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SCUTTLEBUTT 3322 - Monday, April 18, 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: APS and IYRS IT TAKES A VILLAGE Ben Ainslie is Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, winning three gold medals and one silver. After winning the 2010 ISAF World Match Racing Championship, Ben has his sights set on winning a fifth Olympic medal at the 2012 Olympics in London. If he were to medal, he would join Torben Grael (BRA) as holding the most in sailing with five. If Ben were to win, he would equal that of Paul Elvstrom (DEN) who won four consecutive Olympics. In short, Ben would become the greatest sailing Olympian. But Ben must first get selected by his country. Last week he won the ISAF Sailing World Cup event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, but countrymen Giles Scott finished second and 2010 World Champion Ed Wright was seventh. Here is an update from Ben: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Palma was a great week, a good result and also the perfect chance to test the kit and my fitness in a range of conditions. I've been luckily to have my own team out in Palma for the past 3 months, working hard with my coach Sid (David Howlett) and training partner Mark (Mark Andrews) on the development of the kit and that's certainly seen positive results. Alex (Alex Hopson - Physio and Trainer) has helped massively on the fitness, massage and keeping my body in a condition to race hard. After the first day of racing (in 30 knots) the body was pretty sore, Alex was there to make sure I recovered for the next day. The process usually starts in the morning with light exercise and preparation stretching then after racing the same again but more of a cool down and this helps the muscles repair for the next day. You don't get much recovery time and with the varied conditions in Palma you use different muscle groups each day. Next up is France and Hyeres Olympic Regatta (April 23-29). I was back in the gym last week putting the weight on that you naturally lose with all the time on the water, then this week we will be back training hard out in Hyeres ahead of the regatta. Hyeres's is infamous for its mistral which can last 3 days so it could make for an interesting regatta! -- http://www.benainslie.com CHATTIN' IT UP AT GGYC By Michelle Slade, SailBlast If there's one subject that America's Cup aficionados agree on, it's that the event is all about its personalities. Last Thursday night's shindig at the Golden Gate Yacht Club brought the point home in more ways than one under the guise of a US Sailing Speaker series program called "Cup Chat". Event pros Hartmann studios transformed the GGYC into a pseudo TV studio Letterman style, complete with jazz quartet Cyril Guiraud and the American Quatro and announcer James Byers. The evening's line-up presented some of the Cup's most colorful characters from the "old" school: Tom Ehman (newly appointed Vice Commodore of GGYC, incidentally), Bruno Trouble, and Peter 'Luiggi' Reggio, and for good balance a shot of youth in the form of Olympic hopeful Genny Tulloch. Staff Commodore Marcus Young moderated the event with as much irreverence and humor as subjects like Ernesto Bertarelli deserve, making it one of the most entertaining Cup related events I've been to in a very long time. However, the question of personalities has been bothering me ever since and it's clearly a big one. We have an organizing authority with little or no prior experience in the America's Cup who can't possibly appreciate the essence of what these characters mean to the event. For the first time this same organizing authority is assuming responsibility - previously that of Louis Vuitton - for the event's media center - the very heart from where Cup personalities come to life through the thousands of journalists that cover the related Cup events. I hope the event authority takes this responsibility seriously. But back to the question, with the dawning of this new Cup era, who will be the new generation of personalities in this next event? While I'm not sure this question was answered during the "Cup Chat", it's clear from the following excerpts it's time to start thinking about it.... read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/04/chattin-it-up-at-ggyc.html INSIDER: The Golden Gate Yacht Club in San Francisco is the home club of Oracle Racing, and it's no secret that this alliance stems from Oracle Racing owner Larry Ellison providing the club with much needed funding in exchange for certain amount of control of the club. While half the seats on the GGYC Board of Directors are filled by Oracle Racing personnel, now Tom Ehman has been elected as its Vice Commodore. Ehman has been the Head of External Affairs for Oracle Racing. QUOTE / UNQUOTE "Tight reaching in a catamaran is a hairy-scary proposition, because it's a no-go zone. If you