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SCUTTLEBUTT 3052 - Friday, March 19, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors: Quantum Sails and North U. ALWAYS HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY Andrew Campbell and Brad Nichol are on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, training to represent the U.S. in the Star event at the 2012 Olympics. Here Brad shares some of their wisdom on weather mark roundings. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This winter one important area of improvement has been how we exit the weather mark. The major mistake most teams make it they are far too focused on the boats around them and getting the kite set, and not aware of where they are going down the next leg. The problematic strategy of get the boat set up, then figuring out where we are going can handcuff you for the whole run if you are not careful. Like many things in sailing, having a good weather mark rounding is all about preparation. You need to know what the plan is before you round so the tactician can make one simple, all important call: set high, or set low. If the call is set high, the crew needs to be patient making sure that the boats behind have turned down before the set so the team can hold a lane on starboard. If the call is set low, the crew needs to get the kite up right away and be ready for a jibe if needed. How do you know what the right call is in the chaos that normally accompanies a weather mark rounding? Good preparation. On the last tack into the weather mark the crew should look down wind for the weather mark, generally you should be able to see if it is right or left of head to wind. The skipper should let the crew know if the wind is in right or left phase. These two facts will tell you what the long jibe is. Second, while on the layline or offset the crew should look for the wind. Is there more pressure on the right or left? Are there any puffs in the next 30 seconds that will help exit the mark? As you pass the weather mark, check for current. Finally, know your competition. Are the boats around you bunched up or is there a good gap to set? Will the boats around you fight high? Are you overlapped? Putting these simple facts together should tell you how you want to exit the mark, and with a good exit strategy, you will have the jump on your competition. Read on for some examples: http://tinyurl.com/ykulka5 NO SURPRISE - VOR GOING TO CHINA (March 18, 2010) - Another piece of the 2011-12 race route fell into place today when Sanya, the resort city located on the southern coast of Hainan Province, China, was named as a stopover port. Sanya becomes the second Chinese port in the history of the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR) following Qingdao's inclusion in the route for 2008-09. Sanya will host the finish of leg three, which starts from Abu Dhabi, for the latest edition. Sanya, the only tropical island province in China, features golden, sandy beaches and enjoys a temperate year-round climate. The Sanya Municipal Government will use the Volvo Ocean Race as part of its plans to develop the city into a leading international tourism destination. It already has an excellent transport system, which will be integral to the building of a new marina. Of the cumulative broadcast audience of 1.3 billion, China led the way in the new territories by delivering an audience of 600 million, 45 per cent of the race total. Spectators were also lured by the fascination of the race, with the Race Village footfall in Qingdao reaching 363,700. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/yjff6lu * TOURIST GUIDE: http://tinyurl.com/ylo2ab6 * PREDICTIONS: So far Scuttlebutt anticipated both the UAE and China, but the rest of the ports are going to be harder to predict. It is estimated that the race will have nine legs. Here is an update of where we are: Leg 1: Alicante, Spain to Cape Town, South Africa Leg 2: Cape Town, South Africa to Abu Dhabi, UAE Leg 3: Abu Dhabi, UAE to Sanya, China Leg 4: Sanya, China to ? Leg 5: Leg 6: Leg 7: North America to Lisbon, Portugal Leg 8: Lisbon, Portugal to Lorient, France Leg 9: Lorient, France to Galway, Ireland Scuttlebutt’s theories for the remaining ports are in the Forum. If you have additional insight, post it here: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9450#9450 JOIN QUANTUM ONE DESIGN EXPERTS AT CHARLESTON RACE WEEK Quantum’s One Design specialists Terry Flynn, John Bowden, Tim Healy, Wally Cross, and Scott Nixon will be running an on the water clinic on Thursday April 8th. Don’t miss this opportunity to sharpen your skills before the racing starts! Plan to be on the water by 1300 hours for tuning, practice starts, and some quick races; with the debrief following at 1600 hours. Terry will be taking videos of this practice and the rest of the weekend. Classes include the J/80, Viper 640, Melges 20, Melges 