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SCUTTLEBUTT 2883 - Friday, July 10, 2009Scuttlebutt 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. Twitter updates: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Today's sponsors are West Marine and Aquidneck Custom Composites. THE FASTNET AT 30 The Rolex Fastnet Race 2009 will begin on Sunday, August 9th with 300 registered crews to set sail in the 608 nautical-mile offshore classic. This year’s race will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the saddest chapter in the race's illustrious history. John Rousmaniere was there, and in his book ‘Fastnet, Force 10’, he tells the tragic story of the greatest disaster in the history of yachting, of a race that began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal which led to 24 boats being abandoned, five that sunk, and 15 sailors that died. To honor this anniversary, John has written a brief reminder of the race: “’Why didn’t you call your book Fastnet, Force 12?’ my new friend half-asked, half-demanded. ‘Maybe it was blowing a mere Force 10 where YOU were, but not where I was.’ “As our boat drifted around foggy Narragansett Bay last September, waiting for a starting gun, this shipmate and I reviewed some of the startling events that had been thrust upon us 3,000 miles to the east and half a lifetime ago. “Hair-raising tales of the 1979 Fastnet Race are told sometimes by acquaintances. My friend was in an American boat, a 64-footer, running at 20 knots toward the finish under number 4 jib alone when a crewmember decided she was carrying too much sail. They cut away that handkerchief – tack, sheet, and halyard – and watched it fly off through the dense cloud of thick spray suspended several yards above the sea. Other stories come through the interior voice of memory. With a shiver, I recall balancing precariously on the boom of a Swan 47 and tying in the third reef as she smashed toward Fastnet Rock with great wads of water simultaneously rising up from the sea and pouring down from the sail. “The Fastnet, our destination, is a ship-shaped lighthouse perched on a rock. It’s the outer turning mark in the odd-year 600-mile race that’s been run since 1925 from southern England to near Ireland and back again. Rarely easy, the race, with 303 boats, was hit in 1979 by a surprising, shockingly strong and unstable westerly blow, with gusts in the 60s and shifting constantly, and waves 30 feet and higher.” -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7783 => Curmudgeon’s Comment: I encourage others to share their stories as well. They can be sent to mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com, or posted directly into this forum thread, using the link above. PAIGE RAILEY - ON A ROLL AGAIN Since its launch in 1994, the ISAF World Sailor of the Year Award has been recognized as the pinnacle award a sailor can receive in recognition of his/her outstanding achievements by the world of sailing. American Paige Railey is the only North American to have won the women’s award, and she did it in 2006 when only 19 years old. However, since then it has been a rollercoaster for her, but three years later she is on a roll again. Scuttlebutt checked in with Paige for an update: SBUTT: You were so dominant up to the time you won the ISAF Sailor of the Year award in 2006, but then something changed. Can you explain? PAIGE RAILEY: “I am going to be very honest when I say it was a burn out. I started to focus too much on other things rather than the main reason as to why I sail which is: I love doing it. I lost that feeling and started to think more on the negative side of things. I had a lot of pressure on me and I was very inexperienced as how to handle it. My failure of losing the U.S. Trials has been one of the biggest learning experiences in my sailing career. After the trials and the initial impact of the loss I was faced with a question. I was either: A. Going to let my loss break me, or B. Stand up off the ground, lift my head, and keep moving forward. “To answer how I addressed my problem...I made a choice and said to heck with it!!! Whatever! I lost, I messed up in sailing, I had a down time and I struggled. I stopped caring about what happened in the past and what people thought. I put my blinders on and only focused on a successful future. I don't stress about failure or not doing well, nor do I worry about what happened. My whole outlook on sailing has changed and when I think about everything I say, ‘Wow, I have learned a lot and look at where I am today’.” -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0709/ TRANSPACIFIC YACHT RACE (July 9, 2009) - Alfa Romeo has been averaging 16.5 knots, which is over 2 knots faster than the 2,225-mile Los Angeles to Hawaii Transpacific Yacht Race previous monohull record pace set by Morning Glory in 2005. The super maxi clipped off 431 nautical miles over the 24-hour period, breaking the Transpac 24-hour record that it established earlier in the week. Not only are Neville Crichton