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SCUTTLEBUTT 2497 – December 17, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. ROSEBUD’S WORLD TOUR The strong 85-boat fleet gathering in Sydney for the December 26th start of the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race includes nine overseas entries; six from the UK and one each from the USA, Mexico and New Zealand. One of the race's most interesting entries is American Roger Sturgeon's Rosebud, first launched of the ST65s built under the new "box" rule formulated by the USA's leading offshore racing clubs, the Storm Trysail Club and the Transpacific Yacht Club. The rule, following the example of the TP52 rule, intends to encourage high-performance light-displacement fixed keel yachts within set parameters for both inshore and offshore racing. Florida-based Sturgeon, who previously owned a TP52 called Rosebud, has planned a program of world-wide inshore and offshore events including the Onion Patch series and the Newport Bermuda Race in June and later, England's Cowes Week. Rosebud finished third in class and had the third fastest time in this year's Transpac Race, from Los Angeles - Honolulu. Sturgeon opened his Australian campaign by winning the IRC handicap section of the SOLAS Big Boat Challenge - a spectacular warm-up event for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race - on Sydney Harbour. He says the level of competition was the main reason for bringing Rosebud to Australia. "It's the best competition in the world; this time of year especially. One of our primary things is to try to go to new places and do new things; not just stay in the same little patch." -- Complete story: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=1787&lang=1 * Roger Sturgeon and his American TP65 Rosebud beat out Geoff Ross’ Reichel/Pugh 55 Yendys and nine others to win Division 1 last weekend at the Rolex Trophy, a final tune-up event prior to the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race that begins December 26th. – Final results: http://www.cyca.com.au/sysfile/downloads/rtrs_07ps.pdf DISASTER AVERTED Sydney, Australia (December 17, 2007) The New Zealand 30m maxi yacht Maximus will be lifted from the water Monday to have its keel damage fully assessed, which was sustained during its delivery voyage from Auckland, NZL. Maximus left Auckland on Wednesday and was in the final stages of the delivery trip to Sydney on Sunday when the crew heard a loud bang. It was when they sent a diver overboard to investigate that the cracked keel was discovered. The Rolex Sydney Hobart entrant limped into Sydney in the early hours of Monday, motoring with the Sydney Water Police vessel Launch Alert as escort for the final 78nm in case assistance was required. It has not yet been disclosed as to what may have been the cause of the damage. – http://www.rolexsydneyhobart.com ONE WEEK That’s all you have, unless you’re banking on Santa to make it down the chimney. Kaenon Polarized will deliver! The new Kabin for him or Georgia for her. Or Hard Kore, for the hard core. If it’s sophisticated metals, the Variant Series, Basis and Segment will do it. Luxury Performance by design, with patented SR-91 polarized lenses that make the difference. Available in prescription – Single Vision or Freestyle Progressive. See the experts at TeamOne Newport, APS, Sailing Supply, or view the entire collection online and locate an authorized dealer nearest you at http://www.kaenon.com - Kaenon Polarized. Evolve Optically. FOIL PROBLEM WITH GROUPAMA 3 In preparation for its crewed, round the world record attempt (Jules Verne Trophy), the 105-foot maxi trimaran Groupama left its homeport of Lorient, NW France last Wednesday for a 24 hour training run. Upon return on Thursday, skipper Franck Cammas and crew proceeded with the inspection of the foils, and found some of outer lamininate on both had become detached. The problem is believed to be a fault in the adhesion of the materials used, and the work to refabricate the outer skin of both foils is expected to take a week. Groupama 3 is the first maxi multihull equipped with foils that is set to venture into the Southern Ocean. This is innovation - a curved, adjustable appendage situated in the centre of the floats and enabling, at high speed, to take the pressure off the leeward hull and thus increase the performance of the maxi trimaran - is largely inspired by the Orma multihull class. Groupama 3's has been in standby status since December 6th, and this repair will prevent the team from taking advantage of a good weather window that was forming off Brittany on Tuesday. The current record is held by skipper Bruno Peyron and crew onboard Orange II, who in 2005 sailed the course in 