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SCUTTLEBUTT 2140 - July 19, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.TRANSPAC SETS LIMITS (Los Angeles) The Transpacific Yacht Club board of directors has spoken: Boats sailing the 44th Transpac a year from now may not have a hull length overall (LOA) greater than 30 meters (96.65 feet)---and those with Barn Door ambitions may be racing a ghost. Along with the hull length limit, the rating limit has been established to equal the speed of a canting keel maxZ86 on the Transpac course---specifically, a limit conforming to Pyewacket's configuration when it sailed in the 2004 Newport to Bermuda Race when it was first to finish. Transpac commodore Al Garnier said, "Pyewacket is still the scratch boat even if it doesn't sail"---meaning that the rating limit will apply even if no maxZ86s enter the race, and Pyewacket probably won't. Roy E. Disney donated his boat to the Orange Coast College of Sailing & Seamanship when he retired from racing after Transpac 2005. That rating limit is secret, determined by the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) as administered by US Sailing with the Transpac Course Mix formula and the Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) updated for 2007 factored into the calculations. If it were made public a competitor might find a loophole for an advantage. Otherwise, boats may submit rating data as many as 10 times on various setups and told each time only whether they are over or under the limit. And they're shooting at a moving target. "The rating limit is constantly updated by the VPP program and the Pacific Swell Factor," Garnier said. "The program is always being updated to provide the most accurate speed prediction based on all available and known information." - Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/transpac/ IT’S OFFICIAL: BASEBALL LOVES SAILING Last Friday, America’s favorite pastime honored the beauty of sail by using seven sloops and two Optis to help announce the selection of San Francisco for the 2007 All Star baseball series, an announcement appearing tonight on ESPN. The San Francisco Giants and Major League Baseball worked with the South Beach Yacht Club to organize the vessels, which had distinctive artwork for the 2007 series affixed to their mainsails. As a sign of appreciation, the Giants made a contribution to the club’s new clubhouse, and they comment the beauty of ballpark is enhanced by the sailing just outside its walls. The Giants are known to cut away from stadium shots to show boats crossing the finish line of the club’s Friday Night Series, which ends in McCovey Cove. Story and accompanying photos at http://tinyurl.com/hagyp CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar YOUTH WORLDS (Tuesday, July 18, 2006) Light winds plagued the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship on day five, with most of the sailors waiting for the fickle breeze to fill in outside the breakwater. When the breeze filled in, the RS:X class started the first of two races in front of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. After a few hours of postponements, frustrated sailors were finally sent out and races kicked off in ten knots of dying breeze. The wind slowly dropped leaving the 420 and Hobie Cat 16’s floating around the course. The young Laser and Laser Radial sailors finally got their start but eventually the race was abandoned, resulting in mixed feelings across the fleet. In the afternoon, HRH The Princess Royal, joined the young sailors on the water and watched the racing with keen eyes. Later she met the RS:X sailors, most of which were excited but nervous to meet royalty in such a relaxed and friendly manner. Racing continues through to July 20, 2006. Preliminary Results (Top team plus two North American teams) 420 Boys: 1. Sebastian Peri Brusa/ Santiago Masseroni (ARG), 15. Michael Menninger/ Nicholas Martin (USA), 32. Erick Brockmann/ Mikel Noriega (MEX); 420 Girls: 1. Belinda Kerl/ Chelsea Hall (AUS), 4. Emily Dellenbaugh/ Briana Provancha (USA); Laser Boys: 1. Emil Cedergard (SWE), 2. Luke Ramsay (CAN), 4. Royce Weber (USA); Laser Girls: 1. Tina Mihelic (CRO), 8. Hayley McLean (CAN), 22. Stephanie Roble (USA); Board Boys: 1. Lukasz Grodzicki (POL), 12. David Hayes (CAN), 21. James Sobeck (USA); Board Girls: 1. Laura Linares (ITA), 14. Nancy Rios (USA); Hobie 16: 1. Tom Phipps/ Richard Glover (GBR) 13. Evan Miller/ Kyler Hast (USA). Volvo Trophy for the top-scoring national team. 1. Australia, 2. Italy, 3. England, 4. Israel, 5. Poland, 14. United States, 16. Canada -- Complete results: http://www.youthworlds.org -- Daily podcasts: http://tinyurl.com/nzxq2 THE SUPERYACHT SOLUTION FROM B&G The