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SCUTTLEBUTT 3619 - Monday, June 25, 2012
Scuttlebutt 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.
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Today's sponsors: Quantum Sails and Melges Performance Sailboats.
SEEING TRIPLE
Multihulls can polarise sailors. It used to be you were either into them or
you weren't. That, however, is now changing and with multihulls moving into
the mainstream they are very much at the forefront of competitive sailing.
If France is the spiritual home of multihulls, then Lorient must be its
beating heart with the likes of Banque Populaire, Groupama 3, and many
other famous multihulls based out of the port.
While in Lorient, CAMPER skipper Chris Nicholson and a number of other
Volvo (Ocean Race) sailors took up the offer of Groupama skipper Frank
Cammas to go sailing on his Jules Verne winning trimaran Groupama 3.
At over 100 feet, Groupama 3 has won the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest
circumnavigation of the world, held the trans-Atlantic record for 2 years
and remains one of the fastest ocean-going yachts in the world.
For Nico, the opportunity to have a ride aboard the green speed machine in
near perfect conditions of 20 knots breeze was too good to miss. "You'd
think we would have had enough of sailing, but to get the opportunity to go
sailing on a legendary boat like Groupama 3 is just incredible.
"I've done plenty of cat sailing before but this is the first time I've
been out on a tri so it's pretty cool. They're impressive machines and it's
certainly the easiest 30 knots I've ever done in my sailing life. It's
unbelievable really how effortlessly the boat does big numbers. You do 30
knots on Volvo Open 70 and your hair is on fire versus 30 knots on this
where everything is calm and sedate. It makes a nice change!
"It's nice just to sit back and watch how the hulls perform under some
pretty big loads. There was a decent seaway out there and I was really
impressed with the way the boat handled it. I think I'd want to spend a few
more months sailing on one of them before I'd make the call to sail around
the world in one, but there's no doubt that multis are the exiting high
performance part of the sport at the moment. It certainly excites me so who
knows where I might end up in the future." --
http://etnzblog.com/#!2012/06/nico-sees-triple
SCHEDULE: Competition resumes again on Friday, June 29 for the Pro-Am Race,
the In-Port Race on Saturday, June 30, and the final offshore leg from
Lorient to Galway, Ireland (485nm) on Sunday, July 1. Schedule:
http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule
Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html
Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos
BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started
in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early
July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles
around the world 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
STEPHEN MURRAY'S 'DECISION' WINS ONION PATCH SERIES
Hamilton, Bermuda (June 23, 2012) - The new Carkeek HP40 'Decision' owned
by Steve Murray (New Orleans LA) was the top Onion Patch boat in the
Newport Bermuda Race and then the talented 'Decision' team put on a top
performance in Friday's Royal Bermuda YC Anniversary Regatta presented by
the Butterfield Group to come out as the first place individual boat in the
series.
'Decision' edged out Lawrence Dickie's 'Ptarmigan' by only .5 points and
beat the US Naval Academy TP52 'Invictus' by 2.25. 'Invictus' had led going
into the Bermuda event but finished that day in 11th place.
As the top individual boat in the Onion Patch Series, Murray wins the Henry
B. du Pont Trophy.
"Doing the Onion Patch Series has been a dream of mine since I was 12,"
Murray said. "Burt Keenan who was from New Orleans did the series and I had
heard about it as I grew up sailing. I'm really excited at being able to
win it now. This new Carkeek 40 is really fast in the conditions we had in
the RBYC Anniversary Regatta. We are having a great time in Bermuda."
Murray had won the racing division in the Regata al Sol, a 555 mile race
from Pensacola FL to Isla Mujeres MX, in May as a warm-up for Newport
Bermuda. He then trucked 'Decision' to Newport RI for the New York Yacht
Club 158th Annual June 9-10, the first stage of the Onion Patch series. --
Read on: http://tinyurl.com/OP-062512
BACKGROUND: The Onion Patch Series was born in 1962, and today includes New
York Yacht Club's Annual Regatta in Newport, Rhode Island (June 9-10), the
Newport Bermuda Race organized by The Cruising Club of America (starting on
June 15), and the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club's Anniversary Regatta in
Hamilton Harbour (June 22). -- http://www.onionpatchseries.com/
QUANTUM SAILS: WHEN 'NO' IS NOT AN OPTION
Thanks to quick work on the part of the Quantum Newport team, "Decision"
was able to add a jib top to its sail inventory just in time for the start
of the Newport to Bermuda race. The sail, designed and built in only four
days, proved to be very important in this year's event and was used in
nearly 50% of the race. Congratulations to Stephen Murray and crew on
"Decision", a Carkeek 40 HPR, for taking first in IRC and second in ORR in
Class 8, St. David's Lighthouse Division. Great onboard video from crew
Alex Clegg of Quantum Newport: http://tinyurl.com/btxw5wh
PERFECT WEATHER - TYPICAL WEATHER
Long Beach, CA (June 24, 2012) - The stars were out under a clear blue sky
for the 134-boat Ullman Sails Long Beach Race Week through the weekend, but
please don't ask Jeff Janov for his autograph.
