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SCUTTLEBUTT 2471 – November 8, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions, featuresand dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is published each weekday with the support of its sponsors. ARE KEELBOATS OUT OF THE 2012 OLYMPICS? (November 7, 2007) The events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition were the main focus of the day at the ISAF Annual Conference as the Event Committee meet in Estoril, Portugal. The ISAF Events Committee is tasked with recommending to the ISAF Council the events to be used for the Olympic Sailing Competition. The events are selected five years ahead of the Olympic Games, so at this Annual Conference the decision is for the ten events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. The ISAF Council will make the final decision on the ten events in their meeting from November 8-10 – the Events Committee are affectively ‘the experts’ and their recommendation will help inform the Council’s decision. The ISAF Council, at the 2007 ISAF Mid-Year Meetings, had decided on a split of six male/open events and four female events, and drawn up a list from which the ten events could be selected. The Events Committee broke the decision on the ten events down into several stages. The voting process went through several rounds. First of all the multihull option was rejected from the women’s slate. Next up the women’s keelboat (match racing) missed out. In the men’s events, the voting process ended with a choice between the two person dinghy and the keelboat to fill the sixth event slot. The two person dinghy won the day, making the Events Committee recommendation to Council for the following events: Windsurfer - men One person dinghy - men One person dinghy heavy - men Two person dinghy high performance - men Two person dinghy - men Multihull - open Windsurfer - women One person dinghy - women Two person dinghy - women Two person dinghy high performance - women The Events Committee will now pass their recommendation on to the ISAF Council, who will decide the events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition in their meeting from November 8-10. -- Complete report: http://www.sailing.org/21233.php * Journalist Andy Rice has been closely following the debate, and hosted a thorough survey on the subject of event selection, on his SailJuice blog: http://sailjuiceblog.com ISAF ROLEX WORLD SAILOR OF THE YEAR AWARDS ISAF and Rolex have selected Ed Baird (USA) and Claire Leroy (FRA) as the male and female winners of the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards. Claire Leroy has had a remarkable 12 months on the women’s match racing circuit, winning the ISAF Nations Cup, European title and ISAF Women’s Match Racing World Championship. Throughout the 12 month period she has remained untouched as the #1 skipper on the Women’s ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Ed Baird helmed the Swiss team Alinghi to a successful defence of the America’s Cup, coming back from 2-1 against Emirates Team New Zealand to win the 32nd Cup Match 5-2. The Awards were presented by ISAF Presidents of Honour, His Majesty King Constantine and His Majesty King Harald V of Norway, and Arnaud BOETSCH of Rolex. The Awards ceremony took at the Penha Longa, a UNESCO World Heritage site just 25 km outside of Lisbon, Portugal. The ceremony was hosted by author, television commentator, and long-time friend to the sailing community, Gary Jobson. The nominees for the 2007 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Awards were: Female Sailor/Crew: Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson (GBR) Marcelien De Koning and Lobke Berkhout (NED) Claire Leroy (FRA) Evi Van Acker (BEL) Male Sailor/Crew Ed Baird (USA) Franck Cammas (FRA) Vincenzo Onorato (ITA) Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada (BRA) Rohan Veal (AUS) The 2007 ISAF Rolex World Sailors of the Year were voted for by ISAF’s Member National Authorities (MNA). -- Complete story: http://www.sailing.org/21231.php YACHT CONSTRUCTION COMES INTO QUESTION From Andrew Plympton, President, Yachting Australia, Inc: “I read with interest the comments in Issue 2470 of designer Julian Everitt regarding fin keels and failures. The Yachting Australia's website also has an article and supporting papers titled ‘Special Regulations &ABS Compliance.’ Based on our findings, we have made an urgent request to be heard at the ISAF Conference this week.” Here is the article: (November 2, 2007) Yachting Australia has responded decisively to concerns over the compliance of yachts with the ISAF and Yachting Australia Special Regulations and in particular the ABS Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Yachts (clause 3.03.1(b)). The aim of the Special Regulations is to establish uniform, minimum standards for racing boats and a guide for cruising boats. The ABS Guide is one standard with which yachts shall comply. Yachting Australia commissioned an independent report from Naval Architect Ken McAlpine of MMD. Amongst other roles, Ken was head of the measurement team at the last America’s Cup. Ken was asked to address the issue of compliance with ABS in light of the new materials now being used in yacht construction