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SCUTTLEBUTT 3162 - Tuesday, August 24, 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. 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: Doyle Sails, Hall Spars & Rigging, and Landfall. LAURA DEKKER'S MISSTATED MISSION By Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt Whenever these would-be youth circumnavigators reach out to mainstream media to announce their activity, I regularly question its relevance for the Scuttlebutt newsletter. But here I am, providing an update that 14-year-old Laura Dekker left Gibraltar, a British territory bordering the southwestern tip of Spain, on Saturday on the first leg of her global journey. The Dutch sailor is aiming to become - big shocker coming - the youngest person to sail solo around the world. Mounds of criticism have piled on her dream, or whoever it was that planted the seed for her to take on such a mission. Without being judgmental, there are a few things I need to get cleared from my head before changing tacks: - RECORD: Call it an adventure, call it an achievement, but just don't call it a record. For there to be records, there needs to be record keepers. There needs to be guidelines to follow, and Laura's route is unique compared to those that came before her. No honorable record keeping organization wants to administer this 'youngest' record category. The World Sailing Speed Record Council and Guinness World Record both say thanks, but no thanks. - SOLO: I will give that Laura is the only person on the boat, but she will be far from sailing solo. She plans countless stops along her route, and may leave the boat in port for periods of time to fly home. Hardly a test of solo sailing. Of course when she is sailing, she will be connected to her supporters by all forms of communication equipment. Whenever Laura is feeling anxious at sea, she will scarcely be alone. - SAILING: Maybe Laura should restate her mission to be the 'youngest person to travel solo around the world'. Call me a skeptic, but will she be sailing through the Panama Canal? Or the Suez Canal? What about the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden. Will she utilize the engine during the countless stops along her route? Or, are we running loose with the term "sailing"? Is Laura onboard the 'Disney Dream' cruise ship that will "set sail" from port to port? I do hope she is successful and is doing this for the right reasons. As for the inclusion of her updates in Scuttlebutt, I will continue to question their appropriateness, and I hope the 'butthead community does the same. At least you will be aware of her, as the mainstream media will certainly expose your non-sailing friends to her, so perhaps you can provide them some insight too. -- http://tinyurl.com/3a4co7a BOTTOM LINE: FAIR RACING With two weeks until the early registration deadline of September 1 for the 2010 Rolex Big Boat Series, organizers at St. Francis Yacht Club have announced the inclusion of a new IRC class for light displacement sport boats. "We have had many conversations with owners of light displacement sport boats who want to race in Rolex Big Boat Series, but know that the IRC rating won't benefit them if they are grouped with some of the heavier boats," said Norman Davant, St. Francis Yacht Club's regatta chair. "We really want to include this class. They are fast and plane downwind, and it is super fun to see. With San Francisco's reliable heavy-air conditions we could be in for a great show." There is a significant group of boats on the West Coast that fit this profile, such as the J/125, Farr 36, Santa Cruz 37, the new J/111, Schock 40 and several custom racing boats. "None of those boats rate competitive in IRC against the purpose-built IRC boats," said Davant. "The best racing is always similar boats racing against similar boats regardless of the rating rule." Davant went on to explain that Soozal, Daniel Woolery's King 40 that won its IRC class at 2009 Rolex Big Boat Series, is considered "the best 40-foot IRC boat on the planet" and would have an advantage, based on rating dissimilarities, against a boat such as a J/125. The J/125 is dramatically faster, but can't be competitive because of the difference in the rating based primarily on displacement. Bottom line for St. Francis Yacht Club is to give as many boats as possible the opportunity to participate in one of the world's premier regattas. "As long as we get a minimum of six boats, we can give them their own class and a chance to race amongst themselves. They'll have fair racing," said Davant. "That is our goal: fair racing." -- Full report: http://www.regattanews.com/pressrelease.asp?pid=100394&lang=1 WHEN THE BOATS ARE IDENTICAL Doyle sails dominated the International 110 National Championship, with Doyle customers finishing 1-2-3-4. John Huff and Mark VanderBerg on "Glider" won 5 of the 7 races, finishing the regatta with only 7 