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SCUTTLEBUTT 2971 - Thursday, November 12, 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today's sponsors are Summit and Ullman. TUNNICLIFFE TURNS OLYMPIC FOCUS TO MATCH RACING (November 11, 2009) - At a ceremony in Busan, Korea, on Tuesday, Anna Tunnicliffe won the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award. For the Olympic gold medalist, the accolade comes at an exciting career juncture. She continues to lead the ISAF Sailing World Cup rankings in the Laser Radial, but after a successful foray into the women's match-racing discipline, has decided to focus her attention on the Elliot 6m for the 2012 London Olympics. "I have just made the decision to match race," said a jubilant Tunnicliffe following the Sailor of the Year ceremony. "I'm still going to cross train in the Laser Radial, and I'm hoping to try and do both at the trials, but now my main focus is going to be match racing." The fun she had sailing with crew Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Cappozzi at match racing events such as the ISAF Nations Cup and Skandia Sail for Gold was a major factor in Tunnicliffe's decision. "Over the last six months, I had been trying to figure out in my head what I wanted to do," she says. "Then one morning at the Rolex International Women's Keelboat Championship I woke up and said, 'You know what? I'm having a good time sailing with my team. This is the kind of sailing I want to keep doing.” -- Sailing World, full story: http://www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=1000078134&cmpid=enews111009 Here is a Q & A with Anna Tunnicliffe on the US SAILING website: * How is the transition from sailing a single-handed boat to sailing with a crew? ANNA: I really enjoy sailing with a crew. In the Laser you’re by yourself; and in match racing, you have a team to sail with. I really like match racing because I really enjoy hanging out with the girls who I sail with. We’re all a bunch of good friends. It’s different than being on a boat all by yourself, putting all the pressure on yourself. The pressure is spread out. If somebody is getting wound up, you have somebody else to crack a joke and calm you down and relax you again. * What do you like about match racing as opposed to fleet racing? ANNA: It’s shorter racing, and it’s much closer racing. You always have a chance to get back in it. But if you are doing badly, the race is over in 15 minutes, so it’s not the end of the world. You don’t dwell on it for an hour like you do in fleet racing. It’s a completely different style of racing. It’s like a chess game on the water; it’s trying to out-smart your opponent, whereas in the fleet racing, it’s, “Okay, I’m getting a good start. And I’m going to the correct side of the course. But I have 20 minutes to figure out how I’m going to get from the start line that’s even with everybody to ahead of everybody.” In a match race, you have your pre-start of four minutes to try and figure out how you’re going to out-smart them and get ahead of them off the line. And if you’re not ahead of them off the line, it’s very hard to figure out how you’re going to get around them, sail down, sail around them on the rest of the racecourse. When you’re racing really good people, if you’re behind, it’s really, really hard to get in front. -- Read on: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/Anna_Tunnicliffe_Interview_2009.htm GROUPAMA 3 MAKE NEW REFERENCE TIME OVER EQUATOR (November 11, 2009; 17:26 UTC) -- As Franck Cammas and his nine member crew onboard the 105-foot Groupama 3 pursue the Jules Verne Trophy, a fully crewed round the world record attempt under sail, they have already reached a milestone. After 5 days 15 hours and 23 minutes, Groupama 3 has crossed the equator, establishing a new reference time over this stretch of the course between Ushant and the line marking the switch of hemispheres. In the middle of Tuesday night, the crew was able to observe that the clouds and squalls were astern of Groupama 3: the clouds were disappearing from the sky, the stars were out, and a crescent of moon was dimly lighting a clear horizon. They’d ploughed through the Doldrums at an average of over fifteen knots, which remains an amazing performance, albeit a predictable one in light of Sylvain Mondon’s forecasts from Météo France. Franck Cammas and his men certainly weren’t sparing of their efforts though as they tried to extract themselves as quickly as possible from this Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone, on a mission to drive down towards the equator, which they crossed at 07:13 UTC. As such, they have a lead of one day, eleven hours thirty three minutes over the Jules Verne Trophy record time set by skipper Bruno Peyron and his crew in 2005 on Orange 2. -- Team website: http://www.cammas-groupama.com/en Current position as of November 11, 2009 (23:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +673.6 nm Speed over past 24 hours: 21.0 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 505.1 nm Tracking: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne2009/?lg=en * Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before December 26th at 08:09:26 (UT) to set new record. SUMMIT 40’S IN THE NEWS The Summit 40 “White Heat” owned by Mike Williamson, fought through a closely contested IRC East Coast Championship in Annapolis to win Class 3 honors, while in Ireland, Eamonn Rohan’s Blondie won The O’Flynn Exhams Solicitors Autumn Regatta in preparation for the Irish Commodore’s Cup team selection for 2010. With the Summit 40’s winning record, and the new Summit 35’s promise of more silver, why would you consider anything else? For more of the story, visit http://www.summit-yachts.com STAN HONEY - DIARY OF A NAVIGATOR Navigator Stan Honey (USA) is among the nine crew sailing with skipper Franck Cammas onboard the 105-foot maxi trimaran Groupama 3 during their 2009 attempt to win the Jules Verne Trophy, a fully crewed round the world record attempt under sail. Stan will be providing Scuttlebutt with reports during their attempt, which must cross the finish line off Ushant, France before December 26th at 08:09:26 (UT) to set new record. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- (November 10, 2009) - Our decision to depart on November 5th was a decision to accept an initial setback at the start of the passage. The sea state was so rough and the sailing angles so close that we knew that we would have a slow and rough first night. We were right. On the other hand our objective in leaving then was to get good conditions for the rest of the trip to the equator. So far we are getting what we had hoped for with a simple trip to the doldrums being able to take a one gybe course that kept us well clear of the Canaries and Cape Verde Islands. Crossing the doldrums between 29 and 30 W seems to be working for us. Before finalizing a departure decision you also scrutinize the St Helena high and the South Atlantic to make sure you are not sailing into an impassible wall. The forecasts are too far out to have much certainty on the S. Atlantic at the time of one's start, but you still try. Having a Guardian Angel named Sylvain Mondon at Meteo France is a big help to me. I wish I had such an Angel during the 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race I navigated on ABN AMRO. I came down with a mystery massive headache on the day after our start. No, it wasn't a Whisky hangover. Fortunately it went away entirely last night. I was always able to do my work but it was very painful for a while. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/1111/ RUSSIANS SCORE FIRST WIN Nice, France (November 11, 2009) - Russian team Synergy, led by Polish skipper Karol Jablonski, scored an historic triumph by beating the French/German team ALL4ONE. Synergy got the early jump off the start line when ALL4ONE became entangled with the race committee boat (going OCS and earning a penalty for hitting the committee boat) and then sailed to a victory of 1 minute, 30 seconds. Only once before has Russia attempted to field a team for the Louis Vuitton Cup: That was in 1992, but the team never made the series. Synergy is here with an eye towards the future and the win was welcome because of the team’s hard luck the past few days. “We’ve seen a broad spectrum of opportunities and happenstances. It’s been a good thing for the growth of the team,” said pitman Josh Belsky, the American who’s been on three America’s Cup-winning teams. “We’ve got some good international guys in key positions. We lack some horsepower; we’re probably the smallest team out here physically. But at the end of the day I look back and the owner, Valentin Zavadnikov, has a huge smile. He sees the potential for the future.” -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/yb3ejw4 Current Standings Competing teams - Country - Skipper - Record Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) - Dean Barker, 5-0 TeamOrigin (GBR) - Ben Ainslie, 4-0 Azzurra (ITA) - Francesco Bruni, 4-1 BMW ORACLE Racing (USA) - Russell Coutts, 2-2 Artemis (SWE) - Paul Cayard, 2-3 ALL4ONE (FRA/GER) - Jochen Schuemann, 2-6 Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS) - Karol Jablonski, 1-4 Team French Spirit (FRA) - Bertrand Pacé, 0-6 BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice Cote d’Azur is the inaugural event of the World Sailing Teams Association. The WSTA event is designed to be a cost-effective format for the teams, with the four America’s Cup class boats being used in Nice on loan from three teams: ALL4ONE (FRA-93), Mascalzone Latino (ITA-90, ITA-99) and TeamOrigin (GBR-75). The boats have been