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SCUTTLEBUTT 2034 - February 20, 2006

Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.

LEG FOUR BEGINS
Wellington, New Zealand -- In perfect conditions, with blue skies and
gentle 12 knots breezes, the fleet jostled for the best position on the
start line, just a stone's throw away from the shore and in full view of
the hundreds of spectators that had lined Queen's Wharf. As the cannon
sounded it was Pirates of the Caribbean, Skippered by Paul Cayard (USA),
who had positioned themselves in the best place and shot off the start
line closely pursued by overall race leaders ABN Amro One. Seb Josse
(FRA) and the young crew on ABN Amro Two crossed the line next followed
by Brasil 1 and Ericsson.

"It was a reaching start where we managed to hit the line a full speed,
roll our competitors and lead the entire way on a short lap around
Wellington Harbor, Pirates of the Caribean skipper Paul Cayard said.
"The wind was gusting up to 20 knots as we planed down the entrance of
the bay, a good show for sure for the very knowledgeable and
appreciative Kiwi public." Amongst the spectators watching the start
from Queen's Wharf was the unusual site of a race crew staring out to
sea and a Volvo Open 70 still tied to the dock.

The crew of movistar, who incurred a two hour time penalty when they
opted to repair the boat during the pit stop, carefully watched the
route the fleet had taken hoping that they would be able to make up the
two hours over the 6,700 nautical mile leg.

For this final Southern Ocean leg, two ice gates have been set into the
course in order to keep the crews from sailing too far south and into
iceberg territory. The first waypoint is set between 148'00W and 143'00W
and the second waypoint is between 130'00W and 125'00W. This means that
each boat has to be above the latitude of 48 degrees south at some point
between the longitudes of each gate. If a team is already north of 48
degrees south, they do not have to go south to go through the gate. The
ice gates will force the fleet well north of the great circle route,
making for a safer, but more tactically challenging course to Cape Horn.

Other than the changing weather conditions, nothing but icebergs and
water stands between the boats and fearsome Cape Horn. Nevertheless, the
ice will be a constant concern throughout this leg. The race office has
been working closely with C-Core, a Canadian remote sensing firm, to
analyse radar scans of the southern Pacific Ocean in the hopes of
identifying areas with possible icebergs. C-Core has provided dozens of
radar surveys which they hope will help to keep the Volvo fleet away
from the worst of the ice and prevent any of the ice encounters which
were common during the last race. It is this analysis that let to the
placement of the ice gates in this leg. ~ www.volvooceanrace.org

Volvo Ocean Race Positions at 2200 GMT Sunday
1. Team ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, 6646 miles to finish
2. Team ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +4 miles
3. Ericsson Racing Team Neal McDonald, +5 miles
4. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +6 miles
5. Movistar, Bouwe Bekking, +13 miles
6. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +38 miles

Great images of the Leg Four start:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/vorl4st/

Images of the work that was done on movistar after Leg 3:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/06/0219/

DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
"This is not the sort of leg you think is "cool" - it is not! In fact, I
am not looking forward to it. I am Australian; I love it when it's hot
and cool. Down there it's cold and scary. Last time I sailed in the
Southern Ocean, we saw 55 icebergs on the radar and we broke our rig.
It's a dangerous place, probably the place in the world where you are
most aware of your surroundings." ~ Tom Braidwood (AUS) Ericsson Racing
Team

"This is a leg that you love to hate but I wouldn't miss it for the
world. It is the most exciting leg of the race, where we experience the
most thrilling sailing. It is the reason why we all do this race. At the
same time we need to take great care on the next leg and be aware of the
dangers. It is the toughest leg of the race - even tougher than leg
two." ~ Richard Mason (NZL) Ericsson Racing Team

VOLVO RACE NOTES
* After suspending racing at the end of leg three to make repairs to the
boat, Ericsson, skippered by British sailor Neal McDonald, finally
crossed the finish line on Wellington Bay two days after the winning
boat of the leg - movistar. As Ericsson's leg points could not be
affected because it was the last boat to finish, the team made the call
to carry out their repairs on leg three to prevent them having to take a
two hour time penalty for leg four.

