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SCUTTLEBUTT 3490 - Thursday, December 15, 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: Ullman Sails and West Marine. MORE FICKLE WEATHER AT ISAF WORLDS Perth, Australia (December 14, 2011) - It was a frustrating day for many sailors today at the 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, with patches of big breeze and patches of glass throughout the race courses. This was the final qualifying day for the fleet racing events, and while the Men's RS:X and 49er were unable to complete all of the scheduled races today, the Laser, Women's 470, and Star events remain on track. The leading teams in the fleet racing events have been assigned to the gold flights where each fleet will proceed to advance the top ten for the Medal Race to be held Saturday (Star only) and Sunday. * Only 13 points separate the top ten in the 49er event, with Great Britain's John Pink and Rick Peacock rolling a 1-6 to take top spot overall by four points over Stephane Christidis and Emmanuel Dyen (FRA). Americans Erik Storck and Trevor Moore stumbled with a 15-20 to slip down to 13th position. * Spain's Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos maintained their hold on the number one position in the Women's 470, with Japan's Ai Kondo and Tabata Wakako retaining second place. A 5-12 by World #1 team Erin Maxwell/ Isabelle Farrar Kinsolving (USA) brings them up to 14th position. The Women's 470 fleet has a rest day on Thursday and will resume racing on Friday. * Dutchman Dorian van Rijsselberghe shares the RS:X overall lead with Israel's Nimrod Mashich after light winds plagued Centre Course on Wednesday. A 20th by Canadian Zachary Plavsic in the lone race drops him to 13th position. Racing continues Thursday with a possible rest day on Friday. * Defending Laser world champion Tom Slingsby (AUS) was setting the pace with his fourth win on the third day of racing, with Great Britain's Paul Goodison now seven points in arrears. An 8-6 by Clay Johnson (USA) moves him up to 12th position. Racing continues on Thursday with a possible rest day on Friday. * Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada have extended their overall lead in the Star thanks to two good results on Wednesday, and are now six points clear of Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih (USA) who are second overall. The Star fleet has a rest day on Thursday, with two races on Friday before Saturday's Medal Race. * The quarterfinal round of the Women's Match Race event began today with its best of five knockout matches. Surviving the day to advance to the semifinals was Claire Leroy (FRA), Lucy MacGregor (GBR), Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), and Anna Tunnicliffe (USA). The pairings for the semifinals on Thursday will be Leroy vs MacGregor and Skudina vs Tunnicliffe. BACKGROUND: The ISAF Sailing World Championships are held every four years, bringing together the Olympic class organization to host their most prestigious event. The 2011 edition on December 3-18 will see over 1,100 sailors from 78 nations coming to Perth, Australia to compete in their class World titles and to qualify their nations for the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. -- Event website: http://www.perth2011.com ON THE OLYMPIC TRAIL - CLAY JOHNSON By Judith Krimski, Sailing Coach and freelance sailing writer After three years of campaigning, over 240,000 miles traveled (9 times around the world), American Clay Johnson is in the home stretch of his quest to represent the United States as the sole male Laser sailor in the 2012 Olympics. Currently 12th in the World rankings, Clay is solidly atop the leader board of Americans in that category. But his challenges aren't over - Clay needs to beat Brad Funk by at least 5 points at the Perth 2011 ISAF Worlds to earn the U.S. nomination for the Olympic Laser event. Growing up on the shores of New Jersey, Clay started his love affair with sailing at age five when his dad taught him how to sail a Toms River Pram. From that point on it was all sailing. Clay counts among his accomplishments international competition in the Optimist and Laser Radial before moving into the Laser Full rig. In 2000 he was the youngest person to compete in the U.S. Olympic trials - where he finished 19th. Clay started his most recent Olympic campaign in 2009. The following interview was conducted before the ISAF Sailing Worlds Championship, where Clay has a 12 point advantage on Brad Funk as of Wednesday.... * You have tremendous family support. What is the strength of having your family involved in this process? CLAY JOHNSON: The great thing about having my family is they're sailors to begin with. They know what it entails. When I came to them in September of 08 and said "Heh, I feel like I have some unfinished business here. I want to stop working and