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SCUTTLEBUTT 1777 - February 16, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere. SHOSHOLOZA UPDATE The South African America's Cup challenger yacht Shosholoza RSA 48 suffered internal structural damage aft of the keel area and some surface damage to the bulb as a result of colliding with a whale in Table Bay yesterday (Monday 14 February). Structural engineers and yacht building experts from the Team Shosholoza Design and Build Team were on sight to inspect the yacht soon after it was lifted out the water at 4pm this afternoon (Tuesday 15 February). "It is not as bad as we expected," said Team Shosholoza build manager Tony Evans. "We are very lucky to have got away with as little damage as we did." He estimated the internal structural damage aft of the keel would take about a day and a half to reinforce, the steering wheels about two to three days to rebuild and that the yacht should be back on the water sailing by Saturday. Skipper Geoff Meek has a grade 2 torn ligament on his left knee but recuperating well. Navigator Marc Lagesse is still in a lot of pain from his neck and collarbone bruising but returned to work today. - http://www.sachallenge.com WHALE UPDATE (Following the story yesterday in Scuttlebutt 1776 concerning Shosholoza's incident with the whale, email has been running high with interest on the whale's condition. Thanks to Di Meek, Media Liaison Officer of the SA America's Cup Challenge 2007, for providing this account.) There is huge concern among the team as well about the whale. As you know they are out training alone every day in Table Bay and their only company on most days are the whales. They are sea people and are very aware of the whales and the last thing they would want is to harm them. At the time (of the incident) they saw one about 50 meters to the left of them and another about 100 metres to the right. This one (that they collided with) is presumed to have been very deep - four metres at least which is the draft of the keel - and there was no hint of it being below them. They are both vigilant about whales and any floating objects because of the damage it could cause to the yacht. In our first release sent out yesterday we said that the whale surfaced immediately afterwards and moved off without any noticeable stress towards Charles Nankin who had been thrown off the yacht into the water. He was in the sea for between five to ten minutes and the rest of the crew watched the whale swim next to him. The team obviously haven't been out sailing today but whales have been seen in Table Bay since and a big group of people out on a Valentines Day cruise on the evening of the 14th saw about 15 whales in the bay. We will obviously keep you posted. Thanks so much though for your response. It is a concern to all of us. - Di Meek, SA America's Cup Challenge 2007 ORANGE II (Tuesday, February 15th) Bruno Peyron and team aboard the 120ft catamaran Orange II rounded Cape Leeuwin (south-western tip of Australia) last night at 23:58 breaking the Equator - Leeuwin record by more than five days over the previous record set by Geronimo trimaran. Orange's took just 14 days and 11 hours. Orange also has two other records under her belt - the Good Hope - Leeuwin record previously held by Loïck Peyron aboard Innovation Explorer (new record by Orange: 7 days, 5 hours, 35 minutes), and she bettered Cheyenne's time on the Ushant - Leeuwin portion, taking 4 days and 14 minutes off the previous record with a time of 21 days, 13 hours and 54 minutes at sea with an average speed of 22.8 knots since their start, which amounts to a 15 per cent gain compared to Cheyenne's time. - Sue Pelling/Yachting World, http://tinyurl.com/6t2m2 Today at 02:20 GMT, the distance covered in the previous 24 hours was 540nm, with 12,861 nm to go. Orange II is 2,091 ahead of the Jules Verne record, and 2,057 ahead of the absolute record held by Cheyenne. - http://www.maxicatamaran-orange.com BEATING U.V. TO DEATH…. We all understand that keeping covered up is critical for protecting ourselves from the sun's cancer causing rays. Groovy-UV understands that better than anyone; they've made a business of it. That's why they selected the Dryshirt™ and new DryGuard with SPF ratings of 150+ as their choice of apparel for their clients, as did our newest authorized dealers Sailing Supply and Team One Newport. From adults to juniors, your skin needs protection and even the best sunscreens come off in water. Cover up in 2005 with the Dryshirt™ and DryGuard. For a dealer near you: 800-354-7245 or http://www.sailingproshop.com/dryshirt.htm 2005 STAR WORLDS For the second time the Brazilians Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira won a race. The gold medal winners at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004 beat the bronze medal winners