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SCUTTLEBUTT 2807 - Tuesday, March 24, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Today's sponsors are Summit Yachts, North U, and LaserPerformance. NO EXCUSE TO LOSE FOR WINGS by Stuart Streuli, Sailing World (Mar. 23, 2009) - Dennis Case isn't the most famous D.C. that sails out of the San Diego YC. But with a consistent crew and a well-run program, he's had Dennis Conner-like success in the J/105 fleet. Dennis and Sharon Case don't exactly agree on the secret to retaining good crew. But they certainly agree on its value. "People fail to understand that [sailing] is really a team sport like basketball," says Dennis Case, a semi-retired real estate investor from San Diego who took the overall win at the 2009 Sperry Top-Sider San Diego NOOD Regatta in his J/105 Wings. The Cases have been sailing together since before they were married 22 years ago. Jim Dorsey and Dave Loysen, main and spinnaker trim, respectively, joined the team 16 years ago. Bob Capita and Dan Aeling round out this crack crew, which handled Saturday's light and shifty conditions just as smoothly as it did Sunday's big waves and gusts to 24 knots Related Resources In November the Cases will have the opportunity to test their skills against the overall champions from the other eight NOOD regattas at the 2009 NOOD Caribbean Rendezvous. Sunsail provides each team with a Sunsail 39 to race and cruise throughout the British Virgin Islands. Last year's winners from San Diego, Will Stout and his Etchells team set the bar high last November, winning the racing on the water, and the partying both on and off the water. After presenting Case and his team with their award, we corralled Dennis and Sharon and got them to divulge a few of their secrets. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/LBCG * Daily reports and results: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7239 SUNSCREEN: WHAT DO THE PROS USE? What is the best sunscreen for sailing? Scuttlebutt asked some of the people who are regularly on the water, and here is advice provided by Kevin Burnham, 2-time Olympic medalist: “Been through a lot of treatments. Lip laser burn that left my lips open and raw for weeks. Face peels with Efudex and numerous direct hits with the laser on various parts of my body. I had both eyes operated on from the sun burning them and creating pterygiums that had to be removed. “I use the sunscreen called Aloegator that is made in Irving, Texas. I use the Kids SPF 45 cream that soaks into the skin. They have another SPF 45 that is a gel that causes me to sweat. The kids stuff does not burn the eyes either. The technique is to start with a shower in the morning and apply the first application, as soon as I get out and dry off. For my lips, I use Zinc oxide PASTE - not ointment. This stuff is mixed with a wax of some sort and stays on much better than the ointment. I order kilo jars of it from the pharmacy. When I am not on the water I use Neutrogena 30 lip balm. It is clear and does a good job. I am now wearing Patagonia gloves for my hands, while driving the car and on the water in Miami. It is SPF 30 and they do a good job. My hands have become a real concern due to the thinness of the skin there. “All and all I believe that the most damage was as a child growing up three houses from the beach in Florida (in the 60’s/70’s). They did not have sun protection back then and I was always one huge blister in the summers. I think that if we had the sunscreen lotions that we have now, I would not have incurred so much sun damage to my skin. I feel that down the line I will be treated for serious melanoma problems. My skin type was never meant to be in the tropics and my love of the water combined, makes for a deadly combination.” => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Thanks to everyone that shared their sunscreen stories. Tips from Russell Coutts, Anna Tunnicliffe, Greg Fisher, Paige Railey, Zach Railey, Gram Schweikert, Betsy Altman, Bill Hardesty, Morgan Larson, Morgan Reeser. Bill Munster, Doogie Couvreux, Terry Hutchinson, Ken Read, Chris Larson, and Kevin Burnham are all on the Forum to view. Do you have any sunscreen advice? Post it here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7198 CONGRATULATIONS TO DAN WOOLERY AND THE CREW OF SOOZAL The King 40 Soozal entered three events in Florida: Acura Key Wes Race Week, The Montego Bay Race, and the Acura Miami Grand Prix. She won her class in all three events. In 21 separate starts, Soozal scored 13 first and 6 second place finishes…amazing! Soozal is being packed now for her return home to San Francisco Bay where Dan and his crew are looking forward to a full race schedule in 2009. But first, she gets a victory party at the Strictly Sail Pacific Boat Show in Oakland