|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3750 - Wednesday, January 9, 2013Scuttlebutt 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: North Sails, Storm Trysail Block Island Race Week and Ribcraft. WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF THE AC WORLD SERIES? (January 8, 2013) - The America's Cup Event Authority (ACEA) announced today that it will no longer host the America's Cup World Series (ACWS) events contemplated for late May/ early June in New York. The only ACWS event remaining on the schedule will be in Naples, Italy on April 16-21, after which the teams will focus solely on preparing for the Louis Vuitton Cup (July 4-Aug 30) and the America's Cup Match (Sept 7-21). The schedule change was primarily due to the desires of the challenging teams to concentrate on their AC72 training. It was hoped that the New York events would help to grow interest in the America's Cup, but the high administrative costs and the likelihood of the Cup teams needing to send reserves negated the event benefits. The affects of Hurricane Sandy did not factor into the decision. "We went into New York knowing it was going to cost us a lot of money, but the reasons for going there were too strong to ignore," explained ACEA chief executive officer, Stephen Barclay. "The city offers the biggest sporting audience in the U.S. and would have been a superb fit for our partners. But in the last month or two in our discussions with the Louis Vuitton Cup teams, they have made a strong point that there is only one month before the challenger series starts. We also recognized our own planning, and the last thing we wanted to do was compromise the build up toward the racing in San Francisco." So will Italy be the end of the AC World Series? "There have been lots of discussions for continuing the series," shared Barclay. "I think it is fair to say that the sailors have a head of steam regarding this. There are a couple of the sailors that are communicating with the rest of the sailors and driving a desire for the AC Event Authority to look to confirming other AC World Series events immediately after this America's Cup. That desire is shared by the sponsors and most of the teams. So yes, there has been a lot of discussion about the future." -- Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=15050 COMMENT: The 34th America's Cup has had more changes than a baby's diaper. I have been critical at times, but I give Stephan Barclay high marks today for hosting a media call to explain the latest circumstance. A step in the right direction. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt NORTH CLIENT SERVICES (NCS) ONSITE AT KEY WEST RACE WEEK 2013 North Sails will have support teams on-the-water and after racing in Key West providing North Client Services (NCS) complimentary to all sailors to help you get the most out of your sails and boat while racing! Andreas Josenhans and Chuck Allen will be taking photos on the race course and hosting post-race debriefs (location TBD) to give tips on better sail trim and how your boat set-up can be optimized to make your team go faster. You don't want to miss taking advantage of this awesome service, our experts are here for you! Be sure to also visit http://na.northsails.com/weather.aspx to sign up for our free daily weather forecasts written by Sailing Weather Service. RECORD FASTNET - WHY? It took just 24 hours to sell out all 300 places for this year's Rolex Fastnet Race - a new record before the 608-nm race has even started. But this is no flash in the pan, the last race in 2011 was so popular that additional places were made available and saw a record 314 starters. "We were pretty impressed in 2011 when we sold out in 10 days after opening entries, but this has just blown us away," said RORC racing manager Nick Elliott. The sell out is certainly impressive and flies in the face of a common mis-perception, particularly in the professional world, that yacht racing is in crisis. Sure, events from the Volvo, to the America's Cup and even the Vendee Globe are struggling to hit their target fleet sizes, but this should not be confused with the general sailing fraternity's desire to go racing. Having said that, some of the popular regattas are suffering and a long way off their previous best. This year's Sydney Hobart saw just 76 starters, down on the previous race in 2011 and a long way off its biggest ever entry of 371 starters for the 50th anniversary race in 1994. Cork Week and Key West are also facing significantly smaller fleet sizes than in their heyday. So why is the Fastnet race, with its notorious reputation and its time consuming regulations on crew qualifications, so successful when other events and regattas around the world are struggling to maintain their fleet sizes? -- Matthew Sheahan, Yachting World, read on: http://tinyurl.com/YW-010813 MIGRATION HABITS There are a lot of things that go south in the winter: birds, seniors, and sailors. Nobody