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SCUTTLEBUTT 3383 - Thursday, July 14, 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: Vineyard Race and Ullman Sails. LITMUS TEST FOR COACH BOATS By John Longley As the Event Director of Perth2011 (ie, ISAF Sailing World Championships), Andrew Hurst's article in Seahorse and now Scuttlebutt 3381 got me thinking as to the impact of coach boats on organizing a regatta of the complexity of Perth 2011. Negative Aspects... A regatta of this size (1200 athletes, 850 boats, 80 nations, 10 World Championships) is a massively expensive exercise. Our budget is AUD20 million (US$21million). The RHIBS (rigid-hulled inflatable boats) add significantly to the cost of the event as we need to find a mooring system for 300 RHIBS. We also have little idea how many will come. We have estimates ranging from 200 to 500. Being in arguably the most remote city in the world (Perth, Australia) it is also expensive for national authorities to compete here especially given the current strength of the AUD. There are not many RHIBS in Perth because the local boat owners prefer aluminum or fiberglass centre console boats owing to the strength of the sun and the sea conditions. Most teams will therefore need to bring their own RHIBS which is not cheap. The wealthy countries will be able to do so, the poorer ones less likely to do so and they will find it difficult to charter a RHIB while they are here, so the disadvantage between the rich and poor nations that Andrew describes will be magnified. We are trying to run an environmentally sustainable regatta. 300+ RHIBS racing around the place does not help. Positive Aspects... Given that this is a windy destination and safety is paramount, having all these additional boats out on the course, with usually very experienced drivers and sailors, is a bonus. 300 RHIBS, means 300 to 500 coaches which adds to the economic impact of the event and helps us meet our KPIs in this area for our government funders and commercial sponsors. In Conclusion... There will be coach boats at Perth2011. Given the size of the regatta and because this issue is being openly discussed, Perth2011 could become a litmus test for coach boats. If the coaches act poorly, as a few did in our test event last November, and in a self-centered way, it will not add to their cause. I suggest that they consider the following, 1. Strictly obey the coach boat rules 2. Speed only when necessary 3. Consider helping out poorer nations that have no coach boat on the course - carrying spare gear for them, towing them home, etc. 4. Understand that the greatest argument for them being out there is safety backup and to keep this front and centre when out on the course. Link: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12234#12234 BACKGROUND: Since 2003, the ISAF Sailing World Championships have been held every four years - the year prior to the Summer Olympic Games. Like its predecessors, Perth2011 will be used as a key event for countries and sailors to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. All ten Olympic events will hold their annual world championship at Perth2011, which is expected to be the biggest event ever for Olympic sailing. Event website: http://www.perth2011.com UNFINISHED BUSINESS INDEED During this past Fourth of July weekend, the New York Yacht Club hosted what is quickly becoming the most heartfelt gatherings of classic boat owners from around the world. First started over 30 years ago as a casual, early season regatta for classic yachts by Newport sailor Don Glassie and his friend, local bar owner David Kilroy. The Landing Regatta immediately took off in popularity, and through several name and venue changes over the years, continued to represent the best of camaraderie among those sailors that prefer classic style made with wood and varnish, over the latest craze in sailboat designs. Eventually the regatta was re-named, to honor the loss of prominent yachtsman Robert Tiedemann, best known for establishing a new life for post America's Cup career 12 meter yachts by starting a charter business allowing everyday people to feel the thrill of competition aboard his two classic 12's, Gleam & Northern Light. It was during this same event, back in 2007, where one of the most well-known classic racers in the U.S., the 1905 Herreshoff NY-30 class yacht, AMORITA, was run down and sunk by a much larger, 94' ketch. It took four years of dedication by her owners, Jed Pearsall and Bill Doyle, to persevere through the long process of insurance wrangling and boat re-building, but in celebration of the Robert H. Tiedemann