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SCUTTLEBUTT 2036 – February 22, 2006
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary,
opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.
WEATHER DRIVES DESIGN DECISIONS
The America’s Cup has always been a marriage of design and technology to
sailing ability. To a great extent, an America’s Cup team is only as
good as its boat is fast. And one of the biggest influences on the final
design of an America’s Cup boat is the weather that the boat is most
likely to experience during racing. The America’s Cup teams invest a lot
of time and money in researching the race course so that they can
predict what range of wind and wave conditions they are most likely to
encounter whilst racing. The data is invaluable in helping to understand
the venue and to select the correct design so that your boat sails in
its ‘sweet spot’ (where it’s fastest in the given conditions) more often
than the opposition.
In past America’s Cups this meant each of the teams would spend money
(in many cases over one-million euros) to gather information and then
interpret it. Among the positive evolutions in the 32nd America’s Cup is
the Meteorological Data Service (MDS), a shared programme which collects
weather data from the race course areas off Valencia and distributes it
to the teams. It is a significant cost saving measure for the teams by
avoiding duplication of similar data gathering programmes as in the last
several editions of the Cup where the better funded teams each deployed
up to seven weather boats on the racing area to gather information.
Buoys gather and transmit data in real time to a central MDS server
where the teams can log-on to collect the data. Then each team
interprets the data in its own way. The weather is used for two main
purposes, to aid in design, and to help the afterguards decide which way
to go during the races. ~ Peter Rusch, America’s Cup website, full
story: http://tinyurl.com/o72he
COMPLICATED WEATHER
The remnants of a tropical storm are causing some headaches for the six
Volvo Ocean Race crews as they plan their approach to the first ice way
point on leg four, approximately 900 miles ahead and to the north. There
are some very complex strategy decisions to be made and there is a
complicated weather pattern ahead. Already there have been some quite
diverging courses which is unusual for this fleet. The decision to be
made is immensely intricate and it will be another two days or so before
it becomes clear as to which team made the right choices.
Staying with the pack is the strategy that ABN Amro One (Mike Sanderson)
has elected to follow after their expensive gybe earlier today to
position themselves to the south of the fleet. At first this move
appeared terrible, but now it is pay back time as the team climbs up to
fourth place. Down in the south, Sanderson reports beautiful, fast
sailing in clear blue skies with flat water.
But for their Dutch team mates on ABN Amro Two (Sebastien Josse), south
is now not an option. They are committed to the north and if they were
to cut their losses now and gybe south, they would cross behind the rest
of the fleet. They have watched their lead dwindle to almost nothing
and, having realized they were too far north, had no choice but to
accept that the rest of the fleet was going to come rumbling up from
behind. Over the last six hours they have lost another 11 miles.
“This brings on a range of emotions from panic to anger as you wish you
could turn back the clock and make that sail change a little bit earlier
and go with the fleet. It is easy to start making irrational decisions
and start gybing and chasing south to get to the fleet, but in the nav
station, we made an agreement to stick by our guns and not go roaring
around the ocean in a blind panic,” explains Simon Fisher, navigator of
ABN Amro Two. Surprising, Brasil 1 (Torben Grael) made the same choice
but now have their moment in the sun as they take over the lead. The
drama will be played out over the next 48 hours or so. ~
www.volvooceanrace.org
Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Tuesday
1. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, 5580 miles to finish
2. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +8 miles
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +10 miles
4. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +10 miles
5. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +11 miles
6. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +22 miles
QUOTES FROM THE BOATS
“We got a giant squid, well 6 feet long, caught around the rudder,
luckily it was the windward one, and so by using our new trick which is
to just keep sailing straight, lose cant and just keep tipping over
until the windward rudder is well out of the water, eventually this
thing came un-stuck and flopped off. All in all pretty weird. It didn't
compete with the Giant Squid in the Melbourne museum, but what on earth
it was doing up on the surface who knows. Our conclusion was that it was
pretty dead when we hit it.” ~ Mike Sanderson, ABN Amro One skipper
“We have seen two very large whales, close up. In fact one in particular
was much closer than I'd have liked. Hit one of these at speed and
neither party will be happy, although it is always great to see these
creatures, so big, so quiet and seemingly unconcerned by our presence.”
~ Neal McDonald, Ericsson Racing Team skipper
“At 0600, Rodney (Ardern) felt a big vibration on the rudder. Anthony
(Merrington) went down below to inspect through a window we have and
found a sushi farm growing on not only the rudder but the keel as well.
