really feel good if your competitor is member of a yacht club which only is responsible for the implementation of a rating rule you are being scored? By the way, more than 8,200 IMS and ORC-Club certificates have been issued worldwide by the Offshore Racing Congress this year. * From the Forum: Sailing magazine editor Bill Schanen's column in yesterday's issue of 'Butt told a story of an adventurer, Ken Barnes. I am a personal friend of Ken Barnes, and just spent the last 11 days together hauling our race boat home from the last Cabo race. He's a good fellow; a bit misguided but it was his dream and not a sponsors dream. He looked to no one for help or money. He knows his l, http://tinyurl.com/3xdmpl osses and he was not insured-nada. I know that he wasn't much disturbed by what the sailing world thought of him. I was. He didn't deserve all the negative chatter by all the wanna be sailors who've never logged a 2,000nm crossing, let alone a 500nm solo adventure or a 3 day solo around San Nicholas Island. I got over that too. There will always be naysayers. There will always be dreamers. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about? Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Goetz Custom Boats. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
