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SCUTTLEBUTT 1909 - August 24, 2005Scuttlebutt is a digest of major yacht racing news, commentary, opinions, features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus.AN EXERCISE IN COMMISSIONING You think things get hurried on your mark roundings? The tactician aboard the new 98-foot Alfa Romeo at Hamilton Island Race Week (Hahn Premium Race Week) expects to be looking at seven-minute legs and four-minute setups for the windward-leeward courses. This on "a boat that's just like any other boat, except that the people all look like ants." That tactician would be Australian Etchells champion Michael Coxon of North Sails Sydney, who says that Neville Crichton's new Reichel-Pugh designed CBTF machine is using the event in Australia's Whitsunday Islands "as an exercise in commissioning; the boat is so complex that sailing it, this soon after launch, is secondary to allowing the technicians to have a go. At first you're in the hands of the builders, listening for creaks and groans." That doesn't mean, however, that there's anything less than a lot of sailing going on. Coxon said during the Monday layday, "Our traveler man has become our cant expert; during race two I made a rule: the helmsman is not allowed to touch any buttons because when he's pushing buttons he's not steering. The guy trimming the keel must be as sensitive as the guy trimming the sail. And the twin rudders [one forward and one aft] are being trimmed as carefully as you would trim a sail. We're most of us new to canting keels. This is a 98-footer that at first felt like a 120-footer, and it's all teamwork because you cannot manhandle anything." Coxon, even so, has his hands full guiding Alfa Romeo around the course. In the two days of windward-leeward racing, he said, "We know we have to start on starboard. If the first shift goes left, big boats will do well. If the first shift goes right and we have to do extra tacks-we lose 30 seconds per tack-we have a hard time. "I have to get my laylines right, and that's hard because we're sailing the apparent wind, and that's changing, and I have to make the call from a long way out." -- Excerpts from a story by Kimball Livingston posted on the Sail magazine website, full story: http://sailmag.com/AlfaRomeoDebut/ DICKSON WILL DRIVE The departure of skipper John Kostecki from the BMW Oracle afterguard triggered a new mix at the back of the boat for Louis Vuitton Acts 6 and 7 in Malmo, Sweden which begin Thursday. Chris Dickson is not only returning as skipper -- he will also steer the boat. Larry Ellison, Gavin Brady, Eric Doyle and Ian Burns will round out the afterguard. Brady, the team's former helmsman, will be tactician, Doyle will be strategist, and Burns will temporarily be in the navigator's slot. American Peter Isler returns as navigator for the final Acts of the season in Trapani, Italy. "The changes are all with an eye on the long-term goal of winning the America's Cup in 2007," Dickson said. "We are determined to improve our performance. Change can be positive and invigorating. The guys have been working hard and we are building a winning team spirit." -- www.bmworacleracing.com MAJOR MONEY Although the next stage of the Americas Cup regattas is set to take place in Malmo later this week, the Consellera for Tourism, Milagrosa Martinez, yesterday revealed some figures concerning tourism for the visitors who came to Valencia to see the Americas Cup regattas last June. According to the latest figures over a quarter of the people who came to Valencia for the regattas stayed in luxury hotels and all in all the visitors spent around twenty million Euros. Mrs. Martinez added that these new tourists who visited the City have now opened it up to a market where visitors spend more than the average tourist, and interest has been shown in both the City of Valencia and the Valencian Community as a whole by a new sector of the international tourist market. The study also pointed out that 50% of the visitors for the June regattas were from Spain (18% from Catalunia, 17% from Madrid and 22% from the Valencian Community), whilst some 16,000 foreign visitors were in the City (from Italy, Great Britain, Switzerland and France for the most part). In addition, these visitors stated that they valued the comfort and politeness of the Valencians very highly during their visit, registering a satisfaction ratio of 8.15 (out of 10), whilst 82% visited restaurants that featured Valencian cuisine, and 95% stated that they had no trouble at all finding out about Valencia. -- Valencia Life Network, publisher@valencialife.net ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL RUN TO HAWAII When performance counts, turn to Samson. Many racers, including the top finishers in the 2005 Transpac did just that. Samson was well represented in the Waikiki Offshore Series as well. The lines of choice included WarpSpeed (Dyneema core/polyester cover), Validator II (Vectran core/polyester cover), Validator SKB (Dyneema/Vectran core/polyester cover) and AmSteel (Dyneema single braid). The cores of Samson's double braids are color matched to the cover