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SCUTTLEBUTT 3731 - Tuesday, December 4, 2012Scuttlebutt 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: North U, North Sails, and Ribcraft. CAPTURING THE IMAGINATION While the Lightning may not be sexy looking or high performance to sail, its strong class leadership has helped it to remain popular for over 70 years. Participation remains strong, with the class attracting both top competitors and family programs. Scuttlebutt asked some of the class insiders how the Lightning continues to capture the imagination of today's sailors. Here are comments from Ed Adams, past Star world champion and new Lightning owner: ------------------------------------- The Lightning Class has always been forward thinking about class growth. Every person on the boat has to join the class, but I think it is only $10 for a crew. That puts them on an email list, so they get the newsletter and regatta announcements. Every regatta has a standard web page, with links for local housing, and a list of "who's coming." You can easily search the archives to see what attendance was like in the past. And if you within driving distance, they send you email prompts every week about upcoming events and why you should attend. At the regattas you have the aging class stalwarts, and a smaller, but still sizeable contingent of sailors who have graduated from the youth program. The average age is still quite a bit older than you would want for a healthy class, but they have managed to keep regatta attendance up. They held the NAs in Houston this year, which I thought was risky, given that only 13 Laser Full Rigs showed up for the NAs in Houston the month before. But 50+ Lightnings came, and I think that speaks very highly of the class. The primary builder, Tom Allen, has a year's backlog of boat orders (usually around 10 boats), again a healthy sign. As for me, I was looking for a class with a healthy regatta schedule, good competition, and a boat that was inexpensive to purchase and maintain. Cheap entertainment. You can get a regatta-winning used boat like mine for 10 grand, and other than sails, you really don't have to spend much to maintain it. Class rules are strict, so it really is a "turn-key" proposition. I don't have the energy anymore to spend my evenings upside down under the foredeck trying to invent custom rigging systems. ------------------------------------- MORE: This is a continuation of a series that began in the Monday edition and will conclude in the Wednesday edition. Here is the segment from Monday: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14869 GRANT: The International Lightning Class Association is now accepting applications for the 2013 ILCA Boat Grant Program. The program, entering its seventh season, offers a few select teams the opportunity to sail a race-ready boat in one of the strongest one-design classes in North America. Details: http://www.lightningclass.org/racing/boatGrant/2013/pressRelease.asp BLUE TUESDAY GIFTS Racing Rules, Tactics, Trim, Match Racing, Cruising, Weather. Books, Discs, Seminars, Webinars & Race Weeks... Order your holiday gifts and gift certificates now a FREE North U Blast Reach Long Sleeve T-Shirt for orders over $50. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better sailor. Accelerate the process at North U: 800-347-2457, http://www.northu.com PLAYING IT SAFE (December 3, 2012; Day 24) - With the Vendee Globe now entering the Indian Ocean, a prominent feature of the race route is the ice gates, which are positioned to minimize the risk of collision with drifting ice as the skippers seek the better winds that often exist in the lower latitudes. The 1996-1997 edition of the Vendee Globe launched the concept. The disappearance of Gerry Roufs and shipwrecks of Raphael Dinelli, Thierry Dubois and Tony Bullimore pushed the race organizers to adopt certain additional security measures. The ice gates were introduced in the next edition in 2000-2001 as a solution to minimize conflict with icebergs or growlers. The operation of these gates is simple. A gate is a segment of two points on the same latitude, with the longitude of each point defined. The spacing between these two longitudes is about 400 miles, with the gates spaced apart 800 to 2000 miles. To validate their passage, each skipper must either break the plane of the gate or simply stay to the north of both ends. To define the position of the ice gates, the Vendee Globe organizers work closely with Collection Localisation Satellite (CLS), a French agency whose job is to monitor boats, turtles, whales ... and ice. Thanks to several technologies, they are able to determine the location and drift of the ice, and position the gates accordingly. The position of these gates is not fixed. They can "evolve according to the reality of satellites, from the start," says race director Denis Horeau. "But once the leader has reached a gate, the following gate is fixed for all the other skippers." In addition, a gate can be added after the start of the race, as was the case on