equalised as much as possible to create a level playing field. Event website: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/home/ Video interviews: http://www.youtube.com/user/btsbroadcast QUOTE / UNQUOTE * Reporting from Nice, France, on the Louis Vuitton Trophy, TVNZ sailing journalist Martin Tasker comments on the general scene in town and action on the water, on day five of the event. “It's become clear that the old Alinghi boat which is now GBR 75 is a lot quicker than the older French boat that it's paired with.” -- Full story: http://tvnz.co.nz/sailing-news/wind-finally-comes-lvt-party-3139035 NAPPING UNDER THE GREAT WING (November 11, 2009) - Nights aboard BMW Oracle Racing team’s trimaran are bringing back memories of the Volvo Ocean Race for Ross “Rosco” Halcrow (NZL) and Noel “Nitro” Drennan (IRL). Nitro and Rosco last spent the night at sea together when teammates with illbruck Challenge in the 2001-2002 around the world race. On Tuesday night, they once again spent a night on board together and watched the sun rise from the deck of the BOR 90 in San Diego Bay. With the America’s Cup challenger trimaran now at a mooring rather than at the dock to accommodate for the new wing sail, the team has set up a night watch system. The sailing team and shore teams take turns spending the night on the trimaran and while most of us were rolling into the base this morning at 7:30am, Rosco and Nitro were rolling out looking a little weary and scruffy. The options for sleeping were not too enticing. It was either on deck on the trampoline at the center hull or down below. They opted for the trampoline. “It was the coldest off watch I ever had,” Rosco reported. “It turned out there was only one sleeping bag and five of us on board so Nitro and I stayed up all night telling stories.” Rosco will share his findings with teammates on tonight’s watch. “There was a distinct lack of chocolate. We will help get the provisioning right for tonight’s crew: sleeping bags and chocolate.” -- Peter Rusch, BMW Oracle Racing http://bmworacleracingblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/night-watch.html CLEAN SWEEP IN SARASOTA At the Sarasota Yacht Club Invitational distance race last Saturday, Ullman Sails powered the overall multihull and monohull winners! In a reverse handicap format, Kathryn Garlick on Corsair 28R “Evolution” continued her stellar season, taking line honors over the entire fleet and winning first multihull and first boat overall in the race. Equally impressive was Ron Greenberg sailing his cruiser Catalina 350 “Forever Young.” Competing with Ullman Hydranet furling sails, Greenberg was the first monohull to finish, claiming first monohull overall against a strong fleet of racing and cruising boats! Ullman Sails – Invest in your performance. Visit http://www.ullmansails.com BRING BACK THE GRINDERS By Bill Trenkle I have watched the BMW Oracle Racing onboard video and heard the engine roar. Having done some time grinding before moving to trimming and getting to work with a dozen or so grinders during my eight America’s Cups, I am now truly dismayed for all the grinders in America’s Cup history. The quality of your grinders was so important to your performance, and the grinders were so much the personality of the America’s Cup teams from 1958 to 2007 that their elimination from the competition is really a much bigger change in our sport than it has been portrayed by anyone. Having grinders that were stronger, quicker, and smarter than the other team was an integral part of each campaign. The ease with which Alinghi has dispatched them from the America’s Cup is hard to believe. Yes, maybe a motor can pull the sail in faster than your grinders but BOR also had to deal with the same issue. It is grueling to grind on a big overpowered multihull. When the traveler is eased down it is a long way grinding it up. That’s why attentive grinders are needed, that’s why we had a multihull helmsman like Cam Lewis beef up so he could be the main grinder on the Stars & Stripes cat in the 1988 Match. What edge did Alinghi get when they added a motor? Absolutely none because Oracle matched them, so all they did was take away a fantastic part of America’s Cup history and competition. Sailing is considered by most of the public as wimpy enough, at least the grinders always made the sport a little more macho. Alinghi, you screwed up big time on this one, let’s put Rule 52 back in. I am sure BOR would go for it; now is your chance to save a little face. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: In the interest of fairness, I will post in the next Scuttlebutt newsletter the best Forum response on why the engine should be permitted in the America’s Cup. Post it here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8570 Here is the video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/1106/ SAILING SHORTS * Online registration opens Friday, November 13 for US SAILING’s 2010 Rolex Miami OCR at the event web site. All competitors and coaches must register and submit entry fees online before January 8, 2010, as there will be no on-site registration. Scheduled for Sunday, January 24 through Saturday, January 30, 2010, this prestigious event is the second stop on the International Sailing Federation’s (ISAF) Sailing World Cup 2009-2010 circuit. -- Details: http://tinyurl.com/yegd8ma * OpenBic is hosting as essay contest for youth sailing programs that may get them free boats for 2010. Submit an essay of 300 words or less, explaining why the OpenBic would be a good fit for the program, and the two winning programs will each receive a 6-boat fleet on loan for the 2010 season! Essays must be submitted by January 25, 2010, and entrants must be present at the 2010 National Sailing Programs Symposium to win. Send essay to mailto:nsps@ussailing.org * CORRECTION: The story in Scuttlebutt 2970 concerning the 'SoCal 52' class had a few errors. Rosebud won Transpac in 2005, not 2003; Mayhem is from Canada, not southern California; and the King of Spain's boat is Bribon, not 'Brisbon'. Here is the story link with corrections: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/1106a/ EIGHT BELLS The Australian sailing community mourns the passing of one of its most colorful characters & yacht delivery skippers, Megga Bascombe, aged 62. He was delivering a Volvo 60 from Cairns to Hong Kong when he collapsed on deck half way from Bintyng in Indonesia and Sandakan in Malaysia - the crew was unable to revive him. The boat is scheduled to arrive in Sandakan where the respective government agencies will take care of affairs & and an autopsy. He had been battling prostrate cancer of late, and as the moniker suggests, he was a big boy! I grew up with him in South Australia as our families were very close and both involved in sailing at Port Lincoln Yacht Club and the Waybacks Football Club, where Megga was a mascot. Following high school, he briefly worked as an apprentice baker, riding his bicycle to work in the dark hours, until he was able to join the navy as a clearance diver. I remember him coming home on leave & telling me that he had just been to the USA & back to pick up the new destroyer, HMAS Hobart, and upon entering Gatun Lake whilst transiting the Panama Canal, they were ordered to empty the saltwater from the fire-fighting reserve tanks and refill them with fresh water. About this time, a cruise ship happened to cross their paths, and they continued to carry out orders, to the dismay of many an unsuspecting tourist & crew - international diplomatic relationships were temporarily strained for a while. As a lad, he found a bottle washed up on a local South Australian beach, for which he gained a place in the Guinness Book of World records (longest distance of note in a bottle) the reward of which was a tour of their brewery & a pint. Years later he visited the Guinness Brewery in Ireland, dressed as he did on most deliveries in shorts, T-shirt & thongs (of the foot variety) to collect his reward - three days later, he’d had enough of their complimentary black brew! He stayed with me in Florida on his way home, and I took him to Clearwater Beach for lunch, and when the waitress asked him what he would like to drink, he boldly pronounced that he’d like to start with a six pack of beers - and another 6 with his meal! -- Neil Harvey, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8569 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS AND FORUM Please email 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 Rich Roberts: (Re: "Russia scores first win at Louis Vuitton Trophy Nice".) What wonderful irony it is when a Russian boat with a Polish skipper, Karol Jablonski, finds success in an international sporting event…and the peace-loving Swiss and the freedom-loving Americans shut out the rest of the world while quibbling endlessly about what to sail, where to sail and when to sail. * From Bill Elmer (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2962): While the facts surrounding the JWorld sinking are indisputable and the loss of any vessel is a sad event, a whale has been known to attack a sailing ship. The event is most often remembered in the fictional story of Moby Dick. However, the basis for Melville’s Moby Dick is an actual whale ramming of the Whaleship Essex as related in the riveting book “In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick wherein a sperm whale deliberately rams the Essex. A rare event, and maybe one of a kind, but if provoked…? CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION New Old Saying: Home is where you hang your @. Special thanks to Summit and Ullman. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