The precipitated our first "back down". That is right, drop the
spinnaker, go head to wind in the southern ocean and back her down! We
got the kelp off and were back sailing with the spinnaker in a
relatively quick 15 minutes.” ~ Paul Cayard, Pirates of the Caribbean
skipper
MAKING YOUR PRODUCTION BOAT COMPETITIVE IN PHRF
When Greg and Jennifer Manning bought a new Beneteau 40.7 a couple of
years ago, they kept the same sailmaker - Todd Johnston of Doyle Rhode
Island. Todd worked with the Mannings from the start to develop fast
tri-radial carbon and carbon D4 sails and a versatile tuning setup for
“Sarah.” The effort showed at Key West. The Mannings raced to second in
PHRF-3, beating the other two 40.7’s and taking two bullets on the
breezy final day. If you want your production boat to be competitive,
contact Doyle. http://www.doylesails.com
CREWS IN SUSPENSE
(The Sail-World website has posted a comprehensive update about the ten
boat Clipper fleet that was diverted to Subic Bay in the Philippines
when keel problems surfaced during the Singapore to Qingdao leg of this
round the world race. Here’s an excerpt.)
Clipper 2005-2006 Race Director Tim Hedge explained, ‘Currently the
surveyor is inspecting the fleet and next week we will have a clearer
idea of the damage and timeframe for remedial work and the impact on the
race schedule. However we believe it will take a number of weeks to
complete the repairs and conduct sea trials ready for the race restart.
The priority at this stage is to affect a suitable repair and get the
boats racing again rather than to divert energy into attempting to
apportion blame.’
However Clipper Ventures CEO William Ward was more direct. ‘We have paid
good money for these boats so there will be a claim against the
designers (Dubois) or the builders, (Shanghai Double Happiness Yachts)
depending on the survey results, for the full amount of any costs, so
there is a good chance that Clipper Ventures PLC will have to pay out
zero.’
The crews were initially told that Clipper Ventures was anticipating an
8th March start date but that has now been pushed back. As many of the
paying crews had taken holiday leave to shortly after the scheduled
completion of the race, it seems that work commitments may mean they
will be forced to miss the final leg to Jersey in the Channel Islands.
The question posed by anxious crew was ‘what will happen if we are
unable to sail the last leg?’ Hedges explains. ‘Crew have been briefed
in Subic Bay about the situation and are aware that refunds will not be
provided if they are unable to complete the race or a leg.’
Unfortunately it seems that the race will be delayed now by eight or
more weeks. Many of the crew of the 10 boats say they believe it would
seem difficult to maintain that passenger paying crew would not get
refunds after a delay of this time. ~ Sail-World website, full story:
http://www.sail-world.com/indexs.cfm?nid=21841
ISAF BUDGET
After reading Magnus Wheatley’s “The Has to Stop,” Steve Andrews wrote
to the ISAF requesting where he might find, “…the Detailed Annual ISAF
Financial Reports for the last 3 years as well as the 2006 Budget and
the proposed 2007 Budget.” Quite promptly, he got this response from
ISAF Director of Communications Luissa Smith:
The ISAF Financial Reports can all be found online via the meetings
section of the ISAF website, where you can access all ISAF meeting
papers and minutes:
2004 Audited Accounts -
www.sailing.org/meetings/2005november/papers/AGMIOM_1.pdf
2003 Audited Accounts -
www.sailing.org/meetings/2004november/papers/GA_2bi.pdf
2002 Audited Accounts -
www.sailing.org/meetings/2003midyear/papers/CO_04b.pdf
The annual budget is presented to the ISAF Council in the November prior
to implementation, ie approved in November 2005 for implementation in
2006. Dependent on decisions made at the specific November Conference
which may affect finance, changes may be made to the budget which will
be represented to Council at the next Mid-Year Meeting:
2006 Budget - November 2005 Council Minutes -
www.sailing.org/meetings/minutes/2005_CO_10_11.pdf - (As appendix to
minutes)
2005 Budget – Mid-Year 2005 Council Meeting -
www.sailing.org/meetings/2005midyear/papers/CO_8c.pdf
2004 Budget – November 2004 Council Minute -
www.sailing.org/meetings/minutes/2003_CO_13_11.pdf (As appendix to
minutes)
The proposed 2007 Budget will be presented to Council for consideration
in November 2006.
