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SCUTTLEBUTT 3401 - Tuesday, August 9, 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: North Sails, Vineyard Race, and LaserPerformance. SPECTACULAR CAPSIZE SPILLS EXTREME 40 CREW Cowes, GBR (August 8, 2011) - In the sixth race of today at the Extreme Sailing Series from Cowes Week, British team Aberdeen Asset Management cart-wheeled spectacularly in gusty 20-25 knot conditions that pushed the fleet to its limits. The British Extreme 40 team helmed by John Pink was charging downwind with reefed mainsail and gennaker, sandwiched between Italian team Niceforyou and Austria’s Red Bull Extreme Sailing. The bows dug in as a big gust hit all three boats, and with no room to manoeuvre, the boat cart-wheeled, flipped almost vertical, before capsizing. “We felt we were in control mainly and kept going a bit quicker today than we had on the other days,” said John Pink. “Coming down that run it just all got very close and the breeze kind of seemed to fill in behind so everyone bunched up a little bit and then we had nowhere to go!” The four crew (John Pink, Rick Peacock, Gregory Homann, John Gimson) hung on to the trampoline and all the crew were safe and unhurt. The experienced Olympic 49er sailors of Pink and Peacock have been putting in a great performance in the windy conditions over the last three days with two podium results today. “We were very happy, it was coming together and hopefully we can put the boat back together for tomorrow hopefully,” continued Pink. “We will work on it pretty hard tonight, sort everything out so it is back in shape and we’ll be back in the water tomorrow with a bit of luck.” After six races today Luna Rossa still tops the leaderboard. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/3wx9j2k * The crash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3iFh30QF48&feature=youtu.be Overall standings after 16 races 1. Luna Rossa (ITA) - 74 pts 2. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild (FRA) - 73.4 pts* 3. The Wave, Muscat (OMA) - 68 pts 4. Team GAC Pindar (GBR) - 57 pts 5. Red Bull Extreme Sailing (AUT) - 52 pts 6. Alinghi (SUI) - 51 pts 7. Oman Air (OMA) - 46 pts 8. Niceforyou (ITA) - 35 pts 9. Emirates Team NZ (NZL) - 35 pts 10. Aberdeen Asset Management (EUR) - 31 pts 11. Artemis Racing (SWE) - 21 pts 12. Team Extreme (EUR) - 16 pts * Redress given BACKGROUND: The Extreme Sailing Season is embarking on its fifth season, with Cowes as the fifth stop for the nine event tour that will travel through Asia, Europe, and North America this year. The platform used is the one design Extreme 40 catamaran, with each five day event combining ‘open-water’ racing with ‘stadium’ short-course racing in front of the public. The 2011 ESS has grown in part due to the multihull format planned for the 34th America’s Cup in 2013. -- http://www.extremesailingseries.com/ COWES AND CRASHES While the Extreme Racing series entertained the crowds at Cowes over the weekend, a supertanker in the vicinity hit a yacht which was then dismasted as its spinnaker sail was snagged by the ship's anchor: http://youtu.be/_tUoUxzt9sI LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TEST EVENT Weymouth/Portland, GBR (August 9, 2011) - It was another windy day in Weymouth on Day 8 of the Weymouth and Portland International Regatta, the Olympic test event, with the wind blowing 20 knots and gusts recorded at 25 knots. For the fourth consecutive race day in the Men's RS:X there was no separating Nick Dempsey (GBR) and Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED). The pair have dominated racing in Weymouth and shown consistency that will win gold medals. Both sailors have 11 points with two race days remaining. The overall lead in the 49er changed hands for the third time at the close of the day as Spain's Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez moved in front with a third in Race 7, a bullet in Race 8, and a second in Race 9. They lead on 24 points closely followed by Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) on 28 points. Ben Ainslie (GBR) maintained his lead in the Finn after winning Race 5 and taking a second bullet in Race 6 to lead on 12 points. Race 5 winner Jonathan Lobert (FRA) is second on 15 points and Pieter-Jan Postma (NED) is third with 16 points. World #1 Star duo Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada had, by their standards, a bad day at the office finishing second in Race 5 and ninth in Race 6. But with the discard coming into play they discard their ninth place and continue to lead on seven points. Tomorrow sees the Women's Match Racing Semi Finals as well as the Petit Final. The RS:X