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SCUTTLEBUTT 1689 - October 14, 2004Powered by SAIC (www.saic.com), an employee-owned company. Scuttlebutt is adigest 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. BIGGER, LIGHTER AND 21 DAYS FASTER With just under a year to go until the start of the 2005 Volvo Ocean Race, the Bang the Corner website decided to take a look at the design behind the Volvo 70. Here are a few excerpts from that story now posted online: Since its inception in 1993 the boats that have been produced under the Volvo 60 rule have been developed and refined to the limits. With each event the boats have evolved rapidly and proved to be quicker than their predecessors. The sailors and designers agree that after several design cycles and after three events spanning nine years, technology has progressed such that faster boats would be possible if the rules were relaxed. Starting again from afresh rather than trying to make an existing rule fit a new breed of boats was believed to be the logical step. Expert predictions suggest that the new boats would be 21 days quicker around the world than the Volvo 60s. Most of the Volvo Open 70 boats in the fleet should achieve 500-mile days. To do this they will need to maintain an average speed of just under 21 knots. This will mean peak boat speeds of around 35 knots. At 21.5m the new boats will be 2m longer but as much as 1000kg lighter. The Volvo Open 70 will carry up to 60 percent more sail area downwind in the spinnaker alone. The mast will be 4m taller, the boom a metre longer and the mainsail 28 per cent bigger than on the 60s. Sail furling systems will be allowed aboard the new boats. Being able to roll away a sail temporarily is far less physically demanding on the crew than the conventional system of lowering and bagging a sail each time. Non-metallic rigging is now allowed for the standing rigging, which could save as much as 100kg in weight aloft. Canting keels are now allowed and provide a more efficient means of reducing the heeling. Sailing the boat more upright develops more power. The Volvo Open 70s will be allowed any number of foils or rudders in any position, so long as they only have one axis of movement. Configurations such as twin rudders, forward rudders, canards and dagger boards will be allowed. - Excerpts from a story on the Bang the Corner website. To read the full story: www.bangthecorner.com/default.asp?m=da&id=13636 ACT 3 - VALENCIA The Valencia Louis Vuitton Act 3, a Fleet Racing event, begins today. For the teams, the switch from Match Racing to a Fleet Race format requires a change in approach, as the tactic of focusing on just one opponent is unlikely to lead to the desired result when racing seven opponents. For the winner of the Louis Vuitton Act 2, Emirates Team New Zealand, it will be interesting to see how their highly acclaimed new afterguard attack the Fleet Races. The Kiwis were the only one of the 'Big Three' teams in Marseille to fail to win a Fleet Race, as Team Alinghi and BMW Oracle split the victories. With three wins in four races in Marseille, BMW Oracle helmsman Gavin Brady says he's looking forward to Thursday. "It's quite enjoyable doing the Fleet Racing," Brady said at the conclusion of the Louis Vuitton Act 2. "You can't cover seven other boats. I think you'll see a lot of different winners. It's important to try and hang in there. If you're in third place for example, you might try and hold on to your third instead of taking a risk for the win, because third might be alright at the end of the day." The "ACC Champion 2004" will go to the team that has the best cumulative classification from the three Louis Vuitton Acts this year, using a low point scoring system. - www.americascup.com ACC Champion Standings after Act 1 & Act 2: Emirates Team New Zealand - 4 pts BMW Oracle Racing - 4 pts Team Alinghi - 6 pts Luna Rossa - 9 pts Le Defi - 9 pts K-Challenge - 11 pts +39 Syndicate - 14 pts Team Shosholoza - 14 pts TIGER BY THE TAIL Soon after designing and building the Laser sailboat in 1970, Rowayton resident Bruce Kirby realized he had a "tiger by the tail." In the years since, 182,000 Lasers have been sold, making it the most popular sailing dingy in the world. After watching the prototype of his newest boat, the Pixel, put through its paces over the weekend, Kirby said he started to feel like he may have bagged another tiger. The Pixel, designed for beginner and intermediate junior sailors, made its maiden voyage Saturday from the Norwalk Yacht Club on Wilson Cove. A day later, the former Olympic sailor and America's Cup yacht designer took the sloop to the Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, where for about two hours he trailed behind it in a Boston Whaler watching its every pitch and yaw. "I really have a good feeling about the Pixel," said Kirby, who has designed about 60 boats in his lifetime. "It is doing what I want it to do and what I hoped