|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3314 - Wednesday, April 6, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: North Sails, Atlantis WeatherGear, and Gowrie Group. REVEALING THE VISION Since the disclosure that the 34th America’s Cup would be raced in catamarans, there has been a lot of concern that the 2013 Match would be all hype and no substance. But this summer the new vision will be revealed when the America’s Cup World Series begins in Cascais, Portugal (Aug. 6-14). Scuttlebutt colleague Michelle Slade of SailBlast caught up with John Kostecki, ORACLE Racing tactician, to gather some insight into what we might see: * What will the different locations present in terms of challenge in the AC45? JOHN KOSTECKI: That’s a good question (LOL)! Out of the three venues I’ve only ever sailed in San Diego. I’ve heard that Cascais can be kind of windy, I’ve spent a little bit of time in Portsmouth (UK) during Fastnet races. To me it looks like three pretty different race tracks and I know that America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) is trying to learn from the AC45 sailing that we’re doing down here in NZ on different race courses, so I think we’ll be experimenting with different race courses down here to set up the first World Series events. I think it all depends on exactly where we sail in those three different venues. I would imagine San Diego we’re going to be sailing inside the Bay which will be great - a tighter race course with some boundaries which obviously we’re trying to set up for the next America’s Cup in San Francisco as well. If we’re close to shore it could be quite shifty and puffy and some smoother water but good tight racing and hopefully good for the spectators. * What are you finding out about match racing the AC45? JOHN KOSTECKI: It’s pretty good - very exciting actually - but not too different than what we were doing in the last Cup. We just started two-boating a couple of weeks ago, we haven’t done too much racing but we’re started to get ramped up into the racing side. It looks encouraging; starting is a little bit different than with the monohulls - fewer maneouvers but still quite exciting. I think the final 30 seconds to a minute is not too different to monohull match race starts. We’ve had some good close racing in the racing we’ve had so far. It’s encouraging. * What is ORACLE considering for crew on the World Series? JOHN KOSTECKI: At the moment we’re planning on having two teams on the circuit, with five crew and a media guest. We’re working on that now and hoping that after this (training) session to slide straight into the World Series with the two teams that we have racing right now. It’s a mixed group and we’re rotating people around so I don’t think we have any final decisions on who will be on which boat but we try to and keep things as even as possible because that’s how we can leapfrog and improve. The boats are initially very physical and challenging to sail, particularly in the breeze. I think it’s going to be quite exciting for the media guests (LOL). Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SB-040511 CONDITIONAL: French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno said Tuesday she supported the three French teams who have entered the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco in 2013, but stressed that their financing was not assured. Jouanno "supports the initiative of these different French challenges ... (and) in the event that the participation of one or several teams flying the French flag is confirmed, the sports ministry will be by their sides to accompany them in their adventure," the ministry said in a statement. -- AFP, full story: http://tinyurl.com/AFP-040511 WITHOUT STOPS Barcelona, Spain (April 5, 2011, Day 95) - Spaniards Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernadez crossed the finish line of the Barcelona World Race at 0917hrs (UTC) today in second place, having completed the 25,200 miles course in an elapsed time of 94 days, 21 hours, 17 minutes and 35 seconds. They finished 22 hours, 56 minutes and 59 seconds behind winners Virbac-Paprec 3 to a tremendous reception in a sun-drenched Barcelona. But the two-time Olympic medalists and three-time World Champions in the 49er class are the first to finish the race without stops. “That is the spirit with which we went into this race,” explained Martinez. “We didn’t participate to win - of course if we had the opportunity we would, we’d love to win - but what we wanted to do is finish the round the world race. Both Xabi and myself wanted to go around the world, we’ve been in the Volvo (Ocean Race). "For Xabi and myself who’ve been sailing together in the 49er, it’s always the same, so to be able to do this together is a real treat. Imagine that they ask Raphael Nadal in 10 years time if there’s something different related to the sport he’s playing, we’re very lucky! So we wanted to do it without any stopover, and for us this was very important. So that’s what we did. And we’re very glad, very happy. For us this is like having won the race. To finish second is wonderful.” -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 23:01:03) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron (FRA/FRA), 93:22:20:36 2. Mapfre, Iker Martinez/Xabi Fernandez (ESP/ESP), 94:21:17:35 3. Renault, Pachi Rivero/Antonio Piris (ESP/ESP), 390 nm DTF 4. Estrella Damm Sailing Team,Alex Pella/Pepe Rives (ESP/ESP),545 nm DTF 5. Neutrogena, Boris Herrmann/Ryan Breymaier (GER/USA), 949 nm DTF BACKGROUND: The Barcelona World Race is the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams competing on Open 60s started December 31st, with the 25,000 nautical mile course extending from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. CONGRATS 1ST & 2ND PLACE FINISHERS IN BARCELONA WORLD RACE North Sails would like to congratulate the ‘Virbac-Paprec 3’ and ‘Mapfre’ teams for finishing 1st and 2nd respectively in the 29,000 nm Barcelona World Race. Both boats raced with North sails and ‘Virbac-Paprec 3’ had a mast and rigging built by Southern Spars. Co-skippers Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron onboard ‘Virbac-Paprec 3’, who raced with North 3Di upwind sails and North V-Series spinnakers, now have accomplished back-to-back victories in the double-handed around-the-world race. When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com ISAF SAILING WORLD CUP Palma de Mallorca, Spain (April 5, 2011) - The second day of the 42 Trofeo Princesa Sofia MAPFRE, third event in the ISAF Sailing World Cup, started off promising with 8-12 knots from the NE, but the forecasters were saying all sorts of things about dying breeze, building sea-breeze and a mirage of other potential scenarios. As it all turned out there were two distinctive halfs to the day. The first half had 12 to 6 knots, slowly diminishing towards the finish. Then everything shut down, and the second half enjoyed a revitalised sea-breeze. Most events got a race in each half of the day. The Brits that are currently ruling the waves, with 17 entrants in the top ten among eight of the nine fleet race Olympic events. After a meager first day, the North American contingent has slid up the board, led by singlehanders Paige Railey (USA) and Tania Elias Calles (MEX) in 1st and 5th, respectively. Keelboater Andrew Campbell/ Ian Coleman (USA) remain in sixth, while singlehander Rob Crane (USA) has risen to 8th and 2008 470 World Champions Erin Maxwell and Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar are now in 10th. American Match Racers Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow were both undefeated in their opening groups to advance to the next round. Racing concludes with the medal race on Saturday, April 9 in nine of the 10 Olympic Classes. The final matches for the Women’s Match Racing are scheduled on Saturday, April 9. -- Full report: http://www.trofeoprincesasofia-mapfre.org/cronicas.php?idiomaz=3¬i=202 Results: http://tinyurl.com/TPSM-2011-Results Canadian team report: http://tinyurl.com/CYA-040511 USA team report: http://tinyurl.com/USSTAG-040411 MEMBERSHIP: American IAIN WOOLWARD is competing in the Finn event under the flag of the Scuttlebutt Sailing Club. As the official club of the Scuttlebutt newsletter, Scuttlebutt Sailing Club has been officially sanctioned by US Sailing since 2001, and is officially available to all Scuttlebutt readers (for free!). Details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/ IT’S BACK! Where the Wild West meets salt water - on San Francisco Bay - a 2011 grand gathering of Laser class sailors affords an opportunity too good to pass up. We're going to revive a classic. The Laser Slalom is back. Colin Dibb, now of Fremantle, Australia but originally from South Africa, tells us, "When I first started sailing Lasers I saw a movie of the very first Slalom in San Francisco, and I've wanted to do it ever since." A typical reaction. The Laser Slalom has returned before, from time to time, sailed close under the windows of the St. Francis Yacht Club. But the heyday was the early years of the Laser class, when the fleet was building and the world was new. Unlike a rodeo, the rider didn't get extra points for a rougher ride. But the bigger the breeze and the steeper the chop and the nastier the whitecaps (both sailors down at once, now, that's a good look), the closer we came to a bronc-buster's notion of what is "classic." The 2011 Slalom runs August 3-4, between the Laser 4.7 World Championship and the Laser Masters World Championship. In that prospect lies plenty of fresh meat for a fleet limited to 32 entries, with ample slots still open. Slalom courses are laid close to the beach, and the course is configured to force hurry-up maneuvers. Under pressure, good people go bad in conditions that would never otherwise trip them up. The splashier the crash, the heartier the audience appreciation. Where else while racing do you get to hear your best friends howling in glee when you take a dose of saltwater up the nose? -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11664 VIDEO: This clip provides some insight into the event: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3uhghIrwQY FATHER-SON TEAM Following almost a year of intense planning and secrecy, the New Zealand duo of Ross Field and his son, Campbell, have officially entered the double-handed, round the world, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR). The duo represents a combined offshore racing background unrivalled in the GOR fleet and has successfully purchased the Guillaume Verdier Design