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SCUTTLEBUTT 2774 - Wednesday, February 4, 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 North Sails, Morris Yachts, and Fair Do’s VII. SURVEY DETECTS SIGNIFICANT DISSATISFACTION This week’s Scuttlebutt Survey is wondering about buoy racing courses, and is asking how often a windward-leeward course is signaled, and whether the respondents would prefer more courses signaled that had reach legs. Based on the results from the first day of polling, over 75% of the respondents do a lot of windward leeward racing, and nearly the same percentage would prefer more courses signaled that had reach legs. Additionally, over 200 comments have been submitted so far, with a significant percentage reflecting dissatisfaction with the type of buoy racing that is occurring. If you have not voted yet, please do, as it is important that the results of this survey reflect the opinion of everyone. The two questions are: * How often is a windward-leeward course signaled? * Would you prefer more courses signaled that had reach legs? Submit answers and comments: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/polls/09/0131 SEVEN HUNDRED MILES WITH NO KEEL (Feb. 3, 2009; Day 86) - After taking on second place yesterday Armel Le Cléac’h is now expected to finish in Les Sables d’Olonne between 1800hrs Thursday and 0600hrs Saturday morning but the Brit Air skipper has one big hurdle to negotiate before he can consider the prospects of his place on the second step of the podium after Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia). Le Cléac’h is expecting winds of over 45 knots, gusting to 60 knots with a big, awkward cross seas to contend with, as he counts down the final 1000 miles to the finish line. Arriving yesterday in the commercial port of Porto Delgado, Sao Miguel in the Azores, Roland Jourdain’s keel inspection revealed only a short twisted stump of keel blade remaining. Having sailed more than 700 miles with no keel, Jourdain believes the keel fractured in two stages. “I think the breakage happened in two stages, otherwise I would have capsized the first time. The bang I heard, I thought it was the bulb and in fact I think that when the keel broke, it twisted and a piece stayed attached to the hull, which stopped me from capsizing. Then at a later moment, when I was taking in a reef, I heard a cracking sound coming from the hull and that must have been the piece breaking off.” Solo, non-stop, around the world race in Open 60s. Standings as of 18:30 UTC (30 entrants; 11 now competing): 1. Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), Foncia, Finished Feb. 1, 15:11 GMT 2. Armel Le Cléac´h (FRA), Brit Air, 962.7 nm Distance to Finish 3. Samantha Davies (GBR), Roxy, 2151.8 nm DTF 3. Vincent Riou (FRA), PRB, Dismasted - Redress Given 4. Marc Guillemot (FRA), Safran, 2321.3 nm DTF 5. Brian Thompson (GBR), Bahrain Team, 2519.5 nm DTF Event website: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en Complete standings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html Race tracking: http://tracking.vendeeglobe.org/en * The New York Times has a story titled “Around the World in as Long as It Takes”, which details American Rich Wilson’s journey in the Vendee Globe race: http://linkbee.com/DWV5 HIS FIRST TIME RACING ON THE EAST COAST For Daniel Woolery, winning the IRC-2 class at Acura Key West Race came down to good crew work and solid preparation. Racing in his first regatta on the East Coast (with the exception of the Wirth Munroe Ft Lauderdale to Palm Beach Race in December), Woolery and his nine crew members onboard his brand-new King 40 'Soozal' scored four bullets during the five-day race towin IRC-2. 'Soozal' is powered with North 3DL upwind sails and North V-Series spinnakers. When performance matters, the choice is clear: http://www.northsails.com NOT AS EASY AS HE MADE IT LOOK The Daily Sail subscription website has a very revealing story on the factors that contributed to Michel Desjoyeaux and Foncia's Vendee Globe win, and all the problems that could have easily halted his record run. Additionally, there is a 32 minute video where Jean-Paul Roux, Director General of Michel Dejsoyeaux’s company Mer Agitee, provides a comprehensive tour of Foncia. Here are two excerpts from the story: *Seb Josse, who had led the Vendee Globe until a knockdown damaged his boat: “When you look at the speed he (Michel Desjoyeaux) does, he goes fast, but at an average speed. When you see Virbac push you know it is over the limit. When you see the average speed of MichDes, you know it is not over the limit. It is just a higher average speed.” Josse reckons Foncia had a unique Solent/reacher that was the prefered Southern Ocean sail - this may be the high clewed Cuben fibre staysail Desjoyeaux has owned up to. *Prior to this Vendee Globe spent five years campaigning his ORMA 60 trimaran Geant in which he notched up singlehanded wins in the disastrous 2002 Route du Rhum (when he was the first of just three ORMA finishers) and the 2004 Transat from Plymouth to Boston. Moving from an ORMA 60 trimaran back to an IMOCA Open 60 monohull is perhaps