head up, you power up. If you head down, you power up. So, we're going to send them on a tight reach." -- Mike Martin of America's Cup Race Management, on developing race courses for 40-knots-capable 72-footers: http://blueplanettimes.com/?p=6812 IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN... You know it, you love it. The first copies just hit our desks, and more are headed to your mailboxes in the next two weeks. "The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors" brings you the APS 2011 Spring Catalog! Cross it off the list, we're done. What's new in the sailing world? You'll soon find out... http://bit.ly/signupforAPScatalog OVERCOMING ADVERSITY Qingdao, China (April 17, 2011) - The second Act of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series at the Olympic sailing venue in Qingdao had no shortage of capsizes and collisions among the 29 races over five days. But emerging from the smoke was the new Italian team Luna Rossa, showing the winning form that team members Paul Campbell-James and Alister Richardson demonstrated last season by taking the overall title. The 44 sailors will leave Qingdao with some very vivid memories. The dramatic skyline of the city - the buildings fully lit up at night by neon lights; the hospitality and graciousness of their Qingdao hosts; the spectacular opening ceremony; and perhaps, not surprisingly, the drama of day three. A major collision, 4 capsizes and 1 broken mast was the tally after a day of strong gusty conditions, but the next day following a night of recovery saw all the boats and crew racing again. Here are two edited videos: Carnage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6sTPgnJ-Do Aftermath: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liw1Ghe_66Q "The last few days the weather has been difficult but you know we have to be prepared for the difficult conditions," said Dean Barker, Emirates Team New Zealand skipper. "Realistically five boats were still in a position to win the event on the final day. Our first event in Almeria was only October last year so being on the podium here is a big improvement, but we still have a long way to go." Final results - Top 5 of 11 1. Luna Rossa (ITA), Paul Campbell James (GBR), 227 pts 2. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL) - 222 3. Groupe Edmond De Rothschild (FRA), Pierre Pennec (FRA), 214 4. Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT), Roman Hagara (AUT) - 200 5. Alinghi (SUI), Tanguy Cariou (FRA) - 198 Full report/scores: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-041711 ESS video channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ExtremeSailingSeries The Extreme Sailing Series now heads for Istanbul, Turkey (May 25-29), and then comes to the USA for its fourth stop in Boston on June 30-July 4. Here are the overall standings after two events: 1. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, 20 points 2. Luna Rossa, 18 points 3. Emirates Team New Zealand, 18 points 4. Artemis Racing, 16 points 5. Red Bull Extreme Sailing, 15 points BACKGROUND: The Extreme Sailing Season is embarking on its fifth season, with Qingdao as the second stop for the nine event tour that will travel through Asia, Europe, and North America this year. The platform used is the one design Extreme 40 catamaran, with each five day event combining 'open-water' racing with 'stadium' short-course racing in front of the public. The 2011 ESS has grown in part due to the multihull format planned for the 34th America's Cup in 2013. -- http://www.extremesailingseries.com/ I CREW FOR FOOD By Leighton O'Connor Marblehead's, Boston Yacht Club played host to seven racing teams this weekend for their 12th annual Jackson Cup. Clubs included New York Yacht Club, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (Long Island), St. Francis Yacht Club (San Francisco), Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans) and Marblehead's own Boston, Eastern and Corinthian Yacht Clubs. Each club had three teams and raced in Marblehead harbor in somewhat unpredictable winds for two rounds of round robins for two days followed by a medal round on Sunday. I came here Friday afternoon to do some onboard shooting during St. Francis' practice. When I was onboard one of their boats shooting, their team captain, Harrison Turner, asked me if I knew of any locals that might like to race because they had two guys that dropped out. My answer was..."Pick me....as long as I can bring a camera." He asked me my weight I proudly stated "230!" because I knew my girth would come in handy for the winds they were predicting. After Harrison agreed to my terms - the customary free tee-shirt, a prime rib dinner Saturday night and all the non-alcoholic St. Pauli Girls I could drink for the weekend - I weighed in at the BYC that night. I didn't tell my new skipper that I had only raced a few times on a Sonar and have never team