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SCUTTLEBUTT 1983 -- December 8, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.HOLIDAY PLANS Where in the world do you go for a holiday when your day job is sailing around the globe? Having had plenty of opportunities to scout locations during her record-breaking circumnavigation earlier this year, Dame Ellen MacArthur has decided to spend her scarce leisure time not on a Caribbean beach or in a seven-star Dubai hotel, but on a bleak island in the south Atlantic, counting birds. This may be taken by some as confirmation that our most celebrated sailor is bonkers, but MacArthur could not be more enthusiastic about the project, which will see her celebrate Christmas aboard a yacht off the coast of South Georgia, 1,000 square miles of rock to be found 800 miles south-east of the Falkland Islands. The explanation? It's all about albatrosses. While sailing across the loneliest expanses of ocean in the world, MacArthur would often find that these giant birds were her only companions. As a result, she has become very fond of them, and is keen to do something to help what is rapidly becoming an endangered species. "These birds are incredibly special," MacArthur said. "I'm not waving a flag for them or anything, I just want people to know what's down there. It is conservation rather than conversation on MacArthur's mind at the moment. The albatross has traditionally been a 'lucky' bird for seafarers, and it is an appalling breach of maritime etiquette to cause one any harm, as Coleridge's Ancient Mariner found. In recent years, though, the birds have fallen victim to long-line fishing techniques. Part of the purpose of MacArthur's journey south is to take part in research into their numbers. This will be the first time since she started sailing as a professional in 1997 that she has taken time out for another project. It will be a kind of sabbatical, a chance to take stock not just of South Georgia's albatross population, but of her own achievements and direction. -- Excerpts from a story by Andrew Baker in the Telegraph, UK, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/bszp3 THE TOP TEAM … SO FAR (The CupInfo website attended several of the recent Yacht Club road show presentations done by the Alinghi syndicate and has posted interviews and reports on their website. Here's a brief excerpt.) CupInfo: So you are coming off a very successful season, the team has been winning and you seem to be at the top of your game. How do you continue that into the next season? Hamish Ross: We never consider ourselves at the top of the game, because the game isn't like a mountain where you reach a peak, I think. It's almost an infinite mountain, in a way, so you see yourself at a level, you see yourself against your competitors, but complacency is a disease that you don't want to catch in the America's Cup and so you never rest on your laurels. You're always trying to move forward, develop further. Ed Baird: That's a great way to look at it, because while we had a successful summer this year, I think that it wasn't just an exchange from being slightly less successful the year before, because everyone moved forward, all the teams moved forward. And one of the most impressive things to me was, two years before the event is going to occur, all 12 teams had boats with racing crews and shore teams and the whole deal on the water. And that has to my knowledge never happened before. I mean, there have always been a lot of teams that said they were going to be there two years ahead, but then some would not make it. But this time, man, there're all out there. And I think that's fantastic. So even the very basic brand new teams took big steps forward this year, and all of the top teams, of course, did as well. It's just a matter of who took the biggest jumps. As Hamish says, complacency is the killer in this sport. If you think "Ah, we're winning, so we're going to stay there," the first thing you know is that somebody you didn't expect is going to come up with something that makes it impossible for you to keep up with them, and they win. So that's the challenge, to spend each day coming into work and saying "How can we improve ourselves another little bit today?" because those little bits everyday make the difference. Hamish Ross: And also, to use an analogy, the deck gets reshuffled now. Everyone is building new boats. So now the design [factors] kick in. This winter we're building boats, our competitors are all building boats. Three new sail numbers have been issued in the last couple of months, so other competitors will be out there with their new boats and it could change everything. Somebody could up with a real rocketship. Some people may not do as well as they thought they would do. So for next year that will be an interesting part of it. -- Complete interviews: http://www.cupinfo.com/en/alinghi-roadshow-05-2.php http://www.cupinfo.com/en/alinghi-roadshow-05.php