Xavier Rohart and Pascal Rambeau, followed by another French team, Phillipe Presti and Jean Phillipe Saliou. With this race, Grael/Ferreira renewed their possibilities of winning the regatta that, until today, belonged to the French team of Rohart/Rambeau. Torben Grael said, "As is the tradition in the Star World Championship, nobody knows who is going to win until the last race." About the sailing conditions of today, he said, "I like the waves of the Plata Rivers, they are big and make all the skippers be very attentive. The boats, in water like this, bounce a lot and it is necessary to use more force while driving. It is not usual to compete in these conditions." Comments Rohart, "No one is able to win by chance in this river, any error made is very costly." Results after four races: 1. Xavier Rohart/Pascal Rambeau (FRA) 6-1-3-2, 12 points 2. Torben Grael/Marcelo Ferreira (BRA) 1-6-8-1, 16 3. Fredrik Loof/Anders Ekstrom (SWE), 2-4-6-6, 18 4. Philippe Presti /Jean-Phillipe Saliou (FRA) 5-9-4-3, 21 5. Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) 10-8-1-5, 24 7. Mark Reynolds/Phil Trinter (USA) 7-3-11-16, 37 10. George Szabo/Brian Fatih (USA) 9-11-13-17, 50 12. Eric Doyle/Brian Sharp (USA) 13-16-12-15, 56 16. Iain Percy/ Steve Mitchell (GBR) DNF/53-2-2-13, 70 Event website: http://starworld2005.com/en Star class website: http://www.starclass.org/artman/publish/article_167.shtml MAJOR NOOD When the 2005 Lands' End National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta Series kicks off in St. Petersburg, Florida, this weekend, it will make history. For the first time, each of the nine stops on the NOOD schedule will send their winner to a climactic competition that will crown an overall series champion. This exciting new format will culminate in January 2006 at the NOOD Caribbean Rendezvous, to be held at Sunsail's Club Colonna in Antigua. The new evolution follows the addition of Lands' End as a title sponsor for the NOOD series, which is owned and organized by Sailing World magazine. These developments promise to make this the best year ever for the series. In addition to St. Petersburg, the 2005 Lands' End NOOD Regattas will sail into eight cities: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, New York, San Diego, Annapolis and Toronto. Created in 1988, the NOODs attract close to 2,000 boats and more than 30,000 competitors and spectators annually. Each event in the series features three days of sailboat racing for one-design models from 20 to 70 feet in length. - http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp ORYX QUEST 2005 "It's like being inside a cement mixer," is how Brian Thompson, skipper of Doha 2006, described the conditions on board this morning as the massive catamaran negotiated a transition zone between the doldrums and fresh breeze to the south. Thompson's log describes a typical day in the doldrums as the crew deal with the difficult conditions found in the transition zone between hemispheres. It's wet, muggy and tiring work that often seems hardly worth the effort for no sooner have you taken two reefs than the wind dies and you have to shake them out again. They seem to have found the correct balance and at the 06:00 GMT poll Doha 2006 had regained a small lead over Geronimo. The catamaran is 100 miles to the south of the trimaran, but Geronimo is to the east, which minimizes Doha 2006's lead. Said Geronimo skipper Olivier de Kersauson, "The seas are very short and steep. The conditions are not good for a mulithull. It's going to be at least 12 hours until we will be able to get the boat back up to speed and sailing fast." The leaders have opened up another 40 miles on Daedalus and Cheyenne and at the 06:00 GMT poll Daedalus was trailing Doha 2006 by 340 miles with Cheyenne a further 10 miles astern. Cheyenne and Daedalus have been enjoying a race of their own as they also deal with the transition zone before the fresh trade winds kick in. Cheyenne is sailing a parallel course to Daedalus eighty miles to the west and at the 06:00 GMT poll was recording the fastest speeds in the race at 18.8 knots. - Brian Hancock, event website, http://www.oryxquest.com A POWERBOAT SAILORS LOVE TO BRAG ABOUT It takes a lot for hard-core sailors to admit they'd rather own a powerboat. For professional sailor Ken Read, it took a True North 38. "Everything about the True North design works. It has that same sense of efficiency that I demand when I'm racing." Inspired by the rugged, reliable New England lobster boats and built to the highest standards by the leader in composite technology, the True North 38 is converting the minds and souls of sailors everywhere. Learn more about the True North 38 or the new True North 33 at 619-224-6200 or http://www.pearsonyachts.com VENDÉE GLOBE 2004 With Jean-Pierre Dick on Virbac-Paprec crossing for sixth place last