As before, Janov's Dark Star dominated the Farr 40 class with six wins in
seven races, and the humble skipper from Malibu was almost happy to
surrender the glare of a sweep with a lone loss to Ray Godwin's Temptress
in the first of Sunday's two windup races.
"They sailed really well," Janov said of his Long Beach rival. "This fleet
is really tough. Anytime you do well it's very rewarding."
Three others completed their perfect weekends in the event co-hosted and
organized by the Alamitos Bay and Long Beach Yacht Clubs: Larry Spencer's
Blue Star in Olson 30s, Mark Surber's J/125, Derivative, in PHRF-2, and
John Sangmeister's Morelli ProSail 40 catamaran in the Random Leg 1 class
that explored the offshore wonders every day in daily races measuring from
18.5 to 27.5 nautical miles.
Then there was Jim Sears, co-host of the CBS network daily show "The
Doctors," who won the 15-boat Viper class but had to make a hard choice
between skipping a couple of races Saturday or attending the Emmys awards
affair in Hollywood that night. He found a substitute skipper and attended
the Emmys, seeing as how he was nominated for two honors.
"We won the regatta but lost the Emmy to Regis Philbin," Sears said. "At
first I was going to skip the Emmys. I love to sail. But I had to leave
after the first race Saturday." He has been sailing a Viper for only a
year, finishing seventh here last year. -- Read on:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14053#14053
LONG DISTANCE BEACH CAT RACING
Jeremy Leonard of Surf City Racing was hired to document the Great Texas
Catamaran Race (June 13-16) by video and photography. Jeremy describes the
race, which offers 300 miles of extreme sailing along the Texas coast, as
"one of the most incredible sailing events that I've ever attended. It
meshes Texas hospitality, hardcore racing, and old-school beach cat good
times." Here is his complete report...
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The Great Texas 300 is a 4 Leg, 300 mile beach catamaran race from the
remote South Padre Island to Galveston, Texas. The GT is currently the only
distance beach cat race in the country, and this year 10 boats competed.
This grueling race tests the mettle of sailor and boat, with conditions on
all points of sail ranging from a benign 5 knots of breeze, to howling,
lumpy conditions. One consistent danger of each leg is the
through-the-surf, beach launch and landing for the starts and finishes.
This year the swell was much smaller than in previous years, but still
there were several broken rudder systems, crashes, and even a broken mast.
There's a whole litany of items that the GT300 requires its sailors to
carry aboard in order to be able to participate in the race. The GT folks
take safety seriously, and in addition to a presentation from the local
Coast Guard, they have a dedicated person, Trey Garrison, who is in charge
of the safety check list. Garrison makes contact with each team, and
meticulously catalogs each piece of safety gear. Before Leg 1 I asked
Garrison, what his concerns were, and he responded, "It's about 90 nautical
miles as the crow flies. At the start we'll have ten boats, and the surf is
a little on the rough side. As a matter of fact, we had one boat go out to
practice today and broke a rudder." The danger of beach launching is
evident. -- Read on:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14051#14051
SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR
Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar
SAILING SHORTS
* Miami, FL (June 22, 2012) - For the second time during the 2012 Snipe
U.S. National Championship, the 44-boat fleet was kept ashore on the final
day of the event due to extreme weather. Seven races were completed, with
Brazilians Bruno Bethlem de Amorim and Daniel Seixas Claro winning by a six
point margin over second place Ernesto Rodriguez and crew Cate Gundlach of
South Florida. Rodriguez/ Gundlach were awarded the Heinzerling Trophy as
the top U.S. skipper and crew. -- Full story:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14043#14043
* St. Petersburg, FL (June 24, 2012) - The 2012 Rose Cup, a national youth
match racing event held on June 21-24, saw Will Holz of Chicago Yacht Club
complete a near flawless run to take the title. After winning 14 of 15
matches in the triple round robin series, he dispatched Phil Bendon
(Chicago Match Race Center) 3-1 in the semi-finals before beating Charlie
Lalumiere (Portland Yacht Club) 3-2 in the finals. The win gives Holz an
invitation to the Governor's Cup in Newport Beach, California on July 17-22
and the Harken Youth International Match Racing Championship on February
20-24, 2013. Full report:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14052#14052
* Sausalito, CA (June 22, 2012) - The 2012 Hobie 16 and Hobie 20 North
American Championships were hosted by Sausalito Yacht Club on San Francisco
Bay, with both fleets able to race on all five days of the event (June
18-22). The 34-boat Hobie 16 fleet was dominated by Enrique (Quique)
Figueroa/ Christian Maysonet, with the Puerto Rican team not needing to
sail the final race. The scores were much closer in the 16-boat Hobie 20
event, with Mark Lewis/Tiffany Lewis (USA) holding on to edge out a two
point victory. -- Daily reports/results:
http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14022
* LeRoy Neiman (USA), a globetrotting artist whose celebrity often eclipsed
that of the famous athletes and entertainers he portrayed in vibrantly
colored, boldly expressive paintings, died June 20 at a hospital in New
York. He was 91. By all accounts, Mr. Neiman was the foremost artist of the
sporting world, with his work including several of the successful America's
Cup boats. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/WP-062512
MELGES ROCKS
The Melges 24 World Championship will be on Lake Garda in Italy this year.