Classic Yachting Weekend, the recently re-launched AMORITA proudly made her return home to Narragansett Bay. And AMORITA did it in style. Followed by a helicopter and support boats filming her every move, she went out and promptly won her first race -- which just happened to be the exact same race around Jamestown where she was struck down four years ago. Unfinished business indeed! -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12230 DON'T MISS OUT ON THIS YEAR'S VINEYARD RACE WEEKEND Take part in the East Coast classic, presented by Thomson Reuters and hosted by Stamford Yacht Club. Three courses to choose from: cruising division; multihull division; race tracking and post-race trophy party. Join Tom Whidden at our skippers' meeting. Start date: Sept. 2. Register today: http://www.stamfordyc.com/intraclub/query/catquery.html?doc_number=676 THE OPTIONS NARROW (July 13, 2011) - As Transpac reporting and transponder tracking switches to Hawaii Standard Time (reminder to navigators), we're seeing not much change in the leaderboard, with the biggest chance of a turnover looming as boats make their tactical gybes to line up for the Molokai Channel. What we're watching: Aboard Magnitude 80, Doug Baker and navigator Ernie Richau have determined that they're not going to pass Bella Mente by following her, and they've made a heavy commitment to the south. They've bought a lot of leverage, if they find something to leverage against. Dan Nowlan, Offshore Director of US Sailing, lives and breathes this stuff. Dan's comment today: "It looks to me as if Magnitude is sailing as deep as they dare, hoping to gain while Bella Mente goes off on her optimum gybe angle. Magnitude is really light and has a very flat set of run polars. She can sail deep without giving up a lot. There's room for this to get interesting." The report from Bella Mente, looking good for a Friday morning finish: "Overall, we are happy, but nervous about covering Magnitude." At this point it's a wide "cover." Hap Fauth's 69-footer crossed north of the rhumb line this morning, and we know of at least one race analyst, following through routing software, who is figuring she won't stray far from rhumb from here forward. It looks like a port-pole approach to the Molokai Channel. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/11/0713/ Race website: http://www.transpacrace.com Tracking/Standings: http://live.adventuretracking.com/transpac2011 CAN'T TELL THE PLAYERS WITHOUT A PROGRAM The nine teams entered in the 34th America's Cup are coming to Cascais, Portugal in August (6-14) for the opening event of the 34th America's Cup. The America's Cup World Series - Cascais will feature 10 boats, sailed by nine teams, representing eight countries. Crews filled with previous America's Cup winners, Olympic medalists, world champions, plus round-the-world racers and record setters will contest the first event of the revitalized Cup competition. While some of the more established teams will rely on more experienced hands, new teams from new countries to the Cup are bringing in talent from other disciplines, shaking up the old guard. Here is a rundown of the top sailors leading each crew: James Spithill (AUS), helmsman, ORACLE Racing (United States) Terry Hutchinson (USA), helmsman, Artemis Racing (Sweden) Dean Barker (NZL), skipper, Emirates Team New Zealand (New Zealand) Bertrand Pace (FRA), skipper, Aleph (France) Mitch Booth (AUS), sports director, China Team (China) Loick Peyron (FRA), skipper, Energy Team (France) Vasilij Zbogar (SLO), helmsman, Green Comm Racing (Spain) Chris Draper (GBR), skipper, Team Korea (South Korea) Torvar Mirsky (AUS), skipper, Venezia Challenge (Italy) Russell Coutts (NZL), helmsman, ORACLE Racing (United States) Full bios: http://tinyurl.com/AC-071311 THERE'S THUNDER DOWN UNDER * Team New Zealand's yacht design team will get a quantum leap in computing power after identifying that they were technologically "undercooked" for the last America's Cup. Team NZ announced that the Texas-based multinational Dell would be a partner in their challenge for the Cup in San Francisco in 2013. Dell is involved in a similar partnership with Formula One motor-racing team Lotus. Team NZ managing director Grant Dalton said it would be the biggest private sector computational cluster in New Zealand, and was similar in scale to those at Canterbury University and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa). -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/Stuff-071311 * Emirates Team New Zealand has launched two 33ft catamarans ahead of the 34th America's Cup. The boats have a dual role - crew training for the sailing team and as test platforms for the design team. Managing director Grant Dalton says the yachts will be modified to test design concepts for the AC72 catamarans that will race in the 2013 America's Cup. Dalton said today: "We needed a way to get the entire sailing team working on the water and the design team wanted to be able to test in the real world. The SL33 was designed by American firm Morelli Melvin which is also part of the Emirates Team New Zealand design team. The yachts were built by Hakes Marine of Wellington. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/YW-071311 WHERE THERE'S WATER. Out on the Pacific, Ullman Sails customers are tactically lining up their final approach to the Diamond Head buoy to complete the 2011 Transpac. Across the pond, the Ullman-powered "Whiskers" is battling for the 2011 Coutts Quarter Ton Cup on the Solent. And next week, Ullman Sails will be on hand in Oak Harbor to support the 100+ boats expected for the premier regatta in the Pacific Northwest - Whidbey Island Race Week! No matter where you are or what sailing you do, Ullman Sails is dedicated to providing the best sails and service possible. Invest in your performance. www.ullmansails.com SAILING SHORTS * (July 13, 2011) - For the remaining 19 boats yet to finish the Transatlantic Race 2011, progress is agonizingly slow. Most of the yachts out on the racecourse are approximately 250 miles from the finish, and looking at the tracker, it resembles the start line for a foot race, with the competitors waiting for the starting pistol. Fair winds still elude the yachts; however, more wind is expected to arrive from the south or southwest in about 24 hours' time, which should increase in strength, giving the yachts a roaring finish into The Lizard. Most of the yachts should finish the Transatlantic Race over the coming weekend. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/TA-071311 * Zadar, Croatia (July 13, 2011) - Light conditions continue at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship, with two more days of competition remaining for the eight events. Tops among the North American contingent are American Morgan Kiss/ Christina Lewis and Nikole Barnes/ Agustina Barbuto of the USVI, who are in second and third respectively in the doublehanded Girls 420 event. A starting penalty by Laser Radial sailor Erika Reineke (USA) has moved her down from second to fourth, and the 29er team of Antoine Screve/ Mac Agnese (USA) are now in third but tied on points with second overall. Event website: http://www.isafyouthworlds.com/editions/2011/index.php * The Cal 20 will celebrate its golden anniversary with its 50th annual Class Championship at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA on Aug. 12-14. A Junior Championship is scheduled for Aug. 20. Organizers are hustling to attract an appropriate entry list of 50 boats, including a "Bronze" fleet for recreational Cal 20 owners. Among champions over the last three decades is 1984 winner John Kostecki, whose later successes include an Olympic silver medal in 1988, a win in the 2002 Volvo Ocean Race on Illbruck and the America's Cup with BMW Oracle in 2010. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12231 * The 13th annual Boston Fall Boat Show (Oct. 1-3) has been cancelled for 2011 due to the current economic climate, according to a release from the show's owner, Boat Shows Inc. "Due to the current economic climate, the local marine marketplace cannot support a show at this time. We simply could not get enough additional exhibitor support to make the numbers work for 2011," Warren Kelly, manager of the show, said in the release. -- Boating Industry, full story: http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2807083 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: Jul 16-17 - Atlantis Snipe U.S. Womens Nationals - Beverly, Mass, USA Jul 16 - Chicago Mackinac Island Race - Chicago, IL, USA Jul 16 - Lake Ontario 300 - Mississauga, Ontario, Canada View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Dinghy Locker/Landfall New North American Dealer for BIC Sports SUPs * SAIL Launches New Sailboat Review iPad App * New VO70 launches with Future Fibres mast and rigging package * Mount Gay Rum Eclipse Nautical Limited Edition Bottle Release! View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 Richard Jepsen, OCSC Sailing School: Regarding the letter in Scuttlebutt 3382 by John Diggins, I'm really encouraged to hear that TSA agents can be persuaded to follow TSA's own rules for gas cartridges for lifejackets. I'd be interested to hear if others have had success with