Sunday in the grueling Vendée Globe solo round the world race for a 98-day three-hour circumnavigation, the next finishers will be either Joé Seeten or Conrad Humphreys as they continue their tactical scrap for seventh during their final 800 miles. As of Tuesday evening, Humphreys had overcome a 5-mile deficit from the afternoon and was 8 miles up on Seeten. Safely in ninth with over 1400 miles to the finish, American skipper Bruce Schwab is in favourable downwind conditions south of a depression off the Canaries. Raphael Dinelli and Karen Leibovici are the only competitors left in the Southern hemisphere today, still suffering what has been a hellish few days in violent storms and shifty winds off the coast of Brazil. Right at the tail of the fleet Karen has lost her water propeller for making energy in a 70-knot storm. With just 10 litres of diesel and a generator that only works in flat seas, Benefic is going to be severely lacking in power to recharge its batteries 4240 miles from the finish, which has numerous implications in terms of both comfort and safety. - http://www.vendeeglobe.fr/uk/home NEWS BRIEFS * As posted on the Bang The Corner website: "Glenn Bourke, CEO of the Volvo Ocean Race, has confirmed that there is now a USA team for the Volvo Ocean Race 2005. Along with two from Holland (ABN Amro), Spain (Telefonica Movistar), Brazil (Brazil 1), Scandinavia (Atlant Ocean Racing) and Australia (Premier Challenge), it is now safe to confirm that there will be a funded entry from the United States. There is also a possibility of additional entries from four more teams with realistic chances of getting the necessary funds." - http://www.bangthecorner.com/da/16701 Curmudgeon's Comment: No word yet on the Volvo Ocean Race website, or elsewhere, as to who is behind the USA team. * Auckland, New Zealand- Wednesday at the I-14 Worlds was marked by swift tides and inconsistent winds of 12-15 knots at the start, but dropping during the race to light zephyrs at the finish. A first by British sailors Stevie Morrison/ Ben Rhodes, plus a fourth by countrymen Alister Richardson/ Ian Barker, has the duo leading the overall standings in that order. Canadians Peter Hayward/ Norm Pavey stand in 10th, while Americans Zach Berkowitz/ Steve Bordow are presently in 18th. Results: http://tinyurl.com/3verz * Two kinds of weather service will be available for NOOD racers in 2005. North Sails will once again provide its Expert Weather Online service for competitors at the Lands' End NOOD regattas. Additionally, complementary website access will be available from Sailflow, which provides both historical and real-time wind and weather. The service gathers wind information from dedicated sensors, and has set-up direct links for each of the Lands' End NOOD racing site. Details at http://www.sailingworld.com/sw_nood.jsp * World Publications will contribute $100,000 in the form of advertisements to the 2005 Grow Boating media campaign. The ads will reach out to a broad non-boating audience through four of World's magazine titles: Sport Diver, Caribbean Travel & Life, Florida Travel & Life and Islands. The Grow Boating Initiative is a cooperative effort among leaders in recreational boating to grow sales and participation. Objectives include actively promoting the boating lifestyle, improving product quality and boosting industry statistics. World is the publisher for Cruising World, Sailing World, and Power Cruising. World also owns the leading boating websites UsedBoats.com and NewBoats.com. THE ULTIMATE TRAINING GETAWAY FOR SAILORS WHO WANT TO WIN This annual action-packed program combines intense on-water racing instruction with visually stimulating daily seminars. Taught by expert coaches from North U and Offshore Sailing School, NOOD Camp is in Ft. Myers Beach, FL, April 10-14 and April 24-28, 2005. http://www.offshore-sailing.com/HTML/ToWin/nood2005.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (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 nor a bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree.) * From John Glynn: Once again those crazy editors over at the New York Times up and surprise us. Today in the front page section, in the World Briefing Columns (usually reserved for earthquakes, bombings, and major shootings) low and behold they run the story (from one of their own wire writers no less) of the South African America's Cup Yacht Shosholoza hitting a whale. I find it interesting that sailing all of a sudden makes major headlines. It only took Ellen's monumental achievements, and a poor unfortunate whale, whose injuries, according to the story "remain unknown." * From Mark Eustis: With regard to fleet tracking, the ISAF has opened an interesting case. Unless these systems are reserved for promotional use, I suggest it's a box they're better off closing. A decent consumer-grade GPS