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SCUTTLEBUTT 2934 - Tuesday, September 22, 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 North Sails, Hall Spars & Rigging, and Speed & Smarts COMMENTARY Following are some excerpts from Kimball Livingston’s blog about the recently completed NYYC Invitational Regatta. When they read the entries alphabetically, it takes a long time to get through the R’s. Royal this, Royal that. Which speaks to the ambition to stage the premiere regatta for amateur competition, in a manner that can be called, without apology, yachting. NYYC has changed a lot since 1983, when it lost the America’s Cup after holding it for 132 years. That was a blow, but it set the club free. Acquiring a station in Newport in 1988 (at the first waterfront estate on the way out of downtown; what could be a better fit?) opened the way to immersing the club in junior sailing, college sailing, team racing and of course, grand yachting of the roll-up-your-sleeves variety. But there was that matter of the missing signature event, something to replace the “friendly competition between foreign nations.” This is it, perhaps. Think 19 boats and 15 countries at the inaugural. But it comes with all the devils of the borrowed boat regatta. And for me, it comes with a lesson in friendly-and-foreign. Finding myself in a restaurant where the Spanish team was having a crew dinner, I offered them a hearty Viva España! They corrected me. Viva Catalonia! They’re from Barcelona. How could I have been such a fool? So, yes, a bunch of jibs came apart at the headboard on day one, in breeze and a lump outside Narragansett Bay. All of those were purpose-built sails, built with the expectation of being used only in this and future Invitationals. So the sailmaker or somebody got that part wrong. All the jibs, not only those that failed, were re-stitched overnight. No more jib failures. Devils of the borrowed boat regatta, that, and the Swan-built NYYC 42s don’t have great word of mouth, but where else in the world would you see nineteen 42-footers, each with identical sails, each identically tuned, each representing an outfit that has earned its stripes (stars, crests, whatever) in the sailing world. St. Francis YC skipper Craig Healy, asked about his up-down-up finishes, replied, “If you make one mistake, you’re flushed. It speaks to how even the boats are in speed.” - Read Livingston’s full post: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=272 THE PARTY’S OVER KISTA, Stockholm - Ericsson first entered the Volvo Ocean Race in April 2005, but now its journey has drawn to a close. The team’s victory in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 is the perfect closing chapter to the company’s involvement in the globe-girdling race. After having attained overall victory and great business-to-business success, Ericsson has decided not to participate in the 2011-12 edition. The decision was not easy for Ericsson, since the race has served us extremely well and the feedback from our customers is great. But we achieved everything we hoped for and thus it is now natural to pause and seek out new opportunities. - http://tinyurl.com/mjkal3 FILLING THE VOID The void created by the absence of the America's Cup and the end of this year's Audi Medcup circuit seems to be filled with the Louis Vuitton World Series. The opening event of this newly-founded professional circuit in Nice, France is just a month and a half away and time will be short for the organization and teams to get ready. Here's a quick picture from the Mascalzone Latino base in Valencia. The Italian team's shore crew has started preparing ITA-90 and ITA-99 since they will be the ones the 10 teams will race in Nice, together with Desafío's ESP-88 and ESP-97. We will have more in-depth coverage in the days to follow, particularly on the details of how you "water down" 4 America's Cup yachts and try to make them as equally matched as possible. Finally, on the opposite side of the basin, there was considerable activity going on in the BMW Oracle base with cranes, containers and trucks everywhere. We are not sure whether this is due to the Challenger of the America's Cup getting ready to move to the venue of the event in Ras Al-Khaimah. - Valencia Sailing, full story: http://tinyurl.com/l4djpd ZINGARA WINS BENETEAU 36.7 NORTH AMERICANS Congratulations to Richard Reid and his team aboard his Benteau 36.7 for winning the 2009 North American championship! Equipped with 100% North Class Sail Development (CSD) sails, Team Zingara finished 10 points ahead of the second place boat over the 12-races series (including FIVE BULLETS!) “North makes continual