50:16:20:04. -- Complete report: http://tinyurl.com/ytynda TO APPEAL, OR NOT TO APPEAL,… by Cory E. Friedman, Scuttlebutt Legal Analyst (December 16, 2007) For the America’s Cup defender Alinghi, their club – the Société Nautique Genève (SNG) - will not appeal and is ready for mano a mano in multihulls. Remember that? It is inoperative. It appears SNG is not coming out to play in the near future – at least not on the water – because SNG has learned to like it in court and does not want to leave. Although the settlement date for an order has come and gone, there is no order and will not be one until at least January 14, 2008. Because there needs to be 10 months’ notice of a match, that would push the match into 2009, and any subsequent monohull defense into 2011+ -- or perhaps not. How did that happen? Fairly simply, it turns out. As reported elsewhere, SNG has fired White & Case and hired Simpson Thacher. Simpson Thacher immediately wrote Justice Cahn, announcing that SNG plans to appeal, reversing the positions SNG previously took, and attempting to start over from scratch. In the course of that letter, Simpson Thacher makes some pretty questionable statements, such as the claim that SNG has agreed to hold the next Cup in Valencia, which will be the first European AC site in 150 years (the 32nd in Valencia apparently never really happened) and that the Deed requires not just LWL length, LWL beam, extreme beam and draught for the challenging vessel, but all of those for each hull. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/cf/#p11 * Curmudgeon’s Comment: It was interesting to see a press report over the weekend from AFP that a spokeswoman for Alinghi had told the press agency that the Swiss team would not appeal last month's court decision. So, just to make sure I am getting this straight, Alinghi is telling the press that they ARE NOT going to appeal the judgment, but Alinghi’s lawyers say they ARE going to appeal. Okay, I think that’s clear now. -- Complete story: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0Ep2OiZzuXEZYsSnuoTKe4SvRsA BARCELONA WORLD RACE Open 60 doublehanded round the world race (started Nov 11; 25,000-miles) (December 16, 2007) The weekend race update saw Hugo Boss move up to second place on Friday when Veolia Environnement elected to make a pit stop in the Kerguelen Islands to address engine problems. Arriving in the early afternoon, the rules obliged VE to stop for a minimum of 12 hours, but it wasn’t until early Sunday morning (34:25 hours later) that they departed, completing the repairs and fully charging the boat’s batteries. The weather has given HB a further boost, as they have gained 65 miles on race leader Paprec-Virbac 2 since the Thursday report. More distressing for P-V 2 is that their hopes for stronger winds at nearly the 55-degree latitude on Saturday has led to the first iceberg encounter for the race - a big one at about a mile long. They are now at 51-degrees latitude as they head toward the next race course safety gate that will hopefully minimize future sightings. The challenge for Estrella Damm to adequately repair their rudder damage while in Cape Town, South Africa proved insurmountable, and on Friday they officially dropped out of the race. Delta Dore, who was dismasted earlier last week, made a rendezvous with an assistance ship on Saturday that provided them with 150 litres of diesel and a small 8 metre mast to fashion a jury rig. Current conditions were allowing for DD to be towed to South Africa. -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com Day 36 - Positions at 18:00 GMT - Distance to leader 1-Paprec-Virbac 2, Jean-Pierre Dick/ Damian Foxall, DTF not available 2-Hugo Boss, Alex Thomson/ Andrew Cape, 157 mi DTL 3-Veolia Environnement, Roland Jourdain/ Jean-Luc Nélias, 859 4-Temenos II, Dominique Wavre/ Michéle Paret, 1168 5-Mutua Madrilena, Javier Sanso Windmann/ Pachi Rivero, 1991 6-Educación sin Fronteras, Servane Escoffier/ Albert Bargues, 2687 Retired - PRB, Vincent Riou / Sébastien Josse (broken mast) Retired -Delta Dore, Jérémie Beyou/ Sidney Gavignet (broken mast) Retired -Estrella Damm, Guillermo Altadill/ Jonathan McKee, (rudder damage) * (Day 23 - December 16, 2007 - 16:16 UTC) Francis Joyon and his 97-foot IDEC trimaran continue their blistering pace to set a new singlehanded round the world record. Based on Ellen Macarthur’s record pace in 2005, Joyon’s team estimates that he is 7 days ahead of where Macarthur was on her 23rd day. With 12,105 nautical miles remaining, Joyon most recent 24-hour data shows an average speed of 22.2 knots and a distance of 533.1 nm. His current route is on the 52-degree (S) latitude and just passing below Cape Leeuwin, the most south-westerly mainland point of