tracers for easy identification in race conditions. Join the growing number of sailors who choose Samson quality. For splicing tips and the line selection guide, go to http://www.samsonrope.com STAFFING UP Ian Walker, the double Olympic silver medallist and skipper of the GBR Challenge in Auckland two years ago, is back in the America's Cup fray. He has joined Italy's +39 team as tactician to Iain Percy, the British gold medallist. Walker has been brought in by +39's boss Luca Devoti, who is well known to British Olympic sailors as his company built Percy's and Ben Ainslie's medal-winning Finn dinghies as well as Shirley Robertson's craft which was victorious in the Yngling category in Athens. In 2003, Walker shouldered a lot of the pressure as skipper of the struggling GBR in the first British America's Cup challenge in 17 years. "My last America's Cup experience was quite stressful," he said. "The cup has changed quite a bit since Auckland with much more racing before the cup in 2007. I really enjoyed walking down the dock in Malmo and talking to people in other teams rather than being isolated in our own compounds." Walker replaces Tomasso Chieffi, the Italian who was part of the 1992 Il Moro di Venezia and 2003 Oracle campaigns, as tactician. He will work with Percy and two other Finn sailors, Briton Andrew Simpson and Spain's Rafael Trujillo, in the afterguard. -- Excerpts from a story by Tim Jeffery, The Telegraph, complete story: http://tinyurl.com/c3hcu DECISION TIME The America's Cup Challenger Commission met on Tuesday and ruled on a number of issues, including the following: -- Acts 10 & 12 (2006) Match Racing Format - A proposal by ACM to split the 12 teams (eleven Challengers plus the Defender) into two pools of six teams each for a single round robin, with the top two teams from each pool then advancing to a semi-final, etc., was not supported. The Challengers were unanimous in their support for one pool for the round robin racing in both match racing Acts in 2006, giving each Challenger the opportunity to race Alinghi and each of the others Challengers. -- Onboard TV Cameramen - The Chairman confirmed that an agreement has once again been signed (by him on behalf of the CC, by ACM and by the Defender), and thanked the Challengers for their unanimous support. It is essentially the same agreement as Act 4. Accordingly, for the match racing here in Malmoe the race committee will ask teams in certain matches to carry weight-equalized TV cameramen on board as an enhancement to the television coverage. The CC continues to insist that ACM provide remote-control, minicams for racing in 2006 (and beyond). -- Sail Limits - A proposal to ban staysails for the balance of 2005 was not supported. A proposal was generally supported to reduce the new-sail limit for 2006 from 26 (which is the 2005 limit, and which was previously proposed as the limit for 2006) to 23, pending Reps taking guidance from their teams. For the full report: http://www.challengercommission.com/ 470 WORLDS Big wind and heavy current challenged 198 sailors from 28 countries at the 470 World Championships hosted by the St. Francis YC in San Francisco. After four races, reigning world champions Nathan Wilmon and Malcolm Page (AUS) are off to a good start in the 64-boat men's division with all single digit finishes. Two French teams -- Gildas Philippe/ Nicolas Leberre and Nicolas Charbonnier/ Olivier Bausset are three and four points behind respectively, after all teams discarded one race. The USA's Michael Mitterling- Anderson/ David Hughes are currently in 38th -- two points ahead of two other US teams -- Stu Mac Nay/ Graham Biehl and Justin Law Mike Miller. Marcelien de Koning/ Lobke Berkhout (NED) have three bullets and a discarded fourth to lead the women's division --- five points ahead of Christina Bassadone/ Saskia Clark (GBR). Genny Tulloch/ Lauren Maxam (USA) and Jennifer Provan/ Carol Luttmer (CAN) are the top North American teams in 18th and 19th place respectively in the 34-boat fleet. -- Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/eyky6 Check out the photo gallery: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/05/470worlds/ HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! Okay, so we're a little early … but not that early. Team One Newport is finalizing their Fall/Holiday catalog, so call them with your latest address at 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327) to insure receiving the coolest new items for the holiday season. Some items already in the New Product section on their website include the Kaenon Variant Sunglasses, the Freestyle Shark Tide Watch, the Spinlock Mast Pro Harness, and the Timbuk2 Ballistic Tote. And wait till you see the great new cold weather jackets coming from Henri-Lloyd and Gill. Team One Newport is the foul weather gear experts from head to toe! http://www.team1newport.com NEWS BRIEFS * Rostock Warnemünde, Germany -- After four races, with one discard, four USA teams are now in the top 11-boats at the 170-boat 505 World Championship. Mark Ivey/ Shane Illidge are in second place -- nine points behind Germany's Wolfgang Hunger/ Holger