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SCUTTLEBUTT 3286 - Friday, February 25, 2011Scuttlebutt 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. Website: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/scuttbutt Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sailingscuttlebutt RSS: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/rss/index.xml Today's sponsors: JK3 Nautical Enterprises, IYRS, and The Pirates Lair. NO EASY SOLUTION TO PIRACY In the vast waters around the Gulf of Aden, roughly 1 million square miles of sea, finding pirates and rescuing their victims is something even today's sophisticated, nuclear-power Navy can't always do. After Tuesday's killing of four Americans aboard their hijacked yacht off the coast of Oman, U.S. Navy officials remained silent about whether the American deaths will prompt a change in tactics. Meanwhile piracy experts say bulking up the U.S. military presence or even attacking pirate dens in Somalia isn't necessarily the long-term answer. Any solution must change what turns people into high-seas criminals, they said. For the Navy ships steaming out San Diego, they are increasingly listing anti-piracy as one of their top deployment missions. But they are finding themselves operating in a part of the world where the brigands are not ideology-driven terrorists or warriors, but desperate youths being controlled by businessmen hungry for multimillion-dollar ransoms. "Everybody's going to say now we've got to go in there guns blazing," said retired Rear Adm. Terry McKnight, who commanded the Navy's anti-piracy task force when it was launched in early 2009. "But, first of all, nobody wants to go after the pirates ashore in Somalia. And the other thing is, it's a criminal event. You have to fall under the guidelines of international justice," McKnight said. "If we had a 1,000 ship Navy to go out there, we'd make a major dent in piracy . but the problem is the area is so vast you can't be everywhere." Last year was the worst on record for mayhem on the seas. Pirates captured 1,181 mariners and killed eight, hijacking more than 50 ships, according to the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau. The situation is most bleak off Somalia, which accounted for 92 percent of all ship seizures in 2010. International attention, including the Navy's now 2-year-old Combined Task Force 151 and two European task forces, has decreased attacks in the Gulf of Aden. Navy officials said there are 34 warships, under 15 different national flags, now patrolling the gulf area. But the pirates are pushing farther out. Tuesday's killings were an example of the new pattern: Somali pirates used a "mother ship," a larger vessel they'd hijacked earlier, as a base to extend their skiff attacks northward into the Arabian Sea. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/Piracy-022411 NO GO ZONE: Yachting World Features Editor Elaine Bunting has posted a recap of the events that occurred this week off the coast of Oman, with a map which accounts for all the pirate attacks from October 2010 through January 2011. The area of these attacks is the entire upper Indian Ocean, a region for which the 2011-12 Volvo Ocean Race will be sailing through on their leg this December from Cape Town, SA to Abu Dhabi, UAE. -- http://tinyurl.com/YW-022411 NOT YOUR TYPICAL WINNING FORMULA It's not very often that a guy sinks his boat and still wins a regatta, but that's what happened this past weekend when the Mercury class, an 18-foot keelboat of about 1200 pounds, competed in San Pedro, CA for the Southern California Midwinters. With breezes 5-10 knots on Saturday, the Mercs had four races planned for the day, but after the third race a random forty knot plus puff with a little hail chaser hit the fleet. The storm burst lasted about 8-10 minutes, but was significant enough to sink the boat of regatta leaders Hal and Anne McCormack, and conclude racing for the day. On Sunday at 6:30 am, a diver went out and pulled the boat up and towed it to the dock, where it was quickly cleaned and readied for the final races that day. Without missing a beat, the McCormacks rolled through the four races with scores of 2-2-2-5 to win the regatta by five points over second place Don Whelan and Alan Johnson, who may have had second thoughts about rescuing Hal the day before. -- Pat Bradley, results: http://www.cbyc.org/admin/cms/upload/uploads/midwinters.htm SABRE 456: THE ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE BLUEWATER CRUISER The new Sabre 456 is the flagship of the Sabre sailing fleet built with pride in Maine. She is a perfect blend of the classic and modern in performance, functionality, and aesthetics. Her Jim Taylor designed hull and beautifully handcrafted American Cherry interior have been optimized for long stays aboard and comfortable passage making. She is truly a must see for the discriminating sailor considering a luxury bluewater cruiser. Hull # 2 is available at JK3 and features the optional tall rig and deep draft keel to maximize sailing performance. Offices in San Diego (619-224-6200) and Newport Beach (949-675-8053). http://www.jk3yachts.com BIG CHANGES TO UMPIRING LIKELY Over the past two days, the Competitors in the 34th America's Cup have been attending a Competitors Forum in Auckland, NZL. A