said you had to abstain from your sport until spring. Over 200 hundred years of one design class history was on display last weekend in Miami on Biscayne Bay, and each of these classes has epic hospitality in South Florida for the traveling sailor. Etchells: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0107/ Snipe: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0106/ Star: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/13/0108/ FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH Here's an IRC update from the RORC because you can't always believe what you hear in the bar... * When is power rated as 'stored power'? With reference to IRC Rule 15 Manual Power, we sometimes get queries from owners who are not sure whether their system constitutes 'stored power' or not, for instance when the backstay tension can be pumped up by hand. As a simple rule of thumb: If you use a manual pump to produce the power, it is NOT stored power. If you press a button to produce the power, it IS stored power and must be declared. Remember that IRC distinguishes between stored power for the backstay only or for other running rigging such as sail sheeting. Stored power used only for mainsail halyards, or the reefing or furling of sails is excluded and need not be declared. Other halyards that use stored power must be declared as 'running rigging' * Spreader sweepback We often get application forms where spreader sweepback has been incorrectly completed. The application form now gives two options: Less than 5 degrees (essentially in-line with the mast), or more than 5 degrees sweepback. As a general rule, a rig with no extra support in the form of running backstays or checkstays is likely to have more than 5 degrees sweepback on the spreaders; while a more adjustable rig with runners and/or checkstays might have in-line spreaders. More here: http://tinyurl.com/IRC-010813 STORM TRYSAIL BLOCK ISLAND RACE WEEK, JUNE 23-28, 2013 The Storm Trysail Club plans a bang-up race week celebrating the 25th running of the East Coast's premier five day race week. Compete for the Rolex in the 'Round Block Island Race; North American Championships in IRC, HPR and J80's; East Coast Championships in PHRF and J109's. Swan 42 New England and Beneteau 36.7 Northeast Championships. Navigator-style courses for Double Handers, Cruising and Classic classes. Don't miss out! Get your crew together, book your house, make your ferry reservations and enter now. Details on Block Island travel, accommodations, marinas and Block Island Race Week at: http://blockislandraceweek.com MANY PITFALLS YET TO COME (January 8, 2013; Day 60) - The two boats at the front of the Vendee Globe fleet have been duelling closed hauled for the last 48 hours in tiring north westerly winds as they made long, slow arduous progress upwind. The wind, however, has picked up for Francois Gabart (MACIF) who has managed to extend his lead as it dropped off for Armel Le Cleac'h (Banque Populaire) slowing him down. "I'm quite fine, I keep on going. I am sailing faster now," said Gabart. "I don't have incredible speed but it's getting better. The journey is still long, so I try to rest as much as I can. I'll try to catch the South East trade winds in a few days. Sometimes I think about the arrival in Les Sables. I think about my family. It's a source of motivation. Now we are closing in on the finish. I hope my fight with Armel will keep on going." There now lies a 100 miles between the leaders, the greatest distance since the start. It's not insurmountable, with many pitfalls to overcome; their crossing of the St Helene High, the passage of the doldrums and the climb up the North Atlantic. There are still 5,000 miles to overcome in the ultimate fight for Vendee Globe victory. Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/ Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Tuesday, January 8, 2013, 20h00 (FR) 1. Francois Gabart (FRA), Macif: 5219.4 nm Distance to Finish 2. Armel Le Cleac'h (FRA), Banque Populaire: 100.2 nm Distance to Lead 3. Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac Paprec 3: 457.9 nm DTL 4. Alex Thomson (GBR), Hugo Boss: 630.2 nm DTL 5. Jean Le Cam (FRA), SynerCiel: 1670.4 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html BACKGROUND: Twenty skippers began the Vendee Globe, a solo, non-stop around the world race in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Starting in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on November 10, the west to east course passes the three major capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn before returning to Les Sables d'Olonne. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) set the course record of 84 days in the 2008-9 edition. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ IT HAPPENED AT THE HORN Of the 20 starters in the Vendee Globe, Dominique Wavre (SUI) is among the lucky 13 who continue on. Currently running in seventh position, Dominique is less than 200 nm from rounding Cape Horn. Here he shares some details of this historic landmark at the tip of South America: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cape Horn is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile and is located on the small Hornos Island. Francis Drake discovered the cape in 1578 on board Golden Hind, but it owes its name to the Dutchman Van Schouten who rounded it in 1616. He named it Horn after his hometown. At 600 metres, Cape Horn towers over the ocean, but the dark, jagged rocks - the result of erosion from pounding waves and massive westerly gales - are hard for sailors to spot as they sail past. Cape Horn's discovery was a result of economic pressure. By 1520, Magellan had already discovered the Straits that are named after him, but Spanish/Portuguese dominance was coming head to head with a new ambitious maritime power: the Dutch. With such stakes at play, the contenders needed a ship that could withstand the extreme conditions and which could also sail upwind. By the time such a ship was crafted, staggering numbers of men had been lost at sea: four attempts at rounding, four entire crews lost. It happened at the Horn... * The Montcalm, a French flagged ship from Nantes, battled wind and tide to round the Cape (from the east) for two months before the conditions got the better of the captain and he altered course to run before the weather. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope and south Australia before at last reaching his final destination: San Francisco. * Up until the 18th century, sailors navigated using a mariner's astrolabe, which was an inclinometer used to determine the latitude of a ship at sea by measuring the sun's noon altitude (declination) or the meridian altitude of a star of known declination. With this information the captain of a ship could sail due west or due east depending on his mission with a margin of error of approximately 100 nautical miles. * Magellan was the first to discover the Patagonians, the indigenous people of the Tierra del Fuego. In his logbook, he described them as "naked ugly giants with enormous women". He added: "they became angry when put in irons". Source: http://mxcc1.com/b/view1?r=YKS7PwoU29se SAILING SHORTS * Britain's first private navy in almost two centuries is being created by a group of businessmen to take on the Somali pirates who are terrorising a 2.5m square mile expanse of the Indian Ocean. Its armed vessels - including a 10,000-ton mother ship and high-speed armoured patrol boats - will be led by a former Royal Navy commodore. He is recruiting 240 former marines and other sailors for the force. It will escort its first convoy of oil tankers, bulk carriers - and possibly an occasional yacht - along the east coast of Africa in late March or April. -- Read on: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Defence/article1189106.ece * Richmond, CA (January 6, 2013) - Still popular events after 5 decades, Richmond Yacht Club hosted the Small Boat Midwinters which is held on the first Sunday from December through March. With three starting lines for 23 different varieties of one designs, over 140 dinghies raced in the 6 knot and under winds with the usual oddball currents. The wind was consistent, just not consistently from the same direction. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/RYC-010813 * The Sail Canada Marvin McDill Memorial Award, established to honour the man who returned Canada to the America's Cup competition in 1983, is presented annually to the athlete or crew with the best results at their first Open World Championship as a member of the Canadian Sailing Team. This year's recipient is Tom Ramshaw from Toronto, Ontario who trains full-time in hopes to qualify to represent Canada at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SC-010813 * The 2013 List of Prohibited Substances and Methods is now available as an iPhone application. The World Anti Doping Agency is responsible for updating the List every year and the 2013 version has been in effect since January 1. The 2013 List can also be accessed using other mobile devices via a mobile site, which can be accessed here: http://www.sailing.org/news/33793.php PROFESSIONAL GRADE MEANS... Never having to Compromise. Now you can have it all. Military tough. Proven designs. Performance Driven. Innovation. Time tested. Reliability. There's no question why RIBCRAFT is today's RIB of choice for sailors, yacht clubs, and professionals. Whether you're in charge of your club's sailing program or race committee or you're looking for the ultimate race tender or just for fun boat, now's the time to contact RIBCRAFT to make your 2013 plans. For more than twenty years RIBCRAFT makes getting on the water easy, safe, and enjoyable. No more compromises. That's what you get with RIBCRAFT professional grade RIBs. http://www.ribcraftusa.