and in fin keels in particular. The report was compiled after more than 20 responses to a questionnaire which targeted leading yacht designers. “There was a widespread and detailed response which reflects the obvious interest in this issue”, said Ken. ”Whilst the responses are confidential, it is fair to say that there was a very diverse opinion amongst the designers as to how the ABS Guide should be applied.” -- Read on: http://www.yachting.org.au/default.asp?Page=33257 ULLMAN SAILS TOP OF J/105 NORTH AMERICANS Ullman Sails customers dominated last week’s J/105 Class North American Championship, winning the title and sweeping four of the top five places in the Gold fleet. Thomas Coates and crew on ‘Masquerade’ won the regatta, with a partial inventory of Ullman Sails. The four-day regatta, hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club, featured a total of seven races. Final results showed Ullman Sails customers winning six of the seven races, and three of the top five finishers competed with full Ullman inventories. For more information on the ‘Fastest Sails on the Planet,’ contact a local Ullman loft and visit http://www.ullmansails.com THE REASONS BEHIND THE RULE BYM News met with AC90 Rule coordinator Tom Schnackenberg, who had these nuggets to offer regarding the creation of the latest America’s Cup class rule: “We talked a lot about practical questions and it was fascinating, that people were acting like “rule-makers” knowing that in a few months’ time they are going to be trying to exploit any loopholes in the rules or procedures. The measurement of draft was a case in point and, in the end, we decided that we would measure it in the water; or at least the Measurers would. Luckily, the Darsena (America’s Cup harbor area) is everywhere deeper than 6.5m, and so it is not difficult to find deep enough water. “Another key dimension was beam. Alinghi had looked at the travel lifts and imagined a beam of 5.7 and a weight of 25 tonnes as producing a nicely behaved boat. About 6 days before our first meeting, a group went around the Darsena in a small boat and measured the distance between the steel piles. It was found that the distance between the piles was as small as 5.7m in some cases, and so the beam was reduced to 5.3m so that the boats could squeeze into the docks without having to move the steel piles. “In a similar fashion, the thought was that the boat would have a rig, which is about 39 metres above the deck. This grew to 39.4 metres after some rig studies. When you add on the 1.5m distance from the deck to the butt, it got to be nearly 41m in overall length. Not long after this was decided, we learned that regular cargo planes can only handle 41m max length. Realising that this 41m would necessarily include protective crating and packaging, it was decided to reduce the mast height by 0.5m. Later on, when the weight was reduced to 23 tonnes, the rig was reduced a further metre to help offset the reduced stability of the boat.” -- Complete interview: http://www.bymnews.com/august/Schnack-explains.php * The America’s Cup remains the sport’s top soap opera…in real life and on television. MTV’s Real World reality show used America’s Cup boats when in San Diego, CA, and now the 11th season of The Bachelor show is getting into the act. In case you were busy watching Dancing With The Stars and missed Episode 7 this week, Brad had whittled the harem down to DeAnna, Bettina and Jenni, and was in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico taking Bettina out on the a former Cup racer (home of NZL 81 and 82)… before giving her the boot. -- http://realitytvcalendar.com/shows/bachelor11/recaps/ep07-p1.html * A presentation of the Competition Regulations and AC90 Class Rule for the 33rd America's Cup will take place on Thursday, November 8th in Barcelona, starting at 4pm CET (10am Eastern Time Zone), which will disclose the format and dates of the event in 2008 and 2009. Participating will be Michel Hodara, CEO of AC Management; Rolf Vrolijk, Alinghi principal designer; Juan Kouyoumdjian, TeamOrigin principal designer; Agustín Zulueta, Desafío Español general director; and Tom Schnackenberg, Class Rule and Competition Regulations consultant for AC Management. An audio channel of the presentation will be available here: http://33rd.americascup.com/en/index.php?idContent=26&idPage=1 TRANSAT JACQUES VABRE Reporting on the Transat Jacques Vabre, a 4,300-mile doublehanded ocean race from Le Harve, France to Salvador, Brazil, that started last weekend: (November 7, 2007) Passing Cape Finisterre in 35-40 knots of wind was as stressful as enjoyable for the sailors. If breakage on the boats is always on their minds, the skippers nevertheless appreciated the bumpy rides and reach of the waves that pushed the boats up to 30 knots. We haven’t heard of major breakages, but ripped sails or spinnaker might have caused extra work onboard today. The front runners should meet lighter winds shifting from north – northeast to southeast on the way down. Even if not clinically precise, the wind charts the crews are receiving onboard show two possible options: sail along the African coast or head west along the route to catch the winds generated by a low-pressure system in the Azores that seems to be