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SCUTTLEBUTT 1852 - June 3, 2005Scuttlebutt 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. LOOKING BACK - Olaf Harken Just for the record regarding canting keels, the experimental 65 foot yacht, initially named Amoco Procyon, had a canting keel with a wing that was launched in 1991. Amoco Procyon was a major project that I led to test out new concepts to make sailing easier, faster and safer. The canting keel and Bi-Pod A frame mast were the most radical of the innovations but also the most successful. Britt Chance designed the hull and the deck with input from the primary team of suppliers.. Amoco was the initial major outside sponsor. Forty other companies contributed to the project. The 13,500 pound winged canting keel designed by David Greeley and Britt Chance canted 35 degrees to each side with an eight foot wing taking the place of a canard which was more practical for a cruiser racer. The boat could out point all of the sleds she matched against including Santa Cruz 70's. The keel was, and is completely reliable with a large Milwaukee Cylinder designed by the Hydraulic Institute of America at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. They used a push pull system. It took 9 seconds to go the full 70 degrees on one tack and 13 seconds on the other tack. Normally we roll tacked the boat eliminating the use of the hydraulic system which was faster and easier. Red Herring was the only yacht we knew that had a canting keel at the time which was quite different. Ours was completely hidden between two bulkheads a foot apart in a V shaped athwartships dagger board well with a four foot arm massively welded to an internal structure in the keel which was attached to the ram. Our conclusion was that putting a wing on a canting keel is one of the most viable and easiest methods of achieving the very significant benefits of a canting keel. It is not as efficient as a canard but a lot safer and digestible to the production builder and cruiser racer sailor. One final note: The original depth of the keel was 11 feet which was a problem in many areas. OH Rodgers later designed a seven foot keel with the same iron wing and added only 500 pounds. The performance changed very little and the new keel was a dream after dealing with the frequent testing of the strength of the keel from groundings. - Olaf Harken For photos and more: www.harken.com/sailing/procyon.php TAKING THE EXCITEMENT TO THE PEOPLE The America's Cup will be coming to Sweden for the first time in its 154-year history this summer when racing begins in the Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton Acts on the 25th of August. This will be the third European location for racing in this Cup cycle. "The Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton Acts this year are a tremendous opportunity for the America's Cup to broaden its appeal in Northern Europe," said Michel Bonnefous, the CEO of the organizers of the 32nd America's Cup, during a visit to Malmö-Skåne on Thursday. "One of our foremost goals is to make the America's Cup more accessible, to bring it within reach of more people, and the Louis Vuitton Acts in Malmö-Skåne are a chance to show the drama and excitement of the America's Cup to a part of the world that hasn't experienced America's Cup racing before." The Malmö-Skåne region of Sweden is an ideal location for America's Cup racing, with the two race courses located just offshore, well within view of spectators on the Swedish and Danish coasts of the Öresund. The weather conditions are ideal for racing; historically at this time of the year the wind is between four and 16 knots over 90% of the time with the temperature hovering around 20-degrees (68 F). The Malmö-Skåne Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7 will feature all 12 competitors of the 32nd America's Cup, including the Defender, Team Alinghi, vying for points in a Match Racing contest (Act 6) followed by a spectacular Fleet Racing regatta (Act 7). Points earned here will go towards determining the Louis Vuitton ACC Season Champion, and for the challengers, will later be used to help determine the number of bonus points awarded before the beginning of the Louis Vuitton Cup challenger selection series in 2007. - www.americascup.com LEVEL RACING The Offshore Racing Congress has distributed Revision 3 of the new ORC Level Class Rules for the ORC 26, ORC 33 and ORC 42 to designers and event organizers for comment. The Rules define three new "box rule" classes for grand prix racing without handicap. The most noteworthy amendments from Revision 2 are: - Only one permanent backstay (adjustable aft) allowed - Mainsail roaches and areas reduced in accordingly - All drafts reduced - All freeboards increased - All max beams reduced - Mast weights and relevant VCG´s are still under evaluation by mast builders - Minimum interior volumes have been redefined, reducing the height of the coachroof. The new formula will be proposed to Congress in November also for the IMS Racing Division for 2006. The Rules for the ORC Level Classes are to be published and distributed in June 2005. Work is in progress also for the event scheduling and administrative aspects of the ORC Level Class Rules. It is planned to initially offer races for the new Classes at existing major events in 2006. Both European and Transatlantic circuits are to be mapped out and sponsorship principles agreed. - www.orc.org SOUTHERN SPARS FASTEST ACROSS THE ATLANTIC Congratulations to Mari Cha IV and Maximus, the two fastest yachts in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge. Both broke Charlie Barr's 100-year-old record, with Mari Cha IV taking more than 60 hours off the old time. Mari Cha IV took line honours, but Maximus looks set to claim the handicap prize. Both yachts carry custom Southern Spars carbon-fibre masts. Still in contention in their respective classes are Tiara and Whisper, also with Southern Spars rigs. "It has been a rough crossing and these crews' achievements continue Southern's unrivalled record of ocean-racing success," said company president Tom Dodson. - http://www.southernspars.com TOO MUCH MUSCLE Having established a new transatlantic race record between New York and the Lizard, UK, yesterday morning, the afternoon saw Robert Miller's Mari-Cha IV making an unexpected 20 knots up the English Channel towards the Needles and the finish line of the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge race. The wind, forecast to drop off, held, and shortly before dusk, in a seascape so misty and overcast that it merged grey sky with grey sea, the high-tech schooner charged past the Needles Fairway buoy to the west of the Isle of Wight to take line honours, as well, in the Rolex Transatlantic Challenge. Mari-Cha IV crossed the finish line at 19:18:37 UTC, setting a course time between Ambrose Light (in the U.S.) and the Needles of 10 days, 1 hour, 8 minutes and 37 seconds. This compares with Atlantic's time of 13 days, 10 hours and 15 minutes in the 1905 race for the Kaiser's Cup. Up the Channel, in hot pursuit of Mari-Cha IV, was Maximus, the new sloop of New Zealanders Charles Brown and Bill Buckley, who had passed the four-mile long gate off the Lizard at 19:18:37 UTC yesterday (1 June), making it to the Needles finish line at 00:35:08 UTC this morning (2 June), 5 hours 16 minutes and 31 seconds behind Mari-Cha IV. While this was disappointing for the crew, the consolation prize was a handicap win in the Grand-Prix division. In fact, Maximus's crew say that they weren't racing for handicap honours. "We wanted to beat Mari-Cha IV on the water," maintains Mike Quilter, Maximus's ex-America's Cup and Whitbread round-the-world race navigator. "I suppose that's human nature. You like to think you try hard, but in an arm wrestle, she (Mari-Cha IV) has too much muscle." The next boat due in to Cowes is the 151-foot (46.3m) Windrose, the first in Performance Cruising class 1. She passed through the Lizard gate at 1135 UTC and is expected to cross the finish line Friday mid-morning. However, at present, it is the two Dubois 170-footers Drumbeat and Tiara that are leading on handicap. In the smaller Performance Cruising class 2, it is still Bugs Baer and William Hubbard III's 1970s-vintage maxi Tempest that is leading on handicap. - www.transatlanticchallenge.org Curmudgeon's Comment: Bruce Knecht, the author of "The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race," sailed on Mari Chi for this race and his account of this record-making passage is now posted on the Scuttlebutt website: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/05/tc/ Photo gallery of Mari Cha IV finishing: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/tc0601/ MATCH RACING The BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup International Women's Match Racing Regatta is underway at the Eastport YC in Annapolis, Maryland. The first round robin in J/22s has been completed, and midway through the second round robin of this ISAF Grade 1 series the standings are as follows: 1. Marie Bjorling (SWE), 11-1 2. Paula Lewin (BER), 9-3 2= Claire Leroy (FRA), 9-3 4. Betsy Alison (USA), 7-5 5. Sally Barkow (USA), 6-6 6. Jenny Axhede (SWE), 5-7 7. Liz Baylis (USA), 4-8 7= Charlie Arms (USA), 4-8 9. Christelle Philippe (FRA), 3-7 10. Linda Harsjo (SWE), 0-12 Racing continues through until Saturday, with two full round robins scheduled before the semi finals and final