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SCUTTLEBUTT 2826 - Monday, April 20, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Today's sponsors are Atlantis WeatherGear, MyBoatsGear.com, and LaserPerformance. GETTING READY TO DEFEND - PART 2 The Audi MedCup Circuit in Europe has become the elite professional sailing series, with big budget teams competing in highly refined TP52s. In 2008, American Terry Hutchinson quarterbacked a brand new team to victory, with this accomplishment leading to him earning the U.S. Rolex Yachtsman of the Year award. Terry is bringing his team, Quantum Racing, back for the 2009 MedCup series, and provides Scuttlebutt with the second half of his update on their preparation: * Bribon and Matador finished second and third in the 2008 MedCup, and both were 2007 boats that were reconfigured for 2008. Could you learn anything from how they approached their second season that you will use for your program? Terry Hutchinson: “For sure there is a lot to learn. It is interesting that when you compare Bribon and Matador, both had different seasons. Bribon started strong, was always there, won the fifth regatta of the year in Carthagena and really only struggled in Cagliari (third event) and Breitling (fourth event). But they were always there, chipping away, and so for us it is good to remember that it is still sailboat racing and in order to be successful we have to do all the little things well. “I know one advantage this year is the fact that we have a 14 month head start against the new boats. There is a learning curve with these boats and for the Quantum Racing the goal is the same continual improvement through the season and get to the end with an opportunity to win the season championship. “Matador was second in the last three events of the year but had a disappointing event in Alicante (first event) and was hit in Marseille (second event). The lesson for us in there this season is that we need to avoid the big ones. Take transoms when necessary and minimize risk. For us nothing has changed it is about always improving the entire program.” * What did your boat designer, Botin Carkeek, learn from 2008 and apply to the new Emirates Team New Zealand's design? Terry Hutchinson: “I am not sure as the ETNZ boat is quite a variation in hull shape then the Quantum Racing. I think the ETNZ hull shape is very big and powerful. They will address the associated drag penalty with lower drag appendages and a narrower water line beam then the Quantum Racing. We were told by BC that nothing done to the ETNZ hull shape applies to Quantum Racing and so to not do any modifications to our boat. I would expect that up range the bigger hull will create more formed stability potentially allowing for a performance gain. This assumes the boat overcomes the deficit of its hull drag so really that is the question. Either way BC will learn something.” * The 2009 MedCup series is a five event circuit, where as the 2008 series had six events. How will the schedule change affect your prep/training, logistics, etc.? -- Complete interview, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0416 DISCOVER: THE NEW 12-METRE COLLECTION BY ATLANTIS This summer, teams will be coming from all over the world to participate in the International 12-Metre Class’ “Golden Year of Racing”, and Atlantis will be there. As the Official Technical Apparel provider, Atlantis WeatherGear is introducing the “12-Metre Collection”, a limited-edition line of gear made for the 12-Metre teams with one-of-a-kind custom touches. You can get these jackets and vests too, but you have to order them this week as we are only making as many as we have orders for. Check out the line at: http://www.atlantisweathergear.com/12metrecollection DISCOVER: Your Atlantis TRADEWIND FIREHOSE REACHING (Apr. 19, 2009; Day 9) - So much for the Doldrums. The entire Volvo Ocean Race fleet appears to have emerged more or less unscathed, with nary a shuffle despite, as Telefonica Blue helmsman Simon Fisher reports, “many (more) clouds and (more) squalls as well as sudden calms and a truly hideous sea state to deal with.” For much of the weekend the rallying cry has been 'Speed, speed and more speed’ as the fleet takes advantage of steady trade wind conditions to watch the miles fly by. However, with a true wind angle at around 113 degrees, the 20 knot winds lead to brutal firehose reaching. Wouter Verbraak, Delta Lloyd navigator describes, “Through spray drops on the ski-goggles I have a blurry view of the instruments on the mast. The boat is leaping from wave to wave and big three meter high fountains of spray are crashing over the bow and submerging the mast and instruments completely. The boat speed goes to 20, 21, 22, 23 knots and just hovers there.” For now the fleet is at even latitude with the top of South America, 660 miles off the coast, and aiming for the Chesapeake. While the conditions are expected to soften ahead, PUMA skipper Ken Read describes their current weather as “not the ‘sail changing world championships’ we have had over the past week. This is more ‘throw up all the rag you can and hold on’ style of sailing. Fine tuning is a must. “ Yes, speed is what it is all about until the fleet nears the eastern U.S.. No big passing lanes, just full focus on squeezing very last tenth of a knot out of the boat. -- Excerpts from race website Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Six from Rio de Janiero, Brazil to Boston, MA, USA is 4,900 nm, with the finish estimated on April 27th. Current positions (as of Apr. 19, 22:15 GMT): 1. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 2,285 nm Distance to Finish 2. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 89 nm Distance to Leader 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 89 nm DTL 4. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 96 nm DTL 5. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 132 nm DTL 6. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 142 nm DTL 7. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 150 nm DTL Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, Did Not Start Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 AMERICA'S CUP TALKS SET FOR APRIL 23 Representatives of defending champions Alinghi and US challengers Oracle will meet in Geneva on April 23 to discuss the format and rules of the next edition of the America's Cup, Oracle said. The Golden Gate Yacht Club (GGYC) of San Francisco, which represents Oracle, late Friday released a letter in which it accepted an invitation to the meeting from Alinghi's representative, the Societe Nautique de Geneve (SNG). The talks are set to take place three weeks after a New York court backed Oracle over the Swiss champions in the conclusion to their long-running legal battle over the rules of the next edition of yachting's premier event. That ruling means that, barring any other agreement between them, the two teams must hold a best-of-three duel involving multi-hull yachts. But Oracle said in its letter that it wanted to talk to Alinghi about a traditional regatta, involving the 18 challengers registered for the 33rd edition of the event, to be held in the Spanish Mediterranean port of Valencia in 2010 or 2011. However doubts remains over what will be discussed in Geneva, since, in its invitation to the talks, Alinghi appeared to mention only negotiations on a possible multi-hull duel. "We hope they are ready to discuss a multi-challenge cup," an Oracle spokeswoman told AFP late Friday. -- AFP, read on: http://tinyurl.com/cjj9nb * GGYC letter: http://www.ggyc.com/GGYC-SNG%2017%20Apr%2009.pdf * While it is hopeful that winning America's Cup skipper Brad Butterworth will soon again have the chance to defend the cup, there may yet be some time before he gains entry to the exclusive Auckland Golf Club. He has twice withdrawn his membership application, the second time last year, amid suggestions he faced strong opposition from some of its 1580 members. One member, Harry Julian, said tensions went back to when Brad Butterworth and Russell Coutts switched allegiance from Team New Zealand to Swiss multi-millionaire Ernesto Bertarelli's Alinghi syndicate in 2000. -- NZ Herald, full story: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10567356 AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM AIS Last October AIS Class B was approved for use in the US. To learn about AIS and what it can do for you, plus the equipment, read here: http://www.myboatsgear.com/newsletter/AIS.asp AIS is a signal sent out by commercial shipping and can be picked up with an AIS receiver connected to your VHF antenna. The AIS signal tells you the sending vessels SOG, COG, Position and destination. AIS is very useful information for the boater, for navigating in shipping channels, and open Oceans. RSS feeds are available at http://www.Myboatsgear.com ROUGH START TO HYÈRES EVENT Hyères, France (Apr. 19, 2009; Day 1) - The 41st Semaine Olympique Française, the fourth of seven International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Sailing World Cup events, started with a long day on the water. The light and unstable conditions provided for tricky racing for the 505 teams engaged in the Olympic and Paralympic event. Racing was delayed on shore waiting for the sea breeze to wrinkle the bay in Hyères, with classes either completed one or two races. It was not an exceptional day for the North American contingent, as three of the eight American teams picked up Black Flag Disqualifications. Among the penalized was American Brad Funk, whose second place in his other Laser race may be enough to help him salvage his event amid the 139-boat fleet. Top team for the day was Stu McNay and Graham Biehl (USA), who in the Men’s 470 are fourth place with a 1-9 in the 74-boat fleet. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) finished sixth out of 54-boats in the lone Laser Radial fleet. -- Event website: http://sof.ffvoile.net UNMANNED ROBOT BOAT TO CROSS ATLANTIC Mechanical engineering students from ETH Zurich have developed an unmanned sailing boat in a focus project that can reach any given destination completely autonomously. In the fall, the students are looking to enter their boat, Avalon, in the International Microtransat Challenge 2009, where it is supposed to sail from the west coast of Ireland to the Caribbean entirely under its own steam. As of yet no robot sailing boat has successfully crossed the Atlantic. Since last September, the eight ETH Zurich students designed Avalon using state-of-the-art techniques and, to a great extent, built it themselves during the winter. The only requirement stipulated by the Challenge organizers was the length of the boat, which should not exceed 4 meters. The first test runs are currently being conducted on Lake Zurich. Avalon is then to be optimized further under tougher conditions on Lake Lucerne in May. It won’t get to test its sea legs until the summer, however, when it is due to take part in the World Robotic Sailing Championship in Portugal. The organizers of the Microtransat Challenge expect that it will take somewhere between two to three months for the boats to reach the tropical waters on the Atlantic crossing and that they will be subjected to enormous strain: an acid test for Avalon itself, and maybe even more so for the nerves of its creators and various sponsors, without whom the project would never have left port. Avalon is a prime example of what persuasive ETH Zurich students and dedicated industrial partners can achieve together: the project budget will be covered almost entirely by industrial sponsors. -- Science Daily, complete story: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090418084813.htm REFINING THE OPEN 60 CLASS FORMULA The decisions taken in the International Monohull Open Class Association (IMOCA) Annual General Meeting have been taken with the aim of ensuring reliability of the Open 60 boats, skipper safety and maintaining a competitive level within the older generation of boats. There was a noticeable and general consensus that these were the priorities facing the IMOCA Class. Since the grueling Vendée Globe there have been high expectations regarding the new rule changes adopted by the Class, a Class made up of many of the best sailors in the world. Class President Dominique Wavre notes, “All members are in agreement that the Class needs to continue evolving in order to ensure the success of the Vendée Globe and to offer all skippers, sponsors and followers a good race programme. As we have done up until now. We also need to confront the present economic crisis with a spirit that will ensure the highest possible number of boats at the start of races.” With the above mentioned aims in mind, the assembly considered it very important to limit the differences in speed of new boats versus old ones. Three measures were voted and agreed on: To limit the number of sails to 10 (no matter how many crew onboard); To limit the number of appendages to 5 (1 keel, 2 rudders, and 2 dagger boards.); and To establish a maximum mast height. This last resolution will also improve safety in the sense that it will limit the strength of the power of the masts. This measure is a direct result of the number of breakages in the Vendée Globe. -- Full story: http://www.imoca.org/container.asp?id=20635 * The route of the Vendee Globe 2008/9 had taken its toll on 19 of the 30 original entries that started on November 9, 2008 at Les Sables d’Olonne, France. Here is the list of their damages: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/vg-damage FREE SHIPPING FROM LASERPERFORMANCE Now through April 30th, LaserPerformance is offering free shipping on all orders of $100 or more bought through our on-line store http://shop.laserperformance.com Some restrictions apply so go online, check out the fine print, and start gearing up for the season today! -- http://www.laserperformance.com SAILING SHORTS * Charleston, SC (April 19, 2009) - Following the strong winds of day one at the 2009 Charleston Race Week, and the very mild winds of day two, mother nature ordered up a sparkling day to close out the event to provide near-perfect sailing conditions for the 174 race boats across the 13 divisions. Among the two largest fleets, David Guggenheim (Savannah, GA) won the 32-boat Viper fleet while Scott Nixon (Annapolis, MD) won the 30-boat Melges 24 fleet. Winning the first event for the new Melges 20 class was Marc Hollerbach (Grosse Pointe Park, MI). -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/dyes4y * Suunto, manufacturer of sports precision instruments, announced the acquisition of the UK based Tacktick Ltd, manufacturer of wireless marine sensors, instruments and displays. The acquisition was carried out by a sister company Amer Sports UK Ltd, a subsidiary of the Amer Sports Group. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7339 * The Yachting Journalists' Association has paid its own tribute to Jim Saltonstall, who for more than 30 years has been responsible for training many of Britain’s elite sailors to racing success. -- Read on: http://www.covarimail.com/view.lasso?id1=342&id2=244544 * Current U.S. Match Racing National Champion Dave Perry will be running an advanced youth match racing camp this summer, at which he will be teaching advanced techniques for racing keelboats and match racing. The ages are 15-20. The Camp will be hosted by the US Sailing Center of Sheboygan in Wisconsin, in their excellent fleet of Sonars. Dates are July 8-12. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7340 * Australian Peter Gilmour, four-time Match Racing World Champion, has announced that his Yanmar Racing Team will be returning to the World Match Racing Tour. Their first appearance will be Match Race Germany in Langenargen, Germany on May 27-June 1, which is the second of ten events on the 2009 tour. The event will be sailed in sportive Bavaria 35 Match Yachts, not only for decisive points towards the Tour leaderboard, but also for US$50,000 in prize money and points towards the ISAF world ranking list. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/cb495k CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get 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 Jay Maher: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2825) Just to clarify, le ponant's captain and crew were freed by a ransom of $2.15 million, paid by the ship's owners, and not by French commandos. * From Alistair Murray, Melbourne: In Scuttlebutt 2825 in the article about developing a new “flying boat” it is stated that the new boat is based on the “Hydroptère hydrofoil vessel - the world’s fastest sailing boat”. While I think Hydroptère is an incredible machine and I love the French, as a proud Aussie I must let you know this claim is incorrect. The world’s fastest sailing boat is Macquarie Innovation, designed by Lindsay Cunningham and sailed by Simon McKeon and Tim Daddo. In March of this year they recorded an average 50.08 knots over 500 metres to be the first sailing boat to crack the 50 knot barrier. Hydroptère’s highly creditable best results have been 43.09 knots over 1,000 metres and 46.68 knots over 500 metres. Can’t imaging sailing that fast myself! => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Thanks Alistair for the correction, and after looking at the World Sailing Speed Record (WSSR) website, additional clarification is needed. Hydroptère’s 1000 meter 43.09 knot record is the outright best, and their 500 meter 46.68 knot record is the best Class D record (for crafts with over 298 sq feet of sail). Macquarrie Innovation currently holds the 500 meter Class C record of 48.14 knots (for crafts with 234 to 298 sq feet of sail), and the 500 meter run on March 26, 2009 of 50.08 knots that Alistair references (story in Scuttlebutt 2811) is still waiting for ratification by the WSSR. The outright 500 meter speed record of 50.57 knots is held by kitesailor Alexandre Caizergues (FRA). -- WSSR site: http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/ * From Tom Donlan: Jessica Lord (who in Scuttlebutt 2820 said, “I would rather have boils lanced than watch two 90+ foot catamarans match race for the America's Cup”) is of course entitled to choose her own form of entertainment, but so are Larry and Ernesto. She also should consider the trickle-down effect of their conspicuous consumption. Follow the money from their bank accounts to those of their employees and suppliers, and to their employees and suppliers, and so on. And if she really thinks they have too many dollars, the best solution to that alleged problem is to let them spend it all. GOING TO THE SHOW Boat shows are a lot like Scuttlebutt. At each show, some things will interest you more than other things. Last Friday I travelled to Oakland, CA to attend the Strictly Sail Pacific show, which had been marketed as “the west coast’s only all-sail show”. About a month before the show it became the Strictly Sail Pacific & Power Boat Expo. I wasn’t interested in looking at power boats, but then I didn’t see too many either. What I was interested in was experiencing the show vibe, seeing old friends, meeting with Scuttlebutt clients, and testing the Scuttlebutt Twitter page. There had been a lot of concern for the show, as diminishing land space and discretionary income was not in its favor. I understand the show has been bigger in the past. However, any attendee who came away disappointed should pause to re-evaluate why they came to the show. -- Scuttleblog, read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/04/strictly-sail-pacific_19.html * Scuttlebutt Twitter page: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION My inferiority complex is not as good as yours. Special thanks to Atlantis WeatherGear, MyBoatsGear.com, and LaserPerformance. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