it would do and what the calculations said it would do." One thing the slide rules and calculators didn't prepare him for was how fast the 13-foot, 9-inch, open-ended boat could sail into the wind. In 20 knots of breeze off Long Neck Point in Darien Monday, the Pixel surprised even Kirby when it gathered so much speed that its hull rose far enough in the water to begin planing upwind with its occupants hiking out over the rail. "I was flabbergasted," Kirby said. The Pixel weighs about 185 pounds, 90 pounds lighter than the Blue Jay, and has an updated main sail that with a jib gives the Pixel 100 square feet of sail area, 10 square feet more than the Jay. The Pixel, at 5 feet, 3 inches, is 2 inches longer and about 3 inches wider than the Blue Jay .Unlike the Blue Jay, the Pixel accelerates quickly in a puff, seems nimble, planes upwind or down and can be capsized and righted with little trouble, thanks to its cutout transom. If all goes according to plan, the Pixel, which will sell for about $6,000, should be on the market in the spring. - John Nickerson, Stamford Advocate, full story: http://tinyurl.com/6bbzk TEAM ONE NEWPORT AND HENRI-LLOYD FALL BLOWOUT! Huge savings on this year's Henri-Lloyd products! Help us make room for the new Holiday items. Team One Newport is known for it's expertise and awesome customer service, so be sure to check out the latest gear from Henri-Lloyd, Musto, Gill, Patagonia, Railriders, Camet, Kaenon, Harken, Extrasport, Kokatat, OS Systems and lots more! For the hottest prices, call 800-VIP-GEAR or visit http://www.team1newport.com BIG WIND Big seas in the Gulf of St Tropez forced the postponement of racing in the Dragon 75th Anniversary Regatta, while the international jury is trying to sort out a series of protests regarding boats disqualified for premature starts in Tuesday's second race. Tony O'Gorman, the principal race officer for the regatta explained the decision not to sail today, "we felt with the wind speed at the time of 27 knots gusting 30, and because we have 267 competitors, we felt that was too windy, and there was a big sea also, so we felt it was too dangerous to race. "It was more the sea state, because Dragons can race in 27 knots without any difficulty, but because of the special form of this regatta, with so many boats on the starting line, and mark roundings, we felt it would be unfair and probably dangerous." On Thursday the whole fleet are due to start together in one huge anniversary race, while on Friday there are a series of special race, including races for past champions, for crews, over 65 year old skippers, lady helms and juniors. On Saturday the fleet will be divided into gold, silver and bronze fleets, depending on results from the heats earlier in the week, for one race to decide the overall results. - John Roberson, www.pixsail.com/fr/dragon MOOD SWINGS Former Oracle sailor Mike Sanderson believes Emirates Team New Zealand will take confidence more than anything from their victory in the second America's Cup pre-regatta in Valencia. "Team New Zealand have taken a few hits over the last 18 months so it is fantastic for them to have won the event," said Sanderson. "They certainly won't be beating their chests and saying now we are the men to beat, but it means that Grant [Dalton] is doing a nice job in getting the thing back on track and Dean [Barker] is sailing well with the new afterguard. It is a really positive thing for all their new combinations ... it just means the changes they have made are shaping up." Another confidence-booster will be the performance of the race boat, NZL81, which has been similar in speed to Alinghi and Oracle. "I think a lot of us always knew that NZL81 and NZL82 were going to be fast boats once they had done the racing," said Sanderson who will skipper Danish entry ABN Amro in the next round-the-world race. Alinghi sailing manager Jochen Schueman said the defenders were extremely disappointed with their showing. "We lost the most important races against our direct opposition, against Oracle, against Prada against Team New Zealand. So finally they are in front of us and that happens." He said reasons for their losses ranged from bad tactical decisions to equipment failure. But he did not believe the result proved Alinghi were vulnerable without Coutts. "Losing Russell was a big loss, but he helped to put a great team together and the whole team is still there ... so I think that we will prove that this team was a big part of Russell's performance." - Julie Ash, NZ Herald, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/4kx64 NEWS BRIEFS * Must See - Anyone who thinks classic one-designs like Shields are not exciting to sail should stop everything right now and check out a photo from the 2004 Shields Nationals in Edgartown by Michael Berwind: http://tinyurl.com/5lgea. It's posted on the Shields Class website (www.shieldclass.com), as is the entire sequence of images leading up to the