and his Alfa Romeo team eyeing the course record for monohulls, if they keep it up, they could squeak in under the wire and beat the multihull record. (Don’t forget, Murray Spence reported pinning Alfa Romeo’s needle at 35 knots during a delivery.) Philippe Kahn and Mark “Crusty” Christensen are doing a phenomenal job setting Open 50 speed records, keeping the pedal to the metal so that they clobber the previously held double handed record … by days. Kahn and Christensen are demonstrating to all of us how easy it is to use MotionX to navigate, post their progress to the web and prance through the water faster than Michael Phelps at the US Swimming National Championships. If you haven’t been tuning into www.Pegasus.com and clicking on the videos, we hope that you are finding them directly on YouTube. This is a rare chance to feel as if you are part of small team that is really enjoying their magical ride atop the waves and under the stars from Los Angeles to Hawaii. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0709a/ * July 9th standings: http://tinyurl.com/mgl6jd WEST MARINE THIRD REEF FOUL WEATHER GEAR “Dry” is why West Marine’s Third Reef is the country’s best-selling foul weather gear. Waterproof, breathable, affordable, and durable… pretty much everything foul weather gear ought to be. Jackets at $119.99 and Bibs at $99.99 in Men’s and Women’s sizes. Available at all West Marine stores. To find the store nearest you, log onto http://westmarine.com OLYMPIC CHAMPIONSHIPS * Copenhagen, DEN (July 9, 2009; Day 4) - Sailors and equipment underwent a thorough testing on day four of the Finn Gold Cup in Vallensbaek, Denmark with an offshore wind direction providing for shifty conditions, and the Oscar flag up for both races to permit free pumping in wind speeds averaging 15 knots and gusting to 25 at times. It was also all change at the top after race wins for Ed Wright (GBR) and Jonas Høgh-Christensen (DEN). Wright climbs to the top, with Giles Scott (GBR) in second and Ivan Kljakovic Gaspic (CRO) moving up to third. American Zach Railey slipped today to fourth with a 7-13, but remains only two points from second and nine points from the lead of the 87-boat fleet. Two more races are scheduled Friday, with the top ten advancing to the doublepoint, non-discard medal race on Saturday. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7779#7779 * Kiel, GER (July 9, 2009; Day 4) - After three days and five races for the 89-boat fleet at the 2009 Star Class European Championship, Thursday was a scheduled reserve day, with racing to resume on Friday with two more races, and a final race on Saturday to end the series. 2008 Gold medalist Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson are currently in first, with Americans Mark Mendelblatt/Mark Strube in fifth. -- Full story: http://www.starclass.org/artman/publish/article_427.shtml#3 * With the completion on Wednesday of the European Laser Radial Youth Championship in Charlottenlund, Denmark, the host club will now roll into the European Laser Radial Championship on July 11-16. Among the entrants will be top U.S. contender Paige Railey. -- http://www.skovshoved-sejlklub.dk/6/public/raceShow.aspx?rid=55&doc=inv LIGHTNING PROTECTION Large merchant ships that are made of steel, are good conductors, and so when these vessels are struck by lightning as they often are, the voltage is dispersed to water by the vast quantities of steel plate. These vessels are relatively safe from lightning. However for small boats, once a lightning strike hits you and the electrical charge gets into the boat, side flashes can destroy electrical instruments and engine controls, and knock holes in the side of the boat, as they find their way to water. This is not only expensive to fix it is a real safety issue. Holes in boats are no good; destroyed engine and instruments is no good. To help prevent damage to you and your boat, we need to provide a better conductor than the boat itself, so from the highest, or most extreme point, we need to provide a path to ground, i.e. the water. -- Full story: http://myboatsgear.com/newsletter/200976.asp UPDATE ON MULTIHULL FIASCO The ISAF Mid-Year Conference in May brought the campaign closer to its objective of securing appropriate representation for multihulls at the highest level of sport. It now seems highly likely that, if IOC grants sailing an 11th medal, it will be for an Open Multihull Event, raced in Tornados, as in China, and that the chances of a favourable IOC decision are good, but that may not be known till October. Opening discussion about the 11th medal, ISAF President Goran Petersson revealed that 15 (out of 26) sports had asked IOC for 32 medals, requiring 8% more athletes, but added that sailing had a good chance because, unlike many, it was only asking for replacement of something lost, rather than additional new medals, and that, as he had just been given a key position in organising venues for all sports at future Games, he was now well placed to network within the IOC