* The harsh reality of Volvo 70 sailing has forced ABN Amro Two bowman,
Gerd Jan Poortman to sit out the next leg of the Volvo Ocean Race due to
injury. Travelling at around 25 knots on the first night out of
Melbourne, Gerd Jan was thrown from the bow down the deck - his fall was
broken by one of the dagger boards but the force of the incident left
Poortman with a number of injuries. Gerd Jan sustained a facial cut as
his head hit the deck during the fall and more seriously a painful lower
back which has now been diagnosed as a dislocated tail bone. The facial
cut needed 3 stitches from crew medic, American George Peet and Poortman
was bedridden for much of the remainder of the leg due to the pain of
the back injury. While the facial cut is healing well Poortman's tail
bone will take between 3 - 6 weeks to heal and after receiving medical
advice he has been ruled out of the next leg. The replacement onboard
for leg four will be ABN Amro's reserve sailor Lucas Brun. Brun, 22,
from Brazil is the youngest sailor in the race and this leg will mark
his debut offshore. For Lucas this leg is particularly significant as he
will be sailing back into his home port of Rio de Janeiro. ~
www.abnamro.com/team

* Paul Cayard (USA), Skipper of Pirates of the Caribbean, suffered
disappointment as team member Curtis Blewett (CAN) bowed out of leg four
due to injury. Shore member Jeremy Smith (NZ) steps up to the role and
will join the Pirates for the next leg. Blewett, who had taken time out
from Alinghi to race with the team and will return as planned to the
America's Cup in March, commented: "I am very disappointed because we
were a late entry to the race and it has taken a lot of work to get The
Black Pearl working well. We finally reached that point in Melbourne and
gained a great deal on leg three."

* Prior to starting leg four, Bouwe Bekking (movistar) informed Pirates
of the Caribbean (Paul Cayard) and ABN Amro Two (Sebastien Josse) that
he had issued a protest against them regarding their crew changes. The
protest is based on the fact that both the Pirates and ABN Amro Two had
crewmembers working on the boat who would later not be declared in the
crew lists for leg four. The protest will be heard in Rio.

Volvo Ocean Race Leg Three finishing Positions:
1 movistar, Bouwe Bekking
2. ABN Amro One, Mike Sanderson, +9s
3. Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul Cayard, +2h,50m,9s
4. Brasil 1, Torben Grael, +5h,3m,4m
5. ABN Amro Two, Sebastien Josse, +5h,54m,32s
6. Ericsson Racing Team, Neal McDonald, 2+days

Current Overall Race Standings:
1, Amro One, 38.5pts
2. ABN Amro Two, 28
3. movistar, 25
4. Pirates of the Caribbean, 21.5
5. Brasil 1, 20
6. Ericsson Racing Team, 16.5

NOT A HAPPY CAMPER
(Bruce Montgomery has a posting on The Daily Sail Subscription website
that lays out exactly how Team ABN Amro One feels about the Leg Three
actions of Ericsson Racing Team. Here's an excerpt.)

Leading skipper in the Volvo Ocean Race Mike 'Moose' Sanderson today
accused Ericsson Racing Team and its skipper Neal McDonald of
unsportsmanlike conduct in the third leg of the race. By exploiting an
anomaly in the rules to fully service the boat during the Wellington pit
stop while the rest of the fleet was limited to minimal maintenance by
the sailing crew, Ericsson was flouting the spirit of the race and its
rules, Sanderson said. "I think they're taking the piss a little bit,"
he said. "What they are doing is just not cricket. It is a bit of an
underarm bowl. I respect Neal as a skipper a lot. I am assuming he has
given it a huge amount of thought, but I know there are some very upset
people about it."

Sanderson, a yachtsman known for his mild manner and care with words,
was to the point in his criticism of Ericsson's tactic.On Thursday
Ericsson sailing last in the six-boat fleet from Melbourne to
Wellington, approached the finish line but did not cross it, advising
the race committee that it was putting ashore to make repairs and would
complete the leg later, now expected to be tomorrow afternoon Wellington
time. Had Ericsson crossed the line and had then made repairs using
people additional to its sailing crew and using equipment not available
on the boat, it would have been subject to a two-hour penalty at the
start of Sunday's leg to Rio de Janeiro via Cape Horn. ~
www.thedailysail.com

LIKE BEING THERE
Greg Fisher has been posting daily reports on Scuttleblog from the J/22
Midwinter at the Huston YC which ended Sunday. Check out his insightful
reports: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/blog/
Event website: http://www.j22southwest.org/midwinters/index.php

BREAKING CAMP
Team New Zealand has wound up their summer training programme in
Auckland. This week their new race yacht, NZL84, a tender, three chase
boats, five masts, 17 40ft containers and keels and bulbs will be
shipped to Valencia for the next stage of their America's Cup campaign.
From April the syndicate will base themselves in Valencia, where they
will compete in three pre-regattas in May/June/July. The
Emirates-sponsored syndicate will return to Auckland around
August/September, when they will train on the Hauraki Gulf from late
spring and launch their second boat around Christmas.