dramatic broach: http://tinyurl.com/5ou8v. (These photographs are the exclusive property of Carol & Michael Berwind and may not be reproduced without their permission.) * Time Magazine has paid "tribute to 29 dazzling people who shine their light on the world..." in their October 11 special issue. Ellen MacArthur was selected for her inspiration in 'Setting Sail for Greatness' and her work with the Ellen MacArthur Trust that takes young children suffering from cancer sailing. The European Heroes were chosen as 'they inspire, create, devote themselves to others, and even risk their lives...' In mid-November, Ellen will be on standby in Plymouth for her solo, round the world record attempt with the 75-foot B&Q trimaran, which has undergoing an intensive refit. - www.time.com * There is a neat new website that provides sailing information based on a mouse click on a worldwide map. Marinas, races, charters, services, sailing news, classifieds and other information is provided for any local area in the world. - www.marinamap.com/en/ * The new release of Virtual Skipper 3 is now available. The updated racing simulator provides updated ISAF rules and increased right-of-way indicators to provide warnings on potential rule violations. State of the art graphics portray yachting like never before with realistic sailing conditions, water movements according to day and night transitions, realistic weather conditions, and sea behavior. Four different classes (America s Cup, 45-foot offshore, ORMA 60 trimaran, and Melges 24) can be sailed at six different locations. Look for Virtual Skipper 3 in performance sailing chandleries and nautical bookstores on both coasts. * In the second of two days competition, world-class skipper Chris Larson has won the 2nd annual Annapolis Volvo Senator's Cup. Larson and tactician Geoff Ewenson, both from Annapolis, scored four wins in the sixth match of the best-of-seven series, sailed on Swan 45 One Design class yachts. Runner-up skipper John Bertrand and tactician Scott Nixon, both also locally-based, won the first two as well as the final seventh match. The Senator's Cup raises a substantial amount of money for the Annapolis Community Foundation, Box of Rain Foundation, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and Special Olympics of Maryland. - www.senatorscup.com * In yesterday's issue we carried an account of the sinking of the J/24 Quicksilver off Seattle. To see photos of the incident: www.roadfever.com//pix/2004-10-09_Sinking_of_Quicksilver/ QUOTE / UNQUOTE - Ben Ainslie "I have a better feel for what is expected of me and what I am going to be doing. I've fitted in really well with the team, all the Kiwis are a great bunch, we have a good laugh and they have a similar sense of humor. So far the sailing has been really good fun and the racing has gone well. It is quite hard, sailing on your own and suddenly there are 17 other people around and just not being in control of your own destiny I suppose, how everything is going to work and all the decision making. I'm getting more comfortable with it now but certainly still I look at some things we do and I think 'oh, I don't know if I'd do it like that' but it is not my place to say and you can't really do that half way through a tack. You have to work the best you can with everyone." - GBR Olympic Finn Gold medallist Ben Ainslie, Emirates Team New Zealand, from a story on The Daily Sail website, www.thedailysail.com DO YOU "ONE DESIGN?" WE DO! Tornado, Sabots, Yngling, 470's, J/105, Schock 35, Etchells, Acat's, Farr 40, 505, Cal 20, Coronado 15, Fireball, J/24, CFJ, 420, Europe Dinghy, Harbor 20, International 14, J/22, Holder 20, Flying Scot, Lido 14, Lehman 12, Lightning, Melges 24, Optimist, Snipe, Thistle, Cal 25, Soling, Sonar, Santana 20, Santana 30/30, Capri 14.2, El Toro, Ultimate 20, Flying Junior, J/80, Hobie 21, San Juan 24, Nacra, Prindle , J/120, Antrim 27, Olson 30, Mumm 30, J/109. Ullman Sails has been one designing 30+ years, give your local loft a call or visit us at http://www.ullmansails.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 Chuck Riley: Will it take a fatality on the race course for the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle RC to learn that PFD's should be mandatory, especially with winds in the "20+ range"? That lesson was learned the hard way a few years ago here on San Francisco Bay. * From Guy Gurney: The report of the sinking J/24 took me back to some 20 years ago when I was the racing editor at Yachting magazine (yes, it covered sailing in those days). At that time there had been several well-publicized reports of J/24s capsizing and sinking in similar circumstances, in some cases involving loss of life. A sailmaker friend who raced a J/24 told me that at least 25 such sinkings had already occurred in various places around the world, so I decided to investigate further and prepare a report for the magazine. Unfortunately the chief editor at the