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SCUTTLEBUTT 1864 - June 21, 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. WAR OVER THE WEATHER It's an unseasonably fluky day when a member of Congress tries to punish a government entity for doing too good of a job. In this case, the National Weather Service apparently has been putting out too much useful information. Its graphics and Web site are more user-friendly and better-organized than ever. Its forecasts are clear and concise. And it's free. For shame! Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) argues that the National Weather Service has an unfair competitive advantage against commercial weather businesses. He makes no secret of the fact that more than a dozen of those private companies happen to be based in his state, where he happens to be running for re-election. Santorum has a bill that would require the National Weather Service to give much of its data only to private companies like AccuWeather and WeatherBank, which repackage the taxpayer-funded information for radio and TV and the like to make their tidy profits. The bill appears to block the Weather Service from providing this information directly to the public. The public would still pay to collect this information. It just wouldn't have access to what it's paying for. If private weather companies want competition, let them start by buying their own satellites, buoys, aircraft, upper-air weather balloons and other fancy barometric equipment. Let them create their own multimodel ensemble blends and generate their own storm warnings and small craft advisories. And then let's talk. The public pays for the National Weather Service. The public should be able to use it. - Excerpts from an editorial in the Chicago Tribune, full editorial: http://tinyurl.com/9gn4w Curmudgeon's Comment: Just because we published these excerpts does not mean we will be printing any more letters on the subject. The thread is still closed. ALONE AT THE TOP - PERHAPS? Monday - On paper Alinghi has won Act 4 with a day to spare. An impressive performance against Emirates Team New Zealand today that suggested that the Swiss team has found the valuable X-Factor that had won them the Cup in Auckland. But there's a catch. In the race between Luna Rossa and BMW Oracle, the Italians appeared to throw their chances of finishing better than fourth away as quickly as their kite streamed out of the boat after a poor drop at the leeward gate. A short while later, the incident took another twist as the Italians made a claim for redress. As the sun set in Valencia on Monday evening and the head scratching began, it appeared that the Italians had claimed that they had had to avoid an umpire boat during a critical moment during the spinnaker takedown and this had been the catalyst that had caused their problems later. The hearing is set for Tuesday morning which leaves Alinghi in a state of limbo and the champagne on ice. If Luna Rossa win the hearing and gain a re-match, and if they beat BMW Oracle, and if they go on to beat Alinghi, they would win Act 4. In the meantime, Monday's racing was conducted in breezes that got close to the top of the wind range for these boats was the other main talking point. There were breakages aplenty, as well as some incredibly close racing. Iain Percy's 39 team blew a kite out at the weather mark in their first race and then broke their rudder in spectacular fashion during the starting sequence leaving them drifting backwards 2 minutes before the start. The result left their opponents Mascalzone Capitalia with an easy point. - Excerpts from a comprehensive story posted on the Yachting World website. Read the full story: http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20050520203124ywamericascup07.html LEADERBOARD Alinghi - 10 Emirates Team New Zealand - 9 BMW Oracle Racing - 9 Luna Rossa Challenge - 8 Desafío Español 2007 - 6 Victory Challenge - 5 +39 Challenge - 3 K-Challenge - 3 Mascalzone Latino-Capitalia Team - 3 United Internet Team Germany - 3 China Team - 1 Team Shosholoza - 0 Event website: - www.americascup.com QUOTE / UNQUOTE "We wanted starboard at the start because we knew whoever got starboard would win the race. And that's what happened." Tactician Terry Hutchinson, Emirates Team New Zealand "If there was something to learn from today it was that if, on these short courses you let a class act get in front of you, there's little chance of getting back into the race. But we knew that already." - Grant Dalton, Emirates Team New Zealand "The boats are all in different modes some with long bulbs, some with short ones, ETNZ have dropped the hula, chopped the bow off and raised the stern, so we are also evaluating their performance compared to what we know about them from the last Cup - it's just a big learning curve for all of us at the moment. We're happy with the boat and we're going to keep vamping it up, because boat speed wins the America's