|
SCUTTLEBUTT 1833 - May 6, 2005
Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions,
features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Corrections,
contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting
viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing, whining and personal
attacks for elsewhere.
TP52
The Transpac 52 Class is will conduct its first Global Championship in
conjunction with Acura Miami Race Week 2006. The class expects at least 20
members will gather in Miami, Florida for five days of racing (March 8-13,
2006). "We've designed a championship race format that will take full
advantage of the TP52 performance envelope and challenge everybody's "A"
game. It's very different format than most traditional Class Championships,
and we expect it will prove to be very well received," stated Tom Pollack,
Executive Director of the TP52 Class.
The Transpac 52 Global Championships will consist of a combination of buoy
races, a short sprint race and an 18-24 hour offshore race out towards the
Bahamas and back. Premiere Racing, the event organizer, will provide a
separate racing circle, race committee and international jury for this
championship event.
At the same time, two new TP52 owners were announced. England's Stuart
Robinson is building a new TP52 named Stay Calm and will be sailing January
06 in time for Key West Race Week. His Farr designed Yacht will be
constructed at Goetz Custom in Bristol, Rhode Island. Mr. Robinson is also
owner of a Swan 70 by the same name and plans to helm his TP52 in class
regattas around the world. And Harm Muller-Spreer from Germany is also
building a new TP52 at Goetz Custom for the TP52 Global Championships in
Miami and the 2006 racing season. Mr. Muller-Spreer's new TP52 is a Judel
Vrolijk design. Harm is also an International Dragon Sailor and will be at
the helm of his new TP52. - www.transpac52.org
TECHNOLOGY
Getting optimum performance from one of the new VO70s is certainly not a
seat of the pants exercise. "We have 30 sensors distributed all over the
boat," explained Andrew Cape, navigator of the new Spanish VO70 Moviestar.
"The main ones measure boat speed, compass direction, wind speed and angle,
and GPS position. During sailing, over 100 variables are recorded every
second for control. All this information is compiled, analyzed and stored;
we use it later to generate tables on the most appropriate adjustments for
every different condition, to apply them during the race. We use customized
software developed specifically for this purpose, and record data around
the clock. Our goal is to make comparisons as fast as possible to make the
best decision, and therefore, the best way to sail the boat."
Communications is one of the priorities in this year's edition of the Volvo
Ocean Race. "The boats will spend several weeks sailing on their own, but
thanks to onboard technology, we will follow their every move as if we were
there," explained Pedro Campos, General Manager of the Moviestar Team.
Every boat will be equipped with seven state-of-the-art TV mini-cameras and
an editing studio to produce the weekly 20 minutes of tape that the
organization demands "Shooting, editing and sending images via satellite is
going to keep me busy several hours a day when I'm not on duty, says Pepe
Ribes. The Alicante-born Bowman will be in charge of choosing the best
images of the VO70 Movistar, compress then and send them through the
specialized equipment onboard. This impressive display of technology aims
to take this human challenge to a mass audience, through media coverage
unparalleled in the history of sailing. "We have a red button on deck to
capture the most relevant moments," explained Ribes. "When you push it
once, the cameras start shooting everything that happens."
HIGH PERFORMANCE
(The first event for the ORMA 60ft trimaran this weekend sees the fleet
smaller but more competitive. The Daily Sail subscription website looks at
the changes. Here's an excerpt from their story.)
For the teams the winter has been spent overhauling the trimarans in an
attempt to close the performance gap with Groupama 2, the current scratch
boat in the ORMA fleet. Franck Cammas's green trimaran has a new and
slightly lighter wingmast for this season, which was engineered by Franck
de Rivoyre and built by Lorima. Groupama 2 also has a new daggerboard with
trim tab and central ballast tanks to increase the inertia of the boat upwind.