Sunday when the Amsterdam gate was added. "There is (now) a lot of known ice down there," remarked Gamesa skipper Mike Golding. "They don't want us dicing with ice and so it is better to play it safe. Quite honestly I guess the ice was there in previous Vendee Globes but now with the technology at the level it is, if you know it is there, we have the maps with dots on now, then you just can't ignore that, but I don't imagine it is much worse than before." The ice gates are not only a compulsory passage point for the Vendee Globe. Australian authorities have also demanded that the gates are in place off their coasts. "Australians have occurred repeatedly in the Vendee Globe for rescues so they ask us to go too far from their shores," says Horeau. -- http://tinyurl.com/VG-120312 Tracking: http://tracking2012.vendeeglobe.org/en/ Top 5 of 20 - Rankings as of Monday, December 3, 2012, 20h00 (FR) 1. Armel Le Cleac'h (FRA), Banque Populaire: 17830.5 nm Distance to Finish 2. Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), Virbac Paprec 3: 31.0 nm Distance to Lead 3. Francois Gabart (FRA), Macif: 40.3 nm DTL 4. Bernard Stamm (SUI), Cheminees Poujoulat: 72.1 nm DTL 5. Alex Thomson (GBR), Hugo Boss: 165.8 nm DTL Full rankings: http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ranking.html BACKGROUND: Twenty skippers began the 7th edition of the Vendee Globe, a solo, non-stop around the world race in the IMOCA Open 60 class. Starting in Les Sables d'Olonne, France on November 10, the west to east course passes the three major capes of Good Hope, Leeuwin and the Horn before returning to Les Sables d'Olonne. In the 2008-9 edition, Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA) set a new race record by completing the course in 84 days. -- http://www.vendeeglobe.org/en/ TALK ABOUT A NATURAL While the focus on college sailing is typically on dinghy competition, there are several college service and maritime academies competing in earnest on the keelboat playing field. Leading the charge, and deserving recognition for their achievements in 2012, is the United States Naval Academy Varsity Offshore Sailing Team. Led by USNA Midshipman 1/C skipper Stephen Jaenke and his Midshipmen crew of Charlie Johnson, Andy Beeler, Kelsey Ragsdale, Ethan Madison, Sean Brown, Roscoe Thomas and Sam Ross, here is the honor roll they have posted in the past 6 months. * Newport-Bermuda - 1st in class aboard Swift. Also 3rd overall in fleet and part of a three boat USNA team which won the CCA H. Irving Pratt Overall Team Trophy. * Storm Trysail Club's Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta - 1st in class. Also awarded the Paul Hoffman Trophy for Best Overall Performance in the regatta aboard the J/133 Bacchanal. * McMillan Cup - 1st overall. * Kennedy Cup - 1st overall. Considered the intercollegiate offshore national championship, the victory qualifies USNA to represent the U.S. in next year's Student Yachting World Cup (for the second year in a row). "Interestingly, skipper Steve Jaenke came to the Academy to play baseball but threw out his arm prior to Plebe Summer," remarked Head Coach Jahn Tihansky. "Although he is from the Annapolis (MD) area, he had virtually zero sailing experience before arriving here." Talk about a natural! http://www.usna.edu/SailingTeam/vost/index.php AC72 LESSONS LEARNED Oracle Team USA chief engineer Dirk Kramers thought he had seen it all in five America's Cup-winning campaigns. But nothing compared to the drama that played out in San Francisco Bay on October 16, as he watched the team's new AC72 catamaran pitchpole in big wind, drifting out to sea in pieces just weeks after being launched. Instead of watching the calendar while monitoring the restricted 30 days of testing allowed for each boat, Kramers and his team have to re-engineer the injured USA 17 while at the same time the team's second boat completes the build process. Kramers looks back on that fateful day in October, lessons learned, and what it means for the team. Many who watched the drama play out on live local television or the internet questioned Oracle Team USA's decision to take the AC72 out in such difficult conditions on only its eighth day of testing. Hindsight is always 20/20, especially when looking back on wind gusts to 25 knots or higher and an ebb tide of over more than seven feet. "What made life a lot worse for us is that we capsized in the second biggest tide of the year and we got swept out," Kramers said. "At first, when we capsized, we looked around and thought, Okay, we'll wash up on Alcatraz. The next thing, you look up and realize you're going the other way. Within an hour, we were outside the Gate. The wave action outside the Gate is what did in the wing." -- CupInfo, read on: http://www.cupinfo.com/en/oracle-ac72-capsize-lessons-12107.php HIGH ROAD: When the late Friday distribution of the Artemis Racing press release (btw, slippery PR move) lacked comments from their newly deposed skipper Terry Hutchinson, Scuttlebutt reached out to get his side of the story. Hutch sent us an email over the