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SCUTTLEBUTT 3263 - Monday, January 24, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: APS and New England Ropes. 5 DAYS + 13 CLASSES = KEY WEST 2011 Key West, FL (January 21, 2011) - After an early start and a three race day for most classes, victory literally came down to the last leg of the last race for many of the grand prix classes at Key West 2011, presented by Nautica. Over the docks in front of the Westin Hotel, Vela Veloce skipper Richard Oland sported a Cheshire Cat grin after snatching victory away from Anema & Core in the last race. The Canadian-based Southern Cross 52 trailed the Annapolis-based Judel Vrolijk 52 by two points going into Race 10, but wound up winning by one point after posting a bullet and watching Anema & Core place fourth. With Star champion Richard Clarke as helmsman while fellow professional Stu Bannatyne called tactics aboard Vela Veloce, Vela Veloce made its debut at Key West 2010 but placed last in IRC 1. "The boat was brand new last year and we were still learning how to sail her. Since then we have made a lot of improvements in the boat and put together a much better crew," Oland said. "It involved a lot of hard work, but winning a regatta such as this makes it well worth it." There was much less suspense in the Melges 24 class as Blu Moon, owned by Franco Rossini of Switzerland, clinched victory by winning Race 8 then placing fourth in Race 9. Helmsman Flavio Favini wound up winning three races and placing fourth or better in four others and that consistency enabled Blu Moon to sit out the final race. That commanding performance in a very competitive class earned Blu Moon the prestigious Boat of the Week honor. Skipper Brian Keane and his team aboard Savasana put forth a powerful performance in winning the always competitive J/105 class by 15 points. Savasana wound up winning six of 10 races, including all three that were held on Friday. "We are pretty fired up. Sweeping the day is a great way to close out the event," Keane said. "I think our speed was competitive, but the real key was that we made smart decisions and didn't make many mistakes." -- Full report: http://www.premiere-racing.com/keywest11/pages/KW11_releases.htm Results (top two in each class) IRC - Mini Maxi (4 Boats) 1. Numbers, Judel/Vrolijk 66, Daniel Meyers, Boston, MA, USA - 24 2. Shockwave, Reichel/Pugh 72, George Sakellaris, Newport, RI, USA - 25 IRC 1 (5 Boats) 1. Vela Veloce, Southern Cross 52, Richard Oland, Saint John, NB, CAN - 21 2. Anema & Core, JV 52, Ennio Staffini, Annapolis, MD, USA - 24 IRC 2 (8 Boats) 1. Tonnerre de Breskens 3, Ker 46 Peter Vroon, Breskens, NED - 12 2. Antilope, Grand Soleil 43, Willem Wester, Breskens, NED - 30 RC 44 (5 Boats) 1. Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato, Milano, ITA - 22 2. Team Aqua, Don Wilson, Chicago, IL, USA - 22 Farr 30 (9 Boats) 1. Barking Mad, James Richardson, Boston, MA, USA - 18 2. Turbo Duck, Bodo & Nick von der Wense, Wayne, PA, USA - 30 Melges 32 (21 Boats) 1. Goombay Smash, William Douglass, Stamford, CT, USA - 38 2. Warpath, Steve Howe, Portland, OR, USA - 40 Melges 24 (22 Boats) 1. Blu Moon, Franco Rossini, Chiasso, Switzerland, SUI - 27 2. UKA UKA Racing, Lorenzo Bressani, Milano, ITA - 31 J 105 (15 Boats) 1. Savasana, Brian Keane, Weston, MA, USA - 26 2. Eclipse, Damian Emery, Shoreham, NY, USA - 41 J 80 (16 Boats) 1. Le Tigre, Glenn Darden, Fort Worth, TX, USA - 23 2. J/World San Diego, Jeff Brown, San Diego, CA, USA - 33 PHRF 1 (6 Boats) 1. Kontiki V / it, J 111, Jim Sminchak, Cleveland, OH, USA - 22 2. RUSH, J 109, Bill Sweetser, Annapolis, MD, USA - 25 PHRF 2 (7 Boats) 1. Tangent, Cape Fear 38, Gerry Taylor, Annapolis, MD, USA - 14 2. Creola, C&C 37/40 wk , Jack Cavalier, Webster, NY, USA - 18 PHRF 3 (9 Boats) 1. You Bad Girl, CAPO 26, Steve Burns, Key West, Florida, USA - 10 2. Misty, Ranger 33, Gregg Knighton, Sarasota, FL, USA - 18 Multihull (PHRF ToT - 7 Boats) 1. Flight Simulator, Corsair 28R, Tom Reese, Youngstown, NY, USA - 12 2. Evolution, Corsair 28R, Kathryn Garlick, Terra Ceia, FL, USA - 15 Complete results: http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=394 Daily T2P videos: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/kw11.php Sailing World: http://tinyurl.com/Sailing-World-KW SAIL: http://sailmagazine.com/best_around_the_buoys/ PHOTOS: Scuttlebutt is pleased to present a special Key West 2011 photo gallery with images from Sharon Green, John Payne, Ingrid Abery, Leighton O'Connor, PhotoBoat.com, and Steve Lapkin: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/kw/ AYE, THE APS ROPE AND RIGGIN' SALE! Have ye heard the news? APS, "The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors," has a Riggin' Sale going on, and its days are numbered! Gar! Save 25% on rigging services, 20% on one design packages, and 15% on raw cordage and wire on all orders placed before