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SCUTTLEBUTT 2160 - August 16, 2006Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.A PART OF THE CULTURE ESSEX, Mass. -- Someone compared it to giving birth. It may not have been quite so painful, but those involved were pretty tense. Nearly 3,000 people stood at attention, listening for the telltale creaks and whines that meant a nearly 40,000-pound wooden schooner vessel had reached its tipping point. Sunday was the official launching of Isabella, a privately commissioned boat built in the style of an early 1800s fishing vessel. It was built in the Burnham Shipyard, and sent to sea using the traditional side launch method. A wooden skeleton, called a bilge, was built around the vessel. The craft was slowly -- very slowly -- jacked toward greased planks that lined one side of the bilge. Each creak of wood was followed by a collective gasp. The movements of the vessel were slight, as crewmen pounded wedges under the boat to encourage it to tilt. Then everything stopped. And with seemingly no provocation, except, perhaps, that of gravity, something gave. The boat slid into the water. The town of Essex burst into applause. "How else would you do it?" Harold Burnham asked. "It went textbook. Textbook perfect. Absolutely, textbook." Burnham, of H. A. Burnham Boat Building and Design, and about a dozen crewmen -- who he refers to as his gang -- spent nine, six-day-a-week months building Isabella. Around the museum, everyone seems to know that Burnham is an 11th generation shipbuilder. He, however, said he's not keeping track. "A lot of people mistake ship building ... as a family business and they ask how many generations of a family has been involved," he said after rowing back to shore from Isabella. "That really doesn't matter. What happened in this town is the ship building became a part of the culture and almost anyone who can trace their heritage to this town in any way shape or form is as closely tied to the industry as I am." The sentiment was visible in the people drifting in kayaks and lining the banks to watch the launch. -- Laurie Fullerton, full story: http://tinyurl.com/rl289 LOTS OF DUMMIES When J.J. and Peter Isler originally wrote “Sailing For Dummies,” San Diego's leading sailing couple had dreams of the book selling 35,000 copies and becoming something of a guide for landlubbers entering what appears to be a complicated sport. “We had no idea it would become as popular as it did,” J.J. Isler said recently. Sailing couldn't have found two better spokespeople. San Diego native J.J. is a two-time Olympic medalist and a four-time winner of the Rolex U.S. Yachtswoman of the Year award. Husband Peter has sailed as the navigator on two America's Cup winners and will be back at the game next year as the navigator aboard Oracle. The Islers not only know their sport, they easily speak about it – explaining even the most difficult of topics in a minimum of words and diagrams. Which explains why the original “Sailing for Dummies” sold 100,000 copies and returned this summer in a modified second edition – part of the yellow-jacketed “Dummies” series that now covers 900 topics. -- Bill Center, San Diego Union Tribune, full story: http://tinyurl.com/fpkng EASTERN INSPIRATION (The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to Frank Pong about his boats and racing in Southeast Asia. Here’s an excerpt.) Since the days when the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club's China Sea Race to the Philippines and the Phuket King's Cup were the only prominent events on the Asia racing calendar, many newer events have sprung or are in the process of springing to prominence all over southeast Asia. The RHYC now run a biennial race to Vietnam as well as the San Fernando Race. Thailand now has the Ko Samui Regatta, Phuket Race Week and Top of the Gulf regatta, Malaysia has the Royal Langkawi International Regatta, Raja Muda (now on the RORC calendar) and the high profile Monsoon Cup match racing (part of the Match Race World Tour). Singapore has the Singapore Straits Regattas and the Royal Singapore Yacht Club Regatta. Further afield in the Philippines have the President's Cup and Manila to Boracay Race. Pong believes that we can expect to see yacht racing in China develop at a rapid rate in the near future. "For the last 600 years since the Ming dynasty, China has been very xenophobic and now the present government are encouraging people to take to the water