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SCUTTLEBUTT 1300 - April 3, 2003Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. GUEST EDITORIAL - Patrick Broderick In 'Butt 1298 Tom Dick recalled the tragic circumstances leading to the death of Harvey Schlasky in the 1999 Bay Area Multihull Association (BAMA) Double-handed Farallones Race after being thrown from his boat and dragged behind until the Coast Guard arrived and asked his crew member to cut his tether. Unfortunately Harvey could not be resuscitated and even more unfortunately in the scramble to save his life his inflatable lifejacket/safety harness was lost. Harvey was the Singlehanded Sailing Society of San Francisco Bay's Treasurer that year and I was the Commodore. I was also a participant in the BAMA race. Several lessons were learned that day. Harvey and his crew member rigged jacklines from the bow pulpit, across the cockpit, to the pushpit. When they went overboard, the crew member was thrown across the cockpit and over the other side of the boat so his tether dragged him alongside the boat. Harvey was on the low side and when he went overboard and his tether slid to the jackline's end, at the pushpit. This allowed him to be towed behind the boat rather than alongside. The crew member was able to re-board the boat, but in the knockdown the boom was broken and his attempts to lower the mainsail left it partially hoisted. He could not stop the boat. By the time the Coast Guard arrived it was too late. The SSS sponsors single or doublehanded Bay and ocean races (including the biannual Singlehanded Hawaii Race), and safety is primary. After much discussion we concluded that jacklines should terminate at the forward end of the cockpit so someone attached to them would be towed alongside the boat rather than behind. We also concluded that while in the cockpit it was better for the tether to be connected to hard points as far forward as practical for working the boat. Again, the idea is to be towed alongside rather than behind in case of an overboard situation. Most shorthanded sailors rig ropes or rope ladders that can be reached by a person on the water and can provide that all important foothold needed to hoist oneself back into the boat. Anyone contemplating shorthanded sailing owes it to themselves (and their loved ones) to think hard about getting back onto their boat. Many of us also concluded that tethers with a quick release snap shackle for attachment to the safety harness end of the tether made sense in case separating oneself from the boat became necessary. Nearly 100 boats will participate in next Saturday's 2003 Singlehanded Farallones Race (30 miles out and back around the S. E. Farallon Island). Each participant will be eager to win; each will be cognizant that safely completing the race is even more important. - Patrick Broderick, www.sfbaysss.org CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS * April 17-22: Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. - www.antiguaclassics.com * April 18-20: Southern Straits Classic, West Vancouver YC, West Vancouver, BC. - www.wvyc.bc.ca/Straits.htm * April 27-May 3: Antigua Sailing Week. - www.sailingweek.com HOT NEW GEAR! Team One Newport's catalog and website are here and they feature phenomenal photography from Sharon Green and Onne Van der Wal. You really must see them; they are packed with cool stuff from Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Gill, Patagonia, Camet, Kaenon, Harken, and more. And did you know that their crew uniform department works with a ton of boats? Clay Deustch's Chippewa won the best uniform title in a number of regattas, and they were all from Team One Newport. Give them a call at 800-VIP-GEAR or visit their website. You will be very happy that you did! http://www.team1newport.com TEAM NEW ZEALAND Auckland's yachting leaders have called for a swift decision on Team New Zealand's leadership so the syndicate can maintain the public's goodwill to mount another America's Cup challenge. Yachting NZ's high performance manager, Peter Lester, said it was vital that the syndicate's new director of sailing be appointed quickly. And a former manager of New Zealand's Olympic yachting team, Rod Slater, said there was support for Grant Dalton being offered the job. "My experience of watching Grant Dalton putting campaigns together is he has got what it takes." Lester said Team NZ needed to maintain the momentum and enthusiasm of both their sailors and the sporting public if they wanted to put a team together with a realistic chance of winning the cup in Europe in four years. "Let's just get on with it. My understanding is Grant Dalton would be prepared to have a whack at it. "He's a hard-hitter and you might have to manage that, but there's a huge groundswell of support for him." Team NZ have been undertaking an internal review since their shock 0-5 loss of the cup to Alinghi last month, but may not say before October whether they will challenge again. However, the syndicate's four trustees have announced a management shakeup that is expected to impact on the roles of skipper Dean Barker, syndicate head Tom Schnackenberg and chief executive Ross Blackman. Two new positions, a director of sailing and a managing director, will be created. - Helen Tunnah, NZ Herald, full story: www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/sportsstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3350502&thesection=sport&thesubsection=americascup&thesecondsubsection=teamnz SPONSORSHIP (Around Alone skipper Emma Richard wrote a story for the UK's Independent that we found interesting. Here's an excerpt.) For most of the skippers, plans remain uncertain because they don't know where their next sponsorship might come from. It's a permanent worry