SCUTTLEBUTT No. 728 - January 12, 2001

AROUND ALONE

Giovanni Soldini on his 60-foot yacht Fila won the 1998/1999 Single-handed Around Alone Race with a complete inventory of Ullman Sails manufactured by Sergio Fabbi in Rapallo, Italy. Ullman Sails is extremely proud of the fact that there were NO failures in the entire sail inventory that carried Giovanni Soldini around the world in 116 days, 20 hours, 7 minutes and 59 seconds. While you may not be planning to race in the Southern Ocean, wouldn't it be nice to have the speed and reliability that Soldini enjoyed? It's more affordable than you think.

http://www.ullmansails.com/

VENDEE GLOBE - By Philippe Jeantot
Michel Desjoyeaux (PRB), leading the Vendee Globe still, passed Cape Horn yesterday evening at 1907 hrs (French time) and at the same time crossed over from the Pacific to the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Right ahead now is a 7114 mile straight line with Les Sables d'Olonne at the end of it. No more vast Southern Ocean swell, with its characteristic long, deep and powerful waves. No more need for dodging depressions and icebergs, for fearing capsize or major damage in deserted and hostile waters. No more taste of bitter temperatures, rendering the skipper exhausted and frozen after every manoeuvre on deck. Cape Horn is the exit sign out of such hellish conditions. Once passed, the indicators signal a left turn and the heading is directly North, towards sun, warmth, forgiving winds and a better life.

Desjoyeaux has four days and 18 hours advance over Christophe Auguin, who holds the current record of 105 days and 20 hours. Veteran of two previous Vendee's, Yves Parlier (Aquitaine Innovations), gave his prediction : "I think Mich is in time to break the 100 day circumnavigation. Christophe Auguin was quite slow coming up the Atlantic."

Life in the Pacific Ocean for the rest of the fleet has livened up a bit, with the wind decidedly more co-operative again. Ellen MacArthur (Kingfisher) admits that her second position is by no means secure, though, as she continues an all-consuming battle to position well for a tricky front coming in to keep North of its centre, pick up the better winds and round Cape Horn tomorrow night.

Roland Jourdain (Sill Matines La Potagere) and Marc Thiercelin (Active Wear), anticipating their own passage the day after Ellen, are now on the same latitude and just one degree of longitude apart. Thiercelin is waiting to pounce on the 'wounded bird'ahead of Jourdain, though, knowing that the skipper of 'Sill' will be relinquishing his top three spot in order to anchor off the Chilean coast, climb the mast and fix his mast track for good. - http://www.vendeeglobe.com/home.asp?lang=us

Standings, January 11 at 13:00 UT: .1 PRB (Desjoyeaux) 2. Kingfisher (MacArthur) 624 miles behind leaders, 3. SILL Matines La Potagere (Jourdain) 853 mbl, 4. Active Wear (Thiercelin) 872 mbl, 5. Sodebo (Coville) 1264 mbl.

LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (leweck@earthlink.net)
(Letters selected to be printed may be edited for clarity, space (250 words max) or to exclude unfounded speculation or personal attacks. This is not a bulletin board or a chat room - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. We don't publish anonymous letters, but will withhold your e-mail address on request.)

* From: Andrew Burton apburton@idt.net Regarding Art Engel's letter about ISAF eligibility codes in 'Butt 727: One has to ask what the powers that be at ISAF were thinking when they made RRS 21.2.1(h). Basically what it says is that if you have on your crew someone who is not a member of a club or US Sailing (or CYA or RYA, etc) then your competitors can protest you! As we all know, on rare occasions there is someone in the race who will resort to such measures in order to win. This rule will make it rather difficult to go out racing with the kids or to introduce new sailors to racing.

Note also that RRS 21.1(b) (ii) states that we are required to carry a card proving we are a member of something. I assume this so any ISAF officer can demand to see our "papers" at a regatta. Sounds like something out of a spy movie.

Art has offered a suggestion for how to get around this silly rule, but I would bet that most of the people writing Sailing Instructions this year will forget to include his dodge.

