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SCUTTLEBUTT 1996 -- December 28, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.RECORD SMASHED Bob Oatley's brand new 30 metre maxi from Sydney, Wild Oats XI crossed the finish line at 10 seconds past 8 am this morning, taking 1 day 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds to complete the course. She has slashed an hour and 7 minutes hours off the record set by Nokia in 1999. Surrounded by about 50 spectator craft Wild Oats XI crossed the line in a fresh 15 knot north-westerly, in what amounted to a perfect day for sailing on the Derwent River. Several thousand people lined the waterfront to welcome the sailors in. It was a finish full of drama. With around 5 miles to go Wild Oats XI blew the top batten of its mainsail and, in the words of skipper Mark Richards "everything went wrong with it." Fearful that the flogging sail would tear itself to pieces the crew frantically dropped it to the deck while they raise a bigger headsail to compensate. Yet despite sailing under headsail alone the giant maxi still crossed the line at around 12 knots, demonstrating the amazing power of these giant yachts. Earlier in the morning the boom vang had ripped off the mast as the crew was bringing down a spinnaker. Wild Oats was 15 miles ahead of the identical length Alfa Romeo. It has been an extraordinary achievement for Mark Richards and his crew, who had only weeks to find out how to get the most out of this complex racing machine. It has been clear that they have still been learning about the boat as the race has progressed. Wild Oats XI had led the fleet out of Sydney harbour on Boxing Day after showing exceptional speed in the smooth waters of the harbour. But within an hour Alfa Romeo edged past her, a setback Wild Oats XI navigator Adrienne Cahalan attributed to the fact that they were still learning which headsail to use in the choppy conditions. For the remainder of the first day the two yachts raced neck and neck down the NSW coast, with Skandia well ahead of the record pace, sticking relentlessly to the rhumb line, the shortest route to Hobart. But as the breeze died early into the evening the record seemed to slip away from them. The turning point of the race came at around 5 am on Tuesday morning. Alfa Romeo followed Skandia out to sea looking for extra breeze, but Wild Oats XI veered the other way towards the coast. It was a big call, and it paid off. She found some breeze and took off, opening a twelve mile lead on Alfa Romeo. Adrienne Cahalan said after the race that she couldn't understand why the other boats didn't follow their lead, "I think Alfa Romeo was looking for more pressure (wind) out to sea while we were looking for the favourable shift." As the strengthening wind shifted to the north it was a procession back along the rhumb line, with no tactical options open to the unlucky Alfa Romeo. "(Helmsmen) Iain Murray, Gary Wiseman and Chris Harmsen had a great game plan. And we stuck to it - on the first night to stick inshore and it really paid dividends," Richards said. "The next day we woke up to find ourselves ahead of everyone and it stayed that way. A great game plan, we stuck to it and it worked." -- Nicole Browne, http://rolexsydneyhobart.com Neville Crichton's Alpha Romeo finished an hour and 16 minutes behind Oatley's Wild Oats XI, and at 12:30 there were three other boats approaching the finish line: - Skandia, Grant Wharington 11.5 miles from finish - Konica Minolta, Stewart Thwaites, 20.7 mff - AAPT, Sean Langman , 34.6 mff RUEFUL CRICHTON REFLECTS A disappointed Neville Crichton, skipper of Alfa Romeo, said the race was won and lost at Green Cape in South East Australia at daybreak yesterday. Alfa Romeo finished an hour and sixteen minutes behind race winner Wild Oats XI. With his boat just slightly ahead as the two maxis approached Bass Strait, Crichton opted to protect his position offshore and head out to sea while Wild Oats chose to head inshore. 'We thought the breeze would come in from offshore', Crichton said,'All our weather routing told us that it would be offshore. We made a blue. They got the breeze before us. They were doing 18 knots and we were doing 8.' From then on Alfa Romeo would have to play catch up in a downwind contest that was always going to be difficult. 'Before the race we thought we were quicker upwind and they were a bit faster than us downwind. They have bigger spinnakers than us. We went for smaller spinnakers to get the rating advantage. 'Wild Oats is slightly narrower and has more of a banana curve. It means she runs faster (downwind) and we are better upwind,' Crichton said. 