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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 881 - August 17, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
ROLEX FASTNET RACE With only three yachts left to round, the RORC team who have been based at the Fastnet Rock since Sunday, will hand over to the race committee vessel this afternoon. The team will remain on station until the last boats have safely passed. - www.rorc.org
AMERICA'S CUP A boat-building manager will be appointed to supervise the budget and ordering process for the construction and to oversee the build process on behalf of the Challenge. He will also be charged with recording the build process, to build a database of information for future British America's Cup Challenges. Linton and Akers will work with a construction team of about 20 people, many of who will be local residents from the Cowes and Southampton areas. This team will work closely with the design and technology team to construct the yacht within the tight time schedule. Once construction is underway, the team will work around 10 to 12 hours per day, to ensure the yacht is ready for action when the sailing team return from New Zealand in April. Preparations for the yacht's construction have been going on for some time, with Akers and Linton working as part of a six-man team making up the test tank models and setting up the facility. This includes building a 100-foot oven, large enough to 'cook' a modern ACC boat in, as well as preparing vacuum tables and tooling for component work. Akers and Linton set up their own company in Australian in 1998, Composite Creations International, which continues to thrive. Originally from Sydney, the pair are now living in Cowes and are looking forward to working closely with all the teams involved with GBR Challenge to achieve the best result." - Mark Bullingham
FALL BOAT SHOWS ARE COMING SOON
MATCH RACING Among the notches in Holmberg's belt on Day One were representatives from the OneWorld, Le Defi and GBR America's Cup challenges as well as Henrick Jensen of Denmark, the 23rd ranked match racer in the world according to ISAF. Local favorite Jesper Bank, Holmberg's Victory Challenge teammate who is skippering his own crew at the regatta, registered three wins on the day to sit right behind Holmberg in the Group A standings. In Group B action Gavin Brady of the Prada Challenge and Morten Henriksen of the illbruck Challenge set the pace with four wins and one loss apiece. Local skipper Jes Gram-Hansen is one win back. Brady and Henriksen face each other in Friday's action. The day's pleasant weather drew strong crowds who descended on the Match Race Center grounds just north of Copenhagen to watch skippers representing seven America's Cup syndicates battle it out on Skovshoved Harbor. - Shawn McBride, www.swedishmatchgp.com. GROUP A STANDINGS: Magnus Holmberg (SWE/Team Stora Enso) 4 0; Jesper Bank (Victory Challenge) 3 1; Lars Nordbjerg (DEN) 3 1; Peter Holmberg (Oracle Racing) 2 2; Ben Ainslie (USA/Team Pizza La) 1 3; Andy Beadsworth (GBR Challenge) 1 3; Sebastien Destramau (Le Defi Challenge) 1 3; Henrik Jensen (DEN) 1 3. GROUP B STANDINGS: Morten Henriksen (illbruck Challenge) 4 1; Gavin Brady (Prada Challenge) 4 1; Jesper Radich (DEN/Team Steff Houlberg) 4 1; Jes Gram-Hansen (DEN/Team Hotel Marienlyst) 3 2; Chris Law (Great Britain) 2 3; Murray Jones (Alinghi Challenge) 1 4; Johnie Berntsson (SWE) 1 4; Jesper Feldt (DEN) 1 4.
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON * From Andrew Hurst: I see there is just the beginning of what could be a far reaching thread - crew weighing. As usual with sailing, we are once again locked into a historic and wrong way of doing something that is central to our sport. After all how long did we have to wait before someone realised that, instead of taking vast numbers of possibly erroneous and always expensive hull measurements, the weight of a boat could actually be ascertained by hanging it on a scale (ORC please note)! Incroyable!! Crews should be subject to weight checks throughout a regatta with DSQ the only sanction. Is that simple or what? Weighing prior to an event as the ONLY requirement is absurd and is bound to encourage physical abuse. We are the only sport I can find that still operates such a ludicrous system. Incidentally, the Star Class went its own way some time ago and operates mid-week spot checks - which ensure sailors start AND continue their regatta in a healthy and fit condition. And yes I do have experience of both systems, and admit to having operated below par in the early stages of many major offshore events due to partial incapacity caused by prior weight dips. If ever there was an instance for ISAF to impress us all with some fast unilateral action - across the board - this is it. Come on Paul, how about it? * From Peter Johnstone: Read Charles Chiodi's editorial in MULTIHULLS Magazine this month for some perspective on the NYYC's PR about the 2002 Transatlantic Challenge. 