* From: Kevin Ellis kellis@getty.edu How can the Eligibility requirements of the ISAF be so short sighted? Based on Mr. Engel's statement of the regulation the development of the sport of yacht racing is dead. How can a global organization be so short sighted to require that every body on any vessel in any sanctioned event be a member of a national authority or a club?

This is simply stupid.

How many times have all of the Buttheads raced on a boat with a "non-member" member of the crew aboard? I'm sure we can all point to a time if not many. If we want to see this sport grow we need to bring people in who "are not in the club" so they can see what we find so attractive about it.

Somebody please do something about this!!

* From: Herb McCormick OutbackRI@aol.com Someone mentioned the superstitious qualities of rabbits and whistling, too. First, never say the word "rabbit" on a sailboat, especially if there's a Frenchman aboard. They'll lose it. I've been told it goes back to a French expedition centuries ago in which bunnies were kept in the hold for fresh meat. But the critters ate through the caulking and the ship went down. Bon voyage, Bugs (and Frogs).

And I got a harsh lesson about whistling a few years back on an offshore trip with Robin Knox-Johnston. I was at the helm whistlin' away when a very agitated, suddenly awake RK-J poked his head out the hatch and told me in no uncertain terms to can it. "What are you doing, whistling for the wind?" he demanded. "It brings more than we'll ever want or need. The whistling goes or you go." We were about 1,000 miles from terra firma but I had no doubt he meant it. Now I hum. To myself.

* From: Sean Doyle Sean.Doyle@smp.ie Further to Tony Smiths note re IMP (Butt 727), She is still green (all shades) and last July won the 704 mile offshore "Round Ireland " race adding to her list of worthy achievements under the stewardship of George Radley and his crew from Kinsale Yacht Club. So much for unlucky green boats!

* From: Steve Taft steve@bay-ship.com One of our favorite snacks on IMP was bananas and peanut butter. Maybe bananas bring good luck on green boats.

* From: Bruce Kirby brucekirby@compuserve.com Every serious sailor knows you must not have bananas aboard a sailing vessel, Steve Dashew notwithstanding. His boats are so fast he can make it to harbor before the bad luck sets in. Green boats are OK as long as they have no bananas aboard. And if you have green bananas on a green boat that's really big trouble.

But the worst of all are men (or women) of the cloth! You must not have a minister, priest or rabbi on your boat. They may stand on the dock and give their blessing, they may marry the skipper and cook at the local chapel, but if they come too close to the boat put the "no step" sign on the boarding ladder. Sometimes clergymen, either through ignorance of the situation or over-confident of their invulnerability, will actualy own a sailboat. It never works out. I correspond with a minister who built his own little plywood cruising sloop (not one of my designs!) and then went out and capsized it first time off the dock. So beware of clergymen and boats, and heaven forbid a man of the cloth would go aboard a green boat carrying bananas.

* From: Butch Ulmer UKINT@prodigy.net Interesting stuff about bananas. For those of your readers who suffer from "Mal de Mer" as I did for 40 years, here's another point. Bananas, which taste pretty good going down, don't taste half bad on the way up either and as a side benefit, they don't scratch your throat.

CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: This has been fun, but it's obviously gotten out of hand. The banana / green boats thread is now officially dead.

* From: Jesse Falsone jfalsone@csc.com In response to Howard Spencer's comments in 'Butt 726 regarding America's Cup challengers supposed inability to win without a Kiwi, I'd like to submit that American designers and engineers have been key people in every Kiwi America's Cup campaign. It's primarily a designer's race. Who can't win without whom?

* From: Patrick Kershaw Patrick.Kershaw@fluke.com With regards to Howard Spencer's nationalistic euphoria regarding the skill of Kiwi sailors, and accepting that the Kiwis as a nation rank at the top of the world's most enthusiastic and skilled sailors list, I submit that the idea that "Local knowledge is king" has a lot more to do with high demand than anything else. Note that plenty of Americans, notably SFYC's "man of character" Paul Cayard (no offense to PC intended... couldn't help myself) (what about Doug Peterson and Rod Davis to the Kiwis?), were courted vigorously by foreign nations when the cup was in San Diego. If the Cup goes to Italy, each boat will have at least one sailor named Paolo or Fiorino on its sailing list.