improvements through the CSD program,” said Reid after his win. “The whole crew is thrilled and yes, I was tossed into the drink right off the guest dock at the Bayview Yacht Club but this time I took the culprit (John Kerr, pitman) with me.” When performance matters, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com LEARNING FROM THE BEST 2009 marks the seventh year in a row that Renaissance Reinsurance has sponsored the prestigious Junior Gold Cup in Bermuda. Run in conjunction with the Argo Group Gold Cup professional World Match Racing Tour event, this mini “world cup” invitational brings some of the most accomplished youth sailors from around the world to Bermuda for a youth sailing event contested in International Optimist dinghies. “Renaissance Re provides financial support to help fly the invited youth sailors to Bermuda, providing them with coaching, charter boats and equipment required for competing,” said event chairman Somers Cooper. “This year we hope to have at least twelve talented sailors joining us representing North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a unique opportunity for Bermuda local sailors to compete against the best in our own waters.” Once in Bermuda local families host the young sailors. The backdrop of the Argo Group Gold Cup match-racing event running concurrently with the youth event provides the real bonus for all the kids entered in the regatta. They mingle freely with their sailing heroes when back at the dock. The young sailors attend the daily press conferences, too. Headlining the fleet of international guests is Ignatio Rogala (ARG). He was third at the International Optimist Dinghy Association (IODA) world championship and is Argentina’s national champion. Max Hibler (GER) is the winner of the IODA European Championship and is Germany’s national champion, too. Annabel Vos (GBR), Taylor Burn (NZL), Douglas Campbell (AUS) and Frederick Naygaard (DEN) are also national champions in their countries. SHIFT OF FOCUS Victory gave Team New Zealand an unprecedented record of four victories in the TP52 (Audi MedCup) circuit's five regattas, having won the past three in Marseille, Cagliari and Portimao. Skipper Dean Barker and his crew now shift their focus to the first Louis Vuitton World Series regatta at Nice, France, in November. "We have really enjoyed this year's Audi MedCup season and now we are going to do everything we can to come back next season," Barker said. "But now we have to switch our focus from fleet racing back to match racing and start preparing for Nice." For Team NZ boss and mastman Grant Dalton, the most telling aspect of the season has been the crew's steady improvement race by race, regatta by regatta. "We wanted to improve incrementally as the season progressed. That was the objective. We have made the boat faster as the season went on. A small amount here and there but certainly by this last regatta we never looked like losing overall. "That's a real credit to the guys and the way they go about their jobs." - NZPA, http://tinyurl.com/ml7a4v BORN READY The Hall-rigged Y3K won the Rolex Maxi Cup Wally division, the first regatta sailed in this brand-new, just-launched Wally 100. Nine other Hall customers achieved this "win-out-of-the-box" feat over the past 17 months: Blondie (Mills 40), USA 17 (TP52), Oystercatcher (Humphreys 42), Luna Rossa (STP 65), DSK (Swan 90), Soozal (Mills 40), Antilope (GS43), Tonnerre (Ker 46), and Titan (RP 75). Every Hall spar is designed and built to tune for the highest performance from the minute it's stepped. The results show that a Hall Seamless spar arrives at the boat ready to race - and win. http://www.hallspars.com TIME TO OPTIMIZE After an intense week of sea trials, the BOR 90 returned from testing on Saturday afternoon to conclude another stage in its development program. "We've had another very productive week of testing," said helmsman James Spithill. "Every time we go out we're learning more and more about the potential of the boat, and that's the goal." The BOR 90 will be moved into the tent erected at the team base in San Diego and won't emerge until next month after more scheduled maintenance and optimization. In the meantime, many of the sailing team will have some well-deserved time off, taking advantage of one of the last breaks in the on-the-water program before the 33rd America's Cup Match in February. "The timing is good,” says sailing team coach Glenn Ashby (AUS), “as the team ends this session on a high. Everyone has a huge amount of confidence in the boat right now," said Ashby. "The boat is now being sailed the way you'd sail a smaller boat like a Tornado or Extreme 40. We're now