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SCUTTLEBUTT No. 923 - October 16, 2001Scuttlebutt is a digest of yacht racing news of major significance; commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American emphasis. Corrections, contributions, press releases, constructive criticism and contrasting viewpoints are always welcome, but save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere.
COLORCRAFT GOLD CUP Today's group of eight will join seven seeded skippers already guaranteed places in the championship round of the annual match racing championship hosted by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. The event is the third regatta on this year's Swedish Match Grand Prix Sailing Tour. A wildcard seeded place will be decided tomorrow when Marcus Wieser from Germany and Marten Hedlund from Sweden, each of whom finished fifth in the two groups competing today, will sail a best-of-three series. Light and puffy southerly winds that were always under ten knots, tried the patience of the international skippers and crews as they sailed 21 separate matches on the harbor in front of the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Bromby won most of his races with ease but faced his toughest challenge in his final race of the day, racing against Gavin Brady, the New Zealand helmsman who is now sailing for Italy's Prada Challenge for the America's Cup. Racing in the Championship Round starts on Wednesday morning. Tomorrow, after the wild-card qualifier, the seeded skippers will sail with corporate guest crews in the Renaissance Reinsurance Challenge Cup fleet racing event. -- Keith Taylor Event site: http://bermudagoldcup.com
LOOK!! GREAT NEWS FOR KIDS
VOLVO OCEAN RACE Following illbruck and ASSA ABLOY past the final waypoint were Tyco (11.40GMT), Team News Corp (11.58) and Amer Sports One (13.08). Illbruck will now lose the relative comfort of watching and covering their closets rivals on radar as the fleet opens up in the south Atlantic. Losses and gains on their lead will only be seen in the six hourly position reports, with team News Corp navigator Ross Field likening it to "being investigated by the tax department every six hours." Like his contemporaries, Field will be working overtime to monitor the progress of the weather patterns around that area. The different strategies for passing the high-pressure system are already emerging. illbruck is the most southerly yacht in the fleet with News Corp at the top of the pack, some 40 miles to the northwest of illbruck. Once again, SEB has experienced gear failure onboard. The damage occurred last night, while the Swedish entry in the Volvo Ocean Race headed south along the Brazilian coast. The headboard car, the fastening device securing the top of the main sail to the mast broke, and the main sail came falling down. This is the second headboard car to break onboard SEB during this leg. "This just feels awful. In the middle of the night we once again heard a bang and the main sail came down. This is of course a setback for us and we completely lost our track and the smooth running we had worked up during the past couple of days", reports a sorrowful Gurra Krantz by onboard satellite phone. Since leaving Southampton SEB has been beset by material damages, forcing them on a far more easterly course than desired. However, they have fought their way back on several occasions - only to find themselves facing the next setback - the becalmed zone at the Equator; the Doldrums.
Position report: 1600 hrs GMT October 15:
MINI TRANSAT The front runners from leg one have been joined by the experienced Ronan Guerin in leg two. His dismasting in the first stage to Lanzarote put paid to any hopes of an overall podium finish baring a very unlikely set of retirements but he has a point to prove now and it will be interesting to see if his ability to overcome the pressure at the front will be better than that of the rest without the range of experience he can draw on. After the opening hours of the second leg when there were extended periods with next to no wind the north-easterlies have return with some extra weight at 25 knots. However the breeze is not at all stable and some rotations in the direction of 180 degrees have been reported - this will result in breakages and some frustration ahead of the mighty windless zone... the doldrums. The sort of weather that offers a rare, near perfect Atlantic record crossing (this time for Fosset's Play Station) has resulted in the weather records being throw out of the window and the Mini skippers reaching for any straw that will give a clue to what lies ahead. The heavier conditions will suit the larger figure of Irishman Brian Thompson who, after some repairs to his Lighthouse Life Foundation, has been better placed with improved performance - we wonder if he knows about his old boat's latest record (Thompson was watch leader on Play Station before his Mini campaign). -- www.offshorechallenges.com
Top Five Places - Prototype Division
Top Five Places - Series Division
English updates at http://www.offshorechallenges.com
LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON (dmccreary@boats.com) No letters received today, please send! I've been trying to get journo's and the usual suspects here in Bermuda to post something scandalous (under aliases if need be) but none of them have risen to the bait.
