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SCUTTLEBUTT 3005 - Tuesday, January 12, 2010Scuttlebutt 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. Scuttlebutt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Scuttlebutt on Facebook: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/facebook Today’s sponsors are NorthU, Southern Spars, and J/Boats. TECHNOLOGY AND RESPONSIBILITY Bill Schanen, Sailing publisher There are times when I wish GPS had never been invented. One of those times was when I read about Yuppie 911. Two men went hiking in the Grand Canyon with their teenage sons. “In the span of three days,” the Associated Press reported, “the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous lifesaving rescues inside the steep canyon walls.” The panic button was on a personal locator beacon, a gizmo you can buy for less than $100 that sends a distress signal and GPS coordinates at a touch of that button. The signal goes to a private company, which then alerts search and rescue organizations, which have no option but to respond to save people from whatever dire threat it is that they’re facing. In the case of the Grand Canyon hikers, the threat was water that “tasted salty.” After the third rescue summons, the rescue team forced the hikers to get in a helicopter and took them back to a safe world where there was plenty of sodium-free bottled water. The rescuers apparently did not have the authority to confiscate the personal locator. Pity. You don’t have to be a pessimist to see this as a sign of a decadent society: Self-reliance and personal responsibility don’t matter anymore because you can push a button to have your sorry butt saved from whatever difficulty you got yourself into. That difficulty doesn’t even have to rise to the menace of salty water. Another hiking party reportedly pushed the button and caused a rescue mobilization because they wanted their families to know they were going to be late and their cell phones didn’t work. Now there’s an emergency - no cell coverage. The fellow who coined the term Yuppie 911, Matt Scharper, the head of California’s search and rescue operation, lamented the fact that his “personnel are placing their own selves at risk for somebody that’s just uncomfortable or didn’t plan or prepare” and pointed out that the GPS locators let people take risks they would never have considered before. For a mere hundred bucks they can buy bragging rights to adventures that will enthrall their friends, neighbors and office mates. What does Yuppie 911 have to do with sailing? Quite a bit. I’m not saying that sailors have been abusing rescue services in as egregious a way as those hikers. There has been some of that on a small scale, sailboat owners calling the Coast Guard because they ran out of fuel, that sort of thing. (That’s why the Coast Guard got out of the towing business.) And there have been a few instances in which sailors pursuing their sail-around-the-world dreams put themselves in situations they weren’t prepared to handle and in desperation activated their epirbs. It can at least be said for these rescue supplicants that the trouble they got themselves into was the real thing. Their problem wasn’t that their drinking water tasted salty; it was that without rescue they would be immersed forever in salty water. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/yczzo6n QUALIFYING SERIES ANNOUNCED Newport, RI (January 11, 2010) - David K. Elwell Jr., commodore of the New York Yacht Club (NYYC), announced today that the club has invited 26 pre-eminent American yacht clubs to compete for places in the second New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, which will be sailed in Newport, R.I., September 10-17, 2011. In September 2009, the NYYC hosted the first New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup, where 19 amateur yacht club teams from 14 nations competed in chartered NYYC Swan 42s at Harbour Court, the NYYC’s on-the-water clubhouse in Newport, R.I. Competitors had to be members of the yacht club and nationals of the country represented. The 2009 event saw teams from Japan, Germany, Finland, Spain, Bermuda, Canada, Ireland (two), Denmark, Hong Kong, New Zealand, England (three), Italy (two), France and the United States (two), including the host and eventual winner, the NYYC. Commodore Elwell explained that a number of yacht clubs in the United States had expressed interest in competing in the inaugural event. “This invitation for a U.S. Qualifying Series is in response to that interest,” he said. The Qualifying Series will be held in Newport on September 8-11, 2010, and will feature fleet racing in Sonars and J/22s. The top three U.S. teams from this series then