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Andrew Burton: So I learn in Scuttlebutt 3749 that we have a new rule: RRS 55 Trash Disposal - "A competitor shall not intentionally put trash in the water." Really? Is this what our sport has come to? How is this rule remotely connected to sailing? As a rule of good citizenship, yes, fine. But this ridiculous rule has no place in the RRS. Don't get me wrong, I hate garbage going into the water, and I was one of the first in my area to bring multiple serving beverage containers and reusable cups on my boat (when Heineken started making mini kegs), but we don't need to address either problem in the Racing Rules of Sailing. I thought rule-makers were trying to reduce the number of rules for competitors. What's next; an admonition to parents of Opti sailors not to provide their offspring with sugary carbonated beverages? * From Fredrick Roswold: The challenge is not for the America's Cup to maintain its "brand" while transforming to seek mass market consumption (Scuttlebutt 3749). That is only the self-imposed challenge that Coutts and Ellison have set for themselves and, by the way, those two attributes are mutually exclusive. This challenge cannot be achieved, because if the Cup is to become attractive to the mass market, the "brand" will have been lost. It will not be, and in fact is already not, the America's Cup that Morgan chased, and that we all loved. The Cup, in its current form may be spectacular, but pandering to the roller derby mentality doesn't make it the pinnacle of sailing. * From Neil Fraser: Two comments on Issue 3749 -- The America's Cup story seems to indicate that Harold "Mike" Vanderbilt was a two time winner of the Cup. This is correct but incomplete; Mike Vanderbilt won the Cup three times: Enterprise 1930, Rainbow 1934 (with a huge assist by Sherman Hoyt) and Ranger 1937 (Stephens brothers in the afterguard). There are many great stories about how Vanderbilt ran his program (He'd have the crew take off the main every day after racing so that no one was tempted to "just go what we have on" the next day, etc.). I always think of him as the forerunner to Mosbacher and Conner in the way he managed a campaign. About David Redfern's story regarding AC "spying" in 1983 -- In the lead up to the 1992 AC, America Cubed had a power boat named "Guzzini" which was similarly outfitted with antennas, etc. Bill Koch revealed just after America Cubed cross the finish line in the last race that all of the antennas on "Guzzini" were not operational and the whole incident was to unnerve the competition rather than to gather any information. * From John Harwood-Bee: In my first rant of 2013 - and yes I can be accused of being pedantic (especially about the Jules Verne TROPHY) - Tim Zimmermann refers in Scuttlebutt 3749 that among The Big Three Records is the Jules Verne Trophy as the Round The World Non-Stop Record. It is NOT. The Jules Verne USED to be the record before the disastrous decision in 2004 to award the trophy to a vessel that had only beaten the previous JV time and NOT the ratified world record time achieved by Steve Fossett that year. Once the trophy had been awarded to Olivier De Kersauson and 'Geronimo' for a time FIVE DAYS slower than Fossetts, it lost its prestige and ability to be the defining RTW competition. Until such time as the Jules Verne 'committee' issue a declaration that the trophy will in future only ever be awarded to the GENUINE fastest vessel around the planet (a little late now I believe), it will remain nothing more than a prize for beating the previous JV time. That it happens to be for a record breaking trip will remain coincidental. The actual round the world record is monitored and approved by the World Sailing Speed Record Council and awarded regardless of whether the vessel had registered for the JV trophy or not. * From Georges Bonello DuPuis, past Commodore, Royal Malta Yacht Club: You could also add the Rolex Middle Sea Race to the trivia question in Scuttlebutt 3749. Hosted by Royal Malta Yacht Club, it too is over 600 miles and starts in Valletta's majestic Grand Harbour with thousands of people in attendance. In fact, we might have something better since we start and finish in the same place. FREE CLASSIFIED ADS The Scuttlebutt Classified Ads provide a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. Here are recent job ads: * Summer Sailing Instructors in Oakland near San Francisco Bay * Skippers Wanted for Summer Adventure Learning Programs in Caribbean * Sailing Instructors in Beijing View/post ads here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/classified_ads CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average - which means, you have met your New Year's resolution." - Jay Leno SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - Marion-Bermuda Race - Atlantis WeatherGear Team One Newport - J Boats - North Sails - Block Island Race Week Ribcraft - Ullman Sails - North U - Melges Performance Sailboats Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