'Breakneck speeds' (9 knot average) to break the trans-Atlantic record of 12+days? Chiodi goes on to point out that the actual record is at 6+ days and is a decade old. A sailboat is a sailboat, is a sailboat. * From Mark Yeager: Mark Gaudio is right about the problem with Americap. There are very few PHRF racers around who are willing to spend the $800-plus that it takes to get a certificate. What everyone should keep in mind in reading all the glowing reports of how wonderful this system is in Sailing World Magazine is that Sailing World is financially tied to US Sailing. Whether they like it or not, there are certain things they are required to promote. This is one of them. * From Joe Grieser: In regards to Mark Gaudio statement about the $800.00 dollars for the average PHRF'R getting an Americap certificate, as the skipper of a Santa Cruz 52 our certificate was only $169.00. So if your average PHRF boat is 266 feet long, we will need a really long start line this year at Big Boat. * From J A Booker: I'm not sure where the $800 figure comes from. I just paid about $100 for a certificate for my Evelyn 32. I also paid over $200 for a new jib halyard. I figure both are worth it. * From Steve Taft, Commodore St. Francis Yacht Club (Response to Mark Gaudio's comments about Big Boat Series): The Big Boat series has evolved into a one design regatta as much as a handicap event, mirroring the trend across the country. We have large classes of Farr 40's, Express 37's and J 105's. The move to Americap was in response to complaints about PHRF. With IOR dead and IMS in a coma the only venue available was PHRF which was being asked to do something it was never intended to do and that is handicap Grand Prix boats. With Americap there is some hope of getting away from the vagaries of PHRF and getting back to some science in handicapping the fleet. There will always be complaints about any handicapping system. St Francis Yacht Club has elected to embrace this new system in an effort improve the event and respond to competitors concerns. We still expect around 100 boats. * From Talbot Wilson: In response to Roy Heiner's Fastnet comment, "Is it ever sunny here?" Racers looking for a better climate should try the next Newport Bermuda Race starting June 14, 2002. It's a real Atlantic Ocean challenge, 635 miles across the gulf stream, that gets warmer with every mile and finishes in SUNNY Bermuda. The Onion Patch Series, for the IMS NA Championship, offers the two races of the NYYC Annual Regatta (June 8-9), The Newport Bermuda Race, and the two races of the RBYC Anniversary Regatta (June 21). www.bermudarace.com CURMUDGEON'S COMMENT: I know I shouldn't let Wilson get by with such shameless promotion, but I have soft spot for committed volunteers.
UNDERSTANDING WIND SHEAR The pronounced wind shear we observed in Block Island was in response to cold surface water and an overlying warm humid air mass. What happens is that the warm, humid air travels basically in accordance with the ambient air mass, while the cold air in the boundary layer immediately over the water is heavier, and thus more resistant to flow. This resistance is what causes the difference in direction and often velocity of the wind. It's not by mistake that the bigger boats at Block Island Race Week generally dominated their classes in the event; their taller sail plans were able to better utilize the stronger breeze higher off the water. Besides tacticians and helmsmen, sail trimmers must also be very attentive to wind shear as it often means having to set up the sails with different profiles on one tack versus the other. In the example cited on board Blue Yankee, we found that we usually had to sail on starboard tack with both the mainsail and the headsail very twisted (meaning that we eased the fairleads aft for the genoa and generally eased both the genoa and mainsail sheets to open up the upper portion of the sails' leeches). On port tack, we found it was faster to take out that twist by moving the lead forward on the genoa and sheeting the mainsheet more tightly. Only in this way would the wind be at the proper angle of attack throughout the vertical profile of the sail plan, as evidenced by the telltale flow on the luff of the genoa and off the leech of the mainsail. Is the effect of wind shear persistent? The answer is generally no, since as the air warms up at the water's surface throughout the day, it will rise and mix with the overlying air mass and the two will combine into one. Knowing this can actually be a powerful tactical tool, since it predicts that the shift at the surface will become whatever the direction is aloft. - Dobbs Davis, SailNet website. Full story: www.sailnet.com
EDS ATLANTIC CHALLENGE Kingfisher's skipper, Nick Moloney reported a short while ago on the frustrations of the day's sailing. "..we received our first indication that Sill and Fila had found the new gradient wind. They were moving along at speeds around 12-15kts, The wind continued to increase always firstly in the south," Moloney said. "By 15:00z this afternoon we began to see top wind speeds of up to 26kts. The sea had built and Kingfisher was 'stoking'. We were experiencing periods of sustained Boat Speed of up to 24kts. I mean pinned on 22's 23's for minutes at a time. The situation was promising enough for us to request more frequent poling via sat c as we were over 24 hour record pace and set up for an attempt." However, the conditions slacked shortly thereafter, Moloney said, leaving him to worry about ECOVER, FILA and Sill. "With such lulls in the wind strength we continue to eagerly await the position of the rest of the fleet. With Fila, Sill and Ecover all within 15 miles, we simply cannot afford slow patches in order to maintain our lead." At last check Kingfisher was sailing at an average of 18 knots compared to second place FILA's 19.6 knots the fastest in the fleet. - Stephen Pizzo, www.edsatlanticchallenge.com/en/
PROVEN SUCCESS
QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Admiral Chester Nimitz
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