Regarding nationality in general, would it be interesting to see what the nationalities of crew for Mr. Vanderbilt or Sir Sopwith, who formed much of the Cup's tradition, were during the Cup's early heyday. My guess is that they were amply stocked with professional seafarers from many nations. Only after 1980 did NYYC, scared of losing the Cup to an Aussie-American afterguard, install the crew nationality rules .

Finally, aren't these pro-sailors are required to relocate to fulfill the requirement of the deed? We in the United States, which is made of so many immigrants of varying duration from many nations, can hardly be critical of anyone migrating for the promise of a better life.

From: "Jim Champ" jimc@hjones.cix.co.uk I wonder if a lot of the Kiwi success in the America's Cup is down to the very strong development dinghy classes in NZ and Australia through the 60s and 70s. Great numbers of sailors were produced who were immensely attuned to the business of making one boat faster than the next.

The same thing happened in Australia, the other nation to have succeeded in winning the AC off America, and its probably fair to say that Australia's failure to do better in recent AC competitions has been as much to do with organisation and money as anything else.

If you go though the records of those development classes a lot of familiar names appear, and they seem to have had an influence as a nursery quite out of proportion with the size of the classes. If so it will be interesting to see what happens in say 15 years time, as I believe that NZ dinghy sailing is much more focused to one designs.

PERFECTING THE JIBE SET
(Polishing your skills on this fundamental maneuver will mean you've got more options at the top mark should you need them. Dean Brenner has a story on the Sailnet website that should help you do that. Here's an excerpt.)

A jibe-set can be more difficult than a bear-away in some ways, but it doesn't necessarily have to be. It simply requires more rotation of the spinnaker to avoid getting it caught up and wrapped in the rigging.

The Approach: As with a bear-away set, it is important to keep racing the boat upwind all the way into the mark. The tactician (or whoever is watching the compass) should keep an eye on the wind shifts as the boat closes on the mark. Knowing what phase the wind is in will be important because it will be one of the determining factors regarding whether to bear away or jibe-set. For the purposes of this article, we'll say that the wind is in a right-hand shift, so a jibe-set makes sense. As you head into the mark on starboard, keep as much crew weight on the rail as possible to keep the boat moving fast upwind.

Since you'll be jibing around the mark, you don't want to deploy the pole until after the jibe. On smaller boats, some crews prefer to set the spinnaker without the pole, just to get the sail up and drawing. Whether you set with the pole or without it, make sure that all the gear is ready to go. The clews of the spinnaker should be free and disentangled from any obstacles, and the halyard attached to the head of the spinnaker. A slow rotation of the kite will prevent you from having a good set. On bigger boats, some crews prefer to hoist the pole on the inboard end so that only the topping lift has to go up. Then they jibe the headsail over the pole. Having a mark on your topping lift is important as well because it will allow you to easily set the control to the optimal spot immediately after the jibe.

Pre-feed the Guy: In some boats, pre-feeding the guy is critical. On smaller boats it is not as important. At a minimum, make sure the hatch or bag is open and ready to go, and keep hiking.

The Rounding: Keep hiking the boat around the mark so you will need less rudder to turn the boat down. If you have the cunningham tensioned, ease it as you leave the rail, and in bigger breeze (and especially on a bigger boat with a large main) have someone ease the vang around the mark. This too will help the boat bear away quickly. The vang will then have to be trimmed back to a good downwind setting, so make sure know what that is or you have good marks on it. Ease the main and jibsheets and try to focus on making a smooth, fast turn around the mark. - Dean Brenner, Sailnet website.

