|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3345 - Thursday, May 19, 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: Atlantis WeatherGear, Ullman Sails, and US SAILING. SAFE SAILING SAVES LIVES By Joe Hummel I thought folks might find this interesting given the lessons learned and reaffirmed... Last Wednesday, May 11th, we took my C&C 110 'Archimedes II' out sailing on Lake Michigan. It was early evening, typical May (i.e. windy and cold), the water temp in the low 40's, and thunderstorms had just rolled through but the weather now looked clear. As we closed in on 8pm, the sun was starting to set, and we saw a roll cloud approaching --- with dark, dark storm clouds behind. We decided to drop sails, put the boat in order, and head back to the harbor. As skipper, I was very focused on getting the boat in order, and after a quick survey of the horizon in front of me, saw only one other boat very close to the harbor entrance. The first cell hit, not a big one, 25+kts, and lasted a minute or two. But another was coming, and you could see it on the water, and in the sky. The second cell hit with rain, hail, and 40+kt winds. I was close to the harbor entrance but it was too risky to enter, so we did circles until it passed. It lasted 5+ minutes, and then started to abate. As soon as it was safe, we rigged fenders and dock lines, and headed in to dock. I counted my blessings, and felt we handled it well. The boat we had seen earlier was likewise in and safely at dock. Turns out all was not well out on the lake. Before the cells had hit, and afterwards as we prepared to head in, we had failed to see a Rhodes 19 that was also out sailing, seen the storm approaching, and likewise heading back to the same harbor. They ended up capsized, unable to right the boat, and floating in the water (wearing lifejackets) for almost 45 minutes. Luckily, the skipper's wife was at the yacht club, was expecting her husband at 8pm, and when he failed to show (and seeing the storm come through), commandeered the YC's whaler, some volunteers, and went out onto the lake to rescue her husband. Her efforts (and those of many others) saved the life of her husband and the others in the water. All involved are fully recovered and doing well. The lessons are many, but paramount in my mind are the following: - Make sure someone knows your schedule, and what to do if you are late - Before/ after a storm passes through, look around for those less fortunate than yourself - Lifejackets, lifejackets, lifejackets. Safe sailing everyone. Here are some local news stories of the incident: * http://tinyurl.com/ABC-News-051811 * http://tinyurl.com/Chi-Trib-051811 TAKING ON THE MINI TRANSAT By Tim Zimmermann, Sailing World The Mini Transat is hands-down one of the most testing, exhilarating, intense sailboat races any sailor can choose from the long list of epic sailing challenges. Solo, 4,200 miles across the Atlantic from France to Brazil, in a Spartan, designed-to-the-edge-of-safety, 21-foot boat that's a brutal bitch to drive to weather but an absolute rocket off the wind. Being solo and masochistic, the race is of course dominated by the French. But it's always refreshing to see Americans take a crack at the Mini Transat, and in 2003 Jonathan McKee almost upset the established order of the universe by threatening to win - before the sailing gods woke up and flicked his mast over the side as he zeroed in on the finish. What's even more unusual is when an American woman sails up to the start line, and this year's distaff daredevil is one Emma Creighton, from San Francisco. If Creighton makes it to the start, and then - just as importantly - makes it to the finish, she'd be the second American woman ever to complete the Mini Transat. The first was Annapolis' own Gale Browning, who finished the race in 2001. Plenty of Annapolis sailors remember the sight of Gale sailing her tiny boat on the Chesapeake every chance she got, as she prepared for her Atlantic crossing. Despite the fact that the usual 4 knots of Chesapeake "breeze" was not ideal preparation for slamming to weather across the Bay of Biscay or surfing through the trade winds at double-digit speeds, Gale managed the not insignificant feat of finishing, and even managed to beat another boat across the line - whereupon she promptly put her boat up for sale. "It was