'Unfortunately this was a downwind race.''We threw everything we could at it. We gybed in and out trying to make them follow us, hoping they would make a mistake. But they didn't make a mistake.' Crichton was driving Alfa Romeo so hard that last night they blew out three spinnakers. Both Wild Oats' Bob Oatley and Crichton concur that their boats, worth about $10 million each, designed by the same designers and both built by McConaghy's yard in Sydney, are almost identical. Crichton launched Alfa Romeo six months ago. Wild Oats XI first hit the water in December. - Nicole Browne, http://rolexsydneyhobart.com SUPER MAXIS (The Daily Sail subscription website spoke to designer Jim Pugh and helmsman Adrian Stead about the new super maxis Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats. Here are a couple of brief excerpts.) Development of the offshore racing maxi-monohull has been zooming ahead in leaps and bounds over the last months, with the advent of first the Volvo Open 70s and the now the two latest 98 footers competing in the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race - Bob Oatley's Wild Oats and Neville Crichton's latest Alfa Romeo. Worryingly they are completely reliant on the hydraulic systems for so many areas of the boat now and this requires the engine to work too. During one of the Rolex Series races Alfa Romeo sucked a plastic bag into their engine's water intake, causing the engine to stall and overheat and with no engine and thus no hydraulic power they were unable to sail the boat. With the forward rudder it is possible to get the helm nicely balanced and you can definitely tell when the boat gets in the groove, says Stead. "There are a number of ways of using the canard. You can use it as a pure trim tab, or you can have it in tracking mode, which means so it is the mirror image of what the back rudder is doing it is helping you steer the boat. It is like front and rear wheel steering - it shares the load between the rudder and you use it when you need to be manouevrable. With the trim tab you just dial in 1-3 degrees up the front on the computer and it locks in on that and you balance the boat accordingly." - www.thedailysail.com FINAL COUNTDOWN TO ACURA KEY WEST 2006 But don't worry if you've got a last minute purchase or any repairs during the Key West event - West Marine will be there to help! For all your racing needs in Key West, visit the West Marine store at 725 Caroline St. On-site rigging will be available as well as all the latest and greatest gear from New England Rope, Harken, Lewmar, Ronstan, Tacktick, Gill, Sperry Top-Sider, and more. And be sure to attend the West Marine night at the Schooner Wharf for fun prizes and giveaways. http://www.westmarine.com CLOSE TO CALLING IT A DAY Dee Caffari's chances of becoming the first woman to sail solo and non-stop round the world against the prevailing winds and currents lay in the balance last night as she battled to repair faulty auto-pilots on board Aviva. Caffari has made excellent progress to date having sailed 7,000 miles in 37 days and is now about 600 miles north of the Falkland Islands. However, almost from her first week at sea she has struggled with technical problems with the two identical auto-pilots which steer Aviva for 90 per cent of the time. Since Christmas Day the issue has become acute with one pilot affected by electrical faults and the other by problems with its hydraulic rams. The double trouble has sapped Caffari's morale, stopped her sleeping and undermined her confidence about taking on the Southern Ocean with the formidable challenge of Cape Horn just around the corner. In an e-mail from on board yesterday she admitted she was close to calling it a day. "Right now is probably the most doubtful about the project I have ever been," she wrote. "The time available to sort everything out and get it all working is running out rapidly. "The problem we have is with the conditions. The Southern Ocean doesn't lend itself to me being on deck and working in the hydraulics box on delicate wiring, or bleeding hydraulic fluid through hoses to clear air - everything gets just that little bit more difficult." - Edward Gorman, The Times, complete story: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4041-1961070,00.html Caffari's website: http://www.avivachallenge.com/ NEWS BRIEFS * Almost 700 young sailors (695 to be exact) are competing in US Sailing's USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival - Orange Bowl, which started today. Participation has been rising steadily at this event, starting with 294 when it first became part of US Sailing's Junior Olympic Sailing Festival program in 1998 to 