start sailing." At first they were a little reluctant. After I convinced them it was what I wanted they were 100 percent on board and supported me to the fullest. They don't want me to look back at this when I'm 50 and say "Wow I really could have done that." Now is the only time I have the opportunity to do this. I'm not getting any younger or in better shape. They understood now's the time for me. * It's been a long road for you. What are you thinking leading up to Perth? CLAY JOHNSON: It's kind of bittersweet because it's been a long time. Some days I wake up and I'm ready to do the trials and Olympics and get moving on. Some days I wish I could keep going cause it's so much fun. The campaign's only been two 1/2 years but I've been sailing Lasers since 1998. I'm only 27 but I've been in the class for 13 years. I'm anxious to get to Australia and finish the trials process and hopefully have a great regatta. If I qualify a lot of the pressure will be removed and I can enjoy the next eight months, train even harder and focus on the Olympics. Read on: http://centerofeffort01.blogspot.com/#!/2011/11/clay-johnson.html ULLMAN SAILS - DELIVERING THE SERVICE YOU DESERVE Are you debating between performance sails for the racecourse or durable sails for weekend cruising with the family? Or you maybe you only have the budget for one new sail this year? At Ullman Sails, we're dedicated to personally working with each customer to determine the best sails for their sailing goals and budget. And it doesn't matter whether you're investing in a Blue Line Cruising spinnaker or buying a FiberPath GP Race genoa for your race inventory, our sail consultants will go the extra mile to make sure every customer is satisfied. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com FORK IN THE ROAD (December 14, 2011; Day 4) - While the first three days of Leg 2 saw the Volvo Ocean Race fleet sort through the unusual conditions off the African tip together, the fleet has now split into two groups to solve an approaching problem. The first group is led by the Spanish boat to the North-East and the second group is to the south and controlled by the French yacht. Two imperatives appear to explain this dichotomy: how to best traverse the current on the nose from the Agulhas and how to tackle the transition zone planned for this Thursday between the depression, which is passing below South Africa whilst filling in on itself, and the Mascareignes High which is being compressed between Kerguelen and Madagascar. "It's the key to the whole leg," said Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing skipper Ian Walker, whose yacht Azzam has been among the northern group. "It's about who can get through this trough in the best shape. If we can get to the trough, then we will have good northerlies and we will be fast all the way into the high pressure, the ridge of high pressure known as the Indian Ocean high. If we can't, then we are going to sit here for days bashing up against it." In this leg three years ago, three teams including both Team Telefonica boats detached from the fleet and stayed north. History repeats itself now when, once again, there is a substantial split in the fleet and overall race leader Team Telefonica (Iker Martínez/ESP) is over 200 nautical miles in the north. The team's navigator, Andrew Cape, made the same move three years ago when navigating PUMA's il mostro. Discussing tactics, helmsman Charles Caudrelier said the crew of Groupama 4 (Franck Cammas/FRA), were going to heed the old adage, 'if you don't know where to go in the Atlantic, you have to go west; and if you don't know where to go in the Southern Ocean, you have to go south'. "We got that wrong on the first leg, we will respect it this time," the Frenchman said. Groupama 4 is the furthest yacht south and clearly taking the adage seriously. -- Event media Course details: http://tinyurl.com/Piracy-121111 Leg 2 - Cape Town, SA to Abu Dhabi, UAE Standings as of Thursday, 15 December 2011, 1:25:54 UTC 1. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP) 2. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 27.70 nm Distance to Lead 3. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 53.10 nm DTL 4. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 54.90 nm DTL 5. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 56.10 nm DTL 6. Groupama (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 113.60 nm DTL Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos Race Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles of the world's most treacherous seas via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com 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: * Weymouth Harbour now accepting berthing applications for 2012 Olympics * Vintage Nautical Charts * Yachting Photographer Nicole Scott's new book: '200 Bowmen' * December Issue of Sail Sense from Elliott / Pattison Sailmakers View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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: Dec 17-20 - US SAILING Level 1 Instructor Course - San Diego, CA, USA Dec 17-18 - US SAILING Level 2 Coach Course - Honolulu, HI, USA Dec 26 - Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - Sydney, Australia Dec 26-30 - Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta - Miami, FL, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * (December 14, 2011; Day 22 - 22:45:00 UTC) - Moderating conditions in the Pacific Ocean find Loick Peyron (FRA) and his team on the 131-foot maxi trimaran Banque Populaire V losing some of their advantage but still have a 1901.3 nm margin over the non-stop circumnavigation Jules Verne Trophy record of 48 days 7 hours 44 minutes 52 seconds set by Franck Cammas on the 103-foot Groupama 3 in 2010. They now have 10694 nm to the finish. -- http://tinyurl.com/BP-121111 * After a 20 year hiatus, the Atlantic City Race Week is back. This coming July the Ocean City Yacht Club in conjunction with Golden Nugget Casino have planned what should be a competitive racing experience in a superb setting. The regatta includes an optional feeder race from Ocean City, NJ to Atlantic City on July 20th followed by two days of ocean racing. One design racing is planned for Melges 24, J/24 and J/105 classes as well as Spinnaker and Non-Spinnaker PHRF divisions. Other classes are welcome. -- Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13033#13033 * Don Wilson, founder of the Chicago Match Race Center, wants to create a private club and lodge for the sailing club. Wilson bought a long-vacant three-flat six months ago to convert into a club with space for events and meetings and 21 guest rooms - a plan that requires adding a fourth floor. However, the plan has received resistance from the local neighborhood association, which has concerns that the club's plan will add noise and traffic to the residential area. The proposal goes before the city's Zoning Board of Appeals this week. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/CB-121411 THE FINAL STRETCH OF HOLIDAY SHOPPING Believe it or not, we're a little more than a week out from Dec 25th. Today through Monday (Dec 19), you can still order online and get Free Ground Shipping on orders over $99 and we'll guarantee delivery by Dec 23. Expedited delivery is also available for an extra fee for orders placed after Monday. In addition, we have plenty of gift ideas for your favorite sailor at westmarine.com as well as gift cards if you want to let them decide. http://www.westmarine.com 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 Vincent Delany: Regarding entrapment (in Scuttlebutt 3489), we had a death recently when a Dragon sank in Dublin Bay in strong winds. A diver went down to put air bags into the hull and became entrapped in floating rope tails and died. Divers also need to be aware of the problem. * From Jos Spijkerman, International Judge/Umpire: The (Ben Ainslie) matter has been dealt with at the event. Is it now over? Reading Rule 69.1(c): 'The protest committee shall promptly report a penalty, but not a warning, to the national authorities of the venue, of the competitor and of the boat owner. If the protest committee is an international jury appointed by the ISAF under rule 89.2(b), it shall send a copy of the report to the ISAF.' That means that four 'higher' authorities will be sent a report. The Australian MNA: Yachting Australia (because the venue was Perth), the RYA (Ainslie is from GBR), the MNA of the boat-owner (if that is an MNA other than from Australia or Great Britain) and the ISAF. In all likelihood Yachting Australia and the ISAF will defer from investigating and leave the matter in the hands of the RYA. They are now the first to respond. But if the decision of the RYA is not appropriate in the eyes of either YA or the ISAF, they can then start their own investigation and decide on whether an additional sanction is warranted. -- http://tinyurl.com/RRS-121411 * From Ryan Wood: An example of another sport in which media is allowed to directly interact with the athletes to some extent is cycling. The camera men are on motorcycles and in cars alongside the riders, and sometimes are responsible for affecting the race. A recent example of this was the 2011 edition of the Tour de France where a French media car was passing some racing cyclists and collided with them (both the cyclists and the car were moving in excess of 30 mph). The result of this collision was that one rider hit the pavement extremely hard and another flew of the road into a barbed wire fence. Both riders finished the remaining two weeks of the race. This is not to justify the camera boats actions; the driver was definitely in the wrong. -- Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13032#13032 * From Anton van de Koppel, TV producer: The sport of sailing has expressed its need for a more media sport. This comes with the usual difficulties: more cameras, more chase boats and more incident with sailors and media. The "Ainslie incident" should have never happened if the media boat driver was more aware of how sailing with small boats really work. This incident goes back to the organisation table, where months ahead of an important venue like the Worlds the organisers are desperately looking for Media boat drivers. But there is no standard briefing for media boat drivers and someone with the papers for a small RIB will do. As a TV producer for sailing for the last 25 years, we have seen a lot of drivers/ owner that could hardly handle their boat with no sailing going on in the area at all, let alone when you are in a hectic start of a race. Usually we guide the drive as good as we can, and we have managed to avoid a lot of problems. Powerboat drivers, however, tend to panic when racing sailboats come very close and a wrong decision is quickly made. Furthermore, press boat drivers who claims to have experience always think that close to the race makes the nice picture. This is not the case. Professional media members use long lenses, and know long before the fleet comes close to the mark where they want to be to make that picture-perfect shot. -- Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13034#13034 * From Peter Jacobsen: I am a professional photographer with a solid racing background. I raced for many years in the junior, college and Olympic classes. As a sailing photographer, I covered many high profile sailing events. In order to get the shots I wanted, I needed to get as close as possible to the action. Any still photographer or cameraman knows that getting close to the boats is almost always the best way to get a decent shot. The only way to guarantee that a photo boat will not get in the way is to ban them from the race course. I'm surprised more sailors have not jumped onto photo boats in fits of rage after being slowed down by press boats. As much as I always tried not to get in the way of racers, I probably had my share of incidents where I should have been more careful, especially when covering dinghy racing. I cannot suggest a solution, except to say that it's unrealistic to assume a cameraman can do his job on the race course without the risk of interfering in a major way. The best compromise is to require that all press boat drivers be experienced sailors... - who know when they are blocking the wind, - who can anticipate when a boat might tack or jibe, - who can see where there's more or less wind on the water, - who knows what tack is the lifted tack, - who knows ahead of time if he's about to get in the way, - who knows how to get out of the way without causing disturbance and, - who won't be bullied by a photographer or cameraman insisting on getting to a certain location. - Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13027#13027 * From Andy Steiner, Steiner Design: The rig failures on Abu Dhabi and Puma in the Volvo Ocean Race are devastating for crew and sponsors and in my opinion inexcusable. If this happens after the 4th or 5th leg, it's another story, but one in the first night and the other in average conditions in the middle of the first leg, is prove of either wrong judgment or incapacity. To develop a VOR rig is the biggest challenge for any mast maker, forget America's Cup or the Vendee Globe. That's why even the best have to do a lot of testing. During the time of the maxi's Merit, and Rothmans and in '92/'93 Pierre Fehlmanns Merit Cup and Grant Dalton's Fisher and Paykel, we developed aluminum rigs with a high level of knowledge about the materials. For the standing rigging we used mostly cobalt rods but also pultruded Kevlar shrouds. No matter how much we pushed the technology the first rule was, and is still today, you have to reach the finish line without major failures. In '89/90 and '92/93 we succeeded, none of the leading boats had notable failures. I don't think we were better engineers; it was mostly due to the fact that the boats had sufficient test periods to observe the rigs before the race. Now almost 20 years later, knowledge about carbon rigs is at a high level. With the budgets available to the current crop of competitors, there is no excuse. -- Forum, read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13031 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "The other day I came home and a guy was jogging, naked. I asked him, 'Why?' He said, 'Because you came home early.'" - Rodney Dangerfield SPONSORS THIS WEEK Kaenon Polarized - APS - Ultimate Sailing - Point Loma Outfitting LaserPerformance - Atlantis WeatherGear - North Sails - Harken Ullman Sails - West Marine - North U - Hall Spars & Rigging Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