for most racers. I feel so lucky because I've sailed in Pindar's colours for four years and will do so for at least another three. I don't take this for granted, ever, but it's a constant surprise to realize how many people are supporting me. It still astounds me from within our "bubble" of competitors and shore teams the extent to which that's true. When I arrived here, for example, one of the first people I was introduced to was a representative of Bird's Eye. They offered to sponsor me for the rest of this race just because they read in The Independent on Boxing Day that I eat potato waffles while at sea! Knowing I have that kind of support I mean people taking an interest and wishing me well, not just giving me free food is priceless when you're out there on your own. - The Independent, full story: http://sport.independent.co.uk/general/story.jsp?story=391776 REGATTA GEAR 2003 YACHTING APPAREL COLLECTION Regatta Gear is right on. Great jackets, vests, shirts, shorts, matching crew racing gear, also styles designed just for women. Established at major regattas around the world. Finally, the right crew gear is here for us. Best place for all your team gear. http://www.regattagear.com MARSEILLES WANTS THE AMERICA'S CUP Jean-Claude Gaudin, mayor of Marseilles, said he believed Marseilles had "strong attributes" to host the 2007 America's Cup. He pointed out that the City "likes the great challenges" and had show their capacity to organise a popular event with the football world cup 1998. As Alinghi is looking for a "nice and windy place", Marseilles advances some charts and offers 57 kilometers of littoral and an exceptional bay with several possibilities of water area for the regattas. The current proposal for the syndicate bases seems to be articulated around two previously disused industrial area sites. First is l'Estaque in north of Marseille, with its 11.000 square meters. Then the site of the "J4" shed, near of the Vieux-Port, with 5.000 square meters. "We don't have all constructions to make", explained France Gamerre, the City delegate to the maritime businesses who had gone to Auckland during the Cup. "We have already the bay, natural spaces and the winds". But nothing is gained. Last week, the Alinghi meteorologist head came on the spot, with the assistance of Météo France, to study the aerological situation in a city which knows complex kind of winds. The world's best skippers seemed to adapt to that pretty well during the last competitions which proceeded in Marseilles. The Race organizers released their plans for the second edition of The Race, which will start and finish there. "We will put all the chances on our side and, if needed, we will break our moneybox !", Jean-Claude Gaudin concluded. "We need a general mobilization to take up this challenge " - Cup in Europe website, www.cupineurope.com/LatestNews/Where3.htm CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: Marseilles is one of eight finalists being considered by the Société Nautique de Genève, as the site for the 2007 America's Cup SAILING SHORTS * A new 54-page Swedish Match Tour Magazine, produced in partnership with Yachting World magazine, includes feature articles on match racing, umpiring, event overviews and skipper profiles, with contributions from yachting journalists Dobbs Davis and James Boyd. The subscribers of Yachting World have already received a complimentary copy, and now Scuttlebutt readers can get one too. For a free copy, just complete and return the form available at www.swedishmatchtour.com * It appears that the 'Buttheads don't feel they should be told when to put on a PFD. After just one day of voting, the early returns of our Scuttlebutt poll show that more than two thirds of those casting a vote do not feel it's appropriate to mandate the wearing of a PFD. You can cast your vote at: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ * The Royal Ocean Racing Club announced that Corum, the Swiss watch brand, will be returning to be the official timekeeper for the Admiral's Cup 2003 and, in addition, will sponsor the Corum Trophy Races to be held on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th July. * Correction: Clay Oliver never uttered the words attributed to him in 'Butt 1299. The conclusion we printed here was actually drawn by the writer who interviewed him, Rebecca Hayter. NEW CLASS ANNOUNCED There will be a new one-design class competing this year in the 10th Annual Ski/Sail National Championships on May 2-4. "Due to thousands of customer requests, we will be adding a Protector 28 division," said Ralph Silverman, promoter of the event. "The Protectors will race on a six leg, 10 mile, Gold Cup Course and have a 20 minute time limit." If you don't have a Protector for the race on Lake Tahoe, call Ralph now at 877.664.BOAT to get one. Protector Boats...Go Anywhere. For more information, go to http://www.protectorboats.com and http://www.skisail.com TRANSPAC RACE The board of directors for the Transpacific Yacht Race has endorsed US Sailing's modified Rule 5.02.5 of the Special Regulations governing offshore and oceanic racing, which parallels a rule that Transpac already had in place. The new rule requires that crew members on deck between sunset and sunrise shall wear harnesses and personal flotation devices (PFDs). The rule doesn't require that the harnesses by connected---a key point in divided opinion among US Sailing members surveyed. The 60 current Transpac entries, which include nine Cal 40s, will have three staggered starts off the Palos Verdes peninsula July 1, 4 and 6. - Rich Roberts, www.transpacificyc.org LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com) (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room or a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From