midnight on January 31st. If your rigging needs reviving, APS has skilled Riggers here to help. It's time to get your boat ready for the season and take advantage of this once a year offer, maties! http://bit.ly/RigSale THE FUTURE OF KEY WEST RACE WEEK - PART ONE For 2011 Key West Race Week, it's a story of how some things change and how some things stay the same. For the race course, the tropical climate continues to provide the respite from winter weather that haunts most North American sailing areas. And the town is, well, unique, and very recreational. But with event entries down, the shoreside headquarters was downsized to adapt the party scene to the crowd. And it has been a slam dunk. "The shoreside facility we have been using for the past 7-8 years was based on a 250+ size fleet," explained event organizer Peter Craig of Premiere Racing. "But with the fleet size down, we didn't need as much room, so we got creative." Having before relied on a parking lot with a huge circus-like tent, the new venue has a street festival feel. "When you look at this venue it has a village atmosphere," noted Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck. "It says Key West throughout. The trees and patios naturally blend in. Everyone I talked to seemed pretty pleased." But even with the revised venue, rumors continued to flow about the future of Key West Race Week. Here is an exclusive interview Scuttlebutt had with Peter Craig on the subject: * Will the new venue for the 134 boat regatta in 2011 allow the event to sustain itself for 2012? PETER CRAIG: The sustainability of the event is not wholly reliant on fleet size, but it remains a critical component. However, a regatta this size without a title sponsor, and without sufficient sponsorship to accompany that, cannot sustain itself. We are now in the second consecutive year without a title sponsor, but we do have some terrific secondary sponsors. Our industry partner program remains vibrant, and while it's not what it was a couple years ago, the industry continues to stand by the event. So we have different revenue sources, but you don't need to a math major to see that when you drop from 260 boats, and you are without a title sponsor, there is trouble at the OK Corral. * Any sense the economic environment is improving for sponsorship? PETER CRAIG: My take on sponsorship for this age we have been living in for the past three years, it has been an extraordinary difficult environment for sponsorship. And I am talking about the majors, the big sports. We talk to people in sports marketing, and we hear how golf, Nascar, NFL, major league baseball have struggled and had to redefine themselves. So when you get to a sport like sailboat racing, particularly in the U.S., sponsorship has always been a struggle. We are well down the pecking order as companies consider sports sponsorship. For what has been a 2-3 year struggle, I don't see that changing any time soon. So what is the plan for Key West 2012? Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/11/0123/ FOR THE RECORD (January 23, 2011; Day 2) - At 12 hours 11 minutes and 45 seconds (Paris time) on Saturday 22 January, skipper Pascal Bidegorry led the maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V across the start line of the record attempt the Jules Verne Trophy, the crewed around the world record. To do this, they will close the loop in less than 48 days 7:44 minutes and 52 seconds, the time set by Franck Cammas and the crew of Groupama 3 in 2010 and be back before 11 March 2010 at 6:55 p.m. minutes 37 seconds (Paris time). It was on 4 October when the Maxi Banque Populaire V was christened in Nantes, the birthplace of Jules Verne and Eric Tabarly. The trimaran has a mainhull length of 131-feet, a float length of 121-feet, and a width of 75-feet. "Banque Populaire V is a lot bigger than Groupama 3; nearly nine metres in total," noted Cammas. "This guarantee of power will sometimes enable them to gain a few extra knots of speed, as we saw during the Atlantic record. However, the record will essentially come down to the weather, as this speed differential won't enable them to compensate for a poor weather scenario." As regards the weather window for the start, the skipper of Groupama doesn't hide the fact that it's a good one: "They've had the time to wait for it and they've had the chance to find one which appears to me to be very good as far as Cape Town." After 28 hours of navigation, Maxi Banque Populaire V has 229.10 miles ahead of the reference time of the Jules Verne Trophy, progressing at an average speed of 30 knots. At 16:00 (Paris time), the files indicated that the trimaran had flown 787 miles. Team website: http://www.voile.banquepopulaire.fr/ RECOGNIZING EXCELLENCE The Olympic Sailing Program presented seven US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Awards to the 2010 team members at the second annual