again," says Pong. With this in mind they have recently introduced a National Watersports Day to be held every July. Then there is of course the sailing side of the Beijing Games to be held in Qingdao and China's first involvement in the America's Cup. -- http://www.thedailysail.com THE ONLY WAY TO WATCH JUNIOR SAILING Tired of lugging your heavy hard-sided boat to regattas, getting soaked and battered on your old Whaler, or having to bum a ride with other parent’s and spectators just to catch a glimpse of your sailor? If you’re looking for a boat of your own or a new one that’s easy to tow, comfortable, stable, low maintenance, safe & fun to drive, then look no further than Ribcraft. Starting at 15’, the Ribcraft line of rigid inflatable boats offers it all! See for yourself why Ribcraft is the preferred choice for yacht clubs, coaches, and safety professionals. http://www.ribcraftusa.com KING OF THE MOUNTAIN The 4th annual St. Moritz Match Race features the battle for the title “King of the Mountain.” American Ed Baird, a helmsman for the Alinghi syndicate, is the reigning champion. Raced on Lake St. Moritz, the event is unique to the World Tour. Most of the boats used are 35- to 40-foot keelboats. St. Moritz features the Streamline 7.15 – a 24-foot, three-person, trapeze keelboat – which challenges skippers to stay on their feet. The lake is at an elevation of 5,624 feet, making it possibly the highest-elevated match race regatta in the world. Stage 3 of the 2006-’07 World Tour, the August 15-10 St. Moritz Match Race, has attracted teams including the reigning World match-race champion, event defending champion, three of the top eight in the World Championship standings, five of the top 10 in the World rankings, and eight teams representing syndicates for the America’s Cup. The prize purse is approximately $121,000. The entry list includes: Ian Ainslie (RSA), Ed Baird (USA), Paolo Cian (ITA), Sébastien Col (FRA), Flavio Favini (ITA), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Peter Holmberg (ISV), Mark Mendelblatt (USA), Eric Monnin (SUI), Phillippe Presti (FRA), Arnaud Psarophagis (SUI), Jochen Schuemann (GER), Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) and Ian Williams (GBR). -- Sean McNeill, http://www.WorldMatchRacingTour.com. OCEAN RACING * After 7 days 4 hours and 29 minutes 40 seconds, Jonny Malbon brought Artemis Ocean Racing across the finish line off Cowes to claim line honours in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race. Artemis Ocean Racing proved just what a potent machine this Open 60 (ex-Pindar) is when given the right conditions as she streaked down the east coast of Britain with strong trailing northerlies that ensured a fast ride. After battling adverse tide and a softening breeze all day today, J-P Chomette brought his Nacira 60, Solune, across the finish line at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes at 1605 Tuesday to claim second place on the water in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Rac, trailing in behind Artemis Ocean Racing by over 17 hours. -- http://sevenstarrbi.cyca.com.au/ * Thomas Coville (FRA) onboard the trimaran Sodebo has beaten the Round Britain and Ireland single-handed record, completing the 1,787 mile course in 6 days, 6 hours, 40 minutes and 31 seconds to better the existing record by over a day, subject to World Sailing Speed Record Council ratification. Coville slept just 15 hours in 6 days it took to complete the course after averaging 11.86 knots for the voyage. The record was held by Jean Luc Van Den Heede (FRA), set on Adrien in May 2005 at 7 days, 8 hours and 47 minutes. -- http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j17Fh?jC8 SAILING SHORTS * Coronado YC hosted the Santana 20 National Championship on south San Diego Bay, August 7-11. 26 teams from Colorado, Washington, Oklahoma, Oregon & California attended the championships. At the conclusion of the seven race series that saw winds ranging from in 5 to 15 knots, Payson Infelise and his team of Phillip Infelise and Nate Campbell ( Alamitos Bay YC) won the championships, Second overall was Chris Winnard, Andrew Kerr & Lance Purdy (Southwestern YC) , Third went to Eric Kownacki, Tom Jenkins and Bob Martin ( Mission Bay YC). -- http://www.s20.org * Perfect racing conditions welcomed 71 boats to the start of the Lightning North Americans in San Diego. A sea breeze of 7-10 knots filled for race one building to 10-15 knots by the end of race two. Defending