695 today. Imagine the coordination at this event to get all these kids out on the water! Results are posted: http://www.coralreefyachtclub.org/index.cfm?menu=7560. * The Offshore Racing Rule (ORR, previously Americap II) will be used by the Chicago Yacht Club for all monohull competitors in their July 22 Race to Mackinac. Multihulls will once again be scored using Great Lakes Multihull Racing Association (GLMRA) time-on-time scoring. To be eligible to race, boats shall be of a seaworthy offshore type monohull or multihull construction, at least twenty-seven (27) feet LOA for monohulls and twenty-six (26) feet LOA for multihulls. The official Notice and Conditions of Race will be published by March 1, 2006. * Sunsail's parent company First Choice Holidays, announced the acquisition of Grand Expeditions, parent company of rival charter operator The Moorings, for $127million (UKP54m.) from North Castle Partners - a US based leisure travel group specialising in premium leisure travel experiences. The merging of the two comptitors would seem at first sight to lessen the choice for the consumer. The synergy benefits of at least an equivalent £4.5m (US$7.8m) that are anticipated as a result of the acquisition will arise primarily in the combined yacht charter businesses. It will also give Sunsail a strong entry into the North American market. - Sail World website, complete story: http://www.sail-world.com/destinations/index.cfm?Nid=20496 * The International Foundation for Disabled Sailing (IFDS) has announced that a limited number of the new Paralympic class boat, UD 18, will become available by the end of April. Following the initial allocation and delivery of boats, the manufacturer or distributor will directly coordinate and schedule future sales and deliveries. Only three of the initial build of 35 boats will be allocated to US Sailing. The Olympic Sailing Committee of US Sailing (OSC) will determine via a resume/ application process the order by which applicants will be offered the opportunity to purchase one of these first three boats. http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/2005/ud18application.htm * Clipper Ventures PLC has announced the appointment of Rory Gillard as the replacement skipper for Glasgow Clipper to take over from Graeme Johnston for the next installment of the Clipper 05-06 Round the World Yacht Race. Glasgow Clipper is one of the ten boats in 35,000-mile race, currently in Fremantle preparing for the fifth race to Singapore in the 10-month circumnavigation. Rory, 35, who skippered one of the eight Clipper 60s in the previous Clipper Race, will take over at the helm and lead the Scottish team for the remainder of the race back to Liverpool. -- www.clipper-ventures.com ISN'T IT TIME? It's that time of the year again, to start thinking about the improvements you can make to your boat to enhance the performance for the 2006 season. Just imagine the advantages of upgrading your outdated or inadequate Brand "X" system with Ockam's proven Tryad based system. And since backward/forward compatibility is a mainstay of our design, it is simple to update your older Ockam system to current specs. We even offer trade-in credits! Ockam's proven performance means your race winning decisions will be more reliable than ever. Break away from the middle of the pack! Contact Ockam: mailto:lat@ockam.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 Jim Cassidy: I note that the article announcing the Sailing Hall of Fame, to be located in Annapolis, does not mention the Museum of Yachting, which is located in Newport, R.I. Gary Jobson's statement that, in effect, said , sailing history-wise Rhode Island has (only) the Herreshoff Museum/ America's Cup Hall of Fame while Newport has a Tennis Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the impression given is that that's all there is in Rhode Island to showcase the historic aspects of sailing. Please allow me to set the record straight. While there's no doubt that Annapolis has much sailing history and spirit, Newport, R.I. abounds with the history of yachting, and sailing achievements in particular. While the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS) in Newport restores and teaches the craft of restoration of so many notable sailing craft, it is the Museum of Yachting which has showcased so many of the significant achievements of sail and its most notable boats and sailors. For over 25 years this institution has carried the story, through its exhibits and events, of the people, the boats, the races, records and voyages of sailing. It should surely be clear that Rhode Island, and Newport in particular, has not only been