raced before. I think the only thing Harrison knew about my sailing CV that I was a bit of a boat whore. I was nervous Friday night for about five minutes, which I quickly talked myself off the cliff. I told myself, "I have raced on a ton of boats, don't get cold, don't care if I get wet and I'm nimble as 230 pound ballerina can be." Well, the weekend was amazing! I kind of fell in love with team racing. Our team took three wins and I learned a little bit about team racing. Most of this team racing stuff is still pretty Greek to me. Still don't know why if you are in first place to cross the line you would start luffing sails to wait for fleet to catch up. WTF? Oh well...I got some sun, some great footage during the races, dinner and more needed sailing swag. Oh ya...and places to stay in San Francisco when I go to cover the Americas Cup. So who did well? Read on for scores and daily video: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11708 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR The problem with self-serve tools like the sailing calendar is that it is reliant on people knowing what they are doing. So when the Thursday issue of Scuttlebutt promotes events in the calendar, like we did last week when we said the Ahmanson Cup in Newport Beach, CA would be on April 14-15, we make the dangerous assumption that the information is correct. Wrong! The Ahmanson Cup is May 14-15. If you ever find that event information is incorrect, or if an event listing needs more information, send an email to info@sailingscuttlebutt.com Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * His America's Cup days may be behind him, but Dennis Conner at 68 years old continues to be a contender, taking top honors this weekend in the 64th Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race. Sailing his dark blue Stars & Stripes, a Farr 60, the only boat Conner trailed at the finish (at 06:28:25 on Saturday) was Afterburner, Bill Gibbs's 53-foot catamaran. Seven of the 175 boats that entered did not start when the race began on Friday, with light winds protecting the elapsed time records. -- Full story/results: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9955 * Canadians wanting to spend the summer boating, jet-skiing or cruising around the lake now face a more intense examination process to obtain their pleasure craft operating card. Effective Friday (Apr. 15), Transport Canada is replacing the old 36 question, 45-minute exam with a more challenging 50 question test. It is estimated that four million will Canadians need to obtain the operating card, and noted that anyone operating a pleasure craft, regardless of age, has to pass the exam. A fine for operating without a card carries a penalty of $250. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/OC-041711 * (April 17, 2011; Day 22; 18:13 UTC) - Velux 5 Oceans leader Brad Van Liew (USA) can begin to smell the fresh cooked seafood in his hometown of Charleston, USA, and now has only 355 nm to the finish. Van Liew has opened slightly on second place Derek Hatfield (CAN), now holding a 164 nm margin. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ * As part of the National Sailing Center & Hall of Fame's Learning Math and Science through Sailing Initiative, NSHOF has organized a Learning Math & Science through Sailing Consortium, in partnership with Hudson River Community Sailing's accredited After School Program and the Young Mariners Foundation program. The national Consortium was formed to share curriculum and best practices in order to promote similar programs throughout the country. The Consortium includes the following organizations from the United States and Bermuda: http://tinyurl.com/NSCHF-041711 BACK TO SCHOOL Join the IYRS students who have gone back to school to turn their passion into a profession-whether you train to restore century-old wooden boats, learn to install and troubleshoot modern onboard systems, or become expert at fabricating composite structures for the rigors of the ocean. Two IYRS open houses in May are valuable opportunities to learn more before school starts in September. For information about IYRS full-time and continuing education programs, go to http://www.iyrs.org 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 Al Russell: I support Ken Legler (in Scuttlebutt 3321) wholeheartedly. He certainly has set a very high standard for other coaches to follow. I've read about, but I am not familiar with, the latest "Coach" controversy at MIT, but I do have experience with college sailing as a "Dad" and have been lectured on "keeping my distance". Works for me, and it is strictly enforced in NEISA. My Kiddo went thru an Ivy/NEISA sailing program and had great experiences. Ken is right, the two great coaches my kid had essentially raised the kids from age 18-21+, not the easiest of times, as some of you know. Their schedules are brutal, the sailing/travel