the Australian Continent. This will mark the beginning of his navigation around the surrounding islands and his new course toward Cape Horn at the tip of South America, before the return to Brest, France for the finish. -- http://www.trimaran-idec.com SO YOU THINK YOU KNOW THE RULES Dave Perry, David Dellenbaugh, and Brad Dellenbaugh are teaching Rules and Tactics Seminars this winter. Perhaps you could learn a thing or two... From fundamental principles to nuances highlighting the difference between right-of-way and control, these rules gurus teach the rules and the tactics rules dictate. The innovative case-based curriculum teaches situations, not rule numbers, so you can apply what you learn on the water. You can spend a lifetime learning to be a better racer, or you can accelerate the process at NorthU. Gift certificates available. Contact North U at 800-347-2457 or http://www.northu.com * Curmudgeon’s Comment: These three guys are icons in the rules world, but are also expert teachers, and I suspect can spin some pretty good stories too. If only they had been in charge of the rules for the next America’s Cup… FROM THE OLYMPIC TRAIL With many of the Olympic classes taking advantage of the southern hemisphere summer and hosting their world championship in Australia, the ISAF Grade 1 Sydney International Regatta (SIRs) finds itself with a record fleet of over 360 boats. American Laser sailor Andrew Campbell describes the scene: “A typical Saturday in December on Sydney Harbor can be quite a scene. Add a few hundred Olympic one designs to the mix and you’ve got one of the most crowded sailing areas in the world. Local clubs around the harbor are running their own races for classic 18-footers, Etchells, and hundreds of PHRF style classes. Those are added to super-maxis and other grand prix boats in final tune up stages for the Sydney-Hobart Race that starts next week. Beyond that is the normal ferryboat and seaplane tour traffic, augmented by the standard anglers and pleasure sailors. “If it weren’t enough already, add puffy 12-18 knot breezes and you’ve got yourself a sunny summer day in Sydney. Adding two forty-boat Laser fleets to the middle of the channel already chock full of 49ers, Radials, Finns, and 470s is a recipe for disaster, but they seem to make it work, not withstanding some close calls. A couple of the laser guys commented that it is as if you were setting up a street hockey game, but instead of on a quiet cul-de-sac you put the game in the middle of a freeway.” -- http://www.campbellsailing.com Racing continue through Tuesday, with preliminary positions for top North American entrants: Laser (Gold): Andrew Campbell (USA) 3rd, Michael Leigh (CAN) 4th, Bernard Luttmer (CAN) 10th of 43 Laser Radial: Tania Elias Calles (MEX) 4th of 45 49er: Gordon Cook/Ben Remocker (CAN) 4th of 27 Tornado: Oskar Johansson/Kevin Stittle (CAN) 6th of 12 470 Women: Amanda Clark/Sarah Mergenthaler (USA) 6th of 19 470 Men: Stu McNay/Graham Biehl (USA) 8th of 36 Finn: Zach Railey (USA) 12th of 24 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/29pt48 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Stockholm, SWE (December 14, 2007) The construction of Ericsson Racing Team's boat for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 is now complete. With less than 300 days remaining to the race start in Alicante, Spain, "Ericsson 3" left the shipyard in Kista on December 13 to be transported to the training base in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, where she is expected to arrive late December. Brazilian skipper Torben Grael will lead the two boat testing with the new boat and Ericsson 2, formerly called ABN Amro One, which the team had acquired after it won the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/2xnqk6 * The RC44 Championship Tour held its final event this past weekend, with Russel Coutts’ Team Omega winning the Dubai Gold Cup, whilst Chris Bake and Team Aqua second place position assured their crowning as RC 44 champions 2007. The crew that comprised Team Aqua are Chris Bake, Cameron Appleton, Jeff Brock, Matt Cassidy, Andrew Estcourt, Ben Graham, Kevin Kelble and Scott Kennedy. -- http://www.rc44.com * A new free professional yachting TV channel has just been launched on Joost, a video host provider that was developed by the founders of Skype. -- http://joost.com/219000d * The Superyacht Cup in Antigua concluded over the weekend, with the Farr designed 35m Sojana taking top honors. -- Photos by KOS and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/07/1216 “MAN OVERBOARD” Preparing for next year’s Bermuda Race? A race to Mexico? Or do you just want the very best man-overboard gear for your crew? SeaMarshall’s personal Alerting Units