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SCUTTLEBUTT 3375 - Friday, July 1, 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: New England Ropes and USSTAG. RISK TO GAIN When the Volvo Ocean Race begins this October, the online audience will be captivated by the imagery and power of the boats, but challenged to know what it is really like to be onboard. But in the book 'Risk to Gain', author Mark Chisnell succeeds in presenting this side of the story in his account of Paul Cayard and Team EF's victory in the 1997-98 Whitbread Race. EF language had a disastrous Leg Two, the team's first experience in the Southern Ocean. They regrouped, made changes, and in this extract from the book, Magnus Olsson describes the moment when they knew it had all come together, back in the Southern Ocean on Leg Five: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It was probably about 17.30 when Paul [Cayard] emerged out of the hatch. It was about three hours before darkness, and I was back on the wheel. By then we were just hurling the boat through the ocean. Over waves, through them, the boat just kept motoring. Nothing slowed her, nothing stopped her stride, there was so much power from the rig. How does it go - power is nothing without control? But we had control, the rudder had grip. And I had the boat, I knew she was happy. Even so, perhaps feeling that this ride couldn't go on forever, I had reached the point where I would be willing to change down. Paul joined the guys on the couch, sat quietly and watched for a while. Then he was beside me, yelling in my ear to be heard through all the clothing: 'How does it feel, Magnus?' 'Pretty good actually,' I shouted back, hesitating for a moment to give the wheel a big spin. 'There's a lot of wind, but she feels fine.' 'OK Magnus, let's roll with it, I'm happy.' Then he moved forward and swopped on to the grinder. Now, when someone like Paul Cayard is grinding, you kind of know that the trimming is going to be right on the money. It gives you confidence. I needed it; by now it was blowing up to thirty-five knots. We had struggled on previous occasions to hold that sail in anything above thirty knots. It was an incredible feeling to be at the wheel of this charging machine. She simply didn't hesitate, carving a trough through the Southern Ocean, hurling solid walls of spray into the sunshine. We were sailing down a tunnel of water and light. A sensory overload, trying to pound through the bridge of concentration I had built to the conditions. Filtering out the feedback I needed from the waves, the wind and the boat; trying to stem the wild rushes of sound and motion, damp down the adrenaline-soaked excitement. And there was Paul, winding like crazy, giving me these huge grins when we clocked it over thirty knots, with the boys on the couch behind whooping and hollering. They were moments I will never forget. There are many special times in the Whitbread. The Southern Ocean is always special - one way or another. So is rounding Cape Horn. And of course winning is special too - that, after all, is what you are there for. As it turned out, on this leg we would do all these things. But sometimes it is the pure experience that is the best. Knowing you have reached down and found the ability in yourselves, together, as a team, to do something that seemed utterly impossible only a few short weeks before. Smoking through the Southern Ocean, the big Kahuna up, and thirty-five knots on both the wind-speed and boat-speed dials. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Long out of print, 'Risk to Gain' is now been republished for the first time as a text-only, eBook edition. Available at all good eBook retailers, and for the Kindle at Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/Amazon-063011 DREAM JOB FOR AMERICA'S CUP ENGINEER Riding his bike to work across the Golden Gate Bridge from his home in Mill Valley some 20 miles to the Oracle Racing base at Pier 80 in San Francisco is a commute that Kurt Jordan is ready for. The long-time America's Cup designer is thrilled to be living back in the Bay Area doing what he loves to do best - designing not just high performance sailboats but the fastest sailboats in the world - after spending much of his 20-year career traveling to all four corners for his work. SailBlast caught up with Kurt to chat about working in the top design shop out there today: * What America's Cup campaigns have you worked? KJ: 1992 (designing spars for Dennis/Stars & Stripes, Bill Koch/America 3, and Il Moro di Venezia); 1995, Young America ( PACT95); 2000, America True, 2003, OneWorld; 2007, Alinghi; and in 2010, Alinghi. * How did you get into the Cup arena? KJ: I graduated from Cal (Berkeley) where I studied engineering and composite materials. When they wrote the new rule for the '92 Cup they allowed extensive use of composites. I was right place, right time with my education and a few years of industry experience with composite material training. In the Cup there's a lot of "old guard", a lot of nepotism and it's hard to get "in". The new rule opened the door, as a lot of the old guys didn't understand composites. I was hired in 1990 by Tom Omohundro as a consultant for carbon rigs. His company was up in Minden, NV. They built all the carbon rigs for Dennis, some for the Italians, some for Bill Koch for the '92 Cup. So I got into the '92 Cup through mast design, I worked with Bruce Nelson a lot back then and ultimately stayed with the Cup - this will be the seventh Cup I have worked. I still don't admit that it's a career really but it's been 20 years! * How has what you do changed in that time? KJ: Some of the materials have changed but not in huge ways. The techniques, understanding and analyzing them - the computer based simulation has grown enormously. That's one of the big roles I play is managing that computer simulation infrastructure and the software that allows you to do that is so much better than 20 years ago. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/SailBlast-063011 INTRODUCING ENDURA BRAID CLASSIC FROM NEW ENGLAND ROPES The perfect compliment for the traditional vessel, Endura Braid Classic has a 12-strand Dyneema SK75 Marine-Tech coated core along with a 24-carrier braided polyester cover and is available in a classic color. New England Ropes Endura Braid products are developed in conjunction with leading riggers and surpass the standards of performance time and again. Endura Braid's very high strength-to-weight ratio, low stretch, outstanding durability and its coated braided core make it ideal for durable, tapered sheets and halyards. Endura Braid Classic is now available at leading riggers nationwide. Learn more at http://www.neropes.com KEEL BOLT MAINTENANCE BULLETIN There aren't many maintenance areas that are more important, or more often overlooked than keel bolts. This is true for every boat, but particularly so for J/22s, J/24s and J/80s, all of which routinely hoist the boats in and out of the water using the bolts. Failure of any keel bolt is bad, but most bolts are part of a massively redundant system, where the failure of any one bolt is rarely immediately catastrophic. For boats that are hoisted, the failure of a bolt holding the lifting gear can be catastrophic and has the potential to lead to the loss of the boat, or much, much worse. While this article is being distributed to USWatercraft and J/Boats customers, it applies to virtually all production boats, regardless of builder or brand. If they use Stainless Steel keelboats and most of them do, it applies. Feel free to pass it along to your friends and fellow boat owners. It's pretty important. Since they live in the bilge, keel bolts can fall into the category of "out of sight, out of mind". It is because they live in the bilge that they need routine care and attention. J/22 keels are made using 316 Stainless Steel threaded rod, which is cast into the lead. The nuts, washers and lifting bar are made using 304 Stainless and are then electro polished. This has been the industry standard for many years, and has provided many years of service life. The basic resistance of stainless steel occurs because of its ability to form a protective coating on the metal surface. This coating is a "passive" film, which resists further "oxidation" or rusting. The formation of this film is instantaneous in an oxidizing atmosphere such as air, water, or other fluids that contain oxygen. Once the layer has formed, we say that the metal has become "passivated" and the oxidation or "rusting" rate will slow down to less than 0.002" per year (0,05 mm. per year). Unlike aluminum or silver this passive film is invisible in stainless steel. It's created when oxygen combines with the chrome in the stainless to form chrome oxide, which is more commonly called "ceramic". This protective oxide or ceramic coating is common to most corrosion resistant materials. Unfortunately Halogen salts, especially chlorides easily penetrate this passive film and will allow corrosive attack to occur. -- Read on: http://www.waterlinesystems.com/HowTos/KeelBolts.pdf RACING MACHINES READYING FOR BATTLE Newport, R.I. USA (June 30, 2011) - Since 1866, the cornerstone of offshore yacht racing has been transatlantic races, due, in part, to legendary yachts sailed by icons of the sport. Few, however, would disagree that the impending showdown between 100 footers Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard ranks right up there with the best battles of all time. Sunday, July 3, the third and final start for the Transatlantic Race 2011 will commence at 1350 Eastern Daylight Time, when the warning signal is fired at Castle Hill Lighthouse. Six yachts will then begin this historic and epic race across the wilds of the Atlantic Ocean. The following day as 4th of July celebrations are underway ashore, the action out on the race course is sure to be every bit as explosive. While Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard, sailed by George David (Hartford, Conn.) and Clarke Murphy (New York, N.Y.), respectively, are likely to contest for line honors in the Transatlantic Race 2011, the other combatants are not just filling out the numbers. The conditions will play a big part in deciding the overall class winner in IRC Class One and the victor will claim the Cape May Trophy, which James Gordon Bennett - winner of the first-ever Transatlantic Race in 1866 - presented to the New York Yacht Club in 1872. For the 115-foot Sojana, whose owner Peter Harrison (London, U.K.) is a member of New York Yacht Club, the Transatlantic Race 2011 is an opportunity to resolve unanswered questions. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=12156#12156 SAILING SHORTS * Point Richmond, CA (June 30, 2011) - Kelly McGlynn representing Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club of Beach Haven, NJ won the 2011 U.S. Junior Women's Singlehanded Championship, hosted by Richmond Yacht Club on June 28-30. After two days of racing for the 56 boat fleet, McGlynn trailed Christina Frost from St. Petersburg, FL by six points, but McGlynn's 2-1-2 on the final day allowed her to win by 15 points over Frost who finished second. -- Full results: http://tinyurl.com/Results-063011 * Boston, MA (June 30, 2011) - The opening day of the Extreme Sailing Series Act 4 at the Fan Pier in Boston proved to be a challenging one as the 11 Extreme 40 teams made their USA debut. Finding the best lanes of pressure and speed was the big ask of the day as the breeze fluctuated in strength and direction with the Fan Pier backdrop throwing in some wind holes for good measure, especially at the finish area only metres from the shore and the crowds. Currently on top by 1 point is US sailor Terry Hutchinson driving Artemis Racing. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-063011 * Sylt, Germany (June 30, 2011) - The Americans continue to hold down the top positions at the 2011 IKA Kite Course Racing World Championship after three days of racing. The top three in the Open Division Men are John Heineken, Adam Koch, and Bryan Lake. Racing continues through July 3. -- Results: http://results.extremience.com/sylt2011course.htm * Cagliari, Sardinia (June 30, 2011) - After Wednesday's gentle start during the match race segment of the RC44 Cagliari Cup, the first day of fleet racing saw a manageable 16-18 knots gradually grow to a 32 knot Mistral that would lead to carnage amid the 15-boat fleet. Team Aqua sits atop the rankings with a 1-4, led by owner Chris Bake (CAN) and professional skipper Cameron Appleton (NZL). -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/news/view/mistral_conditions_in_cagliari LASERPERFORMANCE CONGRATULATES ISAF WORLD CUP MEDAL WINNERS If there are medals to be won, you can bet LaserPerformance has something to do with it! LaserPerformance would like to congratulate US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics athletes for winning four overall medals for the 2010-2011 ISAF Sailing World Cup season: Women's 470 gold Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar; Laser Radial bronze Paige Railey; and Women's Match Racing gold Team Maclaren (Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi) and a bronze medal won by Team 7 Match Race (Sally Barkow, Elizabeth Kratzig-Burnham and Alana O'Reilly). http://sailingteams.ussailing.org PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include earthquake demolition, youth championship, transatlantic maxi, gulf gear, scuttlebutt battleship, Caribbean competition, slow but fast, and park sailing. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0701/ BONUS: Envy and jealousy are emotions that are good to avoid, but sometimes we can't help ourselves. Like when we see others enjoying the luxuries provided at The Superyacht Cup. Photographer Ingrid Abery provides this epic gallery of excess from Palma de Mallorca: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0630/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK With the America's Cup using catamarans for the 34th edition, we expect there to be increased interest for multihulls elsewhere too. How about date sailing? Seems like a pretty good platform for a guy and girl to enjoy an afternoon. Pick a sunny day, put on the bathing suits, and enjoy some healthy recreation. This week's video provides a 'how-to' for a guy to invite a girl to go catamaran sailing. Click here for this week's video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/11/0701/ SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com 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 Jim Gardiner: (re, boating safety) I wish to mention that a neighbor's boat is a Sunfish "clone" and it will turtle in a heartbeat. Our Alcort Sunfish will not. The difference; our mast is a sealed tube, and the other is not sealed. It could be a lifesaving difference. Not necessarily only for Youth Training but on any small one design, some duct tape to make a sealed mast would be easy enough to test the benefit. On a 34-foot racing Trimaran I built in the 70's, I self-rescued after pitch poling several times because the small cord wing mast had halyards in conduits and was sealed, preventing the big turtle. I can't remember ever turtling my old Finn with a sealed mast. If everyone had a sealed mast there is no disadvantage. Mike Plant, Tom Curnow and my girlfriend Sandra Williams were friends lost to the sea. Surely if we sail we all know someone. Growing up in the age when we never wore a PFD, I never thought I would have lived as long as I have. I wear one now. * From R. G. Newbury: In Scuttlebutt 3373 Judy Hanlon wrote that there should be appropriate "tools" in every coach boat. Those 'tools' should be on EVERY boat. Even