April 15-19. Everyone is welcome to stop by the show and see this exceptional boat first hand at Summit Yachts. Check out the King 40, as well as our other models at http://www.summit-yachts.com MITCH BRINDLEY: COLLEGE SAILING IN 2009 In January, the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA) held their Winter Meeting in Park City, UT. Here is an update from ICSA President Mitch Brindley: * Was a policy decision made regarding the three length zone at marks? BRINDLEY: ICSA has adopted the 3 length zone (in a close vote). * Explain the new format for the women's nationals? BRINDLEY: We have adopted a new 27 team format for the women's national championship beginning this spring (expanded from 18 teams in previous years). Eighteen teams will compete in a one day semifinal regatta while the top nine teams receive a first round bye. From the semifinal round, nine teams progress to the finals raced on the following two days. The nine teams eliminated may participate in a clinic type program held during the championship round. We chose to add a semifinal format to our women's because that was the only event for which we had not expanded the field. About eight years ago we expanded the field at the team race national championship from 10 to 14 teams; then with the support of Vanguard/LaserPerformance, ICSA added two berths each to the men's and women's singlehanded national championship. Last year we expanded the field with a national championship semifinals for the coed dinghy championship. All of these expansion initiatives were designed to meet the challenges of growing competitive depth in college sailing. It is the desire of the ICSA that our national championships reflect competition at the highest levels while and maintaining nationwide access to berths. * There was a proposal for the sloop national championship be removed in status as an ICSA national championship and from the Fowle Trophy calculations (based on the best overall performance among the six national championships: men's singlehandeds, women's singlehandeds, sloops, women's dinghies, team race, and coed dinghies.) BRINDLEY: Sloops will remain a national championship with Fowle points. An ad hoc committee was appointed to be chaired by John Vandemoer to make recommendations on the improvement of the championship, including the possibility of adding a match race component. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Look for the second half of this interview in Scuttlebutt 2808. -- http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0323 RENEWAL OF A SAILING ORIGINAL Long Beach, CA (Mar. 23, 2009) - What do the Masters golf tournament and the Congressional Cup match racing regatta have in common? Tradition, certainly. A Masters golf winner gets a Green Jacket while a Congressional Cup winner receives a Crimson Blazer, both proud distinctions that set the two events apart in their particular niches of the sporting world at a high a level of esteem. "This event is special," says Rod Davis, who has won four Crimson Blazers and returns this week as tactician for New Zealand's Adam Minoprio in Long Beach Yacht Club's 45th renewal of a sailing original. As the only open Grade 1 match racing event on the North American continent, a double round-robin will feature 10 sailors from seven countries, including top-ranked Sébastien Col of France, Olympic triple gold medalist Ben Ainslie of Great Britain and U.S. Rolex Yachtsman of the Year Terry Hutchinson, runs Tuesday through Friday off the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, followed by semifinals and finals for the top four Saturday---and who says sailing isn't a spectator sport? -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0323a/ LEGALLY BLIND MAN TO SAIL AROUND THE WORLD Kris Scheppe put almost two years of his life on hold for one trial. In May 2007, Scheppe was mugged by a teenager on his way to a convention for the Florida Federation of the Blind in St. Petersburg. On March 11, he got justice - and the freedom to pursue a dream: to be the first blind person to sail nonstop around the world. The 29-year-old North Fort Myers resident was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye disease. He can only see what is directly in front of him, as if looking through a tunnel. That day almost two years ago, Scheppe saw the teenager's face, but felt a hard punch to his jaw. Legal blindness has never stopped Scheppe. It didn't stop him from fighting back that afternoon. It also didn't stop him from identifying his attacker in a police lineup two weeks later. Mike "Mike-Mike" Watts, now 16, was sentenced by a Hillsborough County judge to five years in prison for the robbery and assault. And Scheppe has closed that chapter. In August 2010, he plans to embark on a six- to eight-month, 24,000-mile