recently launched 52-metre Kokomo, built by Alloy Yachts in New Zealand, has been fitted with a comprehensive B&G electronics system. A huge effort goes into building quality yachts of this size and type, and the Custom Projects service provided by B&G ensures they get the best electronics package and service on the market. B&G also provided a complete instrument system for the Perini Navi built superyacht, The Maltese Falcon. This 88m clipper required a bespoke performance enhancing solution to ensure the designers’ twin goals of luxury and speed were met. Visit http://www.bandg.com or call us for more information. Curmudgeon’s Comment: While Kokomo might be a small town in Indiana, it is very big when it comes to boats. The 52-metre (170-foot) sloop designed by Dubois Naval Architects is meant to be a high performance aluminum sloop with spacious interiors and extensive accommodation. Full details and photos at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/big/ NEW YORK YACHT CLUB RACE WEEK Newport, RI (July 18, 2006) – In a heat wave, the New York Yacht Club Race Week at Newport presented by Rolex completed two final races for three IRC and three PHRF classes as well as a class for 12 Metres. This brought to a close the first four days of handicap racing that served as the Race Week's first half and hosted 66 entrants. Another hundred or so boats will join the competition during the second half, designated for one-design racing. That session starts Thursday, July 20, and will run for four days through Sunday, July 23. Splitting the handicap and one-design portions of Race Week is tomorrow’s Around-the-Island Race, which is scored separately. Winning six of 11 races in IRC Class 2 was Andrew Fisher (Greenwich, CT), skippering his Swan 45 Bandit. The Race Committee awarded him a Rolex timepiece for the best performance among all IRC competitors. His nearest competitor was second-place finisher Blair Brown (Newton, MA), sailing his Taylor 45 Sforzando. Bandit will now switch gears to sail in the Around-the-Island Race and then in the one-design session (in the Swan 45 class). Posting 11 points -- the lowest possible score over 11 races -- was Middletown's Tom Rich aboard his Peterson 42 Settler. That performance also earned him a Rolex watch for best overall performance in PHRF. For Rich, it was not just about flawless crew work. It was about family, too. Among his all-Rhode Island crew were his two daughters, two nephews, a cousin and his wife. - For the complete story and results: http://nyyc.org/index.cfm?menu=12&openitem=12 WINNERS ANNOUNCED After posting photo galleries on the Scuttlebutt website for the US Sailing Junior Olympics in Long Beach, CA and the US Snipe Nationals on Monday, we had a contest in Issue 2140 to see who knew what skipper and crew combination was in both galleries. With two nifty floppy hats from Ockam Instruments going to the first two correct answers, little time was wasted by the ‘buttheads. Congrats to Scott Barnard and Sara Morgan Watters for correctly identifying Tyler Sinks & Benjamin Todter of San Diego, CA. Below are the two galleries and the Forums link: US Sailing Junior Olympics: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0717 US Snipe Nationals: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0718/ Forums Link: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2748#2748 SAILING SHORTS * If you caught any of the OLN coverage of the America’s Cup racing at ACT 12, we would be curious to hear if you agree or disagree with the comments in a recent posting on Scuttleblog: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2006/07/cup-tv-coverage.html * (Honolulu, HI) Many boats berthed in the Ala Wai Boat Harbor will have to find a new home by next week because the state is closing docks deemed unsafe by engineers. More than 100 permanent slip occupants will "probably lose their space" on the B, C and D docks over the next four months, harbormaster Meghan Statts said Saturday. Statts said money to replace docks must come from the Legislature. Peter Young, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, said his department has requested about $10 million over the past three years, but received none. - http://starbulletin.com/2006/07/16/news/story06.html * OC Technology is set to launch a new position-reporting device for offshore and ocean racing called the OCTracker. The OCTracker is a self-contained, battery-powered, lightweight, tracking device capable of reporting a boat’s position, speed and course at pre-determined intervals, and is programmable remotely. The device works on battery power alone and is capable of sending over 4000 position reports on one battery – the equivalent of every half-hour for 80 days