receiving invitations to the NYYC Invitational Cup, where they will join the top six teams from 2009: New York, Royal Canadian, Japan Sailing Federation, Nyländska Jaktklubben of Finland; Royal Cork of Ireland and Royal Bermuda, plus at least 10 other international teams, to be invited in the spring of 2010. Complete list of invited clubs: http://www.nyyc.org/home/article_661/ BICYCLES BOBSLEDS SAILBOATS No matter what you race, you’ve got to be fast to win. If it’s sailboats you race, then the NorthU Trim course will make you fast, fast. In one day you learn to control and balance power for better upwind performance, trim your spinnaker (A or S) to run faster and deeper, and how to set, jibe, and douse like a pro; plus you’ll take home the NorthU TRIM Seminar-on-CD for review and home study. Coming soon to a town near you. Visit http://www.northu.com or call 800-347-2457 for full info and schedule. IS IT A BIRD, IS IT A PLANE….? Port America’s Cup passers-by have been doing a double take recently due to the new arrival of two small weather planes at the Alinghi camp. Jon Bilger, Alinghi’s chief weather man, has the answers … * Can you describe these devices? Are they planes, gliders? JON BILGER: “They are a combination of both. They are basically a plane with floats on them, so they can take off from the water and fly, but the idea is that we can measure the wind speed at any height we like. With a boat we're stuck at six metres but the planes can go to the height of the mast which is the equivalent of a 17-storey building.” * What are these planes used for? JON BILGER: “We're using them like a weather boat to measure wind speed and direction. They can fly relatively slow: from 25 knots up to 60 and we can cover a large area. The last America’s Cup was a race area of nine square miles and we have now an area of 450 square miles to cover, so we need some different equipment to do that effectively.” * When will these planes be used and who will fly them? JON BILGER: “We have two planes and we'll use them pretty much every day that the conditions are good for sailing Alinghi 5. The company we use is from Australia and we have a couple of experienced pilots to fly them.” * How will the collected data help the team and the boat? JON BILGER: “Because these boats are going so fast and because they are so large, the sailors won't be going up the mast unless absolutely necessary, not to spot wind. On an old America’s Cup course you could see quite a long way when you were at the top of the mast, so the decision making from the sailors was quite important but this time, because they are going so fast, and they tack relatively slow compared to how fast they go, deciding which side of the course is going to be done before the start of the race on the information we give them so it will be quite critical for them to go the right way. If the two teams go different ways they are going to be a long way apart in a short space of time.” Photos and full story: http://tinyurl.com/yg4e5l9 SZABO TO DEFEND WORLD TITLE The Star World Championship, which will be held for the fourth time in Brazil, brings together a record number of 81 teams, representing 20 countries, with racing in Rio de Janeiro on January 16-22 outside of Guanabara Bay. The World Championship will be technically very strong with participants such as 2009 World Champions George Szabo/Rick Peters (USA), 2008 Olympic Gold Medalists Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR), ISAF top ranked star team Flávio Marazzi/Enrico de Maria (CHE), and past world champion skippers Xavier Rohart (FRA), Fredrik Loof (SWE), Alan Adler (BRA), Robert Scheidt (BRA), and Ross MacDonald (CAN). As expected, Brazil will have the greatest number of participants, with 24 boats entered to compete, including top Olympic medalist and world champion sailor, Torben Grael. Elected best sailor in the world by the International Federation in 2009, captain of the Ericsson 4, winner of the last Volvo Ocean Race, the most traditional around-the-world race, Grael will attempt a ninth podium finish in the upcoming Star World Championship. The following countries will be represented in the tournament: Brazil (24), Italy (12), Argentina (8), Germany (6), USA (6), Portugal (3), Switzerland (3), England (3), Canada (2), Chile (2), Sweden (2), Croatia (2), Georgia (1), Spain (1), Serbia (1), France (1), Norway (1), Greece (1), Ireland (1) and Austria (1). -- Event website: http://www.starworlds2010.com * From American Andrew Campbell, who finished fifth in the 2009 Star Worlds: “We’ve had a couple of days of race-training inside the bay here in Rio. We’re right under Sugar Loaf and the massive statue of Christ atop the highest promontory in town, but the only shade in town is under the boat when we’re polishing. Temperatures reach 90+ degrees almost daily this time of year. Luckily the seabreeze fills around 1pm so there is some relief once we get sailing, but if the wind is still light, then the downwind legs can be painfully hot. The next week will be critical to acclimatize as well as tune the boat for the big show.” -- http://campbellsailing.com/index.php/2010/01/10/training-for-worlds-in-rio I LOVE WINTER (January 11, 2010) - Yesterday in Miami the Etchells sailors were whining because it was 39 degrees F and twenty racers went home early. Oh the horror! 39 degrees! In Fort Lauderdale the wind chill was in the 20's and they canceled the last day of the USSTAG Qualifier, whatever that is, but it appears to be something to do with girls on keelboats. In Rhode Island the temperature never got out of the 20's, the wind chill was in the teens... so we went Laser sailing. About twenty of us turned up for frostbite racing at Newport and we had a terrific day. Some of the guys had a little boat work to do before we launched. Chipping frozen snow off the hull for anyone who had left their boat upside down without a cover. Spraying de-icer into the mast step and chipping ice out of there for others. I had my snow shovel in the car... just in case I needed to dig the boat out... but my boat was fine apart from a slab of ice in the cockpit. -- Proper Course blog, read on: http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-love-winter.html 49ERS: RIGGED FOR SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE Southern Spars would like to congratulate all competitors who took part in the Seiko 49er Worlds held last week in the Bahamas. Principally the Spanish team of Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernandez who won the 2010 title, securing their third World Championship gold medal; defending champions, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen from Australia who took second; and Pietro Sibello and Gianfranco Sibello of Italy who won bronze. Known for their high performance and adrenaline pumping speeds, the 49er class utilise Southern Spars carbon rigs for a superior performance. For more information visit: http://www.southernspars.com * Great photos here from the 49er Worlds: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0110/ SAILING SHORTS * Key West, Fl (January 11, 2010) - Sailors from around the world are arriving and preparing to race in North America’s premiere regatta - Key West 2010, presented by Nautica. Boats from over 14 countries and 20 states begin five days of intense competition on January 18th. Follow the grand prix action, racing excitement, and results through the web-site blog and coverage, Scuttlebutt’s on the scene reports, live tracking of the Melges 32 and J/80 fleets by Kattack, and nightly on demand video on www.TP2.tv. Scratch sheet and news: http://www.Premiere-Racing.com * Forty-eight talented athletes have been named to the 2010 US Sailing Development Team (USSDT), a new, youth pipeline team supported by US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee (OSC). The USSDT was created to help young athletes, who have been identified as future Olympic prospects, acquire the skills necessary to launch successful campaigns and compete at the Olympic level. -- Read on: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org/Releases/2010_USSDT_Announced.htm * (January 11, 2010) - The National Marine Manufacturers Association Canada inducted Ian Bruce and Marcel Dubois into Canada's Boating Hall of Fame today, with the ceremony taking place at the 2010 Toronto International Boat Show's industry reception. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/ydypyuv LETTERS AND FORUM Please email your comments to the Scuttlebutt editor (aka, ‘The Curmudgeon’). Published letters must include writer's name and be no longer than 250 words (letter might be edited for clarity or simplicity). One letter per subject, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- To submit a Letter: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- To post on the Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From James Stevralia: So we seem to be moving along to making the America's Cup into an actual sailing event. As an attorney in New York City, the litigation has certainly been interesting and has captured the attention of many in the non-sailing legal community. It is actually true interest and not cynical observation. Now with the event coming alive, I am wondering if Scuttlebutt or any of the readers can direct me an article on the starting strategies which the teams will be employing. Having enjoyed match racing for a good number of years