the toughest challenge I ever took on," she says. "And it's really hard whether you're a man or a woman." Creighton still needs to complete her 1,000-mile qualifier, in Pocket Rocket, her 2006 Prototype Mini, and says she plans to set off this week. After sailing the double-handed division of the Pac Cup last summer, and a bunch of short-handed San Francisco Bay races, she shipped the boat to France and has lined up a series of Mini races to sharpen her skills and familiarity with the boat. She completed her first real solo race earlier this month, the 300-mile Pornichet Select, and discovered something pretty important. "I hadn't realized just how much I would enjoy racing alone," she says. Read on for full story, photos, and video: http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs/racing/taking-on-the-mini-transat DISCOVER: A NEWFOUND LOVE FOR EXTREME CONDITIONS Blowing dogs off chains. Oysters off the rocks. Tinkers off their wives. Whatever you call it, extreme conditions call for the best gear, and the new Aegis Ocean Smock is designed to deliver when it's all on. This new addition to the Aegis line is the piece of gear you need when water's coming at you from every direction and you need to be on your game - the gear you need to stay dry, warm and focused on sailing. Check out the gear and the new Ocean Smock video at http://www.atlantisweathergear.com/products/Aegis-Ocean-Smock.html Discover Your Atlantis TWO DAYS OF WORK FOR ONE DAY OF SAILING The following is the May APS Chesapeake Racer Profile, a monthly highlight in Spinsheet Magazine (written by Molly Winans): ---------------------------------------------------------------------- When your grandfather wins the Newport to Bermuda Race in 1924 and your uncle skippers an America's Cup boat in 1964, it's pretty safe to say, as Keith Donald does, that he was plucked into a sailing family. As a kid, sailing Round Bay and out of Severn SA (SSA), as a student and instructor. "My sailing is pretty informal," says Donald. "For me, the top half of the fleet is winning. It's for fun." Although he has competed in major big boat regattas, such as a few Annapolis to Newport and Fastnet Races in the 1960s and 1970s, he says, "I turned into a small boat sailor." After many years as a Snipe sailor, about five years ago, he traveled to Springfield, IL, on a whim and bought a Star. "I was tired of capsizing in my Snipe. I thought, 'give me a keel.' I figured if I bought it, I'd be forced to like it." Today, in his workroom near Philadelphia, PA, he has two Snipes and two Stars, one wooden and one fiberglass version of each, and has restored the wooden boats himself. He discovered his latest project, the Star Hope, after learning about her existence at the Star Class North Americans in Vancouver, Canada. The boat was not for sale, but the owner was open to the right caregiver coming along. Other than Skip and Mary Etchells owning her in the early 1960s, Hope's history is unclear. Donald believes she may have spent 30 years under a porch in New Hampshire. Although she was under a tarp in snow when he first saw her, "structurally, she was sound," he says. With the Star Class 100th Anniversary Regatta in Larchmont, NY, in September in mind as a target date, three and a half years and about 400 hours later, he had completed stripping the varnish of Hope, replacing all hardware, and varnishing her. "After I launched, I stopped counting the days and money," he says with a smile. "It's probably two days of work for one day sailed, but that's getting better. I'm almost at the point where I am sailing more." -- Read on: http://blog.apsltd.com/2011/05/aps-spinsheet-chesapeake-racer-profile.html 'RUFO' THE RACE HORSE DOMINATES MELGES 24 DERBY Corpus Christi, TX (May 18, 2011) - The 2011 Melges 24 World Championship in Corpus Christi, Texas reached its midpoint today, with races five and six being completed in overcast but breezy conditions. Overnight leader Lorenzo Bressani at the helm of ITA 817 Uka Uka Racing, won both of today's races to establish a 15 point lead and an effective stranglehold on the championship. Winds remained in the mid teens for both races, which have proven to be an advantage to the Italian team. "Rufo (Lorenzo Bressani) likes the breezy conditions," explained Uka Uka trimmer Federico Michetti, "so this makes it very easy for