competition. - www.santamariacup.org MAJOR DECISIONS Minoru Saito is down to deciding whether to cut off his beard grown over the past 229 days as he entered his final week of his record-breaking around-alone trip as the oldest person to do it non-stop at age 71. With fewer than 900 miles left, he expressed hope to be back in time for this weekend "so I don't inconvenience my friends," and enjoying his first refrigerated beer in months. When Minoru steps off his boat Shutin-Dohji 2 in Japan, he'll join the august ranks of Sir Robin Knox-Johnston (1st non-stop man), Chay Blyth, Kay Cottee (1st non-stop woman), Francis Joyon (fastest solo circumnavigation) and a few others who have managed to make it to the top of the much-heralded "Mt. Everest of Sailing." In Minoru's case, he has done it without a major sponsor, in a 15-year-old vessel, as he depends on his all-volunteer land-based support for weather alerts by sat phone, stretching his dwindling supplies with boat-grown radish sprouts and sun-heated tea and rice gruel, while daydreaming of hot meals and cold beers. And musing, as he wrote in Friday's log, that he is "now thinking of making long whiskers. Long whiskers may fit for an around-the-world sailor." To read his log in English: www.tspsjapan.org/Minoru_Saito.html BOAT SHOES FOR THE SPORSTMAN WHO HAS EVERTHING… The Gold Cup Collection from Sperry Top-Sider offers a whole new level of luxury and performance. Full deerskin linings and dual-density memory foam footbeds surround the foot in comfort. Non-marking TC4 rubber Vibram® outsoles provide anchor-like traction on wet or dry surfaces. Durable yet supple exterior leathers are both stain and water-resistant. And signature eyelets plated in 18K gold hold their rich, polished sheen through years of use. These seaworthy shoes are the perfect gift for Father's Day! Available at fine retailers nationwide and http://www.sperrytopsider.com NEWS BRIEFS * On Thursday the America's Cup jury issued a procedural decision fully supportive of the Challenger Commissions position taken in our application concerning the "Met Data Service" dispute. The decision is welcomed by the CC as it confirms that the CC has the right to appear before the Jury on this and similar matters, and that all Challengers also have the same right to appear, irrespective of whether the matter has been brought by the CC. For the full text of the Jury's decision: www.challengercommission.com/dox/jn019.pdf *Under Senate Bill S 786, proposed by Pennsylvania's Senator Rick Sanatorum, and currently before the Commerce Committee, will prevent the National Weather Service from competing with commercial weather providers, unless it is to report severe weather warnings: "The National Weather Service shall not provide, or assist other entities in providing, a service or product (other than a service or product described in subsection (a) (1) (A), that is or could be provided by the private sector unless... " If passed, this bill would mean the end of the VHF weather forecasts provided to the general public from NOAA. www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm * We've posted a photo gallery of the ICSA Women's Dinghy Championships underway now on Lake Travis in Texas: www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/icsa-w/ Event website: http://collegesailing.org/nas/spring05/ * From June 24 - 30, 160 sailors under the age of 20, will race in Westport, Conn. in Lasers, Laser Radials, and Club 420s for the U.S. Youth Sailing Championship. US Sailing selected the competitors based on sailing resumes from a list of more than 260 applicants, and the entry list reads like a "Who's Who" in youth sailing. Before racing begins on June 27, the Championship features three days of advanced racing clinics, led by US Sailing's Youth Development Coach Mike Kalin, and a team of at least eight other well-known sailors and US Sailing Team athletes. - www.ussailing.org/youthchamp * Piece of cake - BG Spirit is now just 272 miles from the Boston finish line of Leg 5 of the Global Challenge RTW race, and they have a 200+ mile lead over VAIO. Barclays Adventure is in third place ahead of SAIC La Jolla and BP Explorer as most of the 12-boat fleet of 72-footers are grinding out 200 mile days. - www.globalchallenge2004.com/en * The Swedish Victory Challenge has signed three new crew-members to join the afterguard of their America's Cup syndicate: Santiago Lange, 43, many-time world champion and bronze medal winner for Argentina in the latest Olympics; Johan Barne, 41, navigator in the Swedish America's Cup syndicate last time round is back again; and Stefan Rahm, 37, now director and head of sports at the Swedish Sailing Association. The syndicate now has 15 announced