winding it up and pushing it hard. We're finding the boat's limitations, rather than the limits of our fear. So now it's a matter of continuing the evolution of the development program to just keep making it faster and faster." The BOR 90 is scheduled to return to the water mid-October. - http://tinyurl.com/oapdlw SAILING SHORTS MC Nationals Regatta, Windycrest SC, Oklahoma 1. Greg Gust, RCYC/TX, 15 pts. 2. Andy Fox, LESC/FL, 28 pts. 3. Noel Neuman, UMYC/MN, 41 pts. 4. Jeff Annis, ASC/GA, 45 pts. 5. Kenny Baggett, WSC/OK, 46pts Complete results (51 boats): http://www.mcscow.org/ * Andy Rice just returned from a windy week at Weymouth where the world's best Olympic sailors have been battling at Skandia Sail for Gold in humungous breeze for the qualifying, slightly less for finals but still pretty windy, and then hardly a breath for Saturday's Medal Races.. He’s created special page at SailJuice.com full of videos and interviews: http://tinyurl.com/mg65b3 * The Global Ocean Race 2011-12 announces a partnership with the Auckland-based, weather prediction company, PredictWind. PredictWind are offering to supply their ‘Professional’ software package to all the event’s competitors free of charge for use in the 33,000 mile circumnavigation. The system uses both the American and Canadian forecasting models to provide this information. By linking the PredictWind weather forecasting data with the tactical and navigation software provided by Expedition and the yacht’s polars, the combined information is a powerful, competitive tool. - Full story: http://tinyurl.com/rbdktb * There were few surprises in the August report of United States sailboat brokerage sales, as reported by broker members of YachtWorld.com. Sailboat brokerage sales in August held steady at 523 boats, which is similar to the prior three months and only 14 percent lower than the 605 boats that were sold in August, 2008. Over the warmer months of May to August, 500-550 sailboats have been reported sold each month, which, collectively, is 20 percent fewer than in the same months in 2008. - http://www.sailamerica.com/ * North Sails and Sailing Weather Service have partnered to provide free weather forecasts for the 12 Metre Worlds, taking place in Newport, RI this week/end, Sept 23-26. To sign up for these daily detailed forecasts, log on to: http://na.northsails.com * From September 5 to October 15, 2009, US Sailing an annual election to fill three seats on its Board of Directors. All members can and should vote, thereby building ownership in the organization and selecting the best people to lead the sport in the United States. The President and one Director are running unopposed. Members of the Board of Directors will serve for a three-year term. http://about.ussailing.org/Directory/BOD/Board_Election.htm MASTER THE 2009-2012 RACING RULES! Improve your knowledge and application of the rules with Dave Dellenbaugh’s brand new ‘Learn The Racing Rules’ for 2009-2012! This two-part DVD set uses live sailing and animation to explain the right-of-way rules and their limitations (Part 1), plus the rules at marks and obstructions (Part 2). Available now at: http://www.LearnTheRacingRules.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 Darren M Thurman I was working the Newport boat show Saturday morning when we heard a few gun shots go off nearby. I turned to see the NYYC committee boat going by with all the RC men and women at attention in dress blues. The Swan 42's soon followed one by one doing a parade of sail around the harbor (known as a harbor burn in Newport) it was very classy as each (most) of the boats had all of the crew in uniform standing at attention along the side and waving to the shore side boat show attendees and exhibitors. When the American boat came by they were blasting "born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen on the stereo. I was standing with several powerboaters and they all said how neat it was to see the boats and crews go by like that. Hats off to the NYYC for adding that into the program and exposing many more people to a glimpse of the sport that so rarely gets seen. * From Oscar Gallo, Long Beach, California The eight most stressful jobs? Don't make me laugh. Amazing that businessmen or engineers never rank up there! Businessmen knocking our brains out competing with the world, engineers inventing and making things to make our lives better. Who comes up with these bits of brilliance? CURMUDGEON’S QUOTATIONS A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down. -Robert Benchley Special thanks to North Sails, Hall Spars & Rigging, and Speed & Smarts Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