young sailors should carry a knife. If a child can be trusted to sail, sans parent, the child is mature enough to use a knife properly. The current demonization of knives actually increases the risk of bad outcomes despite the fear mongering to the contrary. I have carried a pocket knife since I was a cub scout, and in the ensuing 50 odd years the ONLY person I have ever cut is myself. Experience however has proven that opening a pen-knife with your teeth is exceedingly difficult. A fixed blade or one handed opener is a necessity. I carry this: http://www.crkt.com/KISS If the idiots that nanny-fy in your area stupidly ban your child from carrying a knife, then get a Rescue Hook: http://www.benchmade.com/products/8 or others in that series. The 'blade' is only a half inch long. Amazing video of capabilities here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkVqlSf_mbQ Given the strength of modern line materials, the capabilities of these define the minimum level of 'appropriate' tool. It is not yet clear whether Miss Constants was trapped by lines under the boat. She may have been pinned by the PFD which was supposed to save her. Even 'safety' items carry risks, but provide benefits in excess of any extra risk. The idea is to lower the overall risk. A knife can do that besides having its own general utility. * From George Morris: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3374) As a non-American I am constantly horrified by the amount of regulation you have to put up with in the Land of the 'Free'. Mandatory kill chords? Kill chords have their place in the inventory of safety practices but what about this: - I am coming into my sheltered but rather crowded mooring area in my 22 ft cruiser single-handed. I start the outboard engine early (to make sure it'll start), motor to a quiet area, put the engine into neutral and take the sails down. I then motor to the mooring where I attempt to stop and pick up the buoy but if I miss it the engine is available to go round again. With a kill chord I would have to restart the engine twice during this procedure, reattaching the chord each time. And what if it were an inboard engine, most of which don't have kill chords? Are you supposed to install some sort of dead man's handle? * From John Baker, Issaquah, WA: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3374) Maybe it's time in his life for Brad van Liew to go get a real job, make some real money, and become one of the sponsors he's crying for, after enjoying the fruits of sailing these past years. Geez...wouldn't we all like to get a sponsor so we could all do what we'd rather be doing. Apparently there is a limit to the economic gains corporations get from their sponsorships of this type. * From Mike Benedict: I was lucky enough to be the navigator of the first cruising boat class winner in Transpac 1997 (Salsipuedes 52). I had spent a lot of time studying Stan Honey's articles, and of others way smarter than me. I plotted the low-mid-high tracks of winning boats against the average movements of the high for 10 races - and derived a strategy from these experts. I watched the high for weeks against these plots. Salsipuedes sailed a track that turned out to be almost perfect. We were not caught until +/-1500 on the last afternoon, by Diamond Head, by Medicine Man (who was doing 20+knots to our 10-12 knots) - very exciting! It was right that we were caught at the end by a very superior boat and crew - they deserved to run us down!! We were gratified to hear people say they went to school on us - but only once a day. Races like this, and the Mexican races, are won by navigation - and by great sailing. You have to pay the dues, study from people you respect, form a winning strategy, and follow it. Having those who don't do any of the above just follow along behind the likely successful navigators and strong crews doesn't prove anything. Might as well tie a string to a pull toy!!! COMMENT: Real time tracking was introduced as a way for online viewers to follow their favorite boat, and has allowed media with a tool to develop timely stories. But now the Transpac Race is delaying the information by 6 hours to discourage the competitors from using the information to develop strategy. It was noted during the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race that their increased frequency of position updates kept the teams close and the competition tight. Interesting conundrum! HOLIDAY WEEKEND Independence Day honors the birthday of the United States of America and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It's a day of picnics and patriotic parades, a night of concerts and fireworks, and a reason to fly the American flag. This year July 4 is on Monday, so Scuttlebutt World Headquarters is closing shop for the long weekend. See you again on Tuesday. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION The Mr. Bean Guide to Fun in an Elevator: Bring a camera and take pictures of everyone in the elevator. SPONSORS THIS WEEK IYRS - APS - North Sails - Atlantis WeatherGear - Gladstone's Long Beach The Pirates Lair - Quantum Sails - Melges Performance Sailboats Gowrie Group - Ullman Sails - New England Ropes - USSTAG Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