time instructed me not to do so, for fear of upsetting a valued advertiser. (Another major Yachting client had cancelled all advertising as a result of a SORC race report I'd written, which they considered detrimental to their image.) Since then I have often wondered if my informant was exaggerating, and just how many of the thousands built of these great little boats have actually sunk. A J/24 doesn't strike one as a particularly dangerous design, but in view of their history, and the fact that they are often raced harder than many other boats of their size and type, it would seem sensible to mandate some kind of fitted buoyancy. * From Steve Dashew: Every year a number of hurricanes transition from a tropical structure to one which is extra-tropical in nature (i.e. normal mid-to-high latitude structure). The storms which make this transition can be significantly more dangerous than the original hurricane itself, because of the increased size of the storm, and the very high rate of speed at which these often travel. There's an interesting article on the subject at www.setsail.com/c_central/weather_tech/tropical.html * From Jeff Carlile (Re Chris Ericksen question about how often hurricanes crossed the Atlantic into Europe): Hurricane Lisa formed 19 Sept. south of the Cape Verdes around 13 N , 32 W and was tracked until 02 Oct. at 43 N, 35 W where its extratropical winds of 50kts were absorbed into an existing low pressure system that continued on to Europe. Looking back several years, Lisa's path seems to be a broad pattern: storms form off Africa between 10 - 15 N (distance above equator allows storms to rotate), follow the trades and currents through the southern latitudes of the northern hemisphere to North America before turning north with the air of the jet stream and the current of the Gulf stream; if they manage to stay formed into the N. Atlantic they typically go extratropical (winds created by colder/warmer air rather than moisture lift) and are absorbed into a low out of the arctic. In 2003 two storms made it to about to the area of Iceland before being abosrbed; in 2001 several storms made it to into the zone around 50-60N, 30-40W before being absorbed. The last big year was 1998 when six named storms made it to, or into, Europe: So yes, it does seem fairly common for named storms to arc through the Atlantic currents and turn back toward Europe. Evidently, as these storms become extratropical, weaken, and are absorbed by other low pressure systems, European storm agencies associate the storms name with the existing low pressure system and report the new combined depression as the remnant of the named storm. * From Brad Avery: Eric Wilcox mentions 1998 as a year that several storm (ex-hurricane) tracks reached Europe. That was the "summer" that Orange Coast College had its sail training sloop Alaska Eagle exploring Norway to Holland. We had visions of mid-August and early September as a great time for this route. But it was cold foulie weather most of the time, with even the fish boats hiding. After weeks of this, we found Holland flooded, the trains not running, and umbrellas flying from quaint cafes. Our short hop from Amsterdam to the Thames was one of the roughest in 22 years of running the boat. We're back to focusing on summers the South Pacific. And if we want rough weather that isn't too extreme, we'll go back to Chile and Antarctica. * From Jim Dunn: I was traveling from San Francisco to Chicago, and I had asked at the ticket counter if I could travel with my PFD "armed" with the CO2 cartridge in my checked baggage, the agent told me I could not, so I duly handed over the cartridge to them and proceeded on my way to security, where after removing my shoes and being wanded, I went back to the x-ray machine to pick up my hand baggage and discovered that I had placed a spare cartridge in my hand baggage, I asked the TSA agent if I could carry it on and explained that I was a sailor, and that the cartridge was for my life jacket which was in my checked baggage, he rather firmly said no, as it was a risk to the aircraft and my fellow travelers, dejected at having lost 2 cartridges, I sat down to put my shoes back on and saw some soldiers in uniform passing through the metal detector, the last man through, set it off and was asked to empty his pockets, when he was wanded, they found one of those really small swiss army knives (the kind that have a 1 inch blade) and he was told that he could not travel with it as it was a risk to the aircraft and his fellow passengers, at which point the TSA agent proceeded to hand his M-16 back to him and send him on his way. Curmudgeon's Comment: While we found this story interesting enough to include in this issue, that does not mean the CO2 thread has been reopened. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATIONS "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty - the duty to take the consequences." - P. J. O'Rourke |