While based in Spain, the syndicate will provide core crew for two
yachts competing in the TP52 circuit. Dean Barker, Jeremy Lomas, Jared
Henderson, Terry Hutchinson, Kevin Hall, Grant Loretz and Don Cowie will
sail on Warpath and Ray Davies, Stu Bettany, Jono Macbeth, Tony Rae and
Joe Allen on Mean Machine

Tuesday marked the end of a series of in-house races against the new
NZL84 and NZL81, the sister-ship to defender NZL82, over a full cup
course. "It is an improvement on the old boats but you would expect
that. This boat, like all new boats, will be a bit of a trade-off ...
you get this, you don't get that," Dalton said. "I think already we can
do better. The danger any team face is standing still." Dalton has said
the new black boat represents "steady development from an existing
theme" rather than a breakthrough in design. Which means the hull shape
is now closer to the Alinghi and Oracle boats - narrower, more
slab-sided and fuller in the bow.

Will NZL84 race this year? "It is a bit of a case of who blinks first,"
Dalton said. Team New Zealand, Oracle, Team Luna Rosa, +39, Desafio
Espanol, Mascalzone Latino and Germany have all been assigned sail
numbers and could have new boats ready to race in May. "I can't work out
why they won't race. We want to race the new boat, there is a lot to be
gained. Probably the other teams will be thinking the same - but if they
stay in the shed, so will we, but I don't think that will happen."
Dalton believes if anyone has anything radical it will be on show this
year. "You are going to want to play it out this year." ~ Julie Ash, NZ
Herald, full story: http://tinyurl.com/b5psq

NEWS BRIEFS
* Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) won the ninth race of the Toshiba OK Dinghy
World Championship to bring him to within one point of regatta leader
Nick Craig (GBR) going into the final race of the championship. The
final race showdown between Lindhardtsen and Craig didn't materialize as
an uncharacteristic error from Lindhardtsen left him chasing the fleet.
Final results: 1. Nick Craig (GBR) 27pts; 2. Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN)
35; 3. Greg Wilcox (NZL) 51; 4. Roger Blasse (AUS) 54; 5. Karl Purdie
(NZL) 58. ~ http://www.okworlds2006.sydney.net/home.html

* An estimated 200 boats and 1,000 sailors from throughout the United
States attended the three-day Lands' End National Offshore One Design
(NOOD) Regatta of St. Petersburg, Florida. All racing was abandoned on
Friday - no wind. While some of the classes got in four races, others
only got in two or three races. John Storck of Huntington, New York.
Storck and his crew won the J/80 class against 10 other boats - judged
the most competitive class - and became the first 2006 competitors to be
chosen for the NOOD Caribbean Regatta with Sunsail. ~
www.sailingworld.com

* The Marion Bermuda Cruising Yacht Association has added an IRC class
for their 2007 Race. The use of IRC will be in addition to the
traditional ORR (former Americap II) handicap system that has been in
use for a number of years by the race. The race is open to monohulls and
multihulls between 32 and 80 feet. The next race will start in Buzzards
Bay off Marion Massachusetts on June 15, 2007. ~ www.marionbermuda.com

* Ken McAlpine, Technical Director of the America's Cup Class, publicly
announced that sail number 91 has now been allocated, although to whom
it still remains undisclosed. This will make it the ninth yacht so far
that has been built or is being built under the new Version 5 rules (see
table below). Shosholoza, the South African challenger, have already a
new boat (RSA83), officially launched at the end of May last year and
used in racing throughout 2005. ~ Valencia Sailing,
http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/

IT WILL TOTAL A MILLION MILES
Since 1980, over 600 boats have entered the West Marine Pacific Cup, the
Fun Race to Hawaii. When the mileage of the finishers was totaled up,
race organizers found that around a million miles have been sailed in
the event. To commemorate this milestone a "Million Mile Trophy" will be
awarded to the yacht with the best performance on the day the millionth
mile is officially sailed. The committee anticipates the official
Millionth Mile to be sailed around July 8 or 9, five or six days after
the first start of the race on July 3, 2006. The racer doing the best on
each other day will also be recognized. Performance will be calculated
by generating a rating-corrected speed from each day's run. The West
Marine Pacific Cup currently has over 50 entries; there is plenty of
room for more. ~ www.pacificcup.org