at sea or almost 14 days at 5-minute intervals. - http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/06/octracker * Long awaited by the team members of AREVA Challenge, the future boat of the French Team for the 32nd America’s Cup has just received its number: FRA93. It will be a reward for the team members of AREVA Challenge who have worked so hard to evolve their current boat, FRA60 (winner of the 2000 America’s Cup with Team New Zealand) in which the team faced all its opponents in 2005 and 2006. The new boat is scheduled to arrive in Valencia at the end of October. - http://www.k-challenge.org/index.php?coe_i_id=333&article=262 * Sailing north from Sydney to Hamilton Island Bob Oatley’s pocket maxi Wild Oats X (20 metre canting keel yacht) last night came off second best, after colliding with a whale on the NSW mid-north coast. Skipper Troy Tindall explained the whale hit the yachts forward rudder, bending the hydraulic steering arm, and then a few seconds later, the flukes of the whale rose from the water and slapped the stern of the boat. The stainless steel stern posts and stanchions were bent and the life lines were ripped from the stern. - http://tinyurl.com/ja4hj * Highlights of the start of the 2006 Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac presented by Lands’ End Business Outfitters on Saturday, July 22, 2006 will be available on T2P.tv.com on July 24th. Additionally, the race will have the services of FlagShip Race Tracking, where it will be possible to follow the progress of the fleet online at http://www.fistracking.com/mac * The 3rd annual Portugal Match Cup kicks off the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour, the eighth season of the world’s leading professional sailing series. Racing begins Wednesday on the Bay of Cascais, where afternoon winds are typically strong and shifty, challenging both crew handling and tactical decisions. The SM40, the World Tour’s specially designed match-racer, is the featured boat. Competing will be Chris Dickson (NZL), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN), Magnus Holmberg (SWE), Chris Law (GBR), Staffan Lindberg (FIN), Alvaro Marinho (POR), Lotte Meldgaard (DEN), Thierry Peponnet (FRA), Mathieu Richard (FRA), Przemek Tarnacki (POL), Ian Williams (GBR). - http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com * (Tuesday, July 18, 2006) The Australian team of Thomas Spithill, Nina Curtis, and Andrew Hudson representing Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club won all five of their races on the first day to lead the field of the 40th annual Governor’s Cup, hosted by Balboa Yacht Club. Sailed off of Newport Beach, CA, the Governor’s Cup is an invite-only match race event for 12 top junior teams. Tied for second with four wins is Balboa Yacht Club with Casey Schilling, Christian Emsiek, and Wade Buxton, and the Australian team from Royal Perth Yacht Club with Robert Gibbs, Kinley Fowler, and Jonathan Clough. - http://tinyurl.com/kh8g8 * Correction: In Issue 2139, there was just a small typo in the section about the US Youth Multihull Championship. The second place finishers are Eric Raybon and Jason Bilow, and they'll be going to the ISAF Youth Worlds in '07. ANOTHER MOB VIDEO YOU'VE GOT TO SEE The third in UK-Halsey’s series of important instructional streaming videos has just been posted on their website. This video demonstrates a MOB recovery where not everything works correctly, but the situation will seem a lot closer to what you typically find when racing. Viewing the mistakes proves to be a great learning tool, and mastering these techniques could save a crewmember’s life (viewing is free after logging on). Now, you have upwind and downwind MOB recoveries and a less anticipated MOB under heavier conditions - plus UK-Halsey’s widely praised animated rules quizzes. Have you visited UK-Halsey recently? http://www.ukhalsey.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thought at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Tom Wheatley, a 35 year resident of Annapolis: Regarding Mark Ustis' letter, the America met her demise in a boatyard in Eastport, MD (the old Trumpy yard) which was across Spa creek from the Naval Academy. For years after, bits and pieces of her were still in the yard where souvenir hunters collected them and used them for half models and all kinds of carvings. I have a small section of her mast. * From Magnus Wheatley: I just can't get it out of my head. Andrew Hurst has seriously got me excited about the 2012 Olympics and the possible inclusion of the foiler Moth as a new class as he wrote in his editorial in the latest Seahorse. I was utterly astonished to see Rohan Veal down in Melbourne rise out of the water like