crew-members, with more announcements expected soon for this summer's Acts which start in just two weeks. - www.victorychallenge.com * The former management team at Devoti Sailing UK Ltd. have conducted a management buy-out of the Musto Performance Skiff business and are now trading as Victor Boats Ltd. "The management team of Victor Boats is 100% of the same team as Devoti Sailing UK Ltd; it's the same people working on the Musto Performance Skiff project; but with more time and focus to further develop the class." said Tim Tavinor MD of Victor Boats and former MD of Devoti Sailing UK Ltd. The Musto Performance Skiff has experienced continual growth since the project was launched in 1999. www.mustoskiff.com * Australian Richard Mason, 30, is no stranger to the Volvo Ocean Race, competing as trimmer on the boat that finished second in the 2001-02 event. Now he has been named as trimmer/ helmsman of Ericsson Racing Team for the 2005-06 event. Mason has been involved with the construction of the Ericsson boat, together with building manager Jason Carrington, at Green Marine, Lymington, UK, from the beginning of the project. Ericsson Racing Team previously announced Neal McDonald as skipper and Steve Hayles as navigator. - www.volvooceanrace.com/pages/news/news147.htm 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 Donal McClement: Stefan Lloyd & Hugh Wellbourne ('Butt 1851) both made a lot of sense. Hugh is recognised as 'the rating expert' in the UK & Ireland and he can advise on minor modifications that may be beneficial but the real strength in the Rule is the expertise of the Rating Office. Certainly at the top end, and please remember the vast majority of users are 'Club Racers', there is scope for some experimentation but because the Rule has been in use for so long now not too many, if any, loopholes are available. Events like Cork Week, Cowes Week and Spi Ouest provide a vast amount of first class data to enable the rating office to keep an eye on design trends, monitor the performance of a wide variety of boats/classes and update their figures. Believe me IRC does work and it need not be expensive for the ordinary sailor who does not require an Endorsed Certificate. * From Len Davies: In response to Jordan J. Dobrikin ( Butt 1851), I would urge he and others to investigate the versatile Sailwave Scoring Programme which affords ease of operation as well as the ability to pre-input a host of data in various forms of racing, be that multi-class handicap, one-design, IRC, Portsmouth Rating or a multitude of other options. We have used this programme extensively in South Africa and find universal approval by all involved no matter whether Club, Regional or National racing. Easily found on: www.sailwave.com * From Fred Frye M.D., Staff Commodore SDYC: I was very pleased to see that Fritz Jewett and Jack Sutphen were selected to join the America's Cup Hall of Fame this year. Jack's contribution as the trial horse skipper for many years had a prime role in the success that Dennis achieved in his many quests for the Cup. His unwavering integrity and support of the efforts of the San Diego Yacht Club in the recapturing and the defense of the Cup are unparalleled. Jack continues to be a very active PC (Pacific Class) skipper and has won the Championship several times. He is always a threat on the racecourse. His dedication to the younger sailors at the Club is a model for them to succeed. Fritz Jewett understood the challenges of the Cup and rose to the occasion many times. He and Lucy not only contributed financially but provided the glue that made the Campaigns successful. Their contributions to the social side of the event certainly made racing for the Cup a lot more fun. More than that, Fritz really understood the politics of the Cup and helped keep the Corinthian Spirit alive in the quest for excellence. I salute both of these honorees and am pleased that they are being recognized. * From Ken Guyer: I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with some of the great sailors connected with the America's Cup over the past few years. I would have to say Jack Sutphen ranks up at the top of the list. My association with "Captn Jack" started in 1987 when he came aboard Stars and Stripes '86 and helped recruit and train our amateur 12 meter crew at the Kona Kai Club. He was patient and understanding in his instruction, but as a fierce competitor he instilled in us a strong ethic to learn from our mistakes and drive toward the finish no matter what. He is a legend of the America's Cup and all competitive sailing. He truly belongs in the Hall of Fame. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS Seen on a bumper sticker: "If You Can Read This, I've Lost My Trailer." |