lot of ground was covered in the sessions ranging from clarification of the measurement process and AC72 class rule; the direction of the AC45 one design class rule; the draft racing rules for the America's Cup, including an electronic umpiring system; dates and possibilities of venues for the World Series; progress in San Francisco - including team bases and on the water activities. The Racing Rules have been simplified and electronic umpiring introduced after trials in San Francisco. Murray says that the accuracy is now down to 20mm and the Umpires for the 34th America's Cup and Louis Vuitton Cups will now operate from a booth ashore and communicate to the competitors electronically. It would seem that the days of penalty turns have also gone, which were always going to be very interesting at the top end of the wind range. Instead the Umpires will assess a penalty for the infringing boat and will drop them back so their advantage is lost and a punitive penalty applied. Murray says the intention is to use only live TV images with lines overlaid over the screen. -- Sail-World, full report and video interview with Murray: http://tinyurl.com/SW-022411 NEW HIRE: Mike Martin (USA) has been appointed Director of Umpiring and Rules Administration of the 34th America's Cup by America's Cup Race Management (ACRM). A California resident, Martin will be responsible for defining the approach and philosophy for umpiring and rules administration for the AC World Series and the 34th America's Cup. Martin made history when he became the only person to win the 5o5 world championships as both a skipper (2009) and crew (1999), and has also captured multiple titles in the 18 Foot Skiff where he won the class' premier event - the JJ Gilitinan - twice and was a member of the first American team to ever win this regatta in its 60+ year history. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-022411 AGE AND TREACHERY AT THE TOP (February 24, 2011; Day 2) Top of the Rolex Farr 40 Worlds pancake pile is now Guido Belgiorno-Nettis' Transfusion (AUS) after posting a 1-7-4 scoreline to move up from second. Transfusion finished bridesmaid to Nerone at last year's Worlds staged in the Dominican Republic and this year the new duo of Belgiorno-Nettis and American tactician John Kostecki are clicking well. Kostecki is a two-time winner, with Mascalzone Latino in 2008 when he stepped into Adrian Stead's shoes after he returned home for the birth of his first child. Kostecki's initial achievement was also early on, in San Francisco in 1999 with Jim Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti. "It's a lot more competitive these days," observed Kostecki. "If you get back in the pack it is hard to come back. The standard of sailors is very high." After postponing for an hour for the wind to increase, Principal Race Officer Peter "Luigi" Reggio was kept busy as the breeze built to 12-15 knots and swung through 35 degrees. It was a long day and a late finish with crews arriving back at the host club, the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, after 7pm in the evening. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/F40Worlds-022411 Results after second day - top 5 of 20 1. Transfusion, AUS, Guido Belgiorno-Nettis, 4-4-2-1-7-4, 22 2. Nerone , ITA, Antonio Sodo Migliori/ Massimo Mezzaroma, 2-1-10-10-1-1, 25 3. Estate Master, AUS, Lisa & Martin Hill, 1-8-1-7-9-10, 36 4. Flash Gordon, USA, Helmut & Evan Jahn, 11-2-9-2-8-5, 37 5. Struntje Light, GER, Wolfgang & Angela Schaefer, 3-13-3-3-4-13, 39 Results: http://www.farr40worlds.com/2011results Crew list: http://www.farr40worlds.com/images/stories/crewlist2011.pdf Live reporting: http://www.regattanews.com/event_farr40.asp FINAL RACE DECIDES TITLE Muscat, Oman (February 24, 2011) - The all-French team of Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, led by 2000 Tornado Olympian Pierre Pennec, clinched victory in the final double points race to take the opening event of the 2011 Extreme Sailing Series. With two races from the end, the top seven teams could in theory still win the event. And coming into the final race, both Artemis Racing and Red Bull Extreme Sailing still had a shot at the title. But in the end Terry Hutchinson's Artemis Racing finished in 4th place, one place ahead of Pennec's men who had therefore done enough. Terry commented: "It's good to see that all our hard work since the end of 2010 has paid off but there is still much room for us to improve. We're having a little bit of a crew rotation for Act 2 in Qingdao, so there will be lots of work to do". Act 2 of the Extreme Sailing Series will be staged between the 15th to 17th April in Qingdao, China, preceded by two open-water racing days. Final results after 5 days and 32 races; Top 5 of 11 (team name, helm, points) 1. Groupe Edmond de Rothschild, Pierre Pennec (FRA), 253 points 2. Artemis Racing, Terry Hutchinson (USA), 243 points 3. Red Bull Extreme Sailing, Roman Hagara (AUT), 239 points 4. Team New Zealand, Dean Barker (NZL), 236 points 5. Luna Rossa, Max Sirena/ Paul Campbell-James (ITA/GBR), 234 points Daily report: http://tinyurl.com/ESS-022411 Full results: http://www.extremesailingseries.com/results/muscat Scuttlebutt photos gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0224 BACKGROUND: Now in its fifth season, the