24, and J/24s. Contact Terry for more info at mailto:tflynn@quantumsails.com - Find your speed at http://www.quantumsails.com GROUPAMA 3 AIMS TO SET RECORD ON SATURDAY (Day 46 - March 18, 2010; 18:15 UTC) - Groupama 3 carries on its rapid progress towards the finish line and substantially increases its lead over the reference time. The arrival at the Créac'h's lighthouse is still scheduled for Saturday, but uncertain wind and sea conditions makes the exact time of day far from definite. By having to approach the center of low pressure which is currently pushing the 103-foot trimaran, the wind will become more unstable and should suddenly change from South-West to North-West. The wind will also strengthen to over thirty knots with gusts in the squalls, and a confused sea could require the crew to slow the boat for safety. After 46 days at sea, the crew is starting to get impatient, and although the distance between land and the sailors is reduced by great surfs, the crew is eager to return to their family and to normal food! “We're going to have a good steak because dried food looks more like dog food,” said skipper Franck Cammas. “Eating is not a pleasure every day: luckily we got fish dishes and sauces prepared by Philippe Rochat to get some taste. We are sailing too fast to fish and we have only raised a small flying fish out of this world tour, so small that we returned it to the sea.” -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/yktd3ct Current position as of March 18, 2010 (22:00:00 UTC): Ahead/behind record: +990.5 nm Speed (avg) over past 24 hours: 25.1 knots Distance over past 24 hours: 601.4 nm Distance to go: 1,187 nm Data: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/positions.asp?lg=en Map: http://cammas-groupama.geovoile.com/julesverne/index.asp?lg=en * After their start on January 31, 2010, Franck Cammas and his nine crew on the 103-foot Groupama 3 must cross finish line off Ushant, France before March 23rd (06:14:57 UTC) to establish a new time for the Jules Verne Trophy (21,760 nm) for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by any type of yacht with no restrictions. Current record holder is Bruno Peyron and crew, who in 2005 sailed Orange 2 to a time of 50 days, 16 hours, and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots. FINAL FOUR SET FOR SEMI-FINALS Auckland, NZL (March 18, 2010; Day 10) - The Swedish team Artemis and the Italian Azzurra squad both won thrilling matches on Thursday at the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Auckland, to advance to the semi-finals and dispatch their opponents out of the regatta. Each pair in this elimination round were slated to race a best-of-three series but flat calm conditions on the Waitemata Harbour forced a change of plans to sudden-death single races for both pairs. Artemis came from behind to beat Britain’s TEAMORIGIN while Azzurra landed a penalty on the German/French boat All4One and led all the way around the race course. The semi-finals on Friday will see Emirates Team New Zealand, top of the table at the end of the Round Robin, face Azzurra after ETNZ skipper Dean Barker selected the Italian team as his opponent. That leaves Mascalzone Latino Audi Team against Artemis. The winner of each ‘first to two points’ series will advance to the final. Barker said it was always tough choosing an opponent, but he went with Azzurra, the team who triumphed over the Kiwis in the final of the last Louis Vuitton Trophy event in Nice. “We know the guys well and maybe we will get a little bit of revenge hopefully for Nice. We always have good races against those guys,” he said. The Swedish Artemis team is rounding into form at the right time and enters the semi-finals with confidence. “We have won four in a row, and had two fantastic races with the British, which were pretty epic battles in the list of America’s Cup races I’ve been in,” observed skipper Paul Cayard. “I think it’s good training for us in preparation going into the rest of the series.” Racing is scheduled to start with a warning signal at 10:00 on Friday morning. The forecast is for fresh conditions. Thursday's race summaries: Artemis def. TEAMORIGIN, 00:38 Azzurra def All4One, 00:20 Live streaming web coverage of the Louis Vuitton Trophy in Auckland is available on the event website. Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ykwucmm Team lists: http://www.louisvuittontrophy.com/teams/EN/ BACKGROUND: The Louis Vuitton Trophy series is designed to be a cost-effective format for match racing competition in Version 5 America’s Cup Class boats. Teams will take turns on the two Emirates Team New Zealand yachts NZL 84 and NZL 92 that have been fitted out, optimized and rigged after a year in storage. They will race four matches a day to complete a round robin seeding series before a ladder elimination culminating in the finals on March 21st. The 2010 series continues on to Sardinia (May 22-June 6) and Dubai (Nov. 13-28). SAILING SHORTS * Defending midwinter champion and eight time world champion Eduardo Cordero (VEN) dominated the 78-boat Sunfish Midwinter Championship, held at Sarasota, FL. In route to victory, Cordero won 6 out of the 7 races in the series. Friday's races were blown out, Saturday was medium and Sunday was light-medium. David Mendelblatt (USA) closed out the regatta strongly, with second places in the final two races, to narrowly beat his fellow countrymen Greg Gust. The regatta served as the first country qualifying regatta for the 2011 Pan American Games, with Venezuela and American now qualified. -- Results: http://www.sunfishclass.org/archives/2010/race-results/2010Midwinters.pdf * The Cruising Club of America presented its annual awards at a dinner held in New York, N.Y. at the New York Yacht Club. The Cruising Club of America is dedicated to offshore cruising, voyaging and the “adventurous use of the sea” through efforts to improve seamanship, the design of seaworthy yachts, safe yachting procedures and environmental awareness. Among the award recipients was Sir Robin Knox-Johnston for a lifetime devoted to the advancement of sailing, sail training and youth development, and on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of his singlehanded, non-stop circumnavigation of the world. -- Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/NEWS/10/0312/ * With the release of several early seasonal hurricane forecasts for this year, boaters and marina operators are finding out they could face a much different scenario than last year’s relatively mild storm season. Accuweather, a nationwide weather service, recently reported it expects 2010 to be an “extreme season” with as many as 18 named storms, a 100% increase over 2009. BoatUS, a national boat owners group with experience in hurricane preparation and post-hurricane recovery efforts says that most boaters and marinas can survive by being better prepared. To help with this task, the Association has some free online “tools” available. -- Read on: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=488 ACCELERATE YOUR RACING: You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process with a North U Coach. On Your Boat: Because there is no boat like your own. Stop Guessing: Rig tuning, spinnaker handling, mainsail shape, helming. We provide answers. For Your Crew: After all you have put into your boat and equipment, get North U for your crew. Learn More: Our training covers every facet of racing trim, tactics, and boat handling. North U: Turning sailors into racers and racers into winners since 1980. 800-347-2457, http://www.NorthU.com PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include J/111 molds, concentration lapse, irony in Mexico, magazine makeover, ebb tide, snow plow, old school, and a day so cold they had to jackhammer their jello. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0319/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK Does your bucket list include wave sailing on a windsurfer? In case you created your list with a healthy dose of reality, this video may get you closer than you thought possible. Thanks to the development of small, waterproof helmet cameras, here is a sailing session off Maui in early March 2010. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/10/0319/ The growth of courseboard windsurfing is slowly gaining traction amongst youth sailors in North America, with a big stimulus incentive being the arrival of the T293 World Championship 2011 in San Francisco, CA. Here is a video from the 2009 Worlds in Weymouth, England: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOa8rhmGI7c SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Bennet Greenwald: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3051) As a confirmed Alinghi basher, and as one who used to subscribe to Andrew Hurst’s magazine, I am accustomed to his mad cheerleading for any weird thing as long as it is done by, or in the name of, lots of paid sailors. Nonetheless, I apologize to Hurst since those unwashed by his marvelous light must never, never have an opinion. What follows are humble suggestions about thinking before writing. It may be useful to remember that the Black Magic and the first Alinghi wins were first executed by one Coutts who put certain protocols in place. The same fellow also engineered the BMW Oracle win after Ernesto (he must be a genius - he’s rich) fired Coutts. It may also be useful to remember that Alinghi tried to stack the deck - got caught - got continuously smacked by the courts and then on the water by a team led by that same Coutts. Might indicate something about Alinghi’s thought process, and management skills, as well as about Coutts. Finally, as one who occasionally gets on the line with a bunch of no account unknowns, I would also opine that the event was sailboat racing. Until