Pascal Bidegorry is the current skipper of the new Banque Populaire 4, the
Irens design that was formerly Bayer CropScience. The boat has undergone a
major overhaul in Lorient: the forestay chainplates have been modified to
take a hydraulic ram that will be used to cant the mast fore and aft while
the rams attached to shrouds have been moved from the floats to the
trailing edge of the aft beam. The foil casings have been changed to
accommodate new curved foils, like those used on Groupama 2. A new
daggerboard angled slightly backwards and with a trim tab has also been
fitted. In addition to this the retractible rudders in the floats have been
replaced by fixed versions, although the rudder in the main hull can still
be lifted. Meanwhile the cockpit has been completely overhauled with an
extra coffee grinder added which can drive a new rotary pump to drive the
extra hydraulics. A new suit of sails is also ready for this season. -
http://thedailysail.com/
DOMINATING PERFORMANCE
Congratulations to Tom and Dotty Hill's Titan XII (1st in fleet) and Les
Crouch's Storm (2nd in Fleet) at the 2005 Antigua Sailing Week. This
completes a dominant season of Caribbean racing for both boats. Their great
performances deserve precision; that's why they chose Ockam Instruments.
Titan XII utilizes Ockam's superior Tryad processing power and autocal
capabilities in conjunction with the functionality and control of the
Expedition tactical/navigation software to produce the most accurate,
stable data in all conditions. Known around the world for performance,
accuracy and reliability, Ockam offers instrument solutions for a distinct
competitive advantage. Contact: mailto:lat@ockam.com
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR
Porto Azzurro, Italy - Day 2 of the Toscana Elba Cup, Stage 5 of the
2004-'05 Swedish Match Tour, produced an array of thrills and spills for
the 500 spectators who meandered through the race village on a sun-drenched
day. There were as many as six come-from-behind victories in the 22 matches
on the day. Two of them came on the finish line in the final flight of
Group A's round robin, and affected the final standings in the group.
Three times crews pulled off a penalty turn on the finish line, completing
their 270-degree turn and clearing the line before their competitor could
overtake. After the Group A and B round robins were completed, there were
seven ties broken (four in Group A, three in Group B) to determine who
advanced to the quarters and who advanced to the sudden-death repechage round.
The day ended with the repechage round halfway completed. A repechage
round, borrowed from rowing, gives teams a chance to race another day. That
honor went to Ian Ainslie (RSA), of Team Shosholoza, Francesco de Angelis
(ITA), of Luna Rossa Challenge, Russell Coutts (NZL), of Coutts Racing, and
Hamish Pepper (NZL), of Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team. Each won their
first knockout match, and will have to survive another tomorrow morning if
they hope to advance to the quarterfinals.
The wind made a welcomed appearance today. A light east/southeasterly
dominated the final three flights of Group B's round robin in the morning.
As the final match was finishing, the wind shifted around to the northwest,
the Mistral direction, and promptly increased in strength to 15 knots, with
gusts up to 18 knots. The gusts started reaching 20 knots later in the day,
and forced the race committee to order the use of the smaller, 100-percent
jibs on the Swedish Match 40s in place of the larger, overlapping genoas. -
Sean McNeill, www.SwedishMatchTour.com
TOSCANA ELBA CUP - Repechage Round Results
Ian Ainslie (RSA) d. Ben Ainslie (GBR)
Francesco de Angelis (ITA) d. Thierry Peponnet (FRA)
Winner of I. Ainslie-de Angelis match advances to quarterfinals
Russell Coutts (NZL) d. Peter Holmberg (ISV)
Hamish Pepper (NZL) d. Karol Jablonski (POL)
Winner of Coutts-Pepper match advances to quarterfinals
Final Round Robin Standings
Group A
Ed Baird* (USA) Team Alinghi, 4-2
2. Magnus Holmberg* (SWE) Victory Challenge, 4-2
3. James Spithill* (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 4-2
4. Ben Ainslie (GBR) Emirates Team New Zealand, 4-2
5. Hamish Pepper (NZL) Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team, 3-3
6. Francesco de Angelis (ITA) Luna Rossa Challenge, 2-4
7. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Team Alinghi, 0-6
Group B
1. Peter Gilmour* (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team, 5-1
2. Gavin Brady* (NZL) BMW Oracle Racing, 4-2
3. Iain Percy* (GBR) +39 Challenge, 3-3
4. Russell Coutts (NZL) Coutts Racing, 3-3
5. Thierry Peponnet (FRA) K-Challenge, 3-3
6. Karol Jablonski (RSA) Desafio Espaņol, 2-4
7. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Shosholoza, 1-5
CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine)
Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
NEWS BRIEFS
* Hundreds of visitors to this year's Skandia Cowes Week will be able to
take to the water for a free sailing lesson thanks to Skandia and the
United Kingdom Sailing Academy (UKSA). UKSA will provide daily 'Try
Sailing' taster sessions for the full eight days of the regatta. Anyone
over eight years old will qualify for the sessions. Each session will last
for an hour and will involve the UKSA instructors in three Colgate
Keelboats enabling up to fifteen people to get a taste of what it's like to
sail. - www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk/
* The UBS Alinghi Swiss Tour has sparked massive interest, with 93 teams
rushing to sign up for the five qualifying match races that will make them
2005 Swiss Match Racing Champion. Faced with this overwhelming demand, the
Tour had to close entries at 42 inscriptions, which include Olympic
medalists, youth sailors from Swiss Sailing, as well as a good number of
match racing pros. The first event is in Zurich (14-16 May), then Thoune,
Lugano, Romanshorn and Geneva, with a final in Valencia in November. -
www.alinghi.com/Swisstour
* The Spanish VO70 Moviestar has arrived in Rio de Janeiro completing over
8,000 miles on her journey to the VOR start. Since leaving Newcastle,
Australia on 23 March, the Spanish Volvo Ocean Race yacht Moviestar has
sailed 8,100 nautical miles, has crossed the always menacing Cape Horn, and
has broken a world record by sailing 530.19 nautical miles in 24 hours. -
Yachting World, www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20050405121511ywnews.html
* With nearly 6000 miles still left on leg 5 from Cape Town to Boston, the
Global Challenge fleet is drifting slowly - averaging less than five knots
over the bottom. The top six boats are less than 10 miles apart and even
the back-markers are only 66 miles astern. www.globalchallenge2004.com/en
* Hot video: After a storm front come through Santa Cruz, with big wind
(28+kts) and big waves (10ft+) Philippe Kahn took his 5o5 out for a sail.
You simply must see the video: www.pegasus.com/gallery/505SantaCruz2005.htm
CATCH THE WIND SHIFT!
A comprehensive weather resource is now available that includes a range of
seminars, books, and CDs that use cutting edge graphics. Review and improve
your inshore and offshore sailing skills. Learn the weather theory as well
as how to apply the information. Aboard or ashore from his office, Bill
Biewenga, veteran ocean racer and weather router is available to work with
you, your crew, or club. Bill brings 340,000 ocean miles & 18 years of
weather routing experience to each project. Email
mailto:billbiewenga@compuserve.com Review the full range of live & online
weather seminars at http://www.weather4sailors.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON
(Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name and may be
edited for clarity or space - 250 words max. This is not a chat room nor a
bulletin board - you only get one letter per subject, so give it your best
shot and don't whine if others disagree.)
* From Paul Kamen: A story in 'Butt 1832 claimed that Scott Duncan and
Pamela Habek are e the first legally blind people to sail across an ocean..
Are you sure? In 1986, Hank Decker, also legally blind, finished ahead of
me in the Singlehanded Transpac. Okay, maybe San Francisco to Hawaii is
only halfway across an ocean. But then, according to Tom Fowle of the Bay
Area Association of Disabled Sailors, Geoffrey Hilton-Barber, also blind,
sailed singlehanded from South Africa to Australia.
* From Chuck Sinks: Ty English 'Butt 1830..Stuck with the Sabot? Thank you
very much. For 50+ years the funky little pram, with sub 100-boat junior
fleets, has launched some pretty amazing sailing careers and continues to
do so. I don't know, but maybe there is something good going on in the
"cottage industry" of So. Cal. pram sailing. A quick check of the USA's
Olympic representatives for at least the last 5 quads - and sure enough,
plenty of Olympic sailors with roots in the Naples Sabot. In 2004, Tim
Wadlow (49er), a Naples Sabot Jr. Champion, carried on the "Dutch Shoe"
Olympic tradition.
The little boat seems to take a bit more than its fair share of bashing -
but the Sabot seems to be the perfect pram for So. Cal. -- for Junior and
Senior sailors (that's right, So. Cal. Senior Sabot sailors are very
active, many sailing at age 80). 'Buttheads, please join me in wishing the
USA's representatives to the 2005 Volvo ISAF Youth World Championship all
the best: Adam Roberts & Nick Martin (Men's Doublehanded); Megan Magill and
Briana Provancha (Women's Doublehanded) -- all excellent Naples Sabot sailors.