like going from a Ferrari to a Ford. Desjoyeaux points out that all the most successful skippers in this Vendee Globe were ones who have spent time in the ORMA class, be it Jean le Cam, Vincent Riou, Roland Jourdain, Seb Josse or Armel le Cleac’h. “That helps us a lot in the south by accepting high speed for a long time without problem in high level conditions,” he says. -- Complete story and video: http://linkbee.com/DWV4 2009 ISAF TEAM RACING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP The 2009 ISAF Team Racing World Championship is being held from January 31 to February 8 in Perth, Western Australia. Clay Bischoff, Lisa Keith, Colin Merrick, Amanda Callahan, Pete Levesque and Liz Hall, who won the last edition of the ISAF Team Racing World Championship held at Gandia, Spain in 2007, have returned as the New York Yacht Club team to defend the title. Here is their story: (Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009) - “Having digested our Kangaroo from yesterday, we were ready to do battle on Day 2. This morning we were greeted with low-lying clouds and high humidity reminiscent of the San Diego marine layer. The locals assured us that the weather is "never like this" and that we should have a healthy seabreeze by mid-morning. As sure as we ate crocodile the locals were correct and the Freemantle Doctor did not disappoint. “Most of the day's racing was conducted in an 8-16 knot southwesterly bending around a hilltop that manifested itself as race changing lefties and righties. Our races have been very short, on the order of 5 minutes and there have generally been 5 or 6 big puff/shifts that come through during each race. This kind of constant race reshuffling put us in and out of many combinations - both winning and losing all day. We were, however, able to best our opponents through most of these conditions to remain undefeated so far in the event. Unfortunately, all that will get us is a better seed in the championship rounds. “The highlight race for us today was a race against our friends on USA2 (John Storck lll/Kaity Storck, Erick Storck/Lyndsey Gibbons-Neff, Charlie Enright/Meris Tombari).” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/tr/#d2 * USA 1 finished Round Robin 1 with a 13-0 record, and is now 8-0 in Round Robin 2 with 5 more races to complete the round. -- Event website: http://www.worldteamracing.org DWINDLING FLEET FOR RACE TO RIO Qingdao, China (Feb. 3, 2009) - For Volvo Ocean Race shore teams, they always knew that it would take long days and nights to ready the boats during this short break prior to the In-Port race this Saturday. Ericsson 4, PUMA and Telefonica Blue all expect to be back in the water Wednesday, while Green Dragon's shore crew is not predicting a return to the water before Thursday night. Telefonica Black, meanwhile, will reach Singapore in the next couple of days before concluding repairs to their yacht. The challenge of them getting to Qingdao by February 14 for leg five has not yet been formally declared impossible, but it seems highly unlikely the team will compete in leg five. Expect to see Telefonica Black heading for Rio by transport. Ericsson 3 is being moved to a new shipyard in Taiwan, with repairs starting in earnest Wednesday. They will miss the In-Port race but are intent on being ready for the leg five start. The Qingdao In-Port race is on February 7th. Leg Five from Qingdao, China to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will start February 14th, is 12,300 nm in length, with the finish estimated on March 20th. Current Standings after Leg Four 1. Ericsson 4 (SWE), Torben Grael/BRA, 45.0 points 2. Telefónica Blue (ESP), Bouwe Bekking/NED, 41.5 points 3. PUMA (USA), Ken Read/USA, 38.0 points 4. Green Dragon (IRL/CHN), Ian Walker/GBR, 27.5 points 5. Ericsson 3 (SWE), Magnus Olsson/SWE, 24.0 points 6. Telefonica Black (ESP), Fernando Echavarri/ESP, 21.0 points 7. Team Russia (RUS), Andreas Hanakamp/AUT, 10.5 points 8. Delta Lloyd (IRL), Roberto Bermudez/ESP, 10.0 points Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.org Overall scores: http://www.volvooceanrace.org/rdc/#tab4 Race tracking: http://volvooceanrace.geovoile.com Note: Delta Lloyd has not yet officially retired from Leg 4, but when they do they will be assigned 2 points for a Did Not Finish. If Ericsson 3 is able to complete Leg 4 following her repairs, she will receive 4 points as a fifth place finisher; otherwise she will receive 2 points for a Did Not Finish. ROAD TRIP! THE M29 IS HEADED SOUTH! Today Cuyler Morris will climb into the cab of the company’s GMC truck and leave Maine’s snow and ice behind. In tow is the first Morris M29. While no special permitting is necessary to truck this beauty, this boat is so striking that troopers may ask to see Cuyler’s parade license as we expect her to be quite a rubber-necker. The M29 is headed to Miami Strictly Sail Feb 12-16 for her debut. Our next event is in Naples, Florida April 3-4, then on to the Charleston Boat Show April 23-26. For more information http://www.morrisyachts.com, 207-244-5509 SOUTH AFRICA’S SHOSHOLOZA TOPPLES ALINGHI Auckland, NZ (Feb. 3, 2009) - The biggest