I can appreciate the role of the pre-start in a successful event. However, I cannot imagine the maneuvering that is customary with the long, wide and fast vessels competing. To enter the start box 3 to 5 minutes before the start could put these boats miles from the start. Can they do a dial up? How fast will the tack and accelerate? Or will it just become a race of boat speed? Good start/bad start doesn't matter??? => Curmudgeon’s Comment: Anybody want to play tactician and describe what your starting strategy would be? Post your plan on the Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=8877#8877 * From Bruce McPherson: Many thanks for addressing the issue of ethanol content of gasoline being increased from 10% (E10) to 15% (E15). I have written to the President of USBoating on this. Would you see fit to put the addresses you used at EPA and The White House in Scuttlebutt so we could send short letters outlining our adverse experiences with E10 in outboards to those who will control the future! I asked our outboard dealer last week if we should replace our ill-performing engine with a new version that would handle the E10 better. His answer was a surprise: the new engines do not behave any better! He said to stick with our current 2000 model. If we can only buy E15, I will not take the whaler off land, we'll sell! There would be no assurance of getting back under power. As it is, we do not go beyond the range/sight of the club launch now! => Curmudgeon’s Comment: The addresses used in the report included in Scuttlebutt 3004 were: The Honorable Lisa Jackson Environmental Protection Agency Ariel Rios Building 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20460 The Honorable Steven Chu US Department of Energy 1000 Independence Ave., SW Washington, DC 20585 The Honorable Carol Browner The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Washington, DC 20500 * From Tom Hagoort, Hilton Head, SC: This week a Notice to Mariners from the Coast Guard announced that they will permanently "terminate the transmission of all U.S. Loran C signals" on February 8th. I suspect the Coast Guard is looking for support from the boating community for the continuance of Loran C service and I hope it will be forthcoming. * From Jeroen van der Beek: I have read the interview in the February 2010 issue of Seahorse conducted with Ernesto Bertarelli: as quoted in Scuttlebutt 3004. What I find disappointing in most interviews regardless of who is being interviewed, BOR or Alinghi, the interviewer is allowing the interview to be manipulated as part of the respective propaganda campaign. As an example Ernesto Bertarelli states: “As you will remember we were forced into a Deed of Gift Match in multihulls by Oracle.” This is not how I recall events; yes Alinghi were forced to change their vision for the 33rd America’s Cup, but forced into the DOG match, I don’t think so. What happened to interviewers challenging the validity of statements being made? * From David Redfern: Lipton also had a replica America's Cup made full size, which I believe was in the RUYC for some time. It may still be there? There were I think five full size America's Cups over time. A lady once brought one in to our Victory '83 offices to see, wrapped anonymously in brown paper. * From John Edwards: The Royal Victoria Yacht Club of Victoria, BC, Canada is proud to be an owner of one of the Lipton Cups that were given to yacht clubs across North America. The Cup is competed for each year by sailors in the Victoria area. This year the RVYC Lipton Cup Race will be held on Sunday, April 11 and will be sailed under PHRF. Please contact the Fleet Captain at mailto:fleetcaptain@rvyc.bc.ca if you are interested in competing for this prestigious trophy. * From Captain Michael J Dailey: Ernesto Bertarelli obviously believes his own spin on what he has done to the America’s Cup. His vision of the next Cup is what put most of the rest of the world off of the America’s Cup and has taken it all the way to where it is now. It was not Oracle’s response. Does anyone else out there really still believe that Oracle didn’t do the right thing and stand up for the Deed and what the AC was meant to be? TRIPLE CROWN HONORS FOR THE NEW J/95 The J/95 (31') breaks new ground as a sporty, keel-centerboarder that daysails eight, sleeps four and sails in only 4’ of water. It's also Sailing World's “Overall Boat-of-the-Year,” Cruising World's “Best Domestic Boat” and Sail's “Top 10.” Wow, this boat really does it all. Check out gallery and specs at http://www.jboats.com/j95/ CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day. Special thanks to NorthU, Southern Spars, and J/Boats. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