Cup and that's what we're trying to do!" - Dean Phipps, Alinghi runner/pit WANT TO PUT MORE WIND IN YOUR SALES? Does your company want to get its message in front of a highly targeted market of boat owners and performance sailing racers? Advertise in one of Premiere Racing's event publications at a very reasonable cost. Premiere produces two of the most high profile keelboat regattas in the world: Key West 2006 & Acura Miami Race Week 2006 (the SORC renaissance). Increase your visibility to this target audience through these publications. For details & rates, contact Mike Trovato: (508) 790-1140 or email mailto:Mike@Premiere-Racing.com. Or visit Premiere Racing's website: http://www.premiere-racing.com./pubs.htm THE COMMANDMENTS OF ASYM TRIM (Sailing World magazine asked a group of sailmakers for some guidelines for trimming an asymmetrical chute. Here are just a couple of excerpts from a story now posted on their website.) * Jay Lutz: "A well-designed running spinnaker can rotate around and away from the blanket effect of the mainsail, which allows you to sail low without collapsing the sail. The keys to getting it to rotate are crew weight and the shape of the sail. Both work in conjunction. If you can get the boat to heel to weather, gravity naturally helps rotate the sail. Today's runner asymmetric-if it has enough luff round [the shape of the curve designed into the luff of the sail] designed in-naturally wants to rotate when it fills. It's more genoa-like, with the draft far forward. * Dave Ullman: We don't use twings at all. In fact, we tell our J/105 customers to take them off the boat. The trouble with twings is they don't just pull the sheet down they pull the sheet in, too. * Kerry Klingler: If you have the boat heeled properly, and you have the right pressure in the sail, easing the tack line opens up the shoulders and gives you more projected area. It also flattens out the luff a little and moves the draft to the middle of the sail a little bit. The thing you're looking at is the upper luff; when it's trimmed right, the luff is coming around, sort of cupped and hinging in slightly. Fly it like a normal symmetric spinnaker where the shoulders open up and out, like it does when you raise the pole on a regular spinnaker. * Richard Bouzaid: One important point is that sailing with over-eased asymmetric sails is slower than having them slightly over-trimmed. By sailing around with a fold down the luff half the time you're losing that much of the span of the sail. I prefer to sail with the luff a tad more solid, as we used to with regular spinnakers. Full story: http://www.sailingworld.com/article.jsp?ID=37295&typeID=402&catID=596 ON THE TUBE Swedish Match Tour television programs in the U.S. will air on cable network OLN, continuing an association that began last year. The first program of 2005, the Toscana Elba Cup - Trofeo Locman, is scheduled to air Tueday, June 21, at 3:30 p.m. ET. In a repeat final of 2004, Russell Coutts' (NZL) Coutts Racing Team defeated Peter Gilmour's (AUS) Pizza-La Sailing Team 3-2 to win his second consecutive title of the series sailed in the Swedish Match 40. The 30-minute program will re-air on Thursday, June 23, at 4:00 p.m. ET. The program on Match Race Germany is scheduled for a first broadcast on Tuesday, June 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Gilmour won his second consecutive Match Race Germany championship with a 2-1 victory over Jesper Bank (DEN). The program will re-air on June 30 at 4:00 p.m. ET. - www.swedishmatchtour.com LASER NAs There were 96 full rig Lasers plus 69 radials racing at the Laser NAs at the Seattle Yacht Club, so understandably results get posted a bit slowly. Monday was the last day of racing, but unfortunately, only the results through Sunday's three races in 10-12 knots of wind were posted at our distribution time. After seven races with one discard, they showed San Diego YC's Andrew Campbell with a very impressive four bullets to lead the Full Rig class by 13 points over Bernard Luttmer. Kyle Rogachenko had a four point lead over Jennifer Spalding in the Radial class. Check the website - hopefully, the final results for this event may be posted soon: http://www.lasernorthamericans.org/ Photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/laser-na/ FROM ST.TROPEZ TO COWES AND SYDNEY All over the world, you will find the Camet Padded sailing shorts. The leading teams are using the combination of our Coolmax shirts, and shorts made out of a breathable fast-drying fabric with a UVA certification (97.5%) for sun protection. With our closed cell foam inserts available for a variety of different model of shorts, we have redesigned comfort giving you the ability to hike hard without losing feeling in your legs This will allow you to go longer and not suffer from fatigue, helping you to think clearly and perform to your expectations! http://www.camet.com NEWS BRIEFS * The crew of the trimaran Geronimo spent the