champion Matt Burridge with crew Dan and Tobi Moriarty scored two bullets to lead halfway through qualifying. Current Standings: 1) Matt Burridge, 2) Larry McDonald, 3) Tom Allen Jr., 4) Bill Fastiggi, 5) Jeff Coppens,. The fleet will be split after Tuesday’s races into two fleets for the championship series to start Wednesday. -- http://www.Lightningclass.org * David Spira, sailing his with Phillip Ryan, both from Denver Colorado, dominated the 37-boat Buccaneer North American Championship regatta hosted by the Waukegan YC and North Shore YC in Waukegan, Illinois earlier this month. Ryan and Jennifer Flack from Waukegan won a tie breaker from Jim Daus, also of Denver and crew John Fraser from Washington state, who took the remain spots on the podium. This was the third championship win for Spira who also won in 2001 and 2003. -- http://www.racelog.com/results/buccna/ * According to a report on the Valencia Sailing website, GER-89, the brand new German America's Cup boat, was sailing in Valencia, for what one could call her "official" test sail. Although the team's sailors, designers and boat builders have already taken the yacht for test sails, this was the first time Jesper Bank was on the helm. The German team will now continue their test and training sails with GER-89 until their older boat GER-72 returns to Valencia approximately three weeks from now. GER72 is being displayed in various German cities, part of the team's tour around their home country. -- http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/ * Tracy Usher scored a six point win over Chuck Tripp to win a windy, 40-boat, seven race Laser Masters National Championship at the Richmond YC. Brodie Cobb finished third, ahead of Dan Faulk and Peter Vessella who complete the top five. Chris Boone, in seventh place, was the top Grand Master -- just one point ahead of the Grand Master Bill Symes. -- http://tinyurl.com/f9xwb * From Roy Terwilliger: Reading Rob McNeal's lamentations about the good old days sailing Sunfish, and his "Wish I had them now", my comment is that he can still have them. The Sunfish is the most popular boat at our Yacht Club (Chatham, MA), and we race adults and juniors in the same race with trophies given to both. Everyone has fun! LATEST UK-HALSEY RULES QUIZ POSTED Quiz 21 presents three variations of the “slam dunk” maneuver that brings out a better understanding of the rules covering tacking, luffing and more. Common situations — each just ticklish enough to pull you into “the room.” Play them on-line for free; their animation makes them easy to understand. Plus, there are 20 prior quizzes on the same site: if you haven’t reviewed them lately, you should. If you’re totally confident you know the rules, are you just as sure about your safety procedures? Use our streaming videos (new ones added periodically), that show you how to recover a MOB. 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 Dave Tew: For her eighth grade science project my daughter performed a 'study of SPF effectiveness'. The methodology wasn't foolproof and the results should be considered anecdotal, but even so this is what she did: 1. Enlisted eight volunteers of various ages, skin coloring and "level of tan". 2. Taped a 'nine box grid' on each persons back. 3. Put a uniform selection of SPFs in each 'box': cheapest, mid-range and most expensive- SPFs 15, 30, and 45. 4. Had each lie out in the sun (same day, lined up alongside one another, August in Maine) for two hours reapplying SPF at the one hour mark. 5. Review the results the next day. It turned out that the cheapest drug store brand SPF 15 was as good as any. Reapplication is the key. * From Rick Ermshar (edited to our 250-word limit): Very good letter from Jim Stephenson in Scuttlebutt 2159 about solving the problem of microphones stuck open. As a former Harbor Patrol guy at the Isthmus on Catalina Island, I can tell you we dealt with that problem a lot. And it truly was a problem, as many boats entertained themselves by listening to the VHF and because stuck mics interfered with our ability to do our jobs. I remember one couple who came into the harbor and had one helluva lot of trouble picking up their mooring. They both totally lost their tempers and their mic was stuck open, entertaining the entire harbor for at least half an hour with some very colorful language and some creative combinations of curses. We finally figured out who it was and went to gently tell them what had happened. Red-faced, they