and SarFinder homing receiver are the accepted standard in overboard recovery gear. What is peace of mind worth? Contact Chip Barber: mailto:admin@chbarber.com or http://www.chbarber.com/seamarshall.html LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Sherry Fowler Mason, Head Coach, Bowdoin Sailing Team: Bowdoin Sailing would rather be known for our sailing than have the notoriety we've had this past fall season. I'm writing to let you know that the Bowdoin College administration investigated the allegations of hazing resulting from a handful of photos of a college party, taken in the fall of 2004 and posted to the Web with the label "sailing team initiation." After an investigation, the college has found no evidence of hazing on the sailing team -- in 2004 or today. Do some college students drink? Sure. Do they embarrass themselves sometimes? Sure. But there's a big difference between that and hazing, which requires newcomers to submit to demeaning, humiliating, cruel, or dangerous acts to become part of a team. That's the opposite of what happens on our team, which is inclusive, friendly, and welcoming. We're glad to have that recognized. Our team has had a hard fall. One of our freshman died in a car accident over Thanksgiving; another team member got hit by a car on Monday and will face intensive physical therapy before he can walk again. We've had a lot of chances to think and talk about what it means to be part of a team. I'm extremely proud of the way these sailors have supported one another, on and off the water. We're looking forward to going sailing again. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: The report Sherry refers to was in Issue 2480. Also, Sherry has written a very moving story in her blog regarding the Thanksgiving tragedy: http://civpro.blogs.com/stay/2007/12/a-sailor-rememb.html * From Gary Edelman: It was great to see the letter from Jay Palace in Scuttlebutt #2496 that mentions the Reach the World Programs, and others sailing programs that serve underserved and diverse populations of new sailors. Mr. Palace doesn't mention one of the first sailing outreach programs in the US; Prams-In-The-Parks. This close to 40 year old program, run by the Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, has been taking Optimist Prams, Holder Hawks, JY Club Trainers and similar sailboats to inner city park ponds and lagoons in Milwaukee to teach inner city kids how to sail and be safe around the water. Clearly we need more programs like this, and more publicity letting people know about the program in their own communities they can support. * From Geoff Brieden: If Ernesto Bertarelli is so concerned about keeping the Cup going, why all the stalling? His vision bemoans that a change in venue (with a new defender) costs time and money to locate, set up, etc. Yet, as a current defender, he has a static venue,(Valencia) that he has chosen and is already set up. Much of the sponsorship that he complains won't commit WILL commit if he would just put the currently proposed protocol in place. So getting the next cup off the ground would be easy, if only he would say the word. If this truly was part of his "vision", then he would let AC 33 go forward with an agreeable challenge in 2009 in Valencia, allowing Alinghi, BOR, TNZ, NYYC, etc. time to come up with any revisions that are in the best interest of the cup, and apply them to AC 34. But, somehow, judging by his actions so far, I don't think his new "vision" is really what his end goal really is . . . .I think the Emperor has no clothes. * From Jef d'Etiveaud, Manager Mari-Cha Sailing Team: I have followed the saga on the AC which is so relevant to the future of many of my dear mates. When I see the way it is going, I can't help but be reminded of a great statement from Voltaire: "There are two ways for one to go bankrupt, the first one is to lose a law suit.... the second one is to win it..." GIVE THE GIFT OF SCUTTLEBUTT Ever since the early days of the Scuttlebutt newsletter, readership growth has been by word-of-mouth. With the holiday season at hand, the best present you can give your friends (and the Curmudgeon) is to continue spreading the word about the publication. To make this easy, click on the link, and then add names from your contact list. Thanks in advance for the support! Here is the link: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/wordofmouth CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You know you’ve gotten old when you're the one calling the police because your neighbors are too loud. Special thanks to Kaenon Polarized, North U, and SeaMarshall/CH Barber III. A complete list of Scuttlebutt’s preferred suppliers is at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