weekend, hitching his train to the high road. We posted his remarks on Facebook, where his high road has earned high marks: "Definite class act! No Americans (now) at the helm of the America's Cup!" and "Sounds like he was a scapegoat for a slow boat!" More here: http://tinyurl.com/FB-120312 NAUGHTY OR NICE? We don't have coal in-stock for the "less than good" people on your shopping list, but North Sails Gear DOES offer a great selection of clothing and gift items sure to please friends and family. Choose from stylish outerwear - vests & hoodies; gifts for home and office - acrylic wine tumblers and calendars; or something for the boat - sail ties and sail repair kits. Find something for every budget at NorthSailsGear.com. Mention S-BUTT in "Comments" at checkout, and we'll deduct shipping (surface shipping within the USA only). Offer good through 7 December. When you need great gifts, head North! http://www.NorthSailsGear.com SAILING SHORTS * Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia (December 3, 2012) - The Monsoon Cup finally gets underway Tuesday, and the eighth event of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour will prove to determine the tour winner and 2012 ISAF Match Racing World Champion. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and Ian Williams (GBR), the only winners of two events on the 2012 tour, lead the overall standings. In 2011, Williams won the Monsoon Cup with a 3-1 victory over Johnie Berntsson (SWE), elevating Williams to the overall 2011 season title. -- http://www.wmrt.com * (December 4 2012) - The World Sailing Speed Record Council announced the establishment of a new Outright World and World "B" Division (150-235 square feet) Sailing Speed Record. On Nov. 24, Paul Larsen (AUS) piloted the inclined rig hydrofoil proa Vestas SailRocket 2 to a speed of 65.45 kts on Walvis Bay, Namibia. The previous Outright and "B" division record of 59.37 kts was set by Larsen on Nov. 18. -- http://tinyurl.com/WSSRC-120312 * Melbourne, Australia (December 3, 2012) - The launch of the 2012-13 ISAF Sailing World Cup began today at the Sail Melbourne regatta for nine of the ten Olympic events and one Paralympic event, with eleven other one-design classes invited to participate. A fluctuating 7 to 12 knots for most of the morning, predominantly from the sou'west, ultimately built to 17 knots while clocking north. Racing continues through December 8. -- http://sailmelbourne.com.au * (December 3, 2012) - A U.S. Coast Guardsman died off the California coast after he was knocked off his boat by suspected Mexican drug smugglers, then struck by a propeller, according to federal prosecutors. The 13-page affidavit in support of charging two Mexican nationals in the death of Terrell Horne III details a violent confrontation at sea, which included gunfire and pepper spray, before the suspects surrendered. -- LA Times, full story: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/12/us-coast-guard-killed.html EIGHT BELLS William P. (Bill) Thorpe IV (age 74), the 1999 Commodore of Bayview Yacht Club (Detroit), died peacefully in his sleep on Sunday, December 2, after a long, courageous battle following surgery earlier this year to remove a malignant brain tumor. He had been a member of Bayview since 1972. Bill was a fiercely competitive sailor who raced big boats and small for decades. He was active in the International Etchells fleet at Bayview for many years and proud to be an "Old Goat", an honor reserved for those who have completed at least 25 Bayview Mackinac Races. He sailed his first Bayview Mackinac in 1971. His scores of shipmates had nothing but praise for Bill as the news of his passing spread. Bill never retired from racing sailboats, but in his later years he became a well-respected and much sought-after judge and umpire. When he left us, he was an International Judge (since 2006) and a US Sailing-certified Senior Judge (since 1999) and Umpire (since 2004). Bill was a US Sailing Regional Administrative Judge from 2007 to 2012 and a frequent instructor in its judges training and certification program. He will be remembered as deeply committed to sailors and sailing with a strong, no-nonsense sense of fair play. Bill would have smiled at one shipmate's description of his "curmudgeonly charm". A memorial service will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, December 7, at St. John's Episcopal Church, 2326 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, with a celebratory gathering at Bayview Yacht Club, 100 Clairpointe Avenue, Detroit, after the service. -- Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14877 NO COMPROMISES Now you can have it all. Military tough. Proven designs. Performance Driven. Innovation. Time tested. Reliability. There's no question why RIBCRAFT is today's RIB of choice for sailors, yacht clubs, and professionals. For more than twenty years RIBCRAFT makes getting on the water easy, safe, and enjoyable. http://www.ribcraftusa.