weekend liaising with the Bureau of Meteorology and have earmarked the early morning of Wednesday June 22 (which is Tuesday on the other side of the International Date Line) to start their 6500 mile circumnavigation of Australia. The starting line will be in the vicinity of the Sydney Opera House. Geronimo will be the first boat to have its name associated with this new event - The Challenge for the sydneyaustralia.com trophy. Once Geronimo sets the standard, it's hoped similar boats will endeavor to break her record. - www.superyachting.com * Farr International President Geoff Stagg has purchased the company's outstanding shares from Bruce Farr and Russell Bowler and the company is to be renamed Stagg Yachts Inc. Both Farr and Bowler wish Stagg well and will maintain working relationships with Stagg Yachts as Geoff continues the class management of the Farr 40, Mumm 30, and Farr 395 programs, together with the sales and marketing of the new boat products; Mumm 30, Farr 36, Farr 395 and Farr 40, and the boat brokerage and project management services. Tink Chambers, Renee Mehl and Carol Horvath will remain at Stagg Yachts. - www.staggyachts.com * Federally-designated as one of the country's "Last Great Places," Block Island Monday became the best great place for racing sailors. On a sunny opening day of the Storm Trysail Club's Block Island Race Week presented by Rolex, over 2000 sailors competed on four racing circles, with all but one of 17 classes completing three races each. The 190-boat fleet is enjoying IRC, PHRF and one-design racing for five days, with around-the-buoy races planned for all days but Tuesday, when an around-the-island race is scheduled. www.blockislandraceweek.com * A review of last year's hurricane boat claims by the BoatU.S. Marine Insurance Catastrophe Response Team found that only 25% of Florida boaters had made the proper storm preparations. A free, easy "to-do" list that will help boaters get their own hurricane plan organized can now be downloaded. This guide is the product of two decades of first-hand experience in handling hurricane boat losses by the BoatU.S. Hurricane Catastrophe Team: http://www.BoatUS.com/hurricanes * The Cal 20 Class Championship at Cabrillo Beach YC this past weekend was decided in the protest rooms. When the judges determined that Chris Raab had not been OCS in race 5, they awarded him average points. This moved Raab up from second place to the top spot on the podium ahead of multiple class champion Mark Gaudio and defending champion Mark Golison. The depth of the 26-boats field was demonstrated by the fact that fourth place finisher Walter Johnson sailed the only boat in the top six that won one of the seven races. - http://www.cbyc.org/ * With a need for reliable training conditions, the Ericsson Racing Team (SWE) will set up their training camp in Vigo, on Spain's Atlantic coast. Davila Sports Marina will host the team until the race start late this year. 'We have looked at several locations in Spain and other countries,' explains shore manager Dave Powys, 'but in the end Vigo offered the best combination of accessible sailing, first-rate facilities and good infrastructure. http://www.sailing.org/default.asp?ID=j1qFh5pC8 * 273 boats raced in 23 classes at the Lands' End National Offshore One Design (NOOD) Regatta at the Chicago Yacht Club. But it wasn't an offshore one-design that was named the top boat of the Regatta - it was Philip O'Neil's N/M 46 Natalie J, which totally dominated PHRF 1 with a 1-1-1-1-1-1-1-3 series. Heidi Riddle's Nuts won the largest one-design class at the event - the 39-boat Tartan 10 fleet- with a five point edge over Donald Wilson's Convergence. - http://www.sailingworld.com/ * This week 30 young optimist sailors from across the country will start to disembark for Tobago and their 2005 North American Championship regatta. There will be 18 countries represented on this tiny sister island to Trinidad in the Caribbean. There will be a week of racing with one day of team racing. The US Team includes the five sailors who will represent the US National Team in Switzerland later in July at the 2005 Optimist World Championships. www.optinam2005.com * No one seems to be moving very fast on Marion-Bermuda Cruising Yacht Race. At our distribution time, Greg Storer's N/M 49 Mameluke was in a virtual dead heat with Rex Conn's Alacrity at the front of the pack - but both were still 176 miles away from the finish. - http://www.marionbermuda.com/ * Twenty seven different Swan models make up the fleet at the Rolex Swan European Regatta that begins on Tuesday. A record entry of 67 teams from nine countries with some 760 sailors will participate in the five day event hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron - www.nautorswan.com THE IDEAL BOAT FOR JUNIOR SAILING PROGRAMS Safe, durable, stable, reliable, and economical. No wonder, Ribcraft is the preferred choice for yacht clubs, sailing coaches, and race professionals. Find out more about how the Ribcraft line of RIBs is ideally suited for the wear and tear of junior sailing programs and race committees like yours at http://www.ribcraftusa.