host to an enormous number of sailing's most historic aspects and happenings, but that there are a number of institutions in that state, and in Newport specifically, which exist to record and to present the stories about them. Among these the Museum of Yachting heads the fleet. * From Doug Truesdale: Too many choices - ORC, IMS, PHRF, Americap/ORR or IRC. The more we provide... the more we divide. I wish our sport would wake up and realize that less is more. Less handicapping systems, less one-design classes, less boat types. The more choices we have, the less we can ever agree on anything * From Chris Wentz: The buzz about sails shrinking and getting sails remeasured to obtain rating credit needs to be addressed: Laminated sails do "shrink" a bit after use due to crumpling of the Mylar film. The difference is certainly measurable. But now let's go sailing. Do we have to move the Genoa lead aft because the leech shrunk and the clew is higher? Does the main no longer pull out to the black bands? Of course not. Attention Rule Makers: please close the door on this type of gamesmanship and apply a little common sense. Sails should be measured once, before racing. If a sail is altered in such a way that makes it larger, it should be measured again. If an owner wants to benefit from shrinkage, let them use the sail for a while and beat it up before getting it measured and racing with it. Leave sail shrinkage where it belongs: between an owner and their sailmaker. Laminates are still the best type of material for racing sails. No one should be encouraged to think of shrinkage as a way to get a rating benefit. I'm not even going to mention that nylon sails often "grow" a little! * From Tim McDonald: Reading the IRC rulebook, I was wondering if Greg Stewart as a designer is violating rule 2.5 which reads: "The spirit of IRC requires that owners and designers shall not seek means of artificially reducing the rating of a boat, e.g. increasing performance without a corresponding increase in rating." Isn't any advice by designers about how to optimize your IRC rating contrary to this rule? Must be a difficult rule to enforce because every designer's web site I visit seems to have something about IRC optimizing. * From Bill Reed: The problem with the IRC and other predictive rating models is that there is an alternative that the establishment is desperately trying to avoid: statistically based PHRF. Step 1- Take the actual results of the entire US Sailing fleet (Lloyd Phoenix race results), Step 2- Collect measurements of the boats in the fleet (data from Americap, IMS or IRC measurements), Step 3- Correlate actual performance to measurements. Using basic statistics one can produce a rating that would most accurately describe the actual performance of the boats in the fleet. This process would yield the rating. The process would be completely transparent. I would suggest running the statistical program twice a year to adjust for new boats and configurations. The implementation can be as complex or simple as the governing body chooses, e.g. adding course distance and elapsed time to the performance data set would correct for course conditions. Why should the 90% of racers have to suffer for the 10% of big money sailors who can buy a rating beater? * From Frank Kern: As a person who has tried to make IRC work for the J/120's in the Great Lakes, I have found a total disconnect with the rule makers. Let me explain: even though there are many one design fleets out there, very few are considered one design under the rules. We as a local fleet tried to obtain a one design rating yet were told that they are considered unequal sister ships and not one design boats. When I tried to obtain information on what the specification tolerances to make them one design I was told by the people at RORC that could not be revealed. Because of this frustration most of our local J/120s will not be renewing their IRC certificates. Their only wish is to race boat for boat and the IRC rule as applied makes that impossible. * From Ken Sheehan: Was Jay Sharkey making a late bid for 'most ironic email of 2005' when he wrote "When folks think "Tennis" they think Wimbleton, not Newport" The International Tennis Hall of Fame is in Newport, RI. * From Bruce Berriman: A correction for George Wendt: The America's Cup Hall of Fame is not in Newport but rather in Bristol 'on the mainland' and is controlled by the Herreshof Marine Museum. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "I have finally arrived at the age at which the things I remember most clearly never happened at all." - Mark Twain Special thanks to West Marine and Ockam Instruments. |