Already, 120+ boats pre-registered for this championship, with over 21
countries represented! The Melges 24 continues to grow and bring excitement
to sailors around the world. The Melges 24 is forever fun! New boats being
produced now. Race to http://www.melges.com for further details.
ENTRY LIST: The North American contingent for the M24 Worlds currently
includes Don Jesberg, Bora Gulari, and corinthian entry Robert Harf:
http://melges-worlds-2012.appspot.com/entrylist/
EIGHT BELLS
* An absolute legend from the Australian sailing world died last week. My
dear friend and "business father" Stan Lenepveu was 89. He was the "Stan"
in "Ronstan", and without him many of us would wonder what we would be
doing these days. He and Ron Allatt started a company in 1953 that has
employed many hundreds of people and given many of us so much joy and
satisfaction. He was a fine "Sharpie" sailor and a skilled boatbuilder of
boats such as Dragons and the Flying Dutchman. Stan was a down to earth
toolmaker who was talented, gruff, no nonsense and emotional, and Ronstan
was his life. I will never forget teaching him how to tie his tie as we
rode the elevator up to the reception held the day the company was sold! --
Alistair Murray, Managing Director, Ronstan
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* Rolly Tasker, a legend in his own time, has crossed the bar. A cheerful
and inventive Aussie yachtsman and sailmaker, there was more wind in his
sails at last sighting, but illness has changed the course of his voyage.
He died at 86 years on Friday.
Rolly was raised in Western Australia, where geography and culture foster
inventiveness to survive. Rolly grew up modestly, hanging around
boatbuilders and absorbing the art and science of sailing. He designed and
built his first dinghy in 1936, when he was ten, earning money for
materials by catching and selling crabs. A few years later, his mother
began sewing sails that he designed on the family's pedal-powered machine.
Over time, he learned how to refine the shapes of his sails.
In his early racing, he was a bailer on an overpowered skiff in Perth's
Swan River. Through that and other sailing in dinghies and skiffs, he
developed a strong intuitive sense of the aero- and hydrodynamics of
sailing. He got plenty wet along the way, but his talent and determination
drove him toward increasingly significant championships. In 1956, he became
Australia's first Olympic medalist in sailing, with a silver, and won the
World Championship in the Flying Dutchman class two years later.
He opened his first sail loft in Western Australia in 1954. He eventually
opened lofts in various countries, culminating in a modern, open and
efficient Loft #12 in Phuket, Thailand in 1990. At 100,000 sq ft, it is
among the largest in the world. In all, Tasker Sails has built more than a
million sails, sold in more than 60 countries. Rolly was at the helm of the
loft's ever-growing business until very recently, nearly 60 years since
establishing his first loft. Being 86 years of age on his passing, Rolly's
version of retirement age is quite a story in itself. -- David Pedrick,
read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14048
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 Chad M. Lyons:
With the passing of Jim Drake (as noted in Scuttlebutt 3618), had he not
introduced the asymmetrical rig with a wishbone boom, the sport would not
have seen such wide popularity. These additions made the sailboard more
efficient and easier to learn. An accurate account of the evolution of the
modern sailboard was published in American Windsurfer over a decade ago and
is briefly reported here: Patents; A blow by blow of how the inventor of
windsurfing found his place in the sun. - New York Times:
http://tinyurl.com/NYT-062512
We all owe Jim for his contributions to our sport. May he rest in peace.
* From Pete Williams:
How refreshing it was to read in Scuttlebutt 3618 that someone of Ken
Read's stature opine that "variety is the key to sailing". I wonder how
many people that compete experience much variety. When all that is
generally served on the menu is Windward-Leewards race courses, my guess is
there are generations of people that don't understand how far in a corner
our sport has moved.
CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
Beer is the answer...but I can't remember the question.
SPONSORS THIS WEEK
Quantum Sails - Melges Performance Sailboats - North Sails
US Sailing - Allen Insurance and Financial - IYRS - Summit Yachts
KO Sailing - Ullman Sails - APS - Pure Yachting - Henri Lloyd
Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers
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