journey. -- Read on: http://news-press.com/article/20090323/NEWS0111/903230342 BOSTON, WICKFORD, MILWAUKEE... ...Sheboygan, Duluth and Stonington are the next stops for US Sailing Rules Seminars. Presented by North U, the seminars include a Racing Rules Workbook created by Dave Perry and cover all the rules - new and old - and take the myth and mystery out of the rules so racers understand their rights (and obligations) in any situation. The US Sailing members save $40. Check the schedule and sign up by calling North U at 800-347-2457 or 203-245-0727, or by visiting http://www.northu.com WATCHING AND WAITING (Mar. 23, 2009; Day 38) - For Ericsson 3, the finish of Volvo Ocean Race leg five cannot come soon enough. It is a question of watching anxiously to see what the opposition is doing – in this case Ericsson 4, and waiting for the wind to fill in to propel them to a first-place finish in Rio de Janeiro. The team has covered a measly 189 nm in the past 24 hours. With every three-hour position report there is a small loss or gain to be made and Monday at 1300 GMT, Ericsson 3 was on the up, having clawed back 15 miles from Ericsson 4 to extend their margin to 72 nautical miles. Currently 246 nm off the Brazilian coast and parallel to Port Alegre, Ericsson 3 is making 9.3 knots. Ericsson 4 is right on her tail and still has wind, while PUMA is 401 nm offshore, and making 11.5 knots average, the best in the fleet. In the next three hours, there will be losses for Ericson 3 and gains for the chasing two until they reach the light spot and slow again. Meanwhile further back in the field, the westerly course chosen by Green Dragon has led them into all sorts of trouble, allowing Telefónica Blue, who stayed offshore, to close the gap between them to 175 nm. Bouwe Bekking’s newly invigorated team now has a real chance now of catching Ian Walker and his men. -- by VOR Press Office Crewed around the world race in VO 70’s, with ten distance legs and seven In-Port races. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janiero, Brazil is 12,300 nm, with the finish estimated on March 25th. Current positions (as of Mar. 23, 10:15 pm GMT): 1. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 536 nm Distance to Finish 2. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 69 nm Distance to Leader 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 128 nm DTL 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 414 nm DTL 5. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 553 nm DTL Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, Did Not Start Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, DNS Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, DNS Event website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com BLEAK OUTLOOK by Ian Walker, Green Dragon skipper (Mar. 23, 2009) - Three days ago we had a pretty solid ETA in Rio of the 25 March (two days’ time). We had a fast route according to the weather models. Next the wind heads too much to lay the Falklands and we lose precious hours having to tack through the islands. Following this a high pressure bubbles up right in our path and just behind that of the leaders. Negotiating this cost us a day. Still things were OK as we sailed upwind looking for northwesterlies and a new low coming off the South American shore. This arrived last night as predicted but instead of bringing 15 knot winds and a route through the next high pressure, it brought lightning and no wind. Now we are left with virtually no wind and none forecast for three days. We also have adverse current. We have 1000 miles to go and my most optimistic outlook right now is an ETA of six days. At times like this the race becomes secondary to survival. -- Read on: http://linkbee.com/LBDA SAILING SHORTS * The renowned St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, CA will host the 2009 Course Racing World Championship kiteboarding event from August 4-8. As the class received official recognition by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) in 2008, this will the first time the title is given away in a one off event, bringing the best kite racing competitors together in one competition to crown the course racing champion. -- http://linkbee.com/LBDO * TEAMORIGIN, the British challenger for the 33rd America’s Cup skippered by triple Olympic Gold medallist Ben Ainslie will compete on the 2009 World Match Racing Tour, having secured the last of the eight Tour Cards that were being offered this season. Ben Ainslie (UK), helmsman, who will be teamed with double Olympic Gold medallist, Iain Percy (UK) as tactician, will join the 10-event tour after missing the first event in Marseille, France (Mar. 10-15). A tour card is a guaranteed invitation to tour events, with card holders required to attend a minimum of seven tour