dropped the mooring and left immediately. Another couple had the opposite problem. The mic was stuck open, and they were, um, romantically engaged. Noisily. X-ratedly. Howls of laughter all over the anchorage. Who said there's no more fun in sailing? A fun book would be the collected stories of harbor patrol folks from all over. For instance, I told one couple they'd have to anchor fore and aft. When I asked if they had a stern anchor on board, their worried reply was "No. We just have two of the regular kind!" Who said sailing isn't fun? * From Max Rosenberg: I find it interesting that Mr. Disney asked the Morning Light team members if they want to sail, "LA to San Francisco or Hawaii to LA". At this point, these youngsters will say yes to anything Mr. Disney asks, but really, has Mr. Disney ever done these types of legs? I seriously doubt he has ever done upwind grinds like the two he proposed. I ask, Exactly how will this make them better at Surfing a 52 to Hawaii in the trades with the wind at their backs? * From Skip Allan: As Volvo, individual sponsors, designers, and boat crews put their heads together to design the next generation of Volvo-70's, wouldn't it be cool if these cutting edge boats could sail around the world without the benefit of fossil fuel to cant their keels and power their electrics? With all the sun, wind, fire hosing water pressure, and human powered geared equipment, surely the brains and money behind these boats could come up with a system to "leave a clean wake" rather than firing up the diesel generator. * From George Bailey: Perhaps both the fun issue and the shrinking fleet issue arise in part because the cutting edge has become too sharp for ordinary people. Maybe more fun would be had if the RC made it harder for races to be raced in as serious a way (same specialized job every race, etc.). I bet if this approach were incorporated at the local club level, the racers who see the local club races as practice for national races would drop out (but you never know). Could this none-the-less lead to an increase in the number of people racing at the local level? This sounds backwards, but consider: as webmaster for our club, I regularly get requests from inexperienced (or zero experience) people to become involved in our PHRF racing. I put their contact information on the web site, knowing that it is unlikely they will be contacted. Why? Because we all take racing too seriously to bring aboard people who do not know what they are doing. Now, if a lack of experience did not affect outcome as much (due to whatever changes to the Sailing Instructions the RC could create to that end), perhaps people would be more willing to take on inexperienced crew. Perhaps, in the long run, this would generate interest that would re-build dwindling fleets. * From Michael Bersch (In response to Mr. McCarthy's editorial on fun in sailing - edited to our 250-word limit): All McCarthy need do is head 75 miles up Lake Michigan to Milwaukee to see an example of where the fun is in sailing. Louie's Last Regatta is one of the best examples of a fun regatta that pits racers and non-racers against each other on a race course. And are there kegs of beer involved- you bet. In fact the first place boat wins one keg, Second wins two and third wins THREE. This adds an element of math to it for the die hard racers and offers a better chance for the non-racers. All of this while sailing around a beer can shaped course. The majority of last years 105 entries were non-racers in a fleet that included an F-18, A-Scow and IMS 50. And every boat won its division as all the boats were put into their own division. 105 1st place flags were handed out at the awards party. But the true highlight of this event is that it is a 'FUN'draiser for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Last year over $80,0000 was donated to the hospital through a crew challenge, sanctioned bribes to the race committee, and bidding to improve one's place in the standings.(the winner of the fundraising gets an additional keg of beer plus a trophy) The event organizers have put their tongues in cheeks and created what Sailing Magazine called one of the top 10 must do events. How was this done? By not taking ourselves and our sport so seriously. http://www.louieslastregatta.com CURMUDGEON’S CONUNDRUM Why is it that as soon as your hands become coated with grease your nose will begin to itch or you have to pee? Special thanks to Ribcraft and UK-Halsey Sails. |