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 Robert Bausch: Once again, another sailor with a perspective on the history of the America's Cup strikes the bell, and makes me say Amen! Grey McGown said it simply and truly in Scuttlebutt 1863: The longest and slowest (most drawn out) America's Cup in history. The landlocked Swiss are certainly making their impression on the America's Cup, even though it may be a bad impression for those that know something of the Cup's history, and maybe also something about sailing. I'm sure they have been researching the history of the most famous sailboat race ever, since they went to work to win it. First thing they knew was, it would take money, which is a no brainer for the Swiss. And Ellison is probably doing nothing but enhancing their efforts, as I guess he and Ernesto have some kind of a plan. Manipulation is the key word. But I think their time schedule is way off. The America's Cup has always been peopled by wealthy folks, but in earlier days these were people that were perhaps wealthy not just in money, but also in heart and mind, and soul. Rick Hatch: If they haven't already done so, Scuttlebutt readers are encouraged to download and read through the January 2005 "Interpretations of Rule 42, Propulsion" from the ISAF website (link: http://www.sailing.org/rrs2005/42interpretations2005.doc The bottom of page 4 of the interpretations reads as follows: 42.3 Exceptions (d) When a boat is above a close-hauled course and either stationary or moving slowly, she may scull to turn to a close-hauled course. Interpretation (Sculling to Turn the Boat) 1: Provided the boat's course is above close-hauled and she clearly changes direction towards a close-hauled course, repeated forceful movements of the helm are permitted, even if the boat gains speed. She may turn to a close hauled course on either tack. * From Erin Myers: On a recent west-bound circumnavigation, we had an Iridium phone on board that was extremely reliable. There were times when we couldn't get a signal, but the dead zones never exceeded 12 hours. The sat phone proved more reliable than our Inmarsat and SSB. However, with all three, clean connections between the transceiver, receiver (or phone) and their antenna are paramount in keeping any of them in proper working order. Also, different sat phones, use different satellites, and therefore, their coverage areas vary greatly. Clifford Bradford brings up the important issue of broadcast. In an emergency, the ability to broadcast the vessel details and nature of distress to all nearby stations is very important. Inshore, this is why cell phones will never replace VHF. Offshore, it gets more complicated as merchant vessels are no longer required to keep a listening watch on 2182 kHz. Instead, their SSBs are equipped with Digital Selective Calling (DSC) that will automatically set off an alarm when they receive a distress call on DSC. Comparable to text-messaging, DSC alerts contain a wealth of important information including the nature of the emergency and the position of the vessel. For sailors, this means that we are going to have to upgrade our SSBs to be DSC-capable if we want our distress broadcast to be heard by ships in the area. For more information, look for the USCG's published information about GMDSS and Rescue 21 or Blue Water Sailing's April issue about distress calling in the 21st century. * From Bob Trenkamp: Our experience using GlobalStar on Ace was quite different during the 2004 Newport Bermuda: There were no signal drops and no commo quality issues. We had good connectivity when we needed it for the race, even when more than 240 nm off the USA coast. I wouldn't suggest for a trans-Atlantic race unless they've patched the coverage "hole" in the middle of the Atlantic. * From James Malm (Three-time All-American):Bryan Lake and Jennifer Warnock have competed in all district qualifying races together for the past three years (per PCYIRA results), no substitues. Their success in A division has helped the University of Hawaii qualify for the nationals since Bryan entered college. Since Bryan's freshman year only one College Sailor of the Year (Clayton P. Bischoff) has finished ahead of Bryan and Jennifer in A division during the coed Nationals. Yes the selection committe has guidelines, but if every 60 years a teams performance falls outside those guidelines then maybe an exception could be granted. It should be noted that Bryan does not substitute his crew. Every skipper at the 2005 nationals in both divisions sailed with multiple crew, except Bryan. I guess when you have something that good you stick with it! CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS The aging process could be slowed down if it had to work its way through Congress. |