points. The teams of Fred and Juliane Eddy and Nick Honor and Tim Smith tied for second with 17 points. Winning sailors know that when the boats are identical, sails become the major opportunity to gain a performance advantage. For more information on how Doyle can power your boat to victory, contact your local Doyle loft, 800-94-DOYLE, http://www.doylesails.com HYDROPTERE UNVEILS NEW TESTBED FOR OCEAN RECORDS (August 23, 2010) - Alain Thebault, the French skipper of the world sailing speed record holder Hydroptere, on Monday unveiled a new prototype of the 'flying' yacht as a first step towards ocean-going records. The 60-foot (18.3 metre) experimental Hydroptere trimaran, which uses foils to lift itself above the waves at speed, broke the mythical 50 knot barrier (93 kilometres per hour, 58 mph) off the French Mediterranean coast last year. The "Hydroptere.ch" catamaran unveiled at a western Swiss boatyard in Ecublens on Monday is just 35 feet (10.8 metres) long, with two main hulls instead of three used so far. Thebault said the new testbed designed with a Swiss technical university would develop new sail and hull configurations for promised 30 metre "maxi crafts" that would attempt Transatlantic, Pacific and round-the-world speed records. "The aim of this first hybrid sailboat is . . . to sail almost as fast as classical yachts in archimedean (standard) mode and to achieve a much faster speed in flight," he added in a statement. Thebault said last year that he was aiming to do the round-the world trip in 40 days. The prototype will sail on Lake Geneva and in the Mediterranean Sea. -- AFP, http://tinyurl.com/32sascj Photos: http://tinyurl.com/photos-082310 RECORD: The Round the World, nonstop, crewed record using any type of boat was set in March 2010 by the 103-foot trimaran Groupama 3, where skipper Franck Cammas (FRA) covered the 21760 mile route in 48d 7h 44m 52s at an average speed of 18.76 knots. -- http://www.sailspeedrecords.com/wssrc-ratified-passage-records.html WORLD MATCH RACE TOUR The world's best match race competitors will gather to St. Moritz (Switzerland) next week for the sixth stage of the ISAF World Match Race Tour. It will be the eighth edition of St. Moritz Match Race, with racing scheduled for September 1-5. Twelve teams representing seven nations will compete for both the prestigious title of "King of the Mountains" and the winning prize money of 150,000 Euros. Amongst them will be Mathieu Richard (FRA), French Match Racing - the current leader of the world rankings, Adam Minoprio (NZL), Black Match - the ISAF World Champion in 2009 and winner of the St. Moritz Match Race last year, and Ben Ainslie (GBR) - the quadruple Olympic medallist and skipper of the British America's Cup Challenger, Team Origin. -- Event website: http://www.stmoritz-matchrace.ch/en/home/index.htm?0&0 CANCELLED: (August 23, 2010) - The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) announced that The Qingdao Match Cup has been cancelled after the local organising authorities were unable to commit to hosting the event. Despite an agreement having been concluded in June 2010 the local authorities were unable to meet the requirements outlined by WMRT. The Qingdao Match Cup, originally scheduled for October 19-24, was to be part of the 10 event circuit that awards over one million dollars (US) in prize money with points awarded at each event culminating in the crowning of the ISAF Match Racing World Champion. The WMRT will now consist of nine events for 2010. -- Tour website: http://www.wmrt.com ETCHELLS WORLDS CHAMPIONSHIP Dublin, Ireland (August 23, 2010) - The 2010 Etchells Worlds Championships started today with two scheduled races sailed in freshening winds, with Ante Razmilovic of the UK holding a one point lead over Australian sailing legend John Bertrand at the end of the first day. Top North Americans include Jud Smith in 6th and Argyle Campbell in 11th, both from the USA. The first race, sailed in westerly winds steadily increasing in strength, saw Razmilovic open up a large lead by the windward mark, having gone to the right of the course on the first leg. While the 2009 Worlds runner-up Damien King of Australia closed the gap over the next three legs, it was not enough to deny the British boat a comfortable win. Winds had freshened considerably to 24 knots by the start of the second race, conditions which lead to some gear damage and one major collision. The conditions were, however, very much to the liking of Australian crews who filled the first three places. John Bertrand took the gun ahead of his Royal Brighton YC clubmate Jake Gunther while former World Champion Peter McNeill, who recently won the Irish national title, took third spot ahead of Ante Razmilovic. Dan O'Grady of Howth was the best of the Irish in 15th place. Racing continues on Tuesday (24th) with one race scheduled on the programme. -- Full report/results: http://www.etchellsworlds2010.org/etchells/Main/news_day1.htm YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL At 15% off, you can have all the Hall one-design products you need. Our online sale runs until August 31 and includes standing rigging, carbon spinnaker poles, lifelines, running rigging (sheets or halyards that require splicing), and QuikVangs (sorry, masts not included). Don't sail one-design? We have incredible savings on select high-tech sheets and halyards for every boat. With Hall's 30 years of experience behind each order, you can buy online with confidence. We've built thousands of spars and miles of rigging, always supplying the highest quality and highest performance products possible. http://www.store.hallspars.com DEFENDING AMERICA'S CUP IN AMERICA By Kimball Livingston, yachting journalist Could an unstadium in Los Angeles consign the America's Cup match to Italy? Could a Chevron refinery in Richmond, California consign the America's Cup match to Spain? Is it possible for everybody to pull in one direction, and go nowhere? These are important questions. Less important - Did a former weightlifter/actor show Russell Coutts his Conan the Barbarian sword when the CEO of BMW Oracle Racing called at 1303 10th Street, Sacramento, following what my spies tell me was a longish session in Room 200, City Hall, San Francisco? What's been playing out in the last week and a half since the BOR team came to town and asked the city of San Francisco to hurry up and produce a plan and a proposal and certainty by September 30 - yes, Virginia, and all your little friends, Larry Ellison really does want to schedule an America's Cup match for San Francisco Bay, 2014 - but, as I was saying, what's been playing out is not quite Kafkaesque, and yet it does bring into focus the reasons why you're never a fool to be pessimistic about getting things done in San Francisco. Ultimately, however, this is about defending America's Cup in America. That's why I still believe it will happen. The teams will be based at Pier 50, directly down-camera from every Giants game, and how cool is that? We're not talking about paving a salt marsh (hey there, Cargill), we're talking about rehabbing concrete piers that are crumbling into the bay. Kyri McClellan, project manager for Mayor Gavin Newsom's office of economic and workforce development, calls it "a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform those piers back to public use." If environmental groups and neighborhood NIMBYs prevent that, and cost the region the $1.4 billion of revenue and 9,000 jobs estimated to come with an America's Cup, they'll have a lot to answer for. The sport of sailboat racing will lose. But the environmental groups too say they want to see the America's Cup sailed on San Francisco Bay. Everybody says they want to pull in one direction; the issue is process. Then Pandora peered into the box and . . . There's big money on offer in Italy. There's infrastructure in place in Spain (where the sailors get a tailored tax break that they really, really like). There's noise coming out of France and Portugal. And here we are in a cash-strapped city in a cash-strapped state, starved for the benefits that a Cup would bring, poised to achieve failure while all parties agree on the goal. And that would, truly, be Kafkaesque. So let's not go there. The easy thing would be for Larry Ellison's team to take the money and race in Europe. Not because he needs the money, but because the Europeans will simply make things happen. He's not taking the easy route for any number of reasons. He lives here. He learned to sail here. He sees that cameras love San Francisco and San Francisco Bay. This is the place for a transformative America's Cup match. And it would not be pleasant for an American to announce that he is defending America's Cup, elsewhere. -- Read on: http://kimballlivingston.com/?p=4297 GETTING DOWN TO THE SHORT STROKES With racing for the 2010 Melges 32 World Championship to be held in San Francisco, CA on September 22-25, the fleet of 33 entrants is focusing in on their final training opportunities before the event. This past weekend saw thirteen teams line up on San Francisco Bay for an eight race event, with John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti edging out the current World Champion Bliksem team with Jeremy Wilmot as skipper, while fleet newcomer Steve Howe and his Warpath finished third. Given the high level of professionalism in this class, support teams were out in force too. Noted Samba Pa Ti crew Sam Rogers, "A good event overall, but we will be looking forward to the pre-worlds when more of the class rules are in effect, like restrictions on coach boats. Since the Cal Cup was a non sanctioned class event, there was no sail declarations, weigh-in or coach boat restrictions. There were times when coach boats would be driving up behind us while racing within 2-3 boat lengths, snapping photos and getting a