* From Kimball Livingston, senior editor, West Coast, Sail magazine: It's
easy to make a case for training Southern California junior sailors in the
international Opti rather than the regionally-limited Sabot -- until you
run up against the cost of replacing the infrastructure, namely an existing
fleet. But I suspect that when we're talking about boats and little kids,
what matters most is to give them a chance to make friends, have some fun
outdoors, and for those who really take to sailing, learn technique, rules,
and sportsmanship. I recall a conversation with San Diego YC's Andrew
Campbell on this subject, right after he won the Youth Worlds in 2002
(after winning the U.S. title three times).
Here's Andrew Campbell: "You can't right a Sabot after you tip it over.
When you're a little kid, that hurts. You're out of the race. Meanwhile,
kids on the East Coast have Optimists, which are rightable and easier to
sail, and they compete in international regattas with 200-300 boats. By the
time they're 13, the top people have been all over the world. My friends
and I grew up sailing Sabots, and our 'national' competition never took us
beyond Santa Barbara. Those East Coast guys sounded awesome, very big. But
then all of us moved up to Lasers, and there we were, sailing at about the
same level."
* From Mike Kehew (Re: Charlie McLaughlin's comments on $600 million to
$1.8 billion Cup quest expenditures): Granted the Cup is a Holy Grail, but
one thing it is not, never has been and never will be is a one design
event. Of course too much money is spent on a seemingly unimportant event
compared to world problems, but this misses the point...the Cup is, by
definition, a technology / money / talent / boat race.
Calling the expenditures obscene misses a point... the "Cup" employs
hundreds if not thousands, including Sailors, Designers, Sail makers, Boat
builders, Technology providers, Communication workers, Commentators, and
Reporters. Of course the Cup also provides entertainment on many levels.
Thus the money isn't sent down a rat hole, it is contributed to the various
economies it touches.
Every major sport has obscene salaries, should we all feel bad because we
pay too much money to watch these events, thus doing a dis-service to the
less fortunate of the world? If so, can anyone justify owning a pricey car
instead of a basic transportation vehicle? Should we all forego a Rolex
because we should give the difference in value between it and a Timex to a
charitable trust? Life is not that simple...
Let the billionaires have their race and let's all enjoy the spectacle.
However, in the big picture we should also remember they should be judged
not by the results of the Cup, but how do they use their billions to help
others on many levels, charitable endeavors a much more important
contribution to humanity.
* From Bruce Thompson: Here is NASA's explanation of solar sailing:
http://solarsails.jpl.nasa.gov/introduction/how-sails-work.html Notice
that they are apparently using the sail as a brake for solar or inner
planet (Mercury or Venus) missions. This slows the spacecraft down and
causes the orbit to decay, in a manner similar to the way satellites
eventually fall back to Earth as their orbits decay. So by starting in a
circular orbit around the Sun, slowing the spacecraft down would slowly
reduce the radius of the orbit. The difficulty is that as the craft nears
the Sun, the temperature will rise and it will eventually fail from the
high temperatures (the Columbia failed from exposure to high temperatures).
By changing the angle of attack, they could use the sail to be "blown" back
away from the Sun. So maybe they could use such as mission as the "kiddie
pool" to learn how to sail! Beat, tack, jibe etc. But there is no
indication they have thought about how to land on the inner planets!
NASA has really suffered as the bureaucrats have risen to power. What ever
happened to those old descriptive engineering terms such as "blast off"
(now "lift off")? We're no longer "in orbit" (a concession to the fact the
orbit is always decaying), it is now "on orbit" (which ignores frictional
drag). Everything costs more and is less likely to work! Now the NASA
historians are impressed by the ability to lift an Egyptian obelisk with a
kite. Great, where do we stand as we hold the string?
Try the simulator! www.ec-lille.fr/%7Eu3P/Glenans/apjava.html
* From John T. Porter: Mr. Stookey is absolutely correct in what he said
about these fine Americans and sailors. However, Teddy's quote, although
quite appropriate, is not complete. To my knowledge, the full quote is: "It
is not the critic who counts. The credit belongs to the man who is actually
in the arena, who's face is marred with blood and sweat and dirt; who knows
the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy
cause; who errs and comes up short again and again, who at best in the end
knows the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, fails while
daring greatly, so that his place shall never be among those cold and timid
souls that know neither victory nor defeat." T-Rex. I think that we can all
agree that this truly describes these people... enough said, thread dead!
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
"I'm not going to vacuum 'til Sears makes one you can ride on." - Roseanne Barr
|
| |