alone likely to be 40+ hrs/wk, plus school. geez. Mine did great, and without a coach it wouldn't have happened. I've run Laser Nationals, and RC'ed at Olympic trials, both of which had "coach" issues. I say keep the rules tight, as College Sailing has, enforce them, and carry on. It's a pain but it works. Keep the coaches, enforce the rules. Boot a few if needed, and move on. It won't happen again. * From Bob Johnstone: Congratulations to Ken Legler for his description of the contribution college coaches make in the lives of young sailors. I would like to underline the role they play in the quality of yacht club programs. As a flag officer of The Northeast Harbor Fleet, I had the pleasure to work with two of the best (not on Ken's list): Greg Wilkinson of Boston College and Fran Charles of MIT. For the fantastic job they've done and are doing, not only as Managers of the Club during the summer but in upgrading the quality of sailing in the region, but also helping adults with rules seminars, professionally managing 90 some races, supervising a junior program with 240 kids, functioning as PROs in the IOD World and NA Championships, Junior Olympics and DownEast Race Week...thanks! * From Roger Marshall: Very well stated, Ken Legler. The best college coaches have helped the sport tremendously. * From Patrick Broderick: (re, John Cutler's letter in Scuttlebutt 3321) I was one of the boats that "button hooked" the Knox Buoy in last year's CYC Mid-Winter Race. By the way it was a "reverse" buttonhook in order to pass the mark to Port. I did not protest. I did not circle the buoy to gain an advantage over my competitors. I did so because it seemed the most logical way to fulfill the SIs. I was joined by other boats sailed by skippers I've competed against for decades and respect greatly. Yes, it may have cost me a place or two in the overall series. To say we did it just so a protest could be filed is disingenuous at best, ignorant at worst. * From Casey Baldwin: (re Sustainable Power Consumption #3321) About 25 years ago, I sailed with an electrical engineer on his 42 foot racer/cruiser in New Zealand. He had scrapped his wind generator and designed an easily removable hydrogenerator that provided more than enough power for a boat loaded with electronic gear and an AC fridge/freezer. The small prop drive was encased in a 90 degree turned L barrel that drove a high and dry generator with a short lead to an aft plug. For racing, it could be removed and stowed in two minutes. Given the extraordinary advances since, that design can now be more efficient for the average cruising/racing sailor. Witness the almost constant use of an advanced hydrogenerator by American Velux 5 Oceans leader Brad Van Liew, who, admittedly, uses an advanced computer to fair the variable hydrogenerator prop to minimum drag whilst producing full power. I think that a simple but improved hydrogenerators will become more popular with the average sailor over the next few years, not to mention the aesthetics of not requiring a windmill on the stern. Water is 800 times thicker than air! * From Clark Chapin: We had a lively discussion over dinner at our sailing club regarding Appeal 103. We did not have the benefit of Bruce Thompson's commentary (in Scuttlebutt 3321), but our conclusions were: 1. Rule 90.2(a) requires the race committee to publish written sailing instructions that conform to rule J2. 2. Rule J2.1 says "The sailing instructions shall include the following information:... (5) descriptions of marks, including starting and finishing marks, stating the order and side on which each is to be left and identifying all rounding marks (see rule 28.1)" 3. The intent of the US SAILING Appeals Committee was to (derogatory term) slap the Race Committee for failing to write sailing instructions that met the requirements of J2 and identify the rounding and passing marks. Rule 90.2(a) makes Appendix J more than a mere guideline. In addition to the published decision, we were very interested in the rationale that the Appeals Committee used and, perhaps, in the minority opinion. Assuming that the Protest Committee and the Race Committee are acquainted, by the time that the Protest Committee was done with the redress hearing, it will NEVER, EVER AGAIN let that Race Committee write deficient sailing instructions. Perhaps that was the intent of the Appeals Committee. On the other hand, it seems that this decision is the output of an activist judiciary. Does US SAILING have a Federalist Society? Is Antonin Scalia a member of US SAILING? CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Doing it right is no excuse for not meeting a schedule. SPONSORS THIS WEEK APS - IYRS - New England Ropes - North Sails- J Boats JK3 Nautical Enterprises - Quantum Sails - LaserPerformance Harken - Ullman Sails - Gowrie Group - Hall Spars & Rigging Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