racing continues and the Laser, Laser Radial and Men's and Women's 470 sailors hit the water again for their seventh and eighth races. -- Event report: http://www.sailing.org/london2012/news/36452.php Canadian Sailing Team: http://tinyurl.com/CYA-080411 US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-073111 BACKGROUND: The 2011 Weymouth and Portland International Regatta is designed to test the Olympic sailing venue and its operations in advance of the 2012 Games. Racing for the ten Olympic sailing events is August 2-13, where 325 entries representing 135 countries will compete across five courses on Portland Harbor and Weymouth Bay. Consistent with the Olympic Games, each country is allowed just one representative in each event. J/111 ‘KASHMIR’ RULES THE MIDWEST With four victories under their belt during their first year in the J/111 class, team ‘Kashmir’ is dominating the Midwest racing scene. Owned by Mike Mayer, Karl Brummel and Steve Henderson, team ‘Kashmir’ won their division at Chicago-Mac (using a North Code Zero for much of the race), Chicago NOOD, Colors Regatta and the Ugotta Regatta 2011. “We have a very consistent crew and our philosophy is to remove any excuses,” explained Mike Mayer. “When we bought the boat, we believed North Sails would have the most R&D invested in the class to make the best sails available.” When performance counts the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com GOOD / BAD NEWS FROM WEYMOUTH By Eric Storck (campaigning the 49er with Trevor Moore) As many of you already know thanks to Facebook, I sustained an injury in the third and final race on Sunday here in Weymouth at the Olympic Test Event. We had a solid day, scoring a 5-9-13, which moved us up to ninth overall. The wind was very shifty and steadily blowing 18-25 knots for our entire session To make things even more exhausting, each of the three races were four laps and still just around the target time of 30 minutes. First the good news, we sailed well. In four lap races of 18-25 knots, skipper and crew must be on the same page at every high-pressure moment, of which there are numerous. The passing lanes in that type of racing exist primarily after mark roundings, and we did a good job of capitalizing on them more often than not. Finally, we stayed upright. Most boats capsized at least once during the day’s racing. We were able to avoid that fate until 100 meters to go in the final race. That is when the bad news begins. We had already taken in the spinnaker after being forced to overstand the finish line. As we jib-reached to the finish line, a boat in front of us capsized. In attempting to avoid said obstacle, we sailed slightly too high, and put the leeward wing in the water. Trevor was able to jump clear. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3pql6zz AMERICA'S CUP UMPIRE EXPLAINS Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) simply followed the rules when they continued racing after a crew member flew off the back off their AC45 during Day 1 of the America’s Cup World Series which kicked off last Saturday in Cascais, Portugal. And, they didn’t get disqualified. Why? Because the America’s Cup has its own rules, of course (available on the Cup website). Mike Martin, America’s Cup Race Management Director of Umpiring and Rules, explained, “We have our own rules that say, ‘A yacht shall not permit any person on board to intentionally leave unless ill or injured.’ It was pretty clear it wasn’t intentional so there was no penalty assessed. If in the event of a capsize it says, ‘A person leaving shall not be accepted on board nor replaced during a race.’ Team NZ did exactly what they were supposed to do according to the rules which is you leave the person in the water for the team rib to come pick them up.” Martin also set the record straight on the DQ hit that Oracle Racing’s Spithill took over the weekend. Spithill was originally penalized for sailing outside the course limits - their purpose being is that in the past AC boats would sail on the same tack for 15 minutes during which time everyone would leave or change the TV channel. “We want them tacking and interfacing each other across the tack so we have relatively narrow course limits,” Martin said. “We also have course limits around the starting area so people don’t go sailing off in or near the spectator fleet then come back in.” According to Martin, Jimmy sailed outside of the course limits prior between the prep signal which is at two minutes and the start and he was assessed a penalty at that time. You can’t take your penalty until after starting. Jimmy started and didn’t take his penalty at which time he was assessed a second