events during the season. -- Full report: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/96123 * Eight entrants competed in the Sundance Cup 2009 on March 17-21, a Grade 3 women’s match racing event hosted by Fort Worth Boat Club in Fort Worth, TX. Sailed in J/22s, Brazilian Julianna Senfft won with a perfect score of 20-0 as her team went undefeated in the Round Robin, Semi-Finals, and Finals. Reaching the finals but losing to Senfft was Kristin Lane (USA). -- Results: http://www.fwbc.com/Excell/2009-SundanceFinals.xls * The 2009 Audi MedCup Circuit starts on May 12th with the City of Alicante Trophy. There are currently seventeen teams - eleven TP52s and six GP42s - that have shown interest in competing on this year’s circuit that will comprise five events in four European countries. Quantum Racing, skippered by American Terry Hutchinson, will return to defend the title they captured last year when the MedCup Circuit included six events and saw 13 to 16 TP52s competing. This will be the first year that the GP42s will be participating. -- Full story: http://2008.medcup.org/news/index.php?id=486 FREE SHIPPING FROM LASERPERFORMANCE From now through April 30th, LaserPerformance is offering free shipping on all orders of $100 or more bought on-line at http://shop.laserperformance.com. Some restrictions apply so go online, check out the fine print, and start gearing up for the season today! -- http://www.laserperformance.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Reader commentary is encouraged, with letters to be submitted to the Scuttlebutt editor, aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’. Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). You only get one letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Peter Willcox South Norwalk, CT: There is a word for running out of food at sea: stupid. When it happens due to a broken mast or rudder, it’s one thing. The Volvo Ocean Race boats seem to be making a habit out of it. The Volvo race is a supreme test of sailor and boats and I have the highest respect for those taking part. I strongly suggest the race organizers stop this foolishness now. Require that all boats leave port with the same amount of food on board, and enough to have some in reserve at the finish. The captains of these boats hold this responsibility as well. Do this before someone is lost at sea, due to the fact that he and his shipmates are operating at less than their best due to a lack of food. The Volvo race should be a test of the best boats and sailors. Not a test of who can starve best. * From Roger Willcox: Gary Jobson's remarks (in #2806) understate the recreational aspects of the Sport of sailing! Looking back over a lifetime of sailing since I learned how in a homemade canoe with a sail on a pond in 1927, to building and successfully racing two Comets and a Star, to dinghy championships while at Harvard and MIT, to helping organize the Waikiki Yacht Club while stationed in Oahu during WW II, to ocean racing and cruising from Maine to the Caribbean and now still frostbiting against others of all ages -- just getting out on the water under sail is a key to enjoying life! And seeing the sometimes hundreds of sailboats on Long Island Sound out there with me is a reminder that Sailing is a sport that thousands of people also enjoy. * From Rich Jepsen, Chair, Education Division, US SAILING: (re, the soccerization of sailing) Getting youth sailors and would be sailors to play with the same 'balls' as adults is a real key to keeping youth in sailing. Teens, in particular, require, on average, a different experience of sailing than what can be found in club 420s, or even 29rs. Offering an experience that includes the following: more complexity and power, a platform that promotes team work and socializing with other teens (especially opposite sex) while sailing, attracts would be teen-sailors to the sport and keeps teens who are small boat sailors excited about progressing to a platform more suited to their needs and desires at that age. There are many successes out there in the country, from Team Tsunami in Annapolis to Ida Lewis YC in Newport, RI to Black Rock YC in Connecticut who offer Junior Big Boat Sailing experiences for basic sailing and for racing on larger boats from 25-40 feet. It does involve commitment from a program and some generous boat owners giving of their own time and the use of their boat, but it has shown a remarkable ability to re-engage teens in sailing, when they are confronted with so many attractive alternatives. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7225#7225 CURMUDGEON’S DICTIONARY OBSERVATION Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist. Special thanks to Summit Yachts, North U, and LaserPerformance. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