upset in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series came today on Auckland Harbour as South Africa’s Team Shosholoza slam-dunked the reigning America’s Cup winners Alinghi, from Switzerland. Without a win after three days of racing, the South Africans skippered by Italian match racer Paolo Cian came out with all guns blazing against the Swiss boat helmed by two-time cup winner Ed Baird. Cian used the favored starboard tack entry to the starting box to engage Baird in a prolonged dialup above the starting line that stretched out over more than three drawn-out minutes. It was a virtuoso performance, and from there Cian’s team never looked back to win by 3m49s. Conditions were perfect for racing, with bright sunshine, a puffy, shifty and warm north-easterly wind at 14-16 knots, and flat water in the Rangitoto Channel. In the other races, BMW Oracle Racing defeated Damiani Italia; Emirates Team New Zealand defeated Pataugas K-Challenge; and TeamOrigin defeated Greek Challenge. At the end of the first round robin, the scores are: Pool A - Emirates Team New Zealand, 4; BMW Oracle Racing, 3; Damiani Italia Challenge, 2; Pataugas K Challenge, 1; China Team, 0. Pool B - TeamOrigin, 4; Alinghi, 2; Luna Rossa, 2; Team Shosholoza, 1; Greek Challenge, 0. After a lay day Wednesday, racing starts again on Thursday in the second round robin. Based on points earned in the first round robin, the fleet is divided for the second round robin into two groups - a “gold fleet” comprising ETNZ, TeamOrigin, Damiani Italia, Alinghi, BMW Oracle and Luna Rossa; and a silver fleet of Team Shosholoza, Greek Challenge, Pataugas K Challenge and China Team. After Round Robin 2, ETNZ proceeds directly to the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Final. The best challenger of the Gold Fleet after Round Robin 2 advances directly to the Challenger Final. The four leading boats in the Gold Fleet after Round Robin 2 join the two top boats from the Silver Fleet in the Challenger Quarter Finals. Complete report: http://linkbee.com/DWV6 Event website: http://www.louisvuitton-pacificseries.com Video coverage: http://linkbee.com/CQO6 Audio coverage: http://linkbee.com/CQO7 WHEN ENGINE POWER IS PERMITTED For anyone planning to fire up their engines in offshore sailboat races like Del Rey Yacht Club's 1,034 nm PV09 International Race Series from Marina Del Rey, CA to Puerto Vallarta (which started on Jan. 31st), there's a new rule in the 2009-2012 Racing Rules of Sailing they should know: Part 4, 42.3 (h): Sailing instructions may, in stated circumstances, permit propulsion using an engine or any other method, provided the boat does not gain a significant advantage in the race. Engine power has long been permitted in the so-called "cruising" classes of some races, but "significant advantage" is now fundamental, and while it's important to avoid having stragglers, it’s also important that competitors who motor their way pay a price steeper than it would cost them to sail---thus, a new "Cross-Over speed" formula that will be introduced in the race. -- Complete details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0120 SAILING SHORTS * Sail Newport's Brooke Gonzalez Advanced Racing Clinic will be held for the 8th year, June 18-21, 2009 at the Sail Newport Sailing Center. This is the weekend prior to the start of the US SAILING Youth Championship, this year in Greenwich, CT. The clinic will be held in Laser Full Rig, Laser Radial, International 420's, and Club 420's. Applicants 14 years or older will be selected based upon their resume. Deadline is April 1, 2009. -- Full details: http://www.sailnewport.org/npt/cliniclanding.aspx * The International Sailing Federation has published the qualification system and qualifying events for the sailing competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. The inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) will be held in Singapore in August 2010 and feature 100 young sailors competing across the four sailing events: Boys and Girls Techno 293 and Boys and Girls Byte CII. -- Read on: http://www.sailing.org/27189.php * The 2009 Acura Miami Grand Prix will be hosting IRC 1 and 2, Farr 40 and Melges 32 classes, with most entrants moving up the Florida coast from Acura Key West 2009. All four classes are in the hunt for the Acura Grand Prix Awards, which will be presented to the boats with the lowest combined cumulative points for Acura Key West and the Acura Miami Grand Prix in their respective classes. Four race days with as many as ten races are scheduled. The first entry deadline is February 6. -- http://www.premiere-racing.com/miami09/pages/AMGP09_entry_information.htm * The SORC announced an agreement with Horizon Marine to track all of the competitors in this year's 810-mile Pineapple Cup – the Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay, Jamaica Race. Using its proprietary iBoat Track software, hourly GPS signals will track all competing boats and display real-time positions on Horizon’s online graphic display, providing position, speed, fleet and class positions during the entire length of the course. The race starts this Friday, February 