penalty - an umpire can do that for breaking the rule of failure to take a penalty. “The equipment was working (contrary to what has been said), and all video shows the indicator light on - you’ll have to ask him what went on.” Martin said. -- Read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/08/americas-cup-umpire-explains-all.html *World Series racing resumes on Wednesday, August 10, following two lay days. Check out the Day 2 recap: http://youtu.be/1XuxawYAHgI Cascais race program: http://tinyurl.com/2011-ACWS-Cascais Fan features: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-fan-features CALENDAR: Following the inaugural America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, the second stop on the circuit will be Plymouth, England on September 10-18, followed by the final 2011 stop in San Diego, USA on November 12-20. HOW TO GET MORE PEOPLE SAILING By Bill Sandberg, WindCheck Over the last couple of years, articles, blogs and even books have been written on how to grow our sport. The writer usually recommends getting kids into sailing and keeping them or talks about the whole family sailing together. There’s a bigger demographic group that few have touched on. Women. Real adult women. Women have been shunned from sailing for years because so little is created for them. After all, how many women want to go race with a bunch of sweaty guys who have mouths that would put a Marine drill sergeant to shame? Over the years, attempts have been made that have shown progress. In 1985, US SAILING created the International Women’s Keelboat Championship. At the same time, Rolex came along and became the title sponsor. Since then, sailors of all ages from five continents have competed. An interesting point is the way the teams look at the event. Some go to win, some are happy with the top 10 and there are some that are thrilled to make top 40. Think men could handle that? Closer to home is the Queen’s Cup. Formerly the Syce Cup, this event has been emblematic of the Long Island Sound Women’s Sailing Championship since 1937. Such great women sailors as Allegra Knapp Mertz, Lorna Whittlesy Hibbard, Timmy Schneider Larr, Sue Sinclair, Betty Weed Foulk and Mimi Neff have won it and many went on to win the Adams, the US Women’s Sailing Championship. But women’s sailing seemed to go dormant in the 1990s. In fact, there was no racing for the Queen’s Cup in 1992 and 1995. A spirited group of young women got together and put new life into the event. This year’s event, sailed July 10 out of American Yacht Club in Rye, NY, fielded 11 teams and six or seven were turned away at the last minute. I served as PRO and the racing was terrific. I really prefer running races for women. They compete just as hard as men on the course, they do their circles when fouling and leave any arguments on the water. Men yell and scream, file protests, call each other names and even have an occasional fistfight in the club parking lot. Plus, women smell a lot better. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/3ofcxbk IN LOVE WITH THE 29ERXX This summer Oregon’s Columbia Gorge has played host to high profile sailing events (ICSA Collegiate Nationals, 2011 US Sailing Singlehanded Championship to name a few), this past weekend hosting the Zhik Skiff Regatta - the 49er and 29erXX US National Championships. It’s fast becoming reputed as the best place to sail a skiff in the US, says 29erXX class president, Kristen Lane. Especially if you like big wind just as Lane does. She and tactician Charlie McKee easily prevailed in this past weekend’s 29erXX Nationals, taking nine of eleven races. According to Lane, here’s how they did it: --------------------------------------------------------------------- The bottom line is that it was a very windy event and we spent a lot of time practicing our boat handling in the big air - staying in the wind was a big reason we were able to get ahead and stay ahead. The Gorge is unrelenting in that little mistakes cost you big. It was surprisingly shift and Charlie did an amazing job of keeping us going in the right lane all the time. He had the confidence to sail where it was the windiest and we knew we had solid boat handling - we knew we could tack and gybe anywhere we wanted to. Racing the XX is totally different to the standard rig 29er. This was the first US National Championship and it was the class’s opportunity to prove that the boat is able to handle really big winds and a variety of crew weight. For example, the team that finished second place was a kiwi team - Alex and Molly - they only weighed about 260 pounds total. That’s the remarkable difference of weight range between them and us (we