SWEETENING THE POT The stakes just got raised in the contest going on at the Scuttlebutt Forums. Premiere Racing is now offering a SLAM Sailing Vest for the best reply to the "Newbie looking for Key West info" thread on the forums. View the contest and all the forum activity at: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=5 BRASIL 1 ANNOUNCEMENT Australian Adrienne Cahalan will not be part of the Brasil 1 crew in the next few legs of the Volvo Ocean Race. After a meeting of several hours on Tuesday, skipper Torben Grael announced that, because of the extreme physical strength required by the boats used in the round-the-world regatta, the Brazilian team will have a new navigator for the stretch between South Africa and Brazil. Cahalan, however, can remain part of the team, and may at some point return to the crew. "I want to be clear that this change is only for the next legs and isn't something definite," said Grael. He invited Cahalan to be part of the ground crew but she hasn't replied to the invitation yet. "This change has nothing to do with the results of the first leg or with Adrienne´s performance; both were excellent. We just require someone who is more appropriate for the strong wind conditions that we will encounter. The reasons for this change were not technical but physical," he explained. -- www.brasil1.com.br STILL SEARCHING FOR THE ULTIMATE GIFT? Go to the Ultimate Sailing website to order the 2006 Ultimate Sailing calendar, or notecards, or the Ultimate Sailing Book. All feature the colorful, exciting photography of Sharon Green. Order before Dec. 15 for Christmas delivery. http://www.ultimatesailing.com SUNERGY AND FRIENDS (Following the arrival of of the VO&70 Sunergy and Friends in Cape Town, The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to Grant Wharington and race veteran Jeff Scott about how they'd got on. Here are a few excerpts.) Wharington is pleased with their appendage arrangement which in addition to the canting keel comprises twin rudders (like the ABN Amro boats) but has a single canard fitted with a trim tab that is permanently fixed down. "We've done it a little bit different with the fixed canard that we can't pull up so there was a bit of concern about where the extra drag of carrying that thing around the world down was going to slow us down too much. But obviously it's not," says Wharington. "It's kind of nice because it has a trim tab on the back and you can set a little bit of leeward angle on the tab and it can help you push down the waves. So it was quite nice." Jeff Scott says he would have preferred having twin lifting boards. Scott reckons their boat could be a weapon in the Southern Ocean if they can keep the wheels on. "The boat is the right sort of boat if you look at the ABN boats and see how they do. It is like last race with illbruck, I think we'll see whether Farr has got it right with the delta hours as we call it, the overall picture, but certainly the wider boats have the legs." The boat, reckons navigator Campbell Field, likes stability sailing, as do the ABN Amro boats. "She is in a similar area of the box to the ABN boats." But we don't know - we haven't sailed against another boat in 10 knots of air. -- www.thedailysail.com WORLD MATCH RACING RANKINGS Peter Gilmour (AUS) is back on top of the world, toppling his year-long rival Ed Baird (USA) to claim the number one spot in the final 2005 release of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Gilmour's win at the final ISAF Grade 1 event of the year, the Monsoon Cup in Malaysia, is enough to lift him above Baird, who did not compete in that event. In the Women's Rankings, Claire Leroy (FRA) also ends 2005 on a high, securing the top spot for the seventh release running. Sally Barkow (USA), who recently won the Match Racing World Championship for the second straight year, remains ranked at number 3. Men's Rankings: 1. Peter Gilmour (AUS), 2. Ed Baird (USA), 3. Russell Coutts (NZL), 4. James Spithill, (AUS), 5. Ian Williams (GBR). Women's Rankings: 1. Claire Leroy (FRA), 2. Marie Bjorling (SWE), 3. Sally Barkow (USA), 4. Nina Braestrup (DEN), 5. Klaartje Zuiderbaan (NED). Complete rankings: http://tinyurl.com/cxaq5 LASER RADIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS Fortaleza, Brazil (Dec. 7) - Wednesday marked a great day for the US Sailing Team-members in the Laser Radial World Championship in Brazil: by the end of the day, Paige Railey (Clearwater, FL) is in first place in the women's fleet, with Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, FL) in second place. Meanwhile, in the Open fleet, US Sailing Team-member Brad Funk (Plantation, FL) continues to climb the ranks and is now in second place overall. 