the Star Wars land cruiser and then again when I saw the Moth Worlds and a whole fleet blasting off the start line, three feet in the air! This isn't the future, this is now, and we must embrace the new technology and make sure that it has a deserved place in the Olympics, especially now that there's an off-the-peg production Moth going into production at a smidgen under 10,000 euros ($12,500 USD). Don't know about you, but I want one and this 34 year old, washed-up, never-was journo has really started dreaming about a medal. See you in Weymouth Rohan if the boat selection committee gets their act together! * From Adrian Morgan, UK: (Re, Paul Henderson’s notes in Issue 2135) This notion that nobody loves America, although not entirely true, does have some validity. From a European standpoint, America seems large and over bearing. Europeans are used to Americans dominating at many levels, the lowest in importance being sport. The whooping and crowing when a US golfer wins a tournament; the Stars & Stripes T shirts worn by the women supporters of Liberty in the 1983 America’s Cup, and the triumphalism are all alien to a European, let alone British mindset. That is the perception. The reality, having just returned from Florida, is a warm, generous-spirited, open-hearted and touchingly sensitive bunch of fellow sailors, almost over apologetic for the current stance of the US. The woes of US sailing have nothing to do with not being loved. The pendulum will swing back before long. I always return from the States thinking how small and mean old Europe is; how petty their squabbles. Winning a few sailing trophies, how important is that in the scheme of things? * From Count Enrico Ferrari: It could be a Curmudgeonly observation but the Paul Henderson comment is correct and I place the lack of youthful sailing on a lack of common sense in today's society. The youth of today are good specialists in whatever endeavor Mom or Dad send them too to be supervised and watched over until it is not fun anymore. I suspect that sailors, more than most sports participants, are truly endowed with common sense that allows them to be successful when dealing with wind and water. The precocious soccer star, baseball, slow pitch, ballet, pick an activity stars are now so closely supervised to enhance their performance and to avoid some stinking litigation if something goes wrong. This avoids reliance on self and common sense when on your own. I suspect this over reliance on coaching is a trait across the US. We, as a country, used to be the 'can do country', but we will be the next British Empire in decline with a huge pack of lawyers saying how the coffee was too hot. When Dennis Connors put the AC competition training into full gear it was the same as the Olympic Gymnasts who start at age 2. Too much training makes it less fun. Let some spontaneity into the game. Put boats in the water, put kids in the boats, and let them have some fun. We all know the water will take its toll but it is ultimately up to the sailor to say what is safe and hopefully what is fun. * From John McNeill: The outcry regarding your use of the BN title was regrettably predictable. Frankly, the degree of hypersensitivity exhibited is a bit much for this reader. The ‘N’ word, used in its sole form, is certainly offensive, and usually meant to be so in current usage. When modified by the ‘B’ term however, it refers to a position long established in yachting, and often held in some pride by those skilled enough to occupy the post. Personally, in over fifty years of sailing, I have yet to meet a BN of color, but will be perplexed as to how to apply the appellation if and when I do. History is a great teacher, and a source of perspective for those who are thoughtful enough to reflect on it. BN is a term of some wonderful history filled with memorable and respected characters, which contributed much to our treasured sport. We should not try to rewrite or obliterate any of the richness of that history by applying current bias toward rewriting the journals. George Orwell is likely laughing at us from somewhere out there. * From Richard Clark, New Zealand: This sensitive Kiwi knows damned well what 'B... N.....' means and is horrified that, after all my years, all round the world, it should be still on people's lips. Surely it is one thing to think something and something entirely different to verbalize it. I think it great that this is being discussed, it is not at all about being 'PC', and it is about human dignity and the wisdom to know the difference. "Boat Nigel", come on! CURMUDGEON’S QUOTATION Confucius says, "It takes many nails to build crib, but one screw to fill it." Special thanks to B&G Instruments and UK-Halsey Sailmakers. |