were in just over 310 pounds) and still be competitive in really windy conditions. -- Read on: http://sailblast.blogspot.com/2011/08/in-love-with-29erxx.html DON’T MISS OUT ON THIS YEAR’S VINEYARD RACE WEEKEND Take part in the East Coast classic, presented by Thomson Reuters and hosted by Stamford Yacht Club. Three courses to choose from: cruising division; multihull division; race tracking and post-race trophy party. Join Tom Whidden at our skippers’ meeting. Start date: Sept. 2. Register today: http://www.stamfordyc.com/intraclub/query/catquery.html?doc_number=676 SAILING SHORTS * The US SAILING National Championships season continues this week in Toms River, N.J. at the 2011 Chubb US Junior Championship, hosted by the Toms River Yacht Club. These Championships are US SAILING’s oldest and this will be the 90th year of racing for the triplehanded division’s Sears Cup. Racing is comprised of three disciplines - singlehanded (Lasers), doublehanded (Club 420s with spinnaker and trapeze) and triplehanded (Flying Scots), and the Championship is held between sailing organizations. Racing begins Tuesday, August 9 and ends on Friday, August 12. -- Read on: http://media.ussailing.org/Latest_News/2011/Chubb_USJC_2011_Preview.htm * The America's Cup could generate £10m for Plymouth when it comes to the city, the Plymouth City Council has said. The city will host the second round of the World Series between 10 to 18 September. The authority said: "The teams alone will require about 700 beds for 20 days which is an estimated £1.2m for the local economy." Plymouth City Council said it could not disclose the amount the event was costing it. It said "significant private sector contributions had been made" towards the event, which will be held in Plymouth for the first time. -- Full story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-14442142 * At the Etchells Atlantic Coast Championships sailed at the Buzzards Bay Regatta this past weekend and hosted by the New Bedford Yacht Club (Padanaram, MA), Hank “the Laminator” Lammens notched five bullets, including four in a row on Saturday, in nine total races, to secure the victory. Wade Edwards’ (Concord, MA) Team Riva, sailing on US 1221, took the silver, outpacing bronze-winner Peter Sulick (Annapolis, MD) and 4th-place Jeff Nehms (Miami, FL).-- Full results: http://tinyurl.com/3rk2w5s. DON’T MISS OUT ON THE LASERPERFORMANCE EVENT BOATS! This year LaserPerformance will be supplying over 400 sailboats at select regattas across North America and the Caribbean. These Event Boats are lightly used at a significantly discounted price. If you are in the market for a Laser, Sunfish, Club 420, Optimist or Vanguard 15 please contact your local dealer (http://na.laserperformance.com/dealer-locator) or LaserPerformance (http://www.laserperformance.com) for details. 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 George Morris: Following the link provided in Scuttlebutt I found the America's Cup website and spent a fascinating rainy afternoon watching the previous day's action on the recording provided. When the live broadcast came on the streaming was slow and intermittent and it kept going into some sort of replay loop but I consoled myself with the thought that I could watch a recording next morning when broadband speeds in my area are usually better. But there is no recording - only very short highlights. Now I will never know how Russell got past Deano. Another point - when we have a speed trial we have to be given the time of the run otherwise we don't know who is leading (compare Formula 1). Yesterday we (sometimes) had a stopwatch running but nobody shouted 'Now!' as the boat crossed the finishing line so we had no idea what the time achieved was. * From Bob Hofmann (re, Scuttlebutt 3400): I concur entirely with Gunther E. Hering's idea that sailing is a participant sport not a spectator sport, with the current emphasis on stadium sailing being to the detriment to the sport (except for the commercial enterprises of course). Regarding the man overboard on Emirates Team NZ: whatever happened with having to finish with the same people you started with? * From Bob Dailey: Congratulations on Number 3400! Here's to the next 3400. Keep 'em coming. * From Ted Jones (re, Scuttlebutt 3400): I like John Glynn's totally self-serving - but absolutely true - comments promoting The Bitter End Yacht Club as the perfect spectator spot for watching sailboat racing. John tells it as it is! CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Vineyard Race - Point Loma Outfitting - North Sails - APS LaserPerformance - Ullman Sails - Gowrie Group - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
