|
SCUTTLEBUTT 2517 – January 23, 2008Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. BOTH OLD AND NEW NAMES ON TOP IN KEY WEST (January 22, 2008) As the results rolled in during the first day of racing Acura Key West 2008, presented by Nautica, there were a lot of familiar names finishing at the front. Winners in the Melges 24 class included such perennial contenders as Franco Rossini and Riccardo Simoneschi. By day’s end, Masquerade was in her usual perch atop the J/105 class. Two-time defending world champion and past Key West winner Mascalzone Latino seized the early lead in Farr 40. Dan Meyers, who has raced a variety of big boats in Key West, showed off his new Numbers while moving quickly to the top of IRC 1. Other opening day pacesetters with a history of success at Acura Key West include the J/80 Rumor and the Mumm 30 Groovederci. However, there were also some newcomers atop the leader board after Day 1. No Naked Flames, a brand new Slim 37 owned by Irish brothers Andrew and Carl Allen, performed well right of the box in taking the lead in IRC 2. Stark Raving Mad, James Madden’s new J/125, also posted superb results while showing it could be the boat to beat in PHRF 1. Meanwhile, the Swan 42 class made its one-design debut at Acura Key West with Tiburon, owned by Mark Watson of Newport, R.I., Action at Acura Key West 2008 was scheduled to begin on Monday, but high winds and heavy seas forced regatta organizers to abandon on all four courses without starting a race. Winds were still strong, but more manageable, on Tuesday – blowing steady between 17-20 knots out of the east. That enabled officials with Premiere Racing to complete three races for 15 of 16 classes – the first time that has happened in the 21-year history of the popular regatta. -- Full report and results: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=5727#5727 ABOUT TIME (AND MONEY) by Kimball Livingston, SAIL I'm working from an update-free zone, but a sail-assisted cargo vessel was scheduled to have sailed Tuesday from Bremerhaven, Germany to Venezuela as the first practical test of a towing-kite system intended to reduce fuel consumption. Will it tow us into a brave new world? The MS Beluga SkySails is 132 meters long and carries a 160-meter kite that reportedly developed five tons of pull, in a mild breeze, in recent testing. Wind angle is critical - you won't be going upwind with this rig - but the numbers tossed around by SkySails GmbH & Co. developers start at a 10 percent reduction in fuel consumption under certain circumstances, peaking at a 50 percent reduction under optimal circumstances. The technology is intended for series production. Stephan Brabeck, Technical Manager at SkySails, says, “The daily routine will bear many challenges. It is important to raise the manageability and robustness of the system to the level demanded by our customers." I patiently sat through the video on the SkySails web site, and what I think I saw was a retrofitted, telescoping mast on the bow of the ship, with the kite stowed in a large metal box below. In the nature of testing, deployment involved quite a bit of manpower, a helicopter as a camera platform, etc, but yes, by and by there was a kite out there, flying in a towing position. -- Read on: http://sailmagazine.blogspot.com/2008/01/about-time-and-money.html WHY AM I DOING IT? by the EVK4 SuperBlog I have a standard answer to why I'm doing the Pacific Cup (from San Francisco to Hawaii). I need to cross an ocean where it gets warmer every day rather than colder. See, on my Eastward Atlantic crossing, every day was colder than the last. By the end I was miserably cold. Going West in the Pacific, every day will be warmer than the last. If nothing else, you get to pack lighter. But that's really not it. As I dive deeper and deeper into middle age, I've realized that many of my best stories are from sailing. And, believe it or not, I like to tell stories. Some of my trans-Atlantic stories are getting a bit stale; for example, my wife never ever wants to hear about the lone Clorox bottle again. With these ~14 days of warm-weather sailing, I can replenish my stock of anecdotes. But that's not really it either. As I dive deeper and deeper into middle age, I've realized that many of my best stories are from sailing. And, believe it or not, I like to tell stories. Some of my trans-Atlantic stories are getting a bit stale; for example, my wife never ever wants to hear about the lone Clorox bottle again. With these ~14 days of warm-weather sailing, I can replenish my stock of anecdotes. But that's not really it either. -- Read on: http://evk4.