moving towards the Canary Islands. That is the question all the skippers approaching Madere Island have had to deal with in their descent. The lead Open 60 and ORMA 60 have now sailed approximately 900 and 1200 miles respectively. -- Daily update: http://tinyurl.com/38z74h Current Standings - Monohulls * IMOCA Open 60 (17 entered): Safran, Marc Guillemot/Charles Caudrelier * Class 40 (30 entered): Télécom Italia, Giovanni Soldini/Pietro D'ali Current Standings - Multihulls * ORMA 60 (5 entered): Groupama, Franck Cammas/Steve Ravussin * Class 50 (8 entered):Crèpes Whaou!,Franck Yves Escoffier/Karine Fauconnier Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/2jvkt4 Event website: http://www.jacques-vabre.com/en BARCELONA WORLD RACE On November 11, 2007, nine IMOCA Open 60s will start the Barcelona World Race, with these two-handed teams setting a 25,000-mile course that will begin and end in Spain, and take them on a three-month,non-stop race around the world. James Boyd of The Daily Sail website has reviewed the event, and provides his analysis on the race website on what he believes are the challenges of the race, and who he thinks will best overcome them. Here is an excerpt: “Being able to predict which of the nine boats competing in the Barcelona World Race will last the course is nearly impossible, but there are some indicators. A boat that is old and hasn’t been fully refitted is as likely to be as vulnerable to breakage as one that is so new that it hasn’t been completely tested. Therefore the new generation IMOCA 60s like PRB and Temenos II that were launched last year but already have some race miles under their keels are likely to be top of the list to make it around and in this respect we particularly like Dominique Wavre and Michele Paret’s Temenos II as it appears to be the most robust among the newest boats.” -- Read on: http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com/default.asp?section=10&sid=10217 On who Boyd believes will win, he states, “Pre-start the only certainties are that the Barcelona World Race has a favourite to win in PRB and a mostly likely boat to come last in the relatively aged Educación sin Fronteras with her relatively inexperienced crew. As to the finish order of the seven in between it will be something of a lottery but we do have a best guess given the criteria we’ve outlined within, including the likelihood of finishing.” Here is Boyd’s estimate: 1. PRB - Vincent Riou (FRA) & Sébastien Josse (FRA) 2. Temenos II - Dominique Wavre (SUI) & Michéle Paret (FRA) 3. Veolia Environnement - Roland Jourdain (FRA) & Jean-Luc Nélias (FRA) 4. Hugo Boss - Alex Thomson (GBR) & Andrew Cape (AUS) 5. Paprec-Virbac 2 - Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) & Damian Foxall (IRE) 6. Delta Dore - Jérémie Beyou (FRA) & Sidney Gavignet (FRA) 7. Estrella Damm - Guillermo Altadill (ESP) & Jonathan McKee (USA) 8. Mutua Madrilena - Javier Sanso Windmann (ESP) & Pachi Rivero (ESP) 9. Educación sin Fronteras - Albert Bargués (ESP) & Servanne Escoffier (FRA) THE REAL LIFE TEST FOR THE IMOCA OPEN 60'S What waits ahead for the IMOCA Open 60 sailors in the coming days and months? With the Transat Jacques Vabre race now well into mid stage and the double-handed Barcelona World Race starting November 11th, these regattas are the real 'life' test leading up to the 2008 Vendee Globe. It's a chance to test totally new concepts. The rigs alone vary radically, utilizing entirely different concepts such as wing masts with rotating spreaders, wing masts with deck spreaders and conventional masts. To learn more about these rigs: http://www.southernspars.com Southern Spars wish those competing 'good luck and fast sailing'. * Curmudgeon’s Comment: While the shorthanded sailing scene is growing in North America, it is nothing like what is happening in Europe, where it’s very professional, with the growth of the IMOCA Open 60’s and Class 40 literally off the charts. To help keep track of it all, the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar has a new link to a page that holds all of the prominent Euro shorthanded races. Go to http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Annapolis had a busy sailing schedule in early November with the Storm Trysail Club's IRC East Coast Championships, the J-105 North Americans hosted by Annapolis Yacht Club and Navy Sailing's Kennedy Cup. View video of all three events at T2P.TV: http://www.t2p.tv/guide/arnov07.php * (November 7, 2007) Mike Campbell and Dale Williams’ Kernan 70, Peligroso, won the 2007 Long Beach to Cabo San Lucas International Yacht Race on corrected handicap time, finishing just before midnight Tuesday at 11:54 p.m. PDT. During the race Peligroso and Doug Baker’s Andrews 80, Magnitude 80, swapped the corrected time lead back and forth, with Baker’s team crossing the finish line first on elapsed time at 4:43 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, but they missed the race record by 57 minutes, and landed second overall on corrected time. -- http://tinyurl.com/2n9ymg EIGHT BELLS Sailing lost a great sportsman, competitor, and mentor to young people on Friday. Dick Curry was a longtime small boat sailor who grew up in Larchmont, New York. After attending St. Michael's College in Vermont he enlisted