THE KEELS WERE DIFFERENT BUT THE CLOTH WAS THE SAME
LT. GENERAL TABER TO RECEIVE US SAILING PRESIDENT'S AWARD In the wake of the infamous 1979 Fastnet Race storm, Taber helped organize and moderated the first US Naval Academy Safety at Sea Colloquium, a seminar that included presentations by Rod Stephens, John Rousmaniere, Duck McCurdy, and others. This was the start of a safety training seminar series that has spanned two decades and has presented vital safety information to audiences across the country and around the world. Recognizing a hazard of a crew overboard incident, Taber ran an in-depth series of tests at the US Naval Academy where he evaluated the effectiveness of the reach-reach and figure-eight types of recoveries. He also devised a procedure that would become known as the Quickstop, which has been internationally endorsed and is currently US Sailing's favored means of recovery. During his involvement as a volunteer Officer in Charge of various US Naval Academy sail training craft, he devised advancements to midshipmen's' seamanship curriculum and worked on training issues that would nationally benefit all sailors. "Lt. General Taber's contributions to the sport of sailing have had a long-lasting beneficial significance," said Ralph Naranjo, Chairman of US SAILING's Safety at Sea Committee. More information about the US SAILING Safety at Sea Committee, including Safety at Sea Seminars, can be found at http://www.ussailing.org/safety/.
INDUSTRY NEWS The $250k marketing initiative, targeted to prospective buyers of sailboats, related equipment and accessories, sailing lessons and charter sailing vacations, is the largest endeavor ever launched by the industry in an effort to help spur and sustain retail activity at all levels, while embracing newcomers into the sailing lifestyle. The new campaign, Discover Sailing: The Ultimate Adventure, includes several key marketing components including logo design and packaging, point of sale, magazine advertising, direct marketing, ongoing e-mail/database communications, a new Sailor's Day boat show educational program, comprehensive custom video production, four-color brochure and public relations support activities. Prospects will be targeted through specific sailing schools attendance in 2002 and at Sail America sailboat shows, along with newsstand-based magazine advertisements/insertion cards. See http://www.sailamerica.com
QUOTES FROM BOATS - VOLVO OCEAN RACE * From Rudi Rudiger, ASSA ABLOY: Although it doesn't look like a speedy trip in, it feels good now to have the option to head for Cape Town if we choose...2,600 miles still to go...man this is one long leg! We have now logged 5,300 miles and will most likely log another 2,900 to get to the finish. That's almost an extra 1,000 miles sailed because of tacking, gybing,leeway, and pushing against current. Roy and I spent a good part of the night racing each other and playing Devil's advocate with each other on the computers . It was a good exercise in strategy verses tactics. I was never very good at poker, but did OK at chess. * From Mark Christensen, illbruck: Food crimes onboard continue. Yesterday there was some double dipping on the chocolate covered granola bars. Of course the finger was pointed at Cheese [Dirk De Ridder] after he displayed his liking of nuttella. The next few days should initially compress the fleet some more before a new easterly and then northerly wind fills in. The leading boats will initially stretch out again, but after that the routing programs run out of information. Still a long way to go. * From Gurra Krantz, Team SEB: Yes it has happened again. Same failure on the same part, the head board car. Feels a little too much but of course possible as the replacement part was of the same design as the original. Looking at the bit that broke off it seems like it is designed for something else than a round the world race. Should we have known this? Possibly, but we have never had a problem before and surely one would expect the lessons learned from last year's Sydney to Hobart race to have been implemented. We are all a bit gutted to loose miles again. Position report after position report we have been able to stretch on the boats behind us. Hard and intensive sailing has been rewarded with a few miles every report. Some of it is now, again, taken away from us. Fantastic recovery to be back in action in two hours, but the result is that we have lost distance and height, plus now we have a mainsail that is complicated to reef.
THE CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION |