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-am-i-doing-it.html IT DOESN’T GET BETTER THAN THIS… Go from the boat to the slopes! That’s right, sailing gear makes excellent skiing and snowboarding gear! Start with your Patagonia layers (wool or capilene), then the Musto windstopper Salopettes, and on top some great foul weather gear from Henri-Lloyd, Atlantis, Gill, or Musto. Get that same dryness and comfort on the slopes that you have while sailing, all without repacking your duffel! Team One Newport has all of the best sailing (and now for the slopes!) gear on the market! Atlantis Numbers soft shell pullover is great too! Call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327) or visit http://www.team1newport.com BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (Day 73 – January 22, 2008) Educación sin Fronteras has become just the second boat in the Barcelona World Race to round Cape Horn without stopping since the start of the race. In fifth place on the leaderboard, the tandem of Albert Bargués and Servane Escoffier has left the famed landmark to port and raced into the Atlantic Ocean. Said Escoffier, "Sometimes you ask why you are here because it's so hard. Sometimes with the wind and the cold you ask yourself why am I doing this but after Cape Horn, you know why. Maybe tomorrow, I'll say 'no more'. But today, at Cape Horn, we're very happy." At the front of the fleet with just under 4000 miles to the finish, Paprec-Virbac 2, has consolidated its race lead and slightly stretched it today, finally able to ease the sheets as the wind has shifted aft for the first time in what he says seems like ages. “We’ve been waiting for this for like, nine days or something!” skipper Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been beating upwind and it has been really, really tough - really hard. It’s still not going to be a motorway, but hopefully we’ll now find a good track so that we stay in the lead.” -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Positions at 18:00 GMT (+gain/-loss from leader since previous day) 1-Paprec-Virbac 2, Jean-Pierre Dick/ Damian Foxall, 3,969 nm DTF (+210) 2-Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson/ Andrew Cape, 560 nm DTL (-19) 3-Temenos II, Dominique Wavre/ Michéle Paret, 1,746 (+156) 4-Mutua Madrilena, Javier Sanso Windmann/ Pachi Rivero, 1,808 (+164) 5-Educación sin Fronteras, Servane Escoffier/ Albert Bargues, 2,894 (+65) Retired - PRB, Vincent Riou / Sébastien Josse (broken mast) Retired -Delta Dore, Jérémie Beyou/ Sidney Gavignet (broken mast) Retired - Estrella Damm, Guillermo Altadill/ Jonathan McKee, (rudder damage) Retired - Veolia Environnement, Roland Jourdain/Jean-Luc Nélias (broken mast) FOR THE RECORD - ROUTE DE L’OR (Day 5 – January 22, 2008) In its attempt to break the 14,000-mile record from New York to San Francisco, Gitana 13 is now approaching the Doldrums. The boat speed, while kept above 20 knots on average, has considerably slowed onboard the 110-ft catamaran owned by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild. This serves as confirmation that Lionel Lemonchois and his crew of nine are currently nearing the Intertropical Convergence Zone. This stretch of the route will be in contrast to the hectic pace imposed by the weather conditions over the first 4,000 miles of their voyage. Said crewman Léopold Lucet, “The early days of this record attempt were pretty tiring because we were kept very busy on deck trying to squeeze the full potential out of the boat. But, little by little, we have gotten into the swing of things and are already able to recuperate better. We have stuck closely to the schedule that we set in New York, and the mood onboard is excellent.” -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/23wqkw GROUPAMA 3: DEPARTURE IMMINENT After a month and a half's wait at its base in Lorient, Groupama 3 is due to set off on its Jules Verne Trophy attempt (crewed circumnavigation around the three capes) from the Créac'h lighthouse off Ushant, France, late morning on Thursday, January 24th. The programme for Franck Cammas and his nine crew: to reach the equator in six days and complete a circumnavigation in less than fifty days... "Everything comes to those who wait..." This proverb is very fitting for the crew of Groupama 3 on stand-by since 6th December 2007. Solely two weather `windows' have presented themselves in the past month and a half and neither of these were sufficiently striking for the 31.50 metre maxi-trimaran to set off on the 21,600 miles that make up the Jules Verne Trophy course. The reasons for this are that on this record, held by Orange II since 2005 (50 days 16 hours 20 minutes 4 seconds), the gain acquired over the first phase of the course is initial proof of success. In this way, the mid range forecast gives a descent of the Atlantic in six days, which would provide Franck Cammas' crew with a day's bonus on changing hemisphere. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/22myae MY FRIENDS WENT TO KEY WEST RACE WEEK, AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS… Great softshell? That’s right, for those of us not fortunate enough to have made the trip to the “southernmost point” this week, here’s a fun way to start looking forward to the next regatta: get a new Grand Prix softshell from Atlantis. Then, when your friends get back and show off their new tans, you can show off your new jacket. Visit http://www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com or call us at 877-333-SAIL to find out where you can get one. If you can’t get to Key West, at least get some cool gear. Discover Atlantis. GREEN TEAM HAS PEDDLE DOWN Despite being the last syndicate to go public, preparations are well advanced for the 2008/2009 Volvo Ocean Race’s seventh entry – the Green Team. And while the city of Galway publicly confirmed its participation only in November, covert operations in Ireland to ensure a battle-hardened team for the October 4th start in Alicante, Spain had been going on for months, matched by a determination to create an international platform. Reichel Pugh are well advanced with the design program and the build of the Green Team’s Volvo Open 70, which is in the hands of McConaghy Boats in China. As for skipper Ian Walker, a round-the-world debut at the age of 37 would appear a tall order, but the Briton is unfazed by his lack of ocean racing pedigree or the file marked ‘jobs pending’ in his in-tray. “Yes, we are late and there’s an awful lot to do,” Walker concedes. “Everyone would love to have an unlimited budget and unlimited time, but that’s not the case for us. We need things to go well from now on. We need to keep the boat on time and we need to raise more money. There’s no point worrying about it, you either get on and do it, or you just stay in bed all day. We are going to make the best job of it we can.” Walker can take heart from the fact that there were precedents in the previous VOR. Pirates of the Caribbean was late out of the shed yet finished second overall. Brasil 1 did not take to the water until July and they were third. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yu4mag SAILING SHORTS * The World Sailing Speed Record Council has ratified the new Around the World Singlehanded record set by Francis Joyon (FRA) onboard the 98-foot trimaran IDEC. Finishing on January 19, 2008 in Brest, France, the new record is 57 days 13 hours 34 minutes and 6 seconds at an average speed of 15.84 knots. The previous record was set November 2004 by Ellen MacArthur (GBR) onboard "B&Q" in a time of 71d 14h 18m 33s. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com * US Sailing, along with Roy E. Disney and Pacific High Productions, have organized a special preview of the yet-to-be-released movie "Morning Light" on March 14 to be held in conjunction with US Sailing's Spring Meeting, held March 13-16 in Newport, RI. "Morning Light" chronicles one of the youngest crew ever to compete in the Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii, with footage also including crew selection and training. The current release date for the movie by Walt Disney Studios is October 17, 2008. -- Full report: http://www.ussailing.org/donations/morninglight.asp * What began last year as a windsurfing event, the Alex Caviglia Blue Water Classic expanded this year to include Paralympic classes preparing for the OCR at the same venue in a week. Winds ranged from six to fifteen over the three days with windward-leeward courses. Nick Scandone and crew Maureen McKinnon-Tucker aced the Scud-18 fleet. Paul Callahan sailing with able-bodied crew Dave Ellis and John Gray Parker had speed to win the Sonar over teams from GBR, IRL, CAN and USA. In the 2.4 Mtr class, Paul Tingley of Canada won by a point over Bruce Millar. For complete results: http://www.cavigliafoundation.org/RESULTS08.html * Long Beach, CA -- The future of American sailing was on display last weekend when Alamitos Bay Yacht Club hosted the 2008 US Sailing ISAF Youth World Qualifier and US Youth Multihull Championship, with the winners advancing to the 2008 Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship at Aarhus, Denmark in July. The winners were: SL-16 Catamaran- Andrew Mason/Chris Segerblom, Corona del Mar, CA; Laser- Luke Lawrence, Palm City, FL; Laser Radial- Anne Haeger, Lake Forest, IL; 29ers- Judge Ryan/ Hans Henken, San Diego, CA; Girls 29er- Emily Dellenbaugh/ Morgane Renoir, Eaton, CT/ San Diego, CA. -- Daily reports and results: http://www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=280 BRITISH TEAM PROPOSES A "THIRD WAY" On January 9, 2008, British America’s Cup challenger TEAMORIGIN, with the Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC), lodged a Deed of Gift (DOG) Challenge with the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG). It called for a Match in 2011 in Valencia to be sailed in AC90 yachts and it outlined their willingness to consider a mutual consent match with a protocol along similar lines to the one signed in July last year. The RTYC’s most recent challenge was lodged in anticipation of a potential vacuum occurring should the currently disputed Golden Gate Yacht Club’s (GGYC) DOG Challenge be found lacking by the New York Supreme Court’s Judge Cahn. SNG’s motion to reargue and renew points about the validity of GGYC’s DOG Challenge, part of the legal dispute that has dogged the America’s Cup since July 2007, was due to be heard on January 14th of this year, along with argument on settling the order arising from the judgment of November 27th. On January 14th, however, Judge Cahn further postponed the hearing to Wednesday, January 23rd. -- Read on: http://www.teamorigin.com/da/68997 * Curmudgeon’s Comment: It’s times like these that I reach for that popular youth saying… “whatEVER.” Before we get too excited, we’ll wait for what our legal correspondent Cory E. Friedman has to say following this week’s Wednesday hearing. LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Elliot Oldak: Craig Fletcher laments (in Issue 2515) the closing of Maddie's in Marblehead (MA), an occasion similar to when Marmadukes in Annapolis (MD) closed its doors more than 25 years ago in the late nineties, bringing a black cloud set over this Capitol City. Alas, several years later a bigger, better, and more sophisticated establishment was born in the "tradition" of Marmadukes. The Boat Yard Bar & Grill in Annapolis is now considered to be one of the finest sailors' watering holes of modern times. Have at it Marbleheadians! * From Tillerman (on Scuttleblog): Regarding the story in Issue 2515, “Gadgetry to Find the Two Boat Length Circle,” this sounds like a good idea but I'm skeptical. Even if you know when the lead boat reaches the two boat-length zone, there will still always be doubt about whether the other boat has an inside overlap. And that just doesn't only depend on the distance of both boats from the buoy but also the angle that the lead boat is sailing. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2008/01/future-gadgets.html * From Kim Carter: Regarding the Three Bridge story in Issue 2516, there seems to be a pattern in how these fun races are getting huge turn outs (+255 boats for San Francisco event). My hunch is that there is some psychology at work. If the race is for fun, the risk of failure is small. I mean, we all must be fairly adept at having fun, right? Therefore, if folks think they will not fail, then they are more apt to participate. However, for big time events that take loads of training and good equipment, the risk of failure is pretty high. With the risk high, the smaller the pool of people who want to take the risk. This seems to be the approach that Nevin Sayre is also taking with the O'Pen BIC (story in same Issue). Whoever heard of a regatta that includes an “expression session”? Well, maybe that’s our problem. * From Joe Seymour: A big thanks to Paul Jacobs for his letter (in ‘butt 2516) revealing the true meaning of ‘Corinthian’. For the word to be associated with the lowest form of being, the America’s Cup fiasco is now beginning to make sense. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION I’m not an alcoholic -- alcoholics go to meetings. Special thanks to Team One Newport and Atlantis WeatherGear. A complete list of Scuttlebutt’s preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