the professionals show us some magic answers, it is still just time on the water and, at some marks, even an amateur will be ahead - that is unless you are Ernesto trying to hang on to the cat. That’s why we do it, and why we watch it Andrew. * From Hugo van Kretschmar, Sydney, Australia: Good on you Andrew Hurst for reminding the “good ole USA” that the rest of the world may not always see things quite the way they do. Some of us on the other sides of the world remain skeptical (but ever hopeful) that Larry Ellison & Co will actually practice what they have preached. * From R. Casey Schnoor, Armchair Sniper: The decision to publish or not your so called “Alinghi-bashing” rants is up to the Curmudgeon, or any other publication. However, in my opinion, whether you personally have heard of the bash authors or not is completely irrelevant, and I find your position to be very condescending. AS the Editor of Seahorse, do you have the same opinion regarding the readers of and letter writers to your publication? Are their opinions only relevant if you happen to know their names? … or agree with their positions? Further to your argument, I believe that whatever BMW Oracle or Alinghi did in AC32 or before the publishing of the AC33 Protocol can live on their own merits, good or bad, to be respected or not. Those efforts are not particularly relevant to the current discussion. What is extremely relevant is what Alinghi and Mr. Bertarelli commenced with that Protocol and the subsequent mismanagement and their disgraceful arguments to justify their flawed positions, all at the expense of the sailing community. This is the issue at hand and the focus of and reason for the well earned “Alinghi-bashing”. Mr. Hurst, I am confident you don’t know my name, I have never personally participated in an America’s Cup race, I live in North America and I am a long time competitive sailor. But regardless of my personal sailing resume, my knowledge of the history of the America’s Cup or which continent I live on, I believe that as a sailor, I deserve to have an opinion and if I so choose, a voice regarding the stewardship of the America’s Cup. And so do all of the other voices that have been raised albeit mostly in protest of Mr. Bertarelli. As such, I applaud Scuttlebutt and all of the other publications that are keeping this discussion alive. Hopefully it will help to discourage the Mr. Bertarelli’s of the future. -- Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=9455#9455 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Just to clear the air, the LETTERS AND FORUM section is intended to provide a place for the ‘buttheads to share their perspective, and not for this publication to leverage an agenda. The goal of Scuttlebutt is to always publish submissions that provide balance to an issue, or at the very least, represent positions on an issue that are of an equal ratio with those opinions we receive. * From Reynald Neron: (re, Volvo Ocean Race port selection in N.A.) And although I do appreciate your newsletter, I must tell you (with all due respect for your work) that I find it tedious to read all your readers' mails stating that their home water is the best in the world. I am just glad to know that Sydney in Australia is the best place on earth for a sail... * From Capt. Rick Rahm: To answer Mr. Tuthills letter concerning the off shore waters and inlet in Miami and it being safe for the VOR boats. Our offshore waters are safe and our Miami Harbor inlet is one of the safest approaches on the east coast. Now if Mr. Tuthill wants to explore the issue of local participation that is another subject. Miami will never have the participation like the Irish had with their last stopover. But then you don't have the weather Miami has anywhere else on the east coast. And don't forget South Beach! => Curmudgeon’s Comment: After the VOR selection of Sanya, China, where the commercial connection was tourism, perhaps this will also swing favor toward Miami. Remember, the race would be arriving to North America in spring when the temperatures are perfect in southern Florida, and not so perfect in Newport, RI. ADVERTISING INFORMATION If you are a business interested in acquiring ad space in the Scuttlebutt newsletter this year, there remains only a limited amount of available ad slots from July through early November. While banner space insertions on the website can be immediately accommodated, the text ads are in short supply. Fall dates tend to be very popular to promote boat show events, but they are rarely available when acquiring late in the season. For additional information: mailto:advertising@sailingscuttlebutt.com CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION “A hug is the perfect gift - one size fits all, and nobody minds if you exchange it.” - Ivern Ball, author Special thanks to Quantum Sails and North U. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