receiver, operating on its own, is usually good for +/- 7 meters lat/lon. Public corrections (DGPS, WAAS, etc.) can improve that to +/- 2-3 m. Reliable 30cm results (~1ft) require both professional-grade GPS and professional-grade external corrections. The ISAF also wants 2-way connections between each vessel and various "mission control" locations. That will require dedicated, regatta-wide communications. So each boat will require a GPS and corrections receiver, a communications transceiver, antennae, big batteries, wiring, etc. All that kit should add up to 7-10 kilos for each boat, depending on power requirements and length of race, etc. Timing is simple, as civilian GPS is accurate to a few hundred nano-seconds. System-wide reliability will be hugely difficult in a small-boat fleet. Granted, we're not landing planes here…but there are a host of complex variables. Let's consider the most obvious: at what rate will positions be reported? A boat moving at 10 knots travels over 5 meters per second. To stay within the 30cm spec, positions will have to be recorded at 40-60 hertz to account for 20+ knot planing speeds. Notwithstanding the cost, complexity and local construction issues, has the ISAF considered the bandwidth required to handle fifty messages per second from an international championship fleet? Reliable accuracy to Olympic standards will be, as the engineers say, not trivial. * From Kurt Bianculli: (response to letter in Issue 1776) Pete, your merchant mariner friend is wrong in stating that LNG tankers never come into port. They have unloaded in Boston harbor for as long as I can remember. When they come into the harbor everything is stopped including all car traffic on the Tobin Bridge. There has been much debate here in Boston about building an offshore unloading facility, however, it is uncertain how well it would work in a northern city. The problem is that we need the most gas during the winter months, which also coincides with our most severe storms. What happens if we get nailed by a multi-day Nor-Easter and the tankers can't unload because it is too rough. We could potentially have an awful lot of people without heat. The gas utility companies schedule the deliveries so that the ship comes into the harbor late at night when all traffic (boat and car) is at its least. I would guess the same thing would be true in Rhode Island, so the impact on recreational boaters would be quite minimal. My understanding is that the 15-mile safe distance you quote is if the volume of gas in the tanker explodes without any containment. However, LNG tankers are designed so that in the event of an explosion, the force of the blast will go straight up through the deck instead of out through the sides of the hull, minimizing damage to the surrounding area. * From Marcel Nyffenegger: (In response to Pete Sherwood regarding LNG tankers) Mr. Sherwood's friend who sailed on a LNG tanker is wrong in saying that a LNG tanker is only offloaded outside a harbor with a pick up pipe. There is a LNG unload station in the inner harbor in Boston where there is one of theses monsters once a week! For example authorities are closing the Tobin Bridge for all traffic during the move of this large ship, which has to go under it to reach the dock! There are helicopters, police boats, coast guard and many other agencies involved to get it into and out of the harbor. There is great concern in the communities within the radius of the potential danger, if one of theses ships ever would be attacked. So I understand the fear of having these tankers coming into Narraganset bay. * From Ralph Mailloux: Regarding Robin Roser's dismay of the evil golf ball pollution of the Hauraki Gulf. You gotta be kiding me. I can only imagine what demons lurk in the shadows if this is a great concern. If you are really that concerned, go pick 'em up.... * From David Gill: (regarding golf balls) From Wake Forest University's Hawaii albatross Study: "Pieces of plastic are 'ingested' (swallowed) by albatrosses while they are feeding at sea and then the plastic is passed to their chicks when they feed them by regurgitation. Hundreds of black-footed and Laysan albatross chicks have been inspected for plastic ingestion, and 2/3's of the black-foots, and all Laysan chicks contained plastic in their stomachs! The plastic can slow the growth of chicks and sometimes kill them, because ingested plastic is not digested. Plastic items found in the stomachs of chicks include toothbrushes, children's toys, bottle caps, cigarette lighters, pipes, fishing line, and gloves. Albatrosses either mistake these items for fish or squid, or they accidentally swallow them when they eat flying fish eggs that are often attached to floating objects." CURMUDGEON'S CONUNDRUM Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp that no decent human being would eat? |