Class40, Desafio Cabo de Hornos: the yacht sailed to second place in the double-handed class of the inaugural 2008-09 GOR by the Chilean duo of Felipe Cubillos and Jose Muñoz. The offshore racing experience held by the New Zealand team is formidable. Ross Field has logged five circumnavigation races with three consecutive Whitbread Round the World Race entries. When not engaged in racing around the world, Ross has raced and skippered in nearly all major international offshore events including Round Europe Races, Sydney-Hobart Races, Melbourne-Osaka Races, Bermuda Races, Fastnet Races - holding the Fastnet record for nine years - and numerous other events. The offshore racing DNA dominates the Field genes. From 1994 to 2000, Campbell managed racing yachts and competed in all the major events across the Caribbean, USA, Northern Europe and the Mediterranean. Most recently, he was the Shore Manager during the 2008-09 Volvo Ocean Race for the Telefonica team; an enormously complex and responsible position that included overseeing the build of the campaign’s two Volvo Ocean 70 race yachts. For Ross, racing again with his son is an exciting prospect: “I have raced with Campbell a lot and I believe that we complement each other very well,” he explains. “Campbell is an extremely talented navigator, sailor and manager - he is a great asset to the campaign.” However, Campbell is aware that converting to shorthanded sailing on an unfamiliar class of boat will be a challenge: “The Class40 two-handed presents an early and steep learning curve for us both,” he admits. “We have a very good relationship, complementary skills and backgrounds and have raced together before, so I know we make a pretty strong team. I can’t wait to get underway and have fun racing in what is shaping up to be a great event.” -- Full story: http://globaloceanrace.com/index.php?page=news&news_id=464&lang=en DISCOVER: THE BEST WAY TO ENJOY SPRING SAILING Face it. Your sailing gear isn’t getting it done anymore. You got through last Fall with it, but the Spring sailing season is just about to kick into gear, and the time has come to step up to the best gear on the planet. The Grand Prix soft shell is warm and windproof, and the new Aegis gear has now assumed its rightful place at the head of the mid-weight waterproof/breathable class. Visit www.AtlantisWeatherGear.com for a list of Atlantis dealers, or call us at 877-333-SAIL. Discover life on the water. Discover your Atlantis. SAILING SHORTS * (April 5, 2011; Day 10; 18:12 UTC) - VELUX 5 Oceans leader Brad Van Liew (USA) has reached the first major milestone of ocean sprint four to Charleston, USA, today passing Recife in Brazil, the most easterly point of South America. Van Liew can now start his turn to the northwest that will provide for broader angles from the prevailing winds. His Eco 60 Le Pingouin is now 3,488 nm from the finish and 72 nm in front of second place Derek Hatfield (CAN). -- http://www.velux5oceans.com/ * St Barths, French W.I. (April 5, 2011) - The first day of racing at the 2nd edition of Les Voiles de St. Barth dawned with 25 knots of tropical tradewind breeze and showers sweeping over the picturesque French island located midway down the Caribbean chain. The regatta’s fleet of maxis, racing and cruising yachts, multi- hulls and classics 48 confirmed on race day set off on a race course around the nearby archipelago, and met with plenty of wind and bumpy seas, especially on the islands’ exposed eastern side. Course length varied from 16 to 30 miles to provide about three hours of racing for all classes. -- Event website: http://www.lesvoilesdesaintbarth.com/home.php * New Orleans, LA (April 3, 2011) - The annual Leukemia Cup Regatta was co-hosted this weekend by Southern Yacht Club and New Orleans Yacht Club, setting a new fundraising record of over $212,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of LA & MS, a 190% increase from last year. Approximately 250 sailors participated. Winning both the Leukemia Cup Trophy for the regatta as well as the fundraising challenge was Burt Benrud & Andy Lovell on the Melges 32 "Rougarou". -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11663 * The National Women’s Sailing Association (NWSA) will hold the 10th Annual Women’s Sailing Conference Saturday, June 4 at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Women can learn or enhance their skills in recreational sailing through seminars on the water, on the dock and in the classroom. Topics include introduction to sailing, sail trim, spinnakers, crew overboard, operating a motorboat, knots, charting, suddenly single-handed, diesel engine troubleshooting, introduction to weather, understanding wind, marine medicine, emergency seamanship and more. Details: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=645 ATTENTION MARINE INDUSTRY: “GET GUARANTEED EXPOSURE” Scuttlebutt World Headquarters is on every mailing list, so we get all forms of email press releases about marine industry updates. Most go in the trash. The Marine Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum was created so companies could get guaranteed exposure by posting their own personnel, product and service updates online. In addition to website traffic, Scuttlebutt editors randomly select updates each week to include in the Thursday edition of the Scuttlebutt newsletter. Here is the link to post Industry News updates: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news GOWRIE GROUP: WHAT IF A FIRE BURNS DOWN YOUR CLUBHOUSE? Yacht club clubhouses are a unique and storied lot. With architectural character they celebrate the traditions of boating, and tangibly portray the history of each club. Whether elegant or charming, Victorian or Modern, sleek or salty, they are a club's biggest asset - and potentially its biggest liability. In the event of a devastating fire, would your current insurance program pay to rebuild and restore your clubhouse? Yacht clubs that are part of The Burgee Program by Gowrie Group do not have these concerns. Join the more than 50% of clubs in the US that already participate in our program. 800.262.8911 / http://www.gowrie.com / http://www.burgeeprogram.com 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 Adrian Morgan: No one would dispute the skill, courage, tenacity, determination, sheer stamina and brilliance of the winners of the Barcelona World Race. Those French short-handed sailors have been heroes of mine ever since I covered the wonderfully named Titouan Lamazou's Vendee Globe victory. But a non-stop race should be non-stop; or at least the crew that finish without stopping should be given a much bigger bonus. As I said in an earlier post, these so-called non-stop races could turn into tactical two-stop races, Formula One-style. That is, anyone foolish enough to contemplate a circumnavigation without stopping will be at a disadvantage over those who plan to "refresh" their boats en route, knowing that the time lost will be more than made up by the speed gained.. * From Scott Boye, Friday Harbor: (re, lead story in SBUTT 3313) Here in the Upper Left corner of America we refer to “random leg” racecourses as distance racing. Not that it has to be that long of a distance, but it is around set marks, either navigation marks or islands. - Seattle Yacht Club has its Tri-island series of Protection Island, Vashon Island and Blake Island. - Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle has their Center Sound series - Blakely Rocks, Scatchet Head & Three Tree Point races, ranging up and down Puget Sound in March. - Anacortes Yacht Club holds their Northern Century Race, a 100-mile trek around the San Juan Islands with a few other marks thrown in to get the hundred miles. - Orcas Island Yacht Club, in conjunction with Friday Harbor Sailing Club, holds the Round the County race every November. The course alternates clockwise and counter-clockwise every other year so the course instructions read ‘leave San Juan County to port (or starboard)’. Talk about a geography lesson! - San Juan Island Yacht Club hosts the Shaw Island Classic. You can go either clockwise or counter. Figure out your tides and what the wind will do in Wasp Passage and commit to your direction in the first few minutes of the race. Smart sailors can be confounded by the choice! These distance races range from overnight category 2 races such as Protection Island and Northern Century to day races such as Shaw Island Classic. All of these clubs run buoy races, too. Racing around the Windward/ Leeward keeps the boat handling skills sharp. Keep the racing interesting and the racers will show up. * From Vernon Brickey: (re, AC34 story in SBUTT 3312) First it was "Flintstone generation" now it's "plodding sloops." Nothing like giving the middle finger to 98 percent of the sailing public and then expect them to support the Cup. * From Casey Robert Baldwin: (re, Dennis Toothe letter in S'Butt 3313) Even if Oracle is the only defending syndicate and there is no competitive racing to decide a defender for the next America's Cup, comparing Oracle's choice of the Golden Gate Yacht Club to former Swiss defender Alinghi’s Societe Nautique de Geneve’s choice of a newly-formed Valencia Club that had never held a regatta, is ludicrous. For SNG to choose a new club that seemed expressly created to be its 'Defender of Record', along with a lengthy litigious battle against Oracle, is a gross comparison with the current defender and its club of choice. To suggest it is similar, unfairly vilifies both Oracle and the excellent traditional merits of the GGYC. => Curmudgeon’s Comment: To back up to 2007, there was widespread concern about SNG’s protocol for the 33rd America’s Cup, but it was only Oracle/GGYC that sought to revise the plan by leveraging SNG’s faulty Challenger of Record (COR). Fast forward to now, we have GGYC that has partnered with Club Nautico di Roma as the COR, and again there was a lot of concern about the event’s protocol. To date, I can’t recall if I’ve read about any influence the COR has had on the AC34 plan. In fact, there is a very real chance the Italian club will be unable to compete due to insufficient funds. So while the reality may be different, the appearance does have some similarities. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Confucius say ...”Man who stand on toilet is high on pot.” SPONSORS THIS WEEK Quantum Sails - West Marine - IYRS - Morris Yachts Atlantis WeatherGear - North U - North Sails - Gowrie Group Ullman Sails - Melges Performance Sailboats - Point Loma Outfitting Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