US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) Awards Banquet last Friday evening in Miami, Florida, prior to US SAILING's Rolex Miami OCR, the biggest Olympic and Paralympic class sailing event in North America (Jan. 24-29). "The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics had another great year on the water, and this awards dinner was about two things: celebrating the world-class performances of our athletes and saying 'thank you' to the many people who made those performances possible," said Dean Brenner (Wallingford, Conn.), the Chairman of the US Olympic Sailing Program. "We have a great team on and off the water, all working together toward a common goal." The following awards were presented: * Breakthrough Performance: Genny Tulloch/ Alice Manard Leonard/ Jenn Chamberlain; Women's Match Racing * Commercial Award: Rick Doerr; Sonar skipper * Most Improved Fitness: Rob Crane; Laser skipper * Best Teammate: Brian Fatih; Star crew * Best Team Performance: Anna Tunnicliffe/ Molly Vandemoer/ Debbie Capozzi; Women's Match Racing * Best Individual Performance: Paige Railey; Laser Radial skipper * Charles M. Leighton Award for Outstanding Service: Gary Jobson; US SAILING President. Full report: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/News/2011/2010_Annual_Awards.htm Rolex Miami OCR (Jan. 24-29): http://rmocr.ussailing.org/ => Curmudgeon's Comment: I was privileged to join the USSTAG sailors and coaches last week during their training, and to attend this awards banquet. I saw firsthand the energy and enthusiasm that exists within this team, and immensely enjoyed meeting them all. Olympic sailing is such a unique subculture of our sport, and this year the sailors will be putting it all on the line so as to represent the U.S. in the 2012 Olympic Games. Only one team per event qualifies for the Olympics, but all the teams are pushing each other toward excellence. It should be an exciting season, and Scuttlebutt will do its best to bring you along. NEW ENGLAND ROPES: PROUD SPONSOR OF DYNEEMA EXPERIENCE TEAM The Dyneema Experience Team will consist of 40 skippers who will have their boats re-rigged for free. Some boats will feature premium quality cordage from New England Ropes and Experience Team members will document their experiences with the rigging on social media. "We pride ourselves on offering the highest quality in cordage solutions," says Marine Market Manager, Kevin Coughlin. "Being a sponsor will provide us with a great opportunity to receive direct feedback on our broad array of running-rigging products." Visit http://www.dyneemaexperience.com/ for more information and to join the team! GHOSTS AND GAMBLERS (January 23, 2011: Day 24) - Having set a new 24-hour 60ft monohull speed record Saturday (516.37 nm at an average of 21.51 knots; subject to ratification by the World Sailing Speed Record Council), the Virbac Paprec 3 duo of Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron (FRA) overtook Foncia co-skippers Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart (FRA) this morning, first crossing to the south of Foncia around midnight last night, then overhauling them in the position rankings by 1000hrs this morning. After Virbac Paprec 3 reclaimed the lead of the Barcelona World Race this morning, they look set to remain at the head of the rankings until at least 0500hrs on Tuesday January 25. That's because close rivals Foncia has opted to use one of their limited 'ghost mode' cards, which allows a competitor to "disappear" from all tracking screens and to hide his tactics and strategy from his opponents. "Michel and I have decided to use the ghost mode, so we won't appear in the next ranking," said Gabart. "With Virbac Paprec 3 it's a game of chase! Virbac Paprec 3 had a very good day yesterday (Saturday) and the day before because they beat the record, and now they are in front of us. One of the mistakes we have made is with the choice of sails. We have made a lot of sail changes, too many. When you haven't got the timing right with the choice of sail, you are always out of sync. For the past 36 hours that's what happened. It's why we have lost a lot of speed against Virbac Paprec. Today (Sunday) we're going to try and have a good sail, and not change every five minutes." Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20.01.07) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick & Loick Peyron, 19,343 nm DTF 2. Foncia, Michel Desjoyeaux & Francois Gabart, ? nm DTL 3. Mapfre, Iker Martinez & Xabi Fernandez, 529.9 nm DTL 4. Estrella Damm Sailing Team, Alex Pella & Pepe Ribes, 554.6 nm DTL 5. Groupe Bel, Kito De Pavant & Sebastien Audigane, 563.6 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking/ BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SPEEDDREAM PROTOTYPE TO BE BUILT The challenge of the SpeedDream team is to pursue an innovative design concept that will result in a super-fast monohull capable of beating catamarans and trimarans in their own game and establish a string of speed records, from sailing faster than 50 knots in the open ocean to circling the globe in less time than any yacht ever. And in order to test some of the innovative ideas of SpeedDream, a 35-foot prototype will be built. As the design and engineering for SpeedDream continues to advance, a decision has been made to build a scaled down 35-foot version of the record setter monohull. Hundreds of hours of computer engineering and analysis has already been completed for the SpeedDream design, but there is nothing like a scaled prototype version out sailing in actual conditions to test the unique ideas and technical solutions that are at the heart of this project. "For a typical evolutionary design you start with a set of known performance parameters and work to gradually improve them," said Vlad Murnikov, the lead designer and creative force behind SpeedDream. "But the SpeedDream concept is so radical and innovative there are no analogs to compare to and improve upon. While CFD analysis and tank testing are extremely important, they can only get us so far. It will be very useful to check both the general concept and the hull shape, appendages and rig configurations on a real scaled version of SpeedDream. Appendages like the extreme canting/telescoping keel and the lifting/stabilizing foil have to be tested and optimized in a real sailing environment and this is why we believe that building the prototype is necessary. I feel that a 35-foot version is the right size to provide a superb realistic platform to test all the critical SpeedDream components." To achieve heretofore unattained speeds and bridge the performance gap between multihulls and monohulls, SpeedDream relies upon two very innovative appendages to greatly enhance the boat's performance; a canting keel that lifts clear of the water when the boat is fully powered up, and a foil to leeward that provides not only lift, but also resists leeward force. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11154 SAILING SHORTS * US SAILING's Safety at Sea Committee has awarded an Arthur B. Hanson Rescue Medal to Chicago Yacht Club Sailing School Director Maggie Lumkes and on-the-water director Lynn Walls for rescuing a pair of sailors on Lake Michigan on October 2, 2010. When racing at a high school sailing event had been canceled due to unsafe conditions, a 14-year-old sailor and a 23-year-old coach decided to test the conditions, but when their dinghy capsized, the younger sailor drifted away, while the coach hung on to the hull. -- Full report: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/Hanson_Lake_Michigan_011911.htm * According to the International Kiteboarding Class Association, a new version of the Kiteboarding Competition Rules have been finalized by the ISAF Rules Working Party and will be officially published this week on the ISAF website. The new Appendix BB only includes changes to the rules for Course Racing with additional changes for all other disciplines to be posted in the next weeks until a final new version of the Kiteboarding Competition Rules has been completed. The changes will apply to this week's Miami OCR regatta, where kiteboarding will be demonstrated along all other Olympic Sailing Classes. The new rules can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/IKA-012311 * The new Container, owned by Udo Schutz from Germany, will debut in the TP52 Series on the Audi MedCup in 2011. She will be led by Markus Wieser, a European Champion and World Championship runner-up in the Dragon Class. Udo Schutz' Container, known for its campaigns recently in the Mini Maxi class and further back as a winner of the Admiral's Cup as part of the German team, will be designed by Judel & Vrolijk design and debut at the first event of the circuit in May. -- Full report: http://www.medcup.org/news/?id=4196 QUOTE / UNQUOTE "I think that is one of the great things about the wing, that as you come up through the breeze, there is very little drag, so the boat just continues through (the tack) and doesn't slow down. With a lot of multihulls, when you see them tack, they struggle to get through once they get slow, but with the wingsail, it just cruises through, and there is no real drag on it once you go through head to wind, and so you don't lose the speed." - Oracle Racing's Murray Jones regarding the prototype AC45 being tested in Auckland, NZL. The AC45 will be used in the 2011 America's Cup World Series, Sail-World: http://tinyurl.com/SW-012311 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Don't worry about old age -- it doesn't last that long." SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - New England Ropes - West Marine - North U Southern Spars - Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails Interlux - Ullman Sails - Hall Spars & Rigging - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