TSA convincing them that the cartridges are OK to put in checked baggage and carry-ons. (Best would be a bulletin from TSA HQ to all its officers reminding them of this very occasional circumstance) In the past, I've had graduates traveling to a charter make the same claim with TSA agents refusing to 'look it up'. Pretty inconvenient and expensive experiment if you lose up to four cartridges and the use of your lifejacket during your sail because you found the wrong TSA agent before boarding. Here's another snippet from that same website: "The prohibited items list is not intended to be all-inclusive and is updated as necessary. To ensure travelers' security, Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) may determine that an item not on the Prohibited Items List is prohibited". * From Paul Henderson: Your lead story in Scuttlebutt 3382 was a treat. As usual a fine sailor like Torben Grael is right on all points! Well put. * From Don Bedford: Torben is the man! I could not agree more with his take on the current state of sailing. If you're not thrilled with the direction that the competition for the Auld Mug has taken then you might want to question where sailing in general is going. Maybe If you like TV watching then you're happy but if you like to take your family out on your dinghy for some weekend racing then it seems the sport is leaving you behind. Coach boats, on-the-water judging, no reaches - ugh! * From Hans "Oily" Liniger: On Torben Grael's comments in Scuttlebutt 3382, they are dead to the point! Thank you for being so outspoken. He just forgot to mention one other unnecessary modernism: match racing. Bringing sailing to the mindless champagne sipping ignorants in order to get some TV attention? No thank you guys. Looking forward to the next Volvo campaign. * From Jeremy McGeary, Farnham, Virginia: With reference to Scuttlebutt 3382: " . . . trash talking every America's Cup event that has come before is not good for the America's Cup brand . . ." Call me Rip Van Winkle if you like, but when did the America's Cup become merely a "brand?" I'm pretty sure it wasn't a "brand" when I was sharpening pencils for Dave Pedrick in 1980 and '83. If I want to see a bunch of brands, I can go to the local drugstore. Is that where the America's Cup belongs? On the shelf next to Old Spice? Please, this is the longest-running sporting competition in history; can we restore to it just a little bit of dignity? * From Mark Lehcim: Cannot agree more with this excellent contribution by YachtSponsorship.com in Scuttlebutt 3382 titled 'Trash Talking the Old America's Cup Is Getting Boring'. It tells everything abut the spirit of those currently responsible for the America's Cup. The door of history is wide open for the America's Cup Event Authority, et al to show what they can do. So show us the way! * From Bill Spalding: Your story in the Sailing Shorts (Scuttlebutt 3382) about a change of policy of Canadian Border Crossing Reporting was prompted by a change in their enforcement this year. A recreational fisherman in the Thousand Island area of the St Lawrence River was boarded and his boat was seized by Canadian border patrol agents. He was able to pay a $1000.00 fine on the spot to avoid arrest. Details in the paper can be read at http://blog.syracuse.com/sports/2011/06/baldwinsville_mans_day_of_fish.html * From Andre Corkum: The 2011 Marblehead-to-Halifax Ocean Race (starting on July 10th) was another great race, my sixth. I was sailing on the C & C 115 Triumph out of RNSYS in Halifax. Nice weather, never becalmed, 10 to 30 knots SE & SW. Sunny for the first day, warm fog the last 18 hrs. We had Triumph up to 15.4 knots in between blowing two chutes. Saw the usual whales and some sailfish. Three boats broke the record: Bella Pita in 30:46:52 (on her way to the Fastnet Race), Halifax based Valkarie (31:50:18) and Canadian owned Aurora (33:28:38). Unfortunately that this east coast classic gets so little coverage from Scuttlebutt and the media in general. Here is the race website where updates are now posted: http://www.marbleheadtohalifax.com COMMENT: Often times events do not receive suitable media coverage because they do not distribute updates about their event. Tips on how to help your event's media profile are posted here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/pr CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The early worm deserves the bird. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Quantum Sails - Vineyard Race - North Sails - LaserPerformance Morris Yachts - Samson - Ullman Sails - APS Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