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 Al Milbert (re: Ray Tostado's comment on why there is no tv
coverage of the Volvo Ocean Race in the US) I think that if you could
just go film the V70 events with a HD camera, get a sponsor, and put
them on the air or internet, a sailing media company like "t2p
Productions" in Annapolis would have done it. More than likely, the
Volvo Car Company owns all rights to their race. So it should be up to
Volvo to explain why there is minimal to no coverage in the US when
compared to other countries. Should be more sailboat owners per capita
in the US than anywhere else, so perhaps it is due to a big difference
in the pricing structure that Volvo offers to the world's various
television networks? Additionally, when OLN, NGC, & ESPN run what seems
to be 50% commercials and 50% programming on such diverse and mundane
sports as bull riding, skateboarding, fishing, golf, and repeats of
every basketball game ever played, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot
of room for excuses.

* From Thomas H. Smith: I beg to differ with on having no souvenirs to
sign. How many sails have the Volvo boats blown out and repaired since
they started training? How many of these sails are no longer safe to
use? Cut them up into 8 inch by 10 inch pieces. Have the skipper / crew
sign them. Put the resultant artwork in a frame, noting on the back
which boat and sail is enclosed, and when, where and how it blew out.
Sell them at each port of call and give the money to a local charity.
Everybody wins, and many lucky kids (old and young) can hang a piece of
a dream on their wall. Plus it's good publicity for Volvo and all the
other sponsors.

* From Lynne Clarke: Craig Leweck wrote that young sailors have nothing
for 'famous' sailors to sign when seeking an autograph. I can give you
two examples that greatly pleased my son and his buddies at ages 10-15.
One was a color poster of John Kolius Americus Cup boat signed by John
on the gennie. It was framed and placed above my son's toilet [his
insistance] so that he could contemplate it each time he used the
toilet. He is now on his second Star Olympic campaign. The other is a
T-shirt. Have permanent markers in various colors available and have
'famous sailor' sign the young sailor's T-shirt. The shirt can even be
on the young sailor at the time. This then becomes a favored, 'lucky'
T-shirt. It can also, or at a later time, be framed as a permanent
memento.

* From Ron Wall (re "Nothing to Sign): Wake up and smell the Sharpie!
Motorsports have shown you can solve that problem (not many folks expect
a signed chassis or engine.), and so will true "celebrity" autograph
hounds. While I'd agree, Mount Gay ball caps aren't best for kids, they
surely should be wearing some type of headgear (sun & UV protection), so
there's that. Signing a T-shirt (one reason most Regatta & Race
organizers sell them) works too. Programs or charts would work. Of
course they can bring their own favorite piece of equipment. I can see
it now, who will get the first Cayard signed winch handle?

Sails? Did we think of that? Imagine a blown Kevlar sail, cut into 4 x
6" "signature blanks"? Black Tiller handles? Sharpie makes a White one
too! I'm sure you'll get hundreds of more responses. in fact; I'd wager
that's why you wrote the article . Clever.

* From Francis J. Carter: With reference to John Turvill letter of the
10th; I am closely associated to Virtual Spectator and can confirm that
they are working on a number of educational tools for sailing. The
utilization of the effects of wind shifts and crossing angles, the
techniques of which have been so successfully used in the past America's
Cup, together with the integration of tactics and basic rules, are some
of the projects on hand. VS has a very proactive R & D department and we
can look forward to a number of additional sailing tools to cover the
many aspects of our sport.

* From R. Geoffrey Newbury (re signing lifejackets): Where do these
ideas come from? There is nothing in the Canadian Small Vessel
Regulations, or the Live Saving Equipment Regulations or the government
standard defining a life jacket (CAN/CGSB-65.7-M88) which would make it
illegal to mark a lifejacket or PFD. Lifebouys (ring bouys) are required
to be marked with the name of the vessel. Lifejackets are not required
to be marked but often are, especially on commercial vessels. And nearly
every kid in a club sailing program wears a PFD prominently marked with
their name and no-one ever complains about that.

CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION
When you cross a snowman with a vampire do you get frostbite?