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 Julian Everitt, London, UK: I couldn't agree more with Glen McCarthy (SB 3730) that the pursuit of 'perfection' in race management and courses has done more damage to international yacht racing than any other factor in the past 20 years. * From Jim Gardiner: I have been thinking about a boat that I could take my wife and 5 and 8 yr old sailing. A Lightning would fit the bill. I second the motion that the Class organization is #A1 (re, Scuttlebutt 3730). In the mid 1970's I collected a paycheck from Gougeon Brothers and built a half dozen Tornado's. After moving to Miami, I was thinking of a boat to sail with my wife and perhaps make some money building more. I could never get the Tornado Class organization to reply to requests for a builder's license and a set of templates. It turned out that one of the Class administrators had the same idea. No friendly competition there! As my Miami wife (the first one) was racing Lightnings, I considered building one. After one call to the secretary, they had a set of plans delivered to my home the next day. Whoa! At that time you could build your own. I am no Vic Carpenter but I was thinking a modern Woody could be competitive. * From Paul Bishop: After Chris Corlett (Eight Bells, Scuttlebutt 3728) won the 1974 Half Ton NAs on Animal Farm, he sailed the lightweight, fractional Peterson daggerboarder Oooh No! in the 1977 Half Ton NAs. They were the fastest boat there, but lost all points in the distance race that they won (on a questionable protest), so they did not win the championship. They came back in 1978 to dominate the NAs with a score of 1-1-1-1-3. * From Bob Bausch: I really enjoyed learning of the "South Bay Scooter" in Roger Baker's article in SB 3730. What an elegant, beautiful craft! A subject that is highly worthy of artistic interpretation. The South Bay Scooter Club has an excellent website devoted to these amazing machines and their sailors. And some striking images. Thanks to Roger for his article. It's great to see an indigenous design that has continued down through the years, and still has its magic. * From T.J. Perrotti, Perrotti Performance Design: Years back, fresh out of naval architecture school, I had the great fortune to sign up with the NYYC's "America II" 12-meter America's Cup team, managed by Arthur "Tuna" Wullschleger (Eight Bells,Scuttlebutt 3726). I told my mother that I would be moving away from home. "How far?", she asked. "Australia!", I responded. She nearly died. Fortunately, she found great comfort in Tuna's warm and embracing friendship and concern for everyone on the team. He was our adopted father in so many ways. He ran a tight ship, mind you ... we all feared being the one to get caught not having swept up our work area all tidy at the end of a busy day! But he always had a warm smile and friendly arm around our shoulders. And he ALWAYS took great pride in wearing his red team sweater and floppy white "keep the flies away" hat. We all happily honored him one evening at dinner on his birthday, with each one of us wearing our red sweater and floppy white hat in proud tribute to the man we admired so much. Tuna pushed us hard on-the-water, but he often let us squeeze in some time for a little Down Under fun. Like the time he chartered the only double-decker bus in Australia, and carted us all off to a medieval "wench waitress" dining hall in the hills outside of Perth. He enjoyed that romp immensely, as did all of us. While America II didn't quite meet our on-the-water racing expectations, along the road thereafter, our teammates have remained close friends. We have often gotten together for reunions, almost always supported (and graciously paid for) by Tuna. Just last year, we gathered at the Harbour Court in Newport where Tuna had a cocktail in tow, his smile aglow, and a room full of sailors and friends feeling very, very fortunate to have had known and befriended such a kind and giving man. We're grateful to have had that most recent opportunity (with a tip of the hat to Jake Farrell) to offer our thanks to Tuna. But it surely won't be our last ... chances are, we'll all find moments to reflect again on our happy times, and our fondness for the old man. He was, after all, our adopted Dad. EDITOR'S NOTE: All the published Tuna tributes are posted in the Forum where additional comments can be added: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14824 PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT The Scuttlebutt website provides a marketplace for private parties to buy and sell, or for businesses to post job openings. For free. As a bonus, each week the Scuttlebutt newsletter includes some of the recent ad postings. Have an ad? Post it in the Classified Ad section of the Forum. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy." - Norman Vincent Peale, minister and author SPONSORS THIS WEEK Ultimate Sailing - Summit Yachts - North U - North Sails Ribcraft - Doyle Sails - Atlantis WeatherGear - International Rolex Regatta Point Loma Outfitting - Ullman Sails - Dieball Sailing - The Pirates Lair Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