structure. The entire multihull fiasco arose in the first place because of an IOC edict limiting the total number of competitors and medals per sport due to the escalating cost of the Games, which reached a new record in China. IOC is now experiencing the backlash as its entire membership feels the consequences of capacity constraints for the first time in its history. This has generated widespread unhappiness that individual athletes in some sports should be able to win as many eight medals, when some entire sports are limited to so few in total. -- Excerpts from report by Nick Dewhirst, Chairman, UK Catamaran Racing Association; full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7778#7778 VISIT AQUIDNECK CUSTOM COMPOSITES’ NEW WEBSITE Aquidneck Custom Composites has recently launched their first website and would like to invite the readers of Scuttlebutt to check it out. ACC has been building custom boats for eight years now. Finally it has built a website. In addition to boat building, ACC offers fabrication of boats accessories such as composite ladders, custom doors & hatches, passarelles and appendages. ACC also offers CNC router services to other boat builders and fabricators. Check it all out here: http://www.aquidneckcustom.com SAILING SHORTS * Hampton, VA (July 9, 2009) The first day of racing for 37 teams competing in Club 420s at the 2009 U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championship saw the fleet complete three races in 10-15 knots. Jumping out to an early lead is Georgie Ryan/Haley Kirk with a 1-1-5, giving them a two point margin over Chanel Miller/Yuri Namikawa with a 5-3-1. Racing continues through Saturday, July 11th. -- Results: http://championships.ussailing.org/Youth/USJrWomensDoublehanded.htm * Malcesine, ITA (July 9, 2009) - Emirates Team New Zealand’s helmsman Dean Barker (Artemis) and his AC tactician Ray Davies (No Way Back) finish the match racing segment of the Malcesine RC 44 Cup on a tie at with five victories and no loss for both. The rules make Barker the winner ahead of Davies, with Sébastien Col in third onboard Ceeref. The fleet racing portion of the event will be on Friday through Sunday. -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/en/regattas/news/index.php?idContent=2088 * With boaters in some parts of the country continuing to have a hard time gaining access to the water, the nation’s largest boat owners group, BoatUS, is sponsoring the third annual BoatUS Recreational Boating Access Award. With nominations now being accepted until October 1, 2009, the award recognizes those individuals or groups who have succeeded in preserving or improving public waterway access, and hopes to share their strategies with others. -- Full story: http://www.boatus.com/news/PR_Full.asp?ID=423 * The International Melges 32 Class Association, which had planned for the 2009 U.S. National Championship to take place in Marina del Rey, CA on July 24-26, has rescheduled the event for September 10-13 in San Francisco, CA. The event will happen concurrently with the 2009 Rolex Big Boat Series, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club. On the preceding weekend of September 6-8, the class will conduct its first North American Championship, hosted by the Sausalito Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay. The 2010 World Championship will also be held in San Francisco. -- http://melges32.com/?p=news&id=444 * At the half way stage of the 2009 World Match Racing Tour, the French Match Racing Team of Mathieu Richard are now atop the leaderboard, with Adam Minoprio (NZL), Peter Gilmour (AUS), Torvar Mirsky (AUS), and Ian Williams (GBR) rounding out the top five. -- Full story: http://www.worldmatchracingtour.com/da/73371 * As many as 300 boy and girl dinghy sailors ages 7 to 15 will descend on the Port of Los Angeles community of San Pedro, Calif. July 18-26 for the US Optimist National Championships, hosted by the Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club. It may be the largest one-design regatta ever on the West Coast, but it's only a fraction of the largest dinghy class in the world, now numbering more than 150,000 in 110 countries---all age 15 and younger, by class rules. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7780 * The number of Fourth of July weekend marine assistance calls to Sea Tow Services International Inc., the world’s largest, and only international, marine assistance organization, increased by 25 percent over 2008 as more boaters celebrated on the water. The increase follows two consecutive years in which Fourth of July-related assistance calls to Sea Tow’s nearly 100 U.S. franchise locations remained flat, suggesting that despite the economic recession, boaters spent more time on the water this Fourth of July weekend enjoying the many lifestyle benefits of boating. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=7781 * VOTE NOW: Hosted by ESPN, the annual ESPY Awards commemorate the past year in sports. Among the 37 categories, 2008 Paralympic sailing gold medalist Maureen McKinnon-Tucker is one of the four nominees in the "Female Athlete with a Disability" category. There's not another sailor in any other category. Finalists are determined by fan voting. The deadline for voting is July 12, 2009 at 11:59 PM EDT. Additional details here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/2009/06/2009-espys.html PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include a slew of multihulls in New York, San Diego, and Villeneuve, Switzerland. Also, there were storms in Newport, canoes in the Chesapeake, classic launchings in the UK, doublehanders in the Pacific, workboats in the Exumas, and a lack of crew in Marblehead. If you have images you would like to share, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor. Here are this week’s photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/09/0710 VIDEO OF THE WEEK The collection of video shorts provided by T2P.tv is now up to 28 clips, with the latest three posted providing footage of some questionable crew work (#26), some questionable boat names (#27), and some questionable course decisions (#28). The Scuttlebutt Tip of the Week is you better bring your “A Game” if you are racing in the vicinity of the T2P.tv cameras. Click here for this week’s videos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/09/t2p * If you have a video you like, please send your suggestion for next week’s Video of the Week to mailto:craig@sailingscuttlebutt.com LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Please submit 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 Ken Guyer: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 2879) When I first met Jack Sutphen, around 1987, I had just finished getting the 12 meter Stars & Stripes ’86 into sailing condition. I had never sailed any kind of true racing yacht before in my life. Up to that point I had only raced in wooden boat regattas in my own Alden yawl, nothing serious, but now I was responsible for putting together a crew and sailing this 12 for the Kona Kai Club. Bill Trenkle and others from Dennis Conner Sports had guided us through the restoration of the sloop and he was the one who introduced Jack to me and my ragtag bunch of sailors itching to learn about 12 meter sailing. I soon realized being tutored by Jack Sutphen was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me in sailing. This guy was incredible to learn from. He has a great ability to communicate with a novice crew and skipper in a way that we learned well and fast the right and wrong things to do day sailing as well as racing. He is an incredible competitor. He instilled in the crew a confidence to not be afraid to make a mistake, but learn from it and never repeat it. He turned my whole outlook on sailing around in a very positive way. In 1992 I had the privilege of visiting the Larchmont Yacht Club. Touring the clubhouse it was hard to find a sailing trophy without Jack’s name on it, multiple times. Anyone who has been lucky enough to spend time learning about boats from Jack will agree, he is ageless and one of a kind. * From Bruce McPherson: Regarding the Island Goat Sailing Society in Scuttlebutt 2881, which was formed to protect the history and memories of the annual Chicago to Mackinac Island Race, if the America’s Cup had such a group, how about calling it the Stevedores A.C. (Athletic Club)? Harder yet, setting admission requirements: say five AC's? Who might qualify? Ted Hood, Lowell North, Dwyer Jones (for sure!), Dennis Conner, several team managers, Halsey Herreshoff, Olin and Rod Stephens, Jack Sutphen, Stack.... Do those elected have to have sailed a certain number of races, sailed in the finals, or just been team members? Can RC members be included? If you follow the goat idea, just Finals and just actual crew, there will be a very small group that might exclude some that otherwise did yeoman service: Dwyer Jones, and for example, Stack, but then they qualify for the A. C. Hall of Fame.... Well you could have three divisions within: Designers, Builders, Sailmakers: R. C. and Managers: and, most important, CREW! No, just CREW; those of us who were designers, builders and RC members, etc. did it as support personnel! The CREW got the job done! I like your idea and hope you'll push it further after due consideration. * From Jack Griffin: Looking for a group to look after the America’s Cup? It exists: The America's Cup Hall of Fame, located physically at the Herreshoff Marine Museum in Bristol, RI. The Cup has seen golden ages, dark days and up to 21 years between editions. The America's Cup Hall of Fame can help remind us of all that is good about the Cup. And, Scuttlebutt readers can help us with our work by becoming members of the museum: http://www.herreshoff.org/become_a_member.html CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION If the shoe fits, get another one just like it. Special thanks to West Marine and Aquidneck Custom Composites. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