good look at our settings, than blasting off to the next boat to do the same thing. Very distracting and frustrating to have these flies buzzing around the track and getting in our way." Sam Rogers' blog: http://42marine.com/cal-cup-concludes-onto-the-worlds Final results: --Full results: http://tinyurl.com/32kftr6 SAILING SHORTS * Newport, RI (August 22, 2010) - This past weekend Noroton Yacht Club won the Hinman Masters Team Race Championship, hosted by New York Yacht Club at its Harbour Court facility. Along with the Grand Masters win two weeks ago, Noroton's teams have now won two of the three big team race championships that have become the pinnacle of keel boat team racing in the United States. The winning Noroton Yacht Club team consisted of Paul Barringer, Britt Hall, Tom Kinney, Jim Linville, Lee and Susan Morrison, Kari Roberts, Kevin Sheehan, Steve and Melissa Shepstone, Don Vasta, and Karl Zeigler. -- Complete report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=10312 * San Francisco, CA (August 23, 2010) - After four days of racing, Luke Lawrence (USA) maintains his lead over the 15 boat field at the Junior Finn World Championship. With racing to conclude Tuesday, Lawrence currently leads Caleb Paine (USA) by three points and Ioannis Mitakis (GRE) by five points. The Junior event, also known as the Silver Cup, is a warm-up for the class world championship (the Gold Cup) that will have its practice race on Sunday with racing to commence on Monday through Saturday (Aug. 30-Sept. 4). -- Results: http://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=341 * San Diego, CA (August 22, 2010) - The local team of Brad Ruetenik and Patrick Murray won the International 14 U.S. Nationals in dramatic fashion, winning all four races on the final day. On the first two days of the regatta, Paul Galvez and Guillermo Leon de la Barra dominated, winning four of the first five races, but faltered in race 7 today when they sailed to the wrong mark. In races 6, 8 and 9 they finished just behind Ruetnik, to take silver by a margin of just two points. -- Results/Video: http://www.sdyc.org/raceinfo/races10/i14nationals/index.htm * (August 23, 2010) - The winds at the National Sailing Centre (NSC) on day five of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore looked promising early in the morning. However, an approaching storm led to two more races sailed in light and shifty conditions. The top North American performance is occurring in the Byte CII Boys where Ian Barrows (USVI) is in second just four points off the lead, with Bermudian Owen Siese in fifth. Racing concludes on August 25th. -- Event website: http://www.sailing.org/yog/ * Newport, RI (August 23, 2010) The commencement today of the International C-Class Catamaran Championship was cancelled due to winds over the competitor-established limit. Slightly lower winds are forecasted for Tuesday. -- http://www.nyyc.org/CCLASS/ * Up and coming French solo sailor Louis Duc has announced his withdrawal from the 2010/11 VELUX 5 OCEANS. Constrained by a lack of time and struggling to find sufficient financial support, the 26-year-old from was left with no choice but to concentrate on the 2014/15 edition of the race. The VELUX 5 OCEANS, which starts October 17th in La Rochelle, France, features five ocean sprints over nine months. Eight ocean racers from seven nations are now set to be on the start line of the gruelling 30,000-mile round the world race. They are: http://tinyurl.com/3an9dpj THE HOTTEST FALL GEAR FROM PATAGONIA, MUSTO AND MORE! Now in at LANDFALL, the ultimate insulation piece: the Patagonia Nano Puff! Huge selection, hot colors in stock. Order yours now! Plus the hottest Fall gear from Patagonia, Musto, Gill, Henri Lloyd and more is in stock. Visit: 151 Harvard Ave, Stamford (I-95 Ex 6), call 800-941-2219, or shop http://www.landfallnavigation.com/patagonia84020.html 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 Fields C. Gunsett: (re, letter in Scuttlebutt 3161) For the 5000 plus of us that sail this boat, it is Flying Scot, not Flying Scott. * From Adrian Morgan: (re, story in Scuttlebutt 3161) Ah, yes it's creeping in, the greed to win at all costs and keep the America's Cup - forever. So mutihulls are now firmly on the cards, when a few months ago Oracle were talking monohulls. Why the U turn? Will it be more exciting to watch? Hardly, given the experience of the last Cup. More expensive? Certainly, but more to the point, with such a massive head start it will ensure the Cup stays on Mr Ellison's mantelshelf until he loses interest in yachts. Level playing field? America's Cup. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose... CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening', and then proceed to tell you why it isn't. Special thanks to Doyle Sails, Hall Spars & Rigging, and Landfall. Preferred supplier list: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