Jess. Mike Martin/ Jesse Falsone moved up to fifth with two single digit finishes on Tuesday. Andy Beeckmann/ Jeff Nelson are currently in eighth place with Howard Hamlin/ Cam Lewis in 11th place. -- http://www.worlds505.de/Results-Worlds,1,26.htm * It's the same 12 teams racing in Louis Vuitton Acts 6 & 7 in Malmö as in Valencia, but Sweden's Victory Challenge is substituting boats, sailing SWE 73 here as opposed 63. New sails and the addition of a couple of experienced crew members should strengthen the local team as well. "We've always known 73 is a faster boat," said Hugo Stenbeck, the head of the Victory Challenge syndicate. "She's a tougher boat to sail. It's harder to find the sweet spot on it, but when you do, she really flies." -- www.americascup.com * Ellen MacArthur and her trimaran B&Q/ Castorama arrived at North Cove in New York harbor on Monday afternoon. She had just finished sailing her boat down from Nova Scotia. Ellen has come to New York City for another attempt on the Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Record. She will do some sponsor and media events while waiting for a weather window. Also at North Cove, one slip over from B&Q/ Castorama, is Thomas Coville's 60-foot trimaran Sodebo -- also waiting to challenge Francis Joyon's Single-Handed Trans-Atlantic Record of 6 days and 4 hours. -- www.teamellen.com * Australia's Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week has not only attracted a record total fleet of 207 boats, but the 29-boat IRC Class must rank as among the best regatta fleets in the world. Sixteen of the boats have been launched within the past three years, nine of them within the last 12 months and six have state-of-the-art canting keels. On the 11.5 nautical mile windward/leeward course of Race 3, Neville Crichton's new 98-foot Alfa Romeo won on both elapsed and corrected time, beating two other Reichel/Pugh canting keel boats, Bob Oatley's Wild Oats and Steven David's Wild Joe. * Prominent English professional yachtsman Adrian Stead has joined the 'after guard' as an additional tactician aboard Neville Crichton's 30-metre super maxi Alfa Romeo at the Hamilton Island Hahn Premium Race Week in the tropical Whitsunday Islands of far north Queensland. Stead is working with sailing master and tactician Michael Coxon to strengthen the technical expertise aboard Alfa Romeo, described as one of the most complex yachts ever built, for the rest of Race Week. He will also sail in the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. -- Sail-World website, http://www.sail-world.com/news.cfm?Nid=18765&RequestTimeOut=180 * Jeremy Scantlebury, 41, has joined the Victory Challenge for his seventh America's Cup campaign. Scantlebury has sailed for Team New Zealand on five occasions in the America's Cup. The first time was in 1987 in Freemantle, Australia, the last time 12 meter class yachts were used for the America's Cup. In the build up to 2002/2203, he was one of many from Team New Zealand that was attracted to the American OneWorld team. Additionally, Ian Weighell, 29, has joined the team -- the third former GBR Challenge sailor to do so. -- www.victorychallenge.com * Hilary Lister yesterday sipped and puffed her way into the record books, becoming the first quadriplegic to sail solo across the English Channel. Lister, who is able to move only her head, eyes and mouth, used two straws to navigate her 8-metre (26ft) boat Malin through one of the busiest and most dangerous shipping channels in the world. By sucking and blowing on the straws in her specially adapted boat she was able to adjust the sails and tiller of the boat. Lister took up sailing two years ago as a way to boost her self-confidence. -- http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1555097,00.html EBAY AUCTION Ever wanted to sail faster than 20kts? Place your bid to join the Reichel/Pugh 77 Scout Spirit as they try to break the record in the Windjammer Race from San Francisco to Santa Cruz on Friday, Sept 2. Proceeds benefit Big Brothers/Big Sisters. View this eBay auction at http://tinyurl.com/ay66j 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 neither 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. And please save your bashing, whining and personal attacks for elsewhere.) * From Scott Truesdell: On BMW Oracle Racing home page is the oft-cited "There is no 'I' in team," yet members seem to bail from this team in unheard of proportions. What's wrong? * From Dave Culp (re Sir Isaac Newton's Revenge): Something's fishy with Ken McAlpine's Newtonian physics, methinks. A chunk of lead displaces the same volume of seawater, anywhere on the earth's surface. An America's Cup boat masses the same whether in Valencia, Malmo or on the moons of Jupiter. A balance-type scale isn't fooled, either. If the America's Cup is using spring scales to approximate the accurate mass of racing yachts, shame on them! * From Dave Hubbard: There would no problem in weighing the AC boats if the measurers used a balance beam scale rather than a (presumably) force measuring gauge. If a balance beam scale is not available. then perhaps an old obsolete keel bulb