the rest of us. He is like a racehorse, we just take the blinkers off his eyes at the start, and off he goes!" The team is taking advantage of their solid starts, better than even upwind speed, and dominant offwind pace. In the amateur only Corinthian Division, Eiichiro Hamazaki on JPN 783 Esprit continues to dominate with two more wins today to maintain his perfect score so far. By way of two third places today, Christof Wieland on GER 635 Unsponsored moves up to second overall ahead of Scot Holmgren on USA 674 Rosebud, whose pair of second places today sees him ease into the Corinthian top three. Racing continues through until Saturday May 21, with two races per day scheduled. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/M24-Worlds-051811 Day 3 Standings - Top ten of 32 1. Lorenzo Bressani (ITA), UkaUka Racing, (6)-2-1-2-1-1, 7 2. Kristen Lane (USA), Brickhouse 812, 8-1-(10)-3-3-7, 22 3. Flavio Favini (SUI), Blu Moon, 3-6-(8)-5-5-3, 22 4. Brian Porter (USA), Full Throttle, (16)-9-2-1-7-4, 23 5. Conor Clarke (IRL), Embarr, 2-5-5-(11)-9-2, 23 6. Alec Cutler (BER), hedgehog, (9)-8-3-7-4-5, 27 7. Alan Field (USA), WTF, 1-(11)-11-8-2-9, 31 8. Andrea Racchelli (ITA), ALTEA, 4-7-7-4-10-(13), 32 9. Riccardo Simoneschi (ITA), AUDI, 7-(12)-4-9-12-10, 42 10. Eiichiro Hamazaki (JPN), Esprit, 11-4-9-(15)-11-11, 46 Full results: http://tinyurl.com/M24-Worlds-2011-Results LIVE UPDATES: Here are two sources that will keep you close to the action... http://www.melgesworlds.com/index.php/the-event/event-news/ http://www.sailingupdates.com/view/42/ WILL THE USVI RUN THE TABLE? With finals looming, the high school sailing season in the U.S. will close out this weekend at the Baker Championship for the Interscholastic Team Race Championship. This is the third and final championship for the 2010-11 school season that has been dominated by the Antilles School in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Here are the winners thus far... Single Handed Championship - Cressy Trophy (October 30-31, 2010) Antilles School (St Thomas, USVI) - Ian Barrows, Laser radial rig Cathedral Catholic HS (San Diego, CA) - Nevin Snow, Laser full rig Doublehanded Championship - Mallory Trophy (May 6-8, 2011) Antilles School (St Thomas, USVI) - William Bailey, Ian Barrows, Nikki Barnes, and Alec Tayler The Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA) is organized into 7 Districts, with over 430 schools competing annually in events across the country. The Baker Trophy will be hosted by Norfolk Yacht and Country Club in Norfolk, VA on May 20-22. The following 12 schools have won their District qualifiers to represent their respective Districts at the team racing championship: Northwest (1) - Orcas High School (Eastsound, WA) Pacific Coast (3) - Point Loma HS (San Diego, CA); Newport Harbor HS (Newport Beach, CA); Corona del Mar HS (Newport Beach, CA) New England (2) -The Hotchkiss School (Lakeville, CT); Tabor Academy (Marion, MA) Mid Atlantic (2) -Norfolk Collegiate HS (Norfolk, VA); Annapolis HS (Annapolis, MD) South Atlantic (2) -Antilles HS (St. Thomas, VI); St. Thomas Aquinas HS (Fort Lauderdale, FL) Midwest (1) - Lake Forest HS (Lake Forest, IL) Southeast (1) - St. Stanislaus HS (Bay St. Louis, MS) Event details: http://www.sailvisa.com ISSA Facebook page: http://tinyurl.com/ISSA-Facebook ISSA website: http://www.highschoolsailingusa.org CLASS HONORS FOR ULLMAN CUSTOMERS IN VASHON ISLAND RACE Seattle Yacht Club held its Vashon Island/Pt. Robinson Race last weekend where Ullman Sails customers claimed first in class on both courses! Congratulations to Charles Hill and his team on Wauquiez Centurion 40 "Different Drummer" for winning first in class and first overall in the Pt. Robinson short course fleet. And Iain Christenson and his team finished with top honors on the Dash 34 "Izakaya," placing first in class and second overall in the around-Vashon fleet. Both boats competed with 100% Ullman Sails inventories. The race is the second in SYC's Tri-Island/Tri-Point Series. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com FIXING THE FLAWS The latest release of the ISAF Match Race rankings (May 18, 2011) show there is no change at the top of the Open Rankings with Ben Ainslie (GBR) staying at #1 ahead of Adam Minoprio (NZL) at #2. Lucy MacGregor (GBR) returns to the #1 position of the Women's rankings, with a big gain by Sally Barkow (USA) to move up five places to match her lifetime best of #3. The European match racing season is in full swing with the 2011 World Match Racing Tour kicking off in France and two ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas adding points to the women's Rankings. One of the long held flaws with the ranking system is that it is based on a formula which adds together a skipper's best scores over two years. The formula is wise to grade the difficulty of each event and provide bonus points for the bigger wins, but the two year period allows for people to maintain a high ranking long after they have earned it. This is the example for Ainslie and Minoprio, who left the match race circuit last December and are now focused on the Olympics and Volvo Ocean Race, respectively. This situation also occurs after each Olympic Games, where the top athletes can maintain their high ranking in their event despite not sailing for a year (or moving on to another event). Fortunately, ISAF addressed this flaw for the Olympic events at their Mid-Year meeting this month. A new ranking system will be operational from 2013 onwards, merging with the Sailing World Cup rankings, and will provide a yearly assessment of the top athletes based on their performance in World Cup events and top class championships. The next release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings will be 6 July 2011. Latest ranking information: http://www.sailing.org/35935.php CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: May 20-22 - Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regatta - Seattle, WA, USA May 21 - Charleston Bermuda Race - Charleston, SC, USA May 21-22 - Live On The Edge - Eugene, OR, USA May 21-22 - Sailing Supply Etchells Orca Bowl - San Diego, CA, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Sailing Trophies by Noble Awards * Yacht Broker Paul Buttrose Joins Sparkman & Stephens * New Offshore Sailors Night Vision Nylon Cap View and/or post Industry News updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news SAILING SHORTS * Bristol Marine Holdings LLC recently purchased the 45,600-square-foot building that Goetz Custom Boats formerly occupied in Bristol, R.I. The facility will accommodate new and growing businesses in the marine trades industries, with a composite engineering and manufacturing company to be the initial anchor tenant. Established in 1998, Bristol Marine Holdings owns and operates, through its subsidiaries, more than 30 acres of commercial real estate in Bristol. -- Soundings, full story: http://tinyurl.com/TOT-051811 * (May 18, 2011; Day 5) - After recording some of the fastest 24 hour runs of the race on leaving Charleston SC (USA) for the start of ocean sprint five last Saturday, the fleet of four Eco 60s in the VELUX 5 OCEANS have reached the end of the high speed gulf stream highway, and are now engulfed in a high pressure system sitting off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. Overall leader Brad Van Liew (USA) holds a 25 nm lead on Chris Stanmore-Major (GBR) with 2502 nm to the finish in La Rochelle, France. -- Full story: http://www.velux5oceans.com/ocean-sprint-5-news/high-pressure-hell/ * Cascais , Portugal (May 18, 2011) - With six new builds prepared for the five event 2011 TP52 Audi MedCup Circuit, it was one of the debutants, Udo Schutz's famous Container team from Germany, which proved the most consistent performer with a 2-2 to lead the seven boat fleet in the season opener at the Cascais Trophy. Racing in 13-18kts, new boats for Audi Azzurra Sailing Team and Quantum Racing were also tested, and hold second and third respectively. Full report: http://tinyurl.com/MedCup-051811 * Teams from Canada, the British Virgin Islands and El Salvador have gathered in Fort Worth, Texas, USA for the ISAF Nations Cup Regional Final for North America and the Caribbean. Racing begins on Thursday 19 May for this Grade 2 event, which will take place in the Fort Worth Boat Club's fleet of J/22s. The ISAF Nations Cup is a global competition to find the world's top match racing nations in both open and women's events. The ISAF Nations Cup Grand Final will take place in Sheboygan, USA from 13-18 September 2011. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/35937.php * Santa Barbara (May 15, 2011) - Fifteen boats were on the starting line at the third regatta of the 2011 29er Pacific Coast Championship Series. Teams from Seattle, San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, Long Beach, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Diego and Coronado sailed in 6-8 knots and big swells on Saturday while Sunday saw a strong, cold northwesterly. Taking top honors was Tyler Macdonald and Willie McBride. Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11870 MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES US SAILING provides resources and benefits that impact all aspects of the sport. We look out for your sailing interests and support yacht clubs, sailing centers and classes to reinforce their purpose. US SAILING members make this all possible. Help us enrich your sailing experience. Join or renew today! http://membership.ussailing.org/ 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 Ian Brown: In my view the ISAF classification system misses a fundamental point; it fails to distinguish between paid professional sailors, i.e. those that earn their money racing boats, and those of us that merely choose to earn a living in the marine industry. There is no distinction between the likes of me, a humble sailmaker and the likes of Russell Coutts or Terry Hutchinson. I am not sure what it is that ISAF are looking to achieve; all I know is that there is an ever increasing number of events that I find myself excluded from - not because of my ability (or lack of) but because I am labeled as Group 3. Surely that is wrong? The net result is that I find myself increasingly disillusioned with a sport which has been a major part of my life for the last 35 years. * From Peter Commette: I loved Max Bulger's comment in Butt 3344 about Tufts' preparation in 50 degree drizzle at Cottage Park Yacht Club for the ICSA's Nationals at the Gorge: "Only college sailing could enable you to sail from Brookline to Winthrop in a BU FJ. Getting out in the salt water, getting soaked by rain and waves, and hiking for a couple hours straight may not sound like fun - but if you sailed in school, you already know this was one of the best days of sailing I've had all spring. Everyone is still smiling." That's a great day of team building, skill building, and fun. Note that they also witnessed the character building lesson from BU's coach, Brad Churchill, of assisting a rival. All that in one rainy, cold, blustery day. This is what we hope for when we send our kids to college, especially those of us, like Max said, "who were fortunate enough to sail in school." Go Jumbos! * From Tim Dick: (re, Kiss of Death in Scuttlebutt 3344) Me thinks Mr. Cayard, as head of Artemis Racing, will laugh in the face of such a kiss, a la Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean style. Being an SF Bay Area native with plenty of local knowledge won't hurt him either. * From Robert Warner: Congratulations to Vincenzo, Russell and Larry. Their AC34 bluff carries on. After signing a protocol dressed with the Defender's uniform, allowing Oracle a three-year technical lead with the multihull and the wing, the famous Challenger of Record pulls out. What a gang! Now comes the turn of Russell's best mate Paul, and they will manage to put their dream together: while the number of unemployed sailors, riggers and designers increases, they will fill their pockets. Well done. COMMENT: As they say, "He who has the gold, makes the rules." But on the topic of how things appear, there has been an odd delay on what teams are still entered. Each team was to post a $200,000 performance bond on April 30th, but there is complete silence on which teams were able to submit the fee. It should come as a shock to no one that not all 15 teams that entered by the March 31st deadline had sufficient funding. Perhaps the Bank of Oracle is reviewing loan applications. -- Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "When I turned two I was really anxious, because I'd doubled my age in a year. I thought, if this keeps up, by the time I'm six I'll be ninety." - Stephen Wright, novelist SPONSORS THIS WEEK Quantum Sails - Kaenon Polarized - West Marine - Atlantis WeatherGear Interlux - North Sails - APS - LaserPerformance - Ullman Sails US SAILING - JK3 Nautical Enterprises - Gowrie Group Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