Malcolm McKeag: The US is not the only place littered with Lipton Cups. I have in my possession a cheque, written out in the name of my father, for Five Guinneas and endorsed '1952 Royal Ulster Yacht Club Regatta Lipton Cup - 1st prize - Merrymaid III.' (It was through the Royal Ulster that Lipton lodged his challenges.) Of course Dad never cashed the cheque (didn't want to jeopardise his ISAF Group 1 status, I suppose) and, sadly, our 'Merrymaid' wasn't the one older Buttheads may have read about, or even recall - just a lil' ole 18-footer (but she did set 310sq ft of sail, on a gaff rif with a 4ft bowsprit and a boom that overhung the transom by about the same amount, and it took about seven people as well as a 200lb steel centreplate to hold it upright in anything more than 5kts of breeze). I wasn't old enough to be allowed to race in Merrymaid - but I do recall we drank nothing but Lipton tea in our house for years after that win, and regarded Sir Thomas as a personal friend. It was Lipton, I believe, who remarked: 'Consider the duck egg: it is bigger, fuller, tastier and more nutritious than a hen's egg. The duck lays an egg, and sits on it. The hen lays an egg, and gets up and tells the whole farmyard what she has done. How many people buy duck's eggs?' * From Peter O. Allen, Sr: Do you suppose the reason Jacques Chirac, President of the French Republic, presented the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur to Ernesto Bertarelli, the head of the Alinghi Team, has anything to do with an attempt to focus Bertarelli's attention on France as a venue to host the next challenge? * From Peter Huston: Asking a company to support your sailing habit, either as a competitor or race official, reminds me of the Steve Martin classic cult comedy movie "The Jerk". Steve's character makes a lot of money selling the "Optigrab", and he gives it away with wild abandon. A Texas oilman asks him for money to fix the leather seats on his Lear jet so that he's not embarrassed when he takes his friends to the Super Bowl. If you have a boat, but can only afford to race on a competitive level if your funds are supplemented with sponsorship money, are you making your life more or less complicated in the long run? If a private yacht club can only afford to run regattas if they have sponsorship money, might they want to reconsider the priorities they assign to their full service dining room vs their sailing program? When we ask for sponsorship money to support sailing, whether it's the naming rights to a class, regatta, or our own boat, do we really understand we have become a marketing services entity first that just happens to sell advertising services through sailing, and a racing sailor second? Or are we just being greedy jerks? * From Don McNair: Over the course of many deliveries at sea, I've found that canned peaches are the only thing that consistently seem to stay put in someone suffering severely from this problem, and suggest that every boat stock a few cans for such emergencies. * From Geoff Newbury: Dick Holberg recommend Ephedrine Sulfate 25mg. & Promenthazine (AKA: Phenergan) 25mg for sea sickness. This remedy has been around for many years, and is supposed to have been found as a result of a NASA study of motion sickness. The 'virtual naval hospital' has a good if densely-written article about motion sickness. "When administering a drug for prophylaxis, the timing of administration relative to exposure is particularly important." (www.vnh.org/GMO/ClinicalSection/60Motionsickness.html) Two points: From personal observation the proper dosage ratio can vary from 1:2 to 2:1 of these drugs. Ephedrine is an 'upper' and promethazine a 'downer' and individuals react quite differently to these. If your crew takes the wrong ratio, you too may observe your own zombie or your own high-energy-jumping-jack act. In the first case, the crew has no attention span, because they are asleep and have no attention. In the second case, the crew has an attention span only slightly longer than the mean half life of a quark. When balanced they work well. * From Whitney Rugg: Something to think about when using trans-dermal medication is to check the dosage to weight ratio on the supplied information. A number of years ago, as a Mate on one of Andy Burton's trips South, we had a woman who weighed only about 95lbs. She was a nurse and her husband a doctor, for the first two nights on the way to Bermuda, she was hallucinating and miserably incapacitated. It almost got to the dreaded point of the suppository (to try and quell her sickness). What fixed her problem? She took off the Patch, we all came to the conclusion that she was overdosing. Upon arriving in Bermuda, she switched to half-patches (cut in half w/ scissors), and for the remainder of the trip to St. Maarten, she was fine. * From David Paul: Cutting scopalamine patches in half can dramatically increase the dose and lead to serious adverse side effects. You must not let that suggestion go without a response. The disc is designed to moderate flow and cutting it in half messes up the program. I used a small band aid, w/o any medication and "cured" one seasick mate. I'd use a Band Aid placebo before cutting a patch in half. * From Larry Pierce: We find that when guests aboard complain of seasickness, a healthy offering of cold, greasy pork chop sandwiches served in a dirty ashtray will usually rid them of what ails them. CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: On this low note, we declare this thread officially dead. THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION According to a recent survey, men say the first thing they notice about a woman is their eyes, and women say the first thing they notice about men is they're a bunch of liars. |