should be carted around to each venue to recalibrate the force scales. * From Adam Bovill: This seems like the issue could be easily resolved by measuring the "mass" of the boats rather their "weights". Their mass will be consistent everywhere. Make the measurements in kilograms instead of pounds and presto, it's ok. I wonder whether the rules specify the boats weight or mass. I also wonder whether there are any balances big enough for these things. * From Chris Ericksen: I was fascinated to hear that gravity operates differently in Malmo, Sweden, than in Valencia, Spain, as reported in 'Butt 1908. I will be travelling from Long Beach, California to Richmond, California--some 400 miles north--to compete in the Etchells Worlds and need to weigh in; can anyone tell me the correction factor in case my team and I come in overweight? * From Ralph Taylor: Thanks for printing both Glenn McCarthy's critique & Janet Baxter's defense of the By-Laws amendment to re-organize US Sailing. Glenn likens the By-Laws to the US Constitution & the present Governing Board to Congress. It's a bit fallacious; the Board is more comparable to the federal Cabinet in its administrative responsibilities. Congress is a bicameral legislative (!) body, with 100 Senators representing states & 435 Congressmen (& -women) representing districts of similar sizes. One BL provision (direct election of Board members) would actually make the Board more like the House of Representatives. Yes, adjusting expenses to meet reduced income is a problem. But, not one easily fixed "constitutionally". (The United States government experiences the same problem balancing income & expenses and hasn't yet found a good solution.) Glenn may be under a misconception that committees generate revenue; to the contrary, their programs mostly cost -- our dues pay the freight. We do need policies & systems in place to assure sound revenue projections and to "pull in the reins" of spending when income falls short. But, these need to be adjustable over time. Finally, let's not take the corporate governance metaphor too far. After all, if you don't like the way a company is run, you can sell the stock. But, you can't opt out of US Sailing's sailing governance. * From G. Brooks Sperry: I too support Glen McCarthy's views regarding US Sailing reorganization plans. Frankly, I think US Sailing has become a top heavy bureaucratic organization. In regards to budgeting I would like to know the amount spent on US Sailing's management and staff that attended the Olympic games last summer in Greece. Has this financial amount ever been published for the membership? With thousands of US Sailing dues paying members we should be the first priority. If US Sailing overspends, consistently fails to meet budget or for that matter can not manage effectively then US Sailing needs new management. I also urge a no vote. * From Charlie Iliff (edited to our 250-word limit): I was interested to read the letter from Doug Mills commenting on the decline of club racing wrought by the specialized "racing machines" which dominate to the extent that the two-tv cruisers can't be amped up to compete. I first heard the term "racing machines" in the 1950s, along with similar predictions of the demise of club racing. Finisterre, however, didn't destroy racing on the Chesapeake; she spawned a whole new generation of CCA Rule boats. Dirigo was a 1950s ultralight - ahead of her time. It would be interesting to compare her lines to the Cal 40 of a few years later. And you all know the disaster that was predicted when a Star from the Gibson Island fleet was buffed up and a mold laid up around her for the first glass Star. We are several measurement rules, scantling rules and performance handicap rules beyond the 50s, and club racing is alive and well on the Chesapeake. "Racing machines" and lower key boats compete in a large number of handicap classes and one-design fleets. And the "racing machines" are still those whose owners and crew have tweaked them to their maximum -- have spent time and money to make them fast. That's part of the fun. A couple of our most notable "racing machines" are older Etchells. And in Annapolis, except when there's ice, you can bet there is a club race going on each weekend -- and every once in a while a "racing machine" doesn't win. * From Bernard Olcott: Many Scuttlebutters who have read Tom Weaver in Scuttlebutt 1907, 8/22/05 "All Sizes and Shapes (keels)" are confused about the meaning of lift as it applies to keels. Many seem to believe that lift is a phenomenon which lifts the boat out the water. The true meaning of keel lift is generating a hydrodynamic force by the wing shaped fin on tack to oppose the force of the wind to leewardly drift the hull. The benefit of keel lift which reduces leeward drift on tack is that any energy saved (which is Force X Leeward Drift = Make the Boat Foot Faster). For more explanation, get a free copy of U.S. Patent 6,349,659, inventors Frederick E. Hood and Bernard Olcott at www.uspto.gov and see Fig. 1 & Fig. 2, and the chapter "Energy Balance" in columns 4, 5 and 6 of the Specification. CURMUDGEON'S OXYMORON Half full |