in the Navy with his friend, Donald Street. Following his time in the Navy, Curry was a manufacturer's rep in the New York area. He was very active on the Penguin racing circuit, and sailed a variety of medium-sized boats, winning several championships. In 1967 he became a sales rep for Hard Sails; in 1980, he left to manage Shore Sails Long Island. Over the years Curry mentored many young sailors who went on to prominent careers in the sport, including Bill Campbell, who was a three-time All American at the Naval Academy, Stretch Ryder, who raced with Ted Turner in the 1977 America's Cup, Mike Ingham, who has won several one-design championships, Paul La Bossiere, a Naval Academy All American, Peter Hyers, another Naval Academy All American, Richie Boyd, and me, Gary Jobson. Curry retired from sailmaking around 1995 and moved to Florida. – by Gary Jobson, Sailing World: http://forums.sailingworld.com/blogs/?q=node/96 VIDEO OF THE WEEK The A-Class is an ISAF multihull development class with rules setting only length, width, sail area, and weight. The actual rule and class has been around since the late 60's, with the class experiencing steady growth in the US since 1997 as folks discover that the dynamics of a 165 lb boat with 150 ft2 of sail area are hard to beat. Next week, the 2007 Ronstan A-Cat Worlds will be held in Islamorada, FL on November 12-16, and entries – which are at the maximum of 100 boats - include some prominent names such as internationals Glenn Ashby (AUS), Mitch Booth (NED), and Göran Marström (SWE) along with Americans Steve Clark, Pete Melvin, Randy Smyth, Cam Lewis, Ben Hall, Pease Glaser, Jay Glaser, Bob Hodges, Charlie Ogletree, Lars Guck, Skip Elliott, Robbie Daniel, and Howard Hamlin. This week’s 1:09 minute video has past European and World Champion Glenn Ashby showing how it's done. Also, if you have a video you like, please send us your suggestions for next week’s Video of the Week. Click here for this week’s video: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/07/1105 CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Here are a few of the events that are coming up: Nov 8-11 - J/80 North American Championship - Annapolis, MD, USA Nov 9-16 - Ronstan A-Cat Worlds - Islamorada, FL, USA Nov 10 - Gig Harbor Lemans Race - Gig Harbor, WA, USA Nov 11 - Frosty Nipple #1 - Ft Walton Beach, FL, USA Nov 14-17 - Rolex Intl. Women's Keelboat Championship - LaPorte, TX, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar LETTERS TO THE CURMUDGEON Letters selected for publication must include the writer's name, and may be edited for clarity or simplicity (letters shall be no longer than 250 words). You only get one letter per subject, so give it your best shot, don't whine if others disagree, and save your bashing and personal attacks for elsewhere. As an alternative, a more open environment for discussion is available on the Scuttlebutt Forum. -- Scuttlebutt Letters: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com -- Scuttlebutt Forum: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum * From Cliff Thompson, San Diego: (RE: Homeland Security) I continually see at least 4 types of "official" boats running around in San Diego Bay: Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Navy Security, and Harbor Patrol. All of them seem to be going 30 knots in some direction. This year we have already had one race changed because it was to be sailed in Mexican waters. We have four each year that sail in Mexican waters, going around Islands or marks, but do not stop. It would be my hope that a "plan" is in place that allows both racers and cruisers to sail in this area without being stopped each time we enter the bay. I would propose that some kind of pre-inspection be done on boats, and whoever from the above list is inspecting, would have our name on a list as a pre-inspected boat. * From Capt. Gary P. Joyce, Aquebogue, NY: (from Issue 2470) Bernie Ecclestone to run the AC organization (or lack thereof)? Does that mean from now on every yacht race will be won by the first boat over the start line ala Formula 1? Pre-Bernie, F-1 may have been scruffy and disorganized (admittedly), but at least it was racing. * From Art Ahrens: (Regarding the Melges 20) I sure hope that the purchase of Vanguard resulting in the US release of the Laser SB3 doesn't derail the Melges 20 chances. Frankly, I think that the suspense is a huge mistake and missed opportunity. * From Adrian Morgan: Don't think Sir Robin would mind his name being spelled wrong in the ISAF Hall of Fame announcement (included in Issue 2470), too much of a gentleman to mention the fact there's a T missing. Sounds like our elders and betters were having a fine old junket down in Estoril, too busy to check their spelling, it appears. Curmudgeon’s Comment: We try to cover for our media brethren, but we too missed the typo on the ISAF website. Following this revelation, we noted that by Thursday morning the webmaster corrected the spelling to Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. -- Link: http://www.sailing.org/21206.php CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATIONS “Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” - Mark Twain Special thanks to Ullman Sails and Southern Spars. |