18-year-old Paige Railey could be well on her way to her first Laser Radial World Championship title (although she has won the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship twice in her young career), but it isn't easy. "This championship is full of surprises because, in every race, there is a different group of girls sailing ahead. I never thought I could be first based on a better average," admits Railey, who has not won any of the eight races so far. -- US Sailing website Standings - Men's Radial Gold Fleet: 1. Eduardo C. de Magalhães Couto (BRA) 25pts; 2. Brad Funk (USA) 36pts, 3. Igor Lisovenko (RUS) 38pts, 4. Tiago Côrtes Rodrigues (BRA) 41pts, 5. Andreas Reinisch Perdicaris (BRA) 42pts. Women's' Radial Gold Fleet: 1. Paige Railey (USA) 35pts, 2. Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) 46pts, 3. Petra Niemann (GER) 47pts, 4. Sarah Blanck (AUS) 48pts, 5. Krystal Weir (AUS) 53pts. Full results: http://www.2005laserworlds.com.br/ NEWS BRIEFS * World Publications Sailing Group Publisher Sally Helme announced the appointment of John Burnham to Editor of Cruising World, effective January 1. Burnham takes over from Herb McCormick, who becomes Editor-at-Large and will travel and write extensively for the magazine. Burnham, currently the editor of sister title Sailing World, will now be responsible for the editorial vision of both magazines. Burnham has been with Sailing World since 1979 and became editor in 1983. McCormick started at Cruising World 26 years ago. * MIA -- Where is the Bermuda Ocean Race Lipton Cup? It is an elaborate affair, with a silver base topped by a winged seahorse rising out of the waves, balancing a silver boat with a winged mermaid goddess at the helm and a trident baring merman sounding his horn on the stem. Lipton originally donated the trophy to, "to encourage the building and racing of good boats." If anyone knows the whereabouts of this Trophy, please contact Talbot Wilson, the Newport Bermuda Race Press Officer at talbot@talbotwilson.com * A Queenslander attempting to become the first woman to sail non-stop and unassisted around Australia has abandoned the bid after huge seas damaged her boat. Dr Margaret Williams left Mooloolaba on the Sunshine Coast in her 12-metre yacht Against All Odds on October 19. Her solo quest ended in the Southern Ocean off Western Australia after the yacht's rudder broke in gale force winds and huge seas. Rescue services are on standby as she heads for the southern WA town of Albany for repairs. -- Sail World Website, full story: http://www.sail-world.com/ * Pertinence software company specializing in the optimization of complex systems, is the newest supporter of K-Challenge America's Cup team. The Pertinence software will allow K-Challenge to: improve the general performance of the boat through the optimization of the adjustments made on board (the sails, etc); have the best tools available for help in the decision making process, allowing the team to react quickly to situation changes; and profit more quickly from innovations and to maximize their performance. * Jersey Clipper, previously besieged with problems and bad luck, seem to have put that initial misfortune behind them and have surged through the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race fleet in the last 24 hours. Moving up from 8th to 5th with an overnight run of 122 miles, their more direct route seems to be paying dividends. Durban remains in the lead, 2066 miles from the leg finish line -- 25 miles ahead of Victoria and 50 miles in front of westernaustralia.com. Qingdao is in fourth place, 69 miles behind Durban and one mile ahead of Jersey. -- http://www.clipper-ventures.co.uk/2006/ * Santa watchers will be happy to learn that weather.com has a dedicated site for North Pole weather: http://tinyurl.com/7kxm4 HOT SAILS! COLD WEATHER! ULLMAN SAILS LEAD THE PACK! Tacoma YC hosted 86 boats braving 38 degree temperatures to compete in the 30 mile Vashon Island Race on December 3rd. Sailing with a complete inventory of Ullman Sails, capturing the largest class (Level PHRF 73) and 2nd Overall was Art Verharen's Express 37 "Dream Speaker." Second in class and 3rd Overall was John Leitzinger's Express 37 "Kahuna," also 100% Ullman. To gain the competitive edge in boat speed, top performing teams turn to Ullman Sails. If you and your crew are ready for the "Fastest Sails on the Planet," contact your nearest Ullman Sails loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.