6th at 1400 off Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, and the live reports will be available at that time on http://www.montegobayrace.com * Oy Nautor AB, the Finnish manufacturer of Swan sailing yachts, has revealed that 135 of its 430 employees may have to leave the company. "We're working at full capacity with mounting until the summer, but from then we have a weakening order situation. Because of this we plan a 30 per cent reduced production from this autumn," says managing director Tommy Boork. -- IBI Magazine, read on: http://www.ibinews.com/ibinews/newsdesk/20090103114052ibinews.html FANTASTIC CHARTER OPPORTUNITY – BVI & USVI REGATTAS Due to a cancellation, Fair Do’s VII, winner of the 2008 ARC is available for Caribbean charter for the BVI Spring Regatta and USVI Rolex International Regatta. So, if you fancy some high speed, hi-tech racing in the Caribbean, this is your chance. Fair Do’s VII is an awesome Ker 46; equipped to the highest standard and capable of winning any race she enters. This yacht is available for private and corporate charter. For more information on Fair Do’s and to find out about charter availability and pricing, please email joe.hall@mainsail.co.uk or call +447774 138777. -- http://www.fairdoscharters.co.uk EIGHT BELLS R. James Thorpe, known as Jim, passed on suddenly at the age of 68 years on Tuesday, January 27, 2009 in Newfoundland, Canada. Jim was a member of the Courageous and Independence Syndicates for the 1974 and 1977 America’s Cup. He managed Bannister’s Wharf and Newport Yachting Center in Newport, Rhode Island. Vessels he operated included the barquentine Gazela Primero, the New York Yacht Club committee boat Black Knight, and the Hinckley-built yawl Nirvana. He managed and captained large motor yachts throughout the Eastern seaboard. Jim retired to Newfoundland with his family, where he collaborated with the Company of Master Mariners among other projects. Jim was a mariner of the old school, a community builder, and a loving family man with an active circle of friends. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=6978 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 Tim Dick, Sausalito/Hawaii: Wonderful topic - reaching... Thank you! One cost of the dominance of windward/leeward: most race-oriented boats are poor sailing boats because they are optimized for windward/ leeward. Conditions that most sailors avoid (if possible) when pleasure sailing or passage making. To take the extreme, imagine pleasure sailing an IACC boat: it might actually sink from shipping water in a similar way to TNZ in 2004. The most memorable race legs I have ever sailed have all been reaching legs... memorable for the actual sheer pleasure sailing fast vs. a brilliant or awful mark rounding, hoist, etc. * From Edward N. Trevelyan: I've enjoyed watching these big dinghies race around the world, but have to agree with the criticisms expressed by others after the Singapore - Qingdao leg. Great seamanship has allowed half the fleet to finish safely. Good judgment and a degree of luck have allowed the other half to retire safely. Another pounding upwind slog might not have gone so well, possibly ending tragically. What if the convenient refuge of harbors in the Philippines and Taiwan had not been available? Round-the-world racers need to be less fragile boats, designed to do more than set 24 hour (downwind) speed records. * From Jeff Duvall: With respect to those who think that there should be an end to the around the world races because some boats suffer failure's. I ask why? Only be pushing the envelope and perhaps risking lives would we ever have such remarkable achievements that we have had over the years? If you ask any of the sailor's out there who accept the risk and challenges why they do it, I am sure that not one of them has any regrets about putting themselves in harm’s way. Only by pushing ourselves as individuals do we truly achieve greatness from within. I for one applaud all those who go forth and live life as opposed to those who sit on their bums waiting for life to come to them. How boring that must be. It is those men and women who have inspired me to face a challenge's head on and truly experience life to the fullest. So the better question is not why "they" are doing it? But more importantly why aren't you? * From Philip Walwyn: How come today's shoe laces outlast a pair of deck shoes by a factor of 3:1. In the old days you needed three pairs of laces for the life of a pair of shoes. Is this something to do with MADE IN CHINA? * From T.J. Perrotti: Did you hear about this latest "gotta have" from Google? Google Earth adds "Google Ocean" ... Dive beneath the surface ... search for sunken shipwrecks... track floating containers anywhere on the planet.Well ... maybe not that last one ... yet! Should be pretty cool, though! -- http://earth.google.com/ocean CURMUDGEON’S DICTIONARY Ohnosecond (n.), that minuscule fraction of time in which you realize that you've just made a big mistake. Special thanks to North Sails, Morris Yachts, and Fair Do’s VII. A complete list of preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