nine event 2011 Extreme Sailing Series has 11 international teams that will be competing in the Extreme 40 catamaran. With the America's Cup moving to multihulls, the ESS has attracted America's Cup skippers Terry Hutchinson (USA) Artemis Racing and Dean Barker (NZL) Team New Zealand, along with top World Match Racing Tour skippers Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and Ian Williams (GBR). The 2011 ESS will travel to three continents, with its North American stop in Boston, USA on June 30-July 4. -- http://www.extremesailingseries.com/ TURN A PASSION INTO A CAREER The marine industry is driven by passionate sailors who have turned what they love to do into a profession. If you are looking to follow the same career path, come to IYRS on Saturday, March 5 for Marine Industry Career Day. The free one-day event will draw employers from throughout the region looking to connect with skilled individuals interested in marine careers, and experts who will give seminars on trends in training, technology and hiring. For more information: http://tinyurl.com/IYRS-Career-Day A MATCH RACE TO CAPE HORN (February 24, 2011: Day 56) - They have become increasingly tight over the past 24 hours but it was only today that Virbac-Paprec 3's French co-skipper Loick Peyron acknowledged that the speed race between the long time race leaders and their Spanish Olympic medal winning adversaries Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez would be an even one over coming days. Mapfre have closed down nearly 150 miles on Virbac-Paprec 3 since the French duo restarted out of Wellington last Friday, but Peyron has pointed to an inherent advantage granted to the Mapfre speedsters who, as the chasing boat, have had stronger wind pressure. "The high was relatively simple to manage," said Peyron. "But it did tend to favour the advance of our Spanish friends who were always able to attack. Now we will be in a more even wind and see who does, finally we will have a gauge." With a lead of over 1000 miles on the fleet, the next 2800 miles to Cape Horn will be telling. It was Jean-Pierre Dick with Damian Foxall that won the first edition of the Barcelona World Race, and now Dick with Peyron have the latest generation VPLP/Verdier design Open 60. And they are being hunted by the Spanish 49er skiff aces who are on their first ever nonstop around the world race armed with the highly optimized, well proven former Foncia. Race Tracker: http://tracking.barcelonaworldrace.org Standings (top 5 of 14 as of 20.01.07) 1. Virbac-Paprec 3, Jean Pierre Dick/Loick Peyron (FRA/FRA), 9,548 nm DTF 2. Mapfre, Iker Martinez/Xabi Fernandez (ESP/ESP), 15.4nm DTL 3. Renault, Pachi Rivero/Antonio Piris (ESP/ESP), 1078.9nm DTL 4. Neutrogena, Boris Herrmann/Ryan Breymaier (GER/USA), 1197.6nm DTL 5. Mirabaud, Dominique Wavre & Michele Paret (FRA/SUI), 1297.9nm DTF Full rankings: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org/en/ranking/ BACKGROUND: This is the second edition of the non-stop Barcelona World Race, the only double-handed race around the world. Fourteen teams are competing on Open 60s which started December 31st and is expected to finish by late March. The 25,000 nautical mile course is from Barcelona to Barcelona via three capes: Good Hope, Leeuwin and Horn, Cook Strait, putting Antarctica to starboard. Race website: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.org SPREADING ITS WINGS The 2011 IRC North American Championship will take place August 11-14, 2011 at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto. This is the first time this prestigious event will be held outside of the United States and has the dual sanctioning of the Canadian Yachting Association and US-IRC. Last year, the event was held at the New York Yacht Club in Newport, Rhode Island and the year prior to that, in San Francisco at the St. Francis Yacht Club. Over the past few years, Lake Ontario has experienced extraordinary growth in the IRC fleet, bringing the total to over 70 active IRC boats with over 50 of those in Canadian ports. The regional fleet unites boats from both the Canadian and US sides of Lake Ontario and there is a growing contingent of IRC boats based in Rochester, New York and spread all along the US shore of Lake Ontario. With the addition of out-of-region boats travelling to the event, and continued growth around the lake, it is expected that the 2011 North American Championship fleet will swell to well over 70 boats. Entry/additional details: http://www.yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=456 SAILING SHORTS * (February 24, 2011; Day 4) - While George David's Juan Kouyoumdjian designed Rambler 100 was the elapsed winner of the RORC Caribbean 600 when they crossed thefinish line in Antigua in the early hours of Wednesday morning, they also now have taken top overall honors in IRC as well. Finishing second overall was Richard Oland's Southern Cross 52. -- http://caribbean600.rorc.org/ * (February 24, 2011; Day 19) - All four solo skippers competing in the VELUX 5 OCEANS are now around Cape Horn, with the remaining distance of leg 3 now northward in the Atlantic to Punta del Este, Uruguay. Leader Brad Van Liew (USA) has only 961 nm to the finish, with second place Zbigniew 'Gutek' Gutkowski (POL) now 127nm behind. -- http://www.velux5oceans.com * (February 24, 2011; Day 27, 22:00 UTC) - Trailing the current solo round the world record by Francis Joyon (FRA) set in 2008 on the 97-foot trimaran IDEC by 1237.3 nm, Thomas Coville (FRA) on the 105-foot trimaran Sodebo believes his best chance to make up the deficit will be during his northern climb up the Atlantic after he rounds Cape Horn. But he would like the deficit to be down to 1000 nm at the Horn, and with 5000nm to go, he has about 10 days to reduce the deficit. -- http://www.sodebo-voile.com/ * Tampa, FL (February 24, 2011) - Benz Faget from Metairie, LA dominated the first day of the Layline J/22 Midwinter Championship at Davis Island Yacht Club. With scores of 2 and 1, Faget's team Fats ended the day seven points ahead of Scott Young and Chris Doyle who are tied with 10 points. Two races were completed in winds from 6-10 knots, warm temperatures and bright sunshine. Twenty-five teams are competing on Tampa Bay, and racing continues through Saturday. Nine total races are planned. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11320 * Following the significant interest in the double-handed, Class40 Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR), the GOR Race Organisation have announced the Global Solo Race 2013-14 (GSR), a single-handed circumnavigation for Category Zero compliant Class40s. The GSR will start from a European port on November 10, 2013 and will include three legs with stopover ports in Cape Town, South Africa and Punta del Este, Uruguay. -- Details: http://globaloceanrace.com/?page=news&news_id=455&lang=en GREAT GEAR ONLINE AT THE PIRATES LAIR Log on to http://www.pirateslair.com/category/MGR.html for official Mount Gay Rum apparel and other great items. Keep checking back as we add The Border Run, Newport-Ensenada and other official race items. PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include 18s in Sydney, Maxis in Antigua, RC44s in San Diego, biggest in the Southern Hemisphere, cold in Boston, overpacked in Coronado, sensational in Co.Cork, effort in Annapolis, and rules in diagram. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/11/0225/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK The 2011 North American Windsurfing Championship was held February 17-20 in beautiful Cozumel, Mexico, with the Techno 293 (U15 and U17), Formula Experience, RS:X Men, and RS:X Women classes participating. The event will long be remembered for the local hospitality, breathtaking venue, and camaraderie amongst the young sailors. And when it comes to providing daily videos for an event, why not partner with the tourism bureau to help fund the project. If Cozumel is half as amazing as is presented in the videos, it's a strong candidate for the vacation bucket list. Here are daily videos from the event. http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/11/0225/ BONUS 1: One of the Video of the Weeks in January was the first part of an interview with Buddy Melges, Jr., considered to be among the greatest sailors ever to compete in the sport of sailing. Here is chapter two, with more chapters soon to come: http://bcove.me/88lp2vks BONUS 2: There has been a lot of excitement in San Diego lately as the RC44 fleet gets ready for the first event of their 2011 international tour, the Oracle RC44 San Diego Cup on March 2-6. These boats are thoroughbred one-design racing machines, and the crew lists read like a who's who of sailing's greatest achievers. Scuttlebutt editor Craig Leweck took a walk this week of the venue and to see the boats getting assembled. Here is a video of his outing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxtvkvhg4Oc SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com GUEST COMMENTARY Scuttlebutt strongly encourages feedback from the Scuttlebutt community. Either submit comments by email or post them on the Forum. Submitted comments chosen to be published in the newsletter may be limited to 250 words. Authors may have one published submission per subject, and should save their bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. Email: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Wetabix0947: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3284) An excellent 'rescue' and brilliant performance by those involved... but. It is hard enough to get enough rescue crews and race officers as it is, I think it is unreasonable to say that rescue crews 'ought' to include a qualified nurse and team members who have done a CPR course. Sure, it's a good thing to do as part of the club's training program but I don't think it's fair on the race team to say they have to be prepared for someone with a quadruple cardiac blockage to have a heart attack several miles from shore. We had a similar incident with an asthma attack some years ago and for a while we crippled ourselves with over-prescriptive rescue qualifications such that we could hardly organize a race. It is up to the person with the medical condition to provide a chase boat with the necessary medical back up - or to take the risk; it's his choice. -- Forum: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=11353#11353 CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Nothing is as frustrating as arguing with someone that knows what they are talking about. 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