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. You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot and don't whine if others disagree. And please save your bashing, and personal attacks for elsewhere. For those that prefer a Forum, you can post your thoughts at the Scuttlebutt website: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi) * From Jane Eagleson, Public Relations Manager, BMW Oracle Racing: "Off-center" - that's our polite response to the News Brief in yesterday's 'Butt (#1982) about BMW supposedly lobbying Larry Ellison to run the next Cup in Germany should BMW Oracle be fortunate enough to win it. BMW is a global company keenly interested in the USA market. Moreover, we have just concluded an eight-stop tour of major USA yacht clubs where the standing-room-only audiences saw and heard Larry Ellison state clearly on the opening video that San Francisco Bay will be a perfect venue. But before we count our chickens, or our venues, we have our work cut out for us just to win the Louis Vuitton Cup, let alone the America's Cup. * From John Harwood-Bee: Whilst wholeheartedly supporting praise for Bruno Peyron and his fantastic sailing achievements may I also yet again correct the notion associating The Jules Verne Trophy with the Round the World record. They may in the past have been directly linked, with the trophy being awarded to the fastest vessel around the planet. This however, ceased to be the case when the trophy was awarded to Geronimo for a slower time than had been achieved by Steve Fossett's Cheyenne. From that point the Jules Verne became just another event with an event time to be beaten. That puts it in the same league as the ORYX Cup. No amount of 'spin' can restore the trophy to its original position. The fact that Bruno in 50+ days beat both Cheyenne's RTW record and Geronimo's JV is incidental. It does not, and indeed cannot, re-link the two inextricably. As an example: March 2006. Boat A, a non JV boat sails home in 47 days. Boat B, a JV registered craft achieves 49 days. Boat B is entitled to the JV trophy as she has beaten the JV record. However she has not taken the RTW record. To put an end to this anomaly we shall be announcing a new RTW record trophy early in 2006 to coincide with the launch of the 'G' Class Yachts association and web site. * From Larry Sutherland: I was saddened to read the words of the International Lightning Class Association President who rationalized that it was OK to post the final results of their recent world championship several days after the event ended … 'because the volunteers had already worked so hard.' I'm afraid he has confused working hard with working smart. Just as they don't make Lightnings out of wood anymore, nor sails out of cotton, the reality today is that no International Class can ignore the opportunities - and the demands - of the internet, and expect to remain healthy … or even viable. * From Troy Bethel (edited to our 250-word limit): It is with great disgust that I am writing this .I can't believe the way that Brasil 1 handled their dismissal of the navigator. Their inexperience is no excuse for their actions. Leg 1 is one of the hardest for a navigator and Addi did an awesome job with a 3rd place finish. The inability of one of the deck crew to perform has nothing to do with the navigator and he should be sent home on R&R for the next legs as the likelihood of the medical problem reoccurring is even higher and they are going to be a lot further from any help ( Kieth Kilpatrick airlift). I have been involved in previous Whitbread campaigns and the navigator is the most important crew member for the southern ocean legs as they are continually placing the boat in the best position with the frontal systems rushing through so frequently, sometimes staying awake for 24 to 36 hrs. That is a flyer that won't pay off. Addi is an awesome navigator and her experience will pay off in the Southern ocean, when you are down there efficiency pays off not brute strength. Yes the boats are a handful, yes they are under-crewed, get the rule changed to allow more crew or make the boats more efficient. Ellen sailed a Tri alone around non stop which is way more of a handful. Leave Addi to do her job and find healthier crew that have experience down south and can pace themselves. * From Adrian Blunt: In issue #1892 Stuart Streuli states that - sailing is an original Olympic sport-even if the lack of wind cancelled the first Olympic regatta in Athens in 1896. Is Streuli's history of Olympic sailing correct? I thought the first recognized Olympic regatta was at the Paris games in 1900 not the first modern games in Athens in 1896? When is a regatta a regatta? * From Bennet Greenwald: Morbid curiosity is a sad but very real human failing. The media, particularly the teevee, trade on/count on that failing to attract viewers and, in turn, advertisers. The Olympics have become a made for teevee event. The silliness engaged in by ISAF in response to the Olympic Committee's invitation to become "more interesting" isn't going to get the job done. Sailing is made for participants. Watching sailing is boring. What ISAF need to do is to create a little death on the water and the screen. Then maybe sailing can stay in the Olympics. * From Andreas Stüven, Trinidad, West Indies: Steve Moore's suggestion for those who push the sportsmanship limit too much -- "Why don't we just turn on the engine?" -- would not work for me or for anyone else who sails on boats that are faster under sails than under power. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS A hangover is the wrath of grapes. |