NEWS BRIEFS
* 470 World Champions Malcolm Page and Nathan Wilmot were announced as
the Australian Institute of Sport's Team of the Year at a ceremony in
Canberra. The pair won their second consecutive gold medal in the Men’s
470 at last year’s World Championship held in San Francisco, USA. It was
the first time a male crew had won back-to-back World Championships in
22 years and the fourth World Championship medal for Wilmot and Page
since they began sailing together in 2001. ~
http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j69Fh/6B8
* Monday night Hugo Boss skipper Alex Thomson informed his shore crew
that the boat had been dismasted while sailing on a broad reach in 25
knots of wind. The boat was at the end of the second week of a Southern
Ocean crossing from Melbourne to Uruguay, en route to continue its
corporate programme for sponsor Hugo Boss in the USA. Nobody was injured
in the incident, and within a few short hours the boat was sailing under
jury rig. The boat is now making reasonable progress and heading for
South America which is 1800 miles away.
* The Alinghi America’s Cup syndicate has been allocated sail number 91,
and their new boat, is under construction at Décision Boatyard in Vevey,
Switzerland, under the critical eyes of yard director Bertrand Cardis,
chief designer Rolf Vrolijk, chief engineer Dirk Kramers, boatbuilding
manager Michel Marie and head of design Grant Simmer.Twenty five
boatbuilders are involved in the new boat, and the aim is to have the
boat finished by May. The will be in Switzerland March 4-11 for the
winter physical training camp, before getting back to base to start
two-boat testing at the end of March. ~ www.alinghi.com
* This past weekend 48 competitors braved sub freezing temperatures to
sail in the Interclub Mid-winters at Larchmont YC. The regatta uses a
college style format with an "A" and "B" team alternating every to
races. The team of John & Molly Baxter and Bill Healy and Meredith
Killion won the event by 6 points over the team of Paul-jon & Annie
Patin and Eduardo Cordero & Kate Cronin. Third place - Ned & Dorsey
Roseberry and Ben & Kim Cesare. John and Molly Baxter won A division
while Bill Healy and Meredith Killion won B division. ~ Complete
results: www.larchmontyc.org
* A bullet in the final race earned Californian Chris Raab a
single-point victory over Canada’s Allan Clark in the 56-boat Laser
Master Midwinters at the Clearwater YC. Miami’s Ernesto Rodriguez took
third place ahead of Ken Swetka with Alden Shattuck settling for fifth.
~ http://www.clwyc.org/LaserMasterMidwinters06/results.htm
* Final results of the 98-boat Club 420 Midwinters hosted by US Sailing
Center of Martin County, FL: 1. M. Menninger & N. Martin, 27pts; 2.
Tyler Sinks & M. Gutenkunst; 33pts; 3. C. Buckingham & B. Todter, 48pts;
5. E. Dellenbaugh & B. Provancha, 60pts; B. Dellenbaugh & L. Hammel,
61pts. ~ http://www.usscmc.org/regattas/420Mids2006Final.htm
* Correction: The Erle Williams quote in ‘Butt 2035 came from a story by
Bill Wagner in the sports section of The Capital in Annapolis. ~
www.capitalonline.com
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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 thoughts at
the Scuttlebutt website:
http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi)
* From Paul Kueffner: I'd like to draw your attention to the
similarities between Magnus Wheatley’s article (‘This Has to Stop’) in
Scuttlebutt 2035 and my post to the Scuttlebutt forum on January 1
concerning San Diego not hosting an ISAF event. Very interesting how the
same perceptions of ISAF are apparent. Also, another question about
ISAF. Do the staff there consider themselves as Group 2 or Group 3? I
haven't looked too carefully, and the ISAF site may not be working
properly, but I have not noted any ISAF staff listed as Group 2, and I
would think that all of them should be --- otherwise, why are they being
paid?
* From Mark Townsend: The "Farmhouse Pate with apple and cider chutney,
Roast Sirloin of beef in a red wine sauce, lemon tart, wine, tea, coffee
and mints!" mentioned by Magnus's in "This Has to Stop" is being served
to the hard working International Race Officers. When ISAF introduced
the International Race Officer program it was to ensure quality race
management for the Olympics. If that is still the objective then why do
91 IRO's, with others wait-listed need to meet two and a half years
before the games? How many Race Officers are they going to have at the
Olympics? Has anyone noticed any massive improvement in the last few
years in race management due to this program?