Full story: http://www.sailnet.com/

YACHTIES OF THE YEAR
PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (January 11, 2001) - US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, has announced the final list of nominees who will be considered for the 2000 Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards. Established in 1961 by US SAILING and sponsored by Rolex Watch, U.S.A. since 1980, the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year awards recognize outstanding on-the-water achievement in the calendar year just concluded. Previous winners include Betsy Alison, Ed Baird, Paul Cayard, Dennis Conner, Ken Read, Dawn Riley, Cory Sertl, Randy Smyth and Ted Turner.

The nominees, determined by the membership of US SAILING, will be presented to a panel of noted sailing journalists, who together discuss the merits of each nominee and vote by secret ballot to determine the Rolex Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year. The winners will be announced at a luncheon at the New York Yacht Club in New York City, on February 9, 2001, where they will be presented with Rolex timepieces. Though historically individuals are considered for the award, outstanding situations sometimes warrant a skipper and crew nomination being accepted. This year, four doublehanded teams are among the five male and four female nominees.

Nominees for the 2000 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year are: Etchells World Champion Vince Brun (San Diego, Calif.); Olympic 470 Men's Silver Medalists Paul Foerster/Bob Merrick (Rockwall, Texas/Portsmouth, R.I.); Olympic 49er Bronze Medallists Jonathan and Charlie McKee (both Seattle, Wash.); J/24 World Champion Brad Read (Middletown, R.I.); and Star Olympic Gold Medallists and World Champions Mark Reynolds/Magnus Liljedahl (San Diego, Calif./Miami, Fla.).

Nominees for the 2000 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year are: Mistral Women's Olympian Lanee Butler (Aliso Viejo, Calif.); Snipe North American, National and Women's National Champion Carol Newman Cronin (Jamestown, R.I.); Olympic 470 Women's Silver Medallists JJ Isler/Pease Glaser (La Jolla, Calif./Long Beach, Calif.); and America's Cup semifinalist Dawn Riley (San Francisco, Calif./Detroit, Mich.). - Jan Harley

For more information: www.ussailing.org/pressreleases/2001/YYshort.htm

18-FOOT SKIFF INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
A crucial mistake at the finish line by the Howie Hamlin skippered USA General Electric cost them the race in today's Heat 5 of the Computer Associates J J Giltinan International Championship on Sydney Harbour. Hamlin got a light patch of breeze in the jibe to the finish, getting the angle wrong and this, compounded by a boat handling error at the line, handed the defending champion, John Winning on AMP Centrepoint, his first win of the series.

Today's win by Winning and crew Euan McNicol (bow) and Jack Young (sheethand) has snatched first place overall for AMP from Trevor Barnabas on Omega Smeg who had a capsize at the start and had to fight his way back into 12th place in today's race.

A fresh and building 15-18 nor-easterly breeze saw Hamlin's US General Electric lead for most of the race until a nail biting finish when Winning sailed by them to win by only 5 seconds. "Our starts are often our problem and that's what we worked on today." Winning said after the race. " We sailed a consistent race and were quicker on the downhill run which ended up working to our advantage. We prefer to hang on to the wind and this is what we did at the finish today."

Today's result has thrown the competition wide open with two remaining heats on Saturday and Sunday. With their worst result from the five Heats dropped, Winning holds the narrowest of leads on 19 points, with Barnabas on 19.7 and the John Harris steered Rag & Famish Hotel close behind on 23.7. The UK European Champion RMW Marine (Rob Greenhalgh) is lurking in 4th place overall on 30 points.

RESULTS: 1. AMP Centrepoint / J. Winning / Australia; 2. General Electric / H.Hamlin / USA; 3. Computer Associates / A.Saunders / Australia; 4. Rag & Famish / J. Harris/ Australia; 5. SP Systems - Team Alfa / Australia.

SERIES STANDINGS (AFTER DISCARD) - 1. AMP CENTREPOINT (19.7) 2. OMEGA SMEG (23.7) 3. RAG & fAMISH HOTEL (30) 4. RMW MARINE (40.1) 5. MICROSOFT (45)

THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
Hard work often pays off after time, but laziness pays off immediately.