* From George Chapman: I refer to Magnus Wheatley’s opening article in
‘butt 2035 entitled “This has to stop”. You should be aware that
delegates are making the major contribution to the costs of this
conference. I quote from the invitation: - Refreshments, lunches, and a
dinner on the Saturday evening will be paid for but travel and
accommodation will be the responsibility of the delegates. However, in
view of the distance that some IROs will have to travel in order to
attend, some travel grants will be available for those IROs from ISAF
Groups I J, K, L, M, O, P and Q. Accommodation in the city of
Southampton is not cheap, neither is international travel. A free meal
is surely small reward for having our brains picked and for our time,
effort and money.
* From Bjørn Anker-Møller: I am deeply saddened to find in Scuttlebutt
one of the most unfair bashings of volunteer sailing officials I have
ever seen in print. The participants at ISAF’s conferences for race
officials are unpaid volunteers, not “top dogs”! They attend the
conference to raise the standard of their race official work and improve
consistency for the benefit of sailors not for the free refreshments!
ISAF does not pay travel and accommodation for the attendees (except for
limited travel grants to participants coming from far away). Those who
should choose to bring partners must also pay their travel and
accommodation costs.
So in terms of “free goodies” it comes down to a welcome reception, two
lunches and a dinner. In return for what? Spending a full weekend plus
travel time away from home, family and boat, on top of all the other
time these people invest as volunteers in organizing races throughout
the year. Yes, I am an ISAF race official myself, and I have attended
several similar conferences and even enjoyed the free dinners. Ashamed?
Not the least. I wish everyone attending this year’s conference an
enjoyable and educating weekend, and please do enjoy the free dinner as
a token sign of appreciation from ISAF. It may well be that ISAF falls
short on transparency in many areas, but firing away at the volunteers
is completely unjustified. Scuttlebutt owes an apology to all the
world's race officials.
* From Andrew Beeston (UK): With initial reports indicating that repairs
to the Clipper 05-06 fleet will result in the race now being delayed
until at least the beginning of April (if not later), I would like to
wish Race Education Manager Sarah Beaugeard the best of British luck in
maintaining the interest and enthusiasm of the 300 schools around the
world logging on to the event’s education programme. I suggest that the
race organisers [Clipper Ventures] will have to be more inventive than
just finding things for the children to sign whilst the fleet remains
hoisted out in Subic Bay for repairs to commence if the event is to
retain any sort of following amongst its young audience.
* From Barry Demak: I found Craig Leweck's comments on "Nothing to Sign"
quite timely. It was just last weekend that I was at the California
Yacht Club where I enthusiastically paid $10 to hear Gary Jobson - as
introduced by the curmudgeon himself - talk and present thoughtfully
edited video highlighting all that is good about sailing - from cruising
to club racing to canting keelers in the Southern Ocean. I promptly
bought Gary's "Championship Sailing" and asked him to sign it - which he
graciously did.
I'm sure there will be plenty of Volvo souvenir merchandise available
for Paul Cayard to sign - in kid's sizes too. Just because we ride the
projectiles in our sport, doesn't mean there's not enough stuff to sign!
Buy the kid a model VOR for twenty Euros, or a stuffed Seagull for
six...
* From Michael S. Hill: With regards to Craig Leweck’s blog article
–Nothing to Sign - I completely disagree. I recall doing the "Newport
Regatta" as it was then know in the early 1990's sailing the in the JY15
fleet. I had just gotten my first coveted Mount Gay Hat and then I saw
Dennis Connor walking out of the registration building. I asked him to
sign my hat and he willingly obliged and he made a 13 year old extremely
happy. Following that experience I worked to get Skip White the Olympic
sailing coach to sign a hat, as well as the 1992 Olympic Silver medalist
Morgan Reeser to sign my Florida Citrus Sailfest Mount Gay Hat.
The following Christmas my father had those hats mounted in a shadow box
for me and I still have them hanging on my wall to this day. I can't
think of a regatta that I have done where I haven't gotten a hat or
T-shirt or both. I think having your sailing heroes sign a hat/shirt
from the event where you met them is even more special, and helps you to
remember the details of that moment even more vividly.
Curmudgeon’s Comment: We actually beat this sucker to death a while ago,
but let me now declare it official. No more!
CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM
How’s come when you dial a wrong number you never get a busy signal?
Special thanks to Doyle Sailmakers and Ribcraft.
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