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SCUTTLEBUTT 3593 - Thursday, May 17, 2012Scuttlebutt 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: Ullman Sails and Hall Spars & Rigging. QUESTIONING THE AMERICAN SUPPORT OF KITESURFING By Nevin Sayre, U.S. Sailing member Every event chosen for the Olympics has a pathway from young kid to Olympic champion. Every event, that is, except kitesurfing, which has now been selected as the board event for the 2016 Olympics. Kitesurf racing has no such pipeline. As an avid kitesurfer, windsurfer, sailor, US Sailing member, and also someone who has been very involved in youth sailing development, I am eager to hear US Sailing explain their decision to support kitesurfing for the 2016 Olympic Games. The ISAF General Council voted 19-17 to overrule the recommendation of their own their advisory group and include kitesurf course racing in the Games. This decision comes at the expense of windsurfing, which is easily one of the two most popular classes at the Games, and has a huge junior pipeline. ISAF's own Events Committee and Windsurfing/Kitesurfing Committee, which held an ISAF sponsored equipment evaluation, did not recommend kiteboarding over windsurfing for the 2016 Olympic Games. If the experts didn't support kitesurf racing, why did US Sailing place their three votes (more than any other country) in favor of kitesurfing? So now that the U.S. is in support of kitesurfing, how do they intend to build the pipeline? What is US Sailing's plan to safely include kitesurfing into Junior Sailing Programs, the Olympic Youth Development Team, Youth Worlds Team, the Junior Olympic events, and all the pathways that leads to the Olympics? There are over 110 reported kitesurfing deaths in the last 10 years. That should be compared with an excellent safety record in windsurfing's 40 year history. I am personally very lucky not to be on the fatality list, and suffered a head wound with 150 stitches from kitesurfing. And I consider myself a decent kiter, and knowledgeable about the wind. There is no way I would allow my kids to kitesurf. (see photos at link below) During a time when US Sailing has expressed deep concern over the sudden uptick in tragic sailing deaths from coast to coast, what is US Sailing's safety plan here? Is US Sailing aware that insurance companies, citing grave safety concerns, have refused to cover sailing programs which include kitesurfing? Can you see kitesurfing at your junior program and/or sailing club? Kitesurfing is evolving, and the very small percentage of kitesurfers who race, are clearly on the cutting edge. I welcome inclusion in the Olympics when the safety, equipment, logistics, and formats are ready. When instructional and competitive programs are developing young kitesurf racers, and safely channeling them toward their Olympic dreams, let's go. We are clearly not there yet for 2016 Olympic Games. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13810 READY TO BUCK HISTORY With three more offshore legs and four more in-port races to be sailed before the Volvo Ocean Race finishes in Galway in Ireland this July, the top four teams all still have a credible chance of lifting the overall trophy. But only one of those teams would be bucking history to take the title. For PUMA to win, they would become the first team ever to claim victory while not finish one of the race legs. Without their broken mast on the first leg from Spain to South Africa, they would be leading now. With racing to begin again on Thursday in Miami, here is a Q&A with skipper Ken Read... Q: How is the Volvo Ocean Race different from the America's Cup? A: The Volvo Ocean Race couldn't be more different from the America's Cup. It happens to be the same sport that deals with wind and water, but that's about where it ends. The America's Cup has always been about politics and in a way the sailing almost comes secondary. Now in the Volvo race, it's purely about sailing. It's man against the ocean, man against man, conditions that you'd never see in the America's Cup. Q: What are some of the challenges you've faced overall in this race so far, and challenges that come with being the skipper? A: It all links together for me. The challenges of being skipper of a boat like PUMA's Mar Mostro is balancing safety with performance. You have to make sure there are 11 guys on the boat when you hit the dock, and safety is always our No. 1 priority. But, at the same time your own competitiveness is there wanting to push the boat as hard as humanly possible. So there's a conflict sometimes. Then there's running the overall program - delegating and not micromanaging...which is a challenge for me at times. So every day there are challenges, but it's wonderful to be able to put your stamp on a program, and at the end of the day if you're not successful, you look in the mirror say "I screwed up" or if you are successful, you say "nice job." Q: As the skipper you are the "head coach" of the crew. Do you do "coach speak" or Lombardi-type motivational speeches to your crew? A: I think if I did, it would be the first and the whole crew would look at me with a "what the hell is wrong with him" expression. The best part about having a veteran team is the fact that we're all professionals, and at this stage everyone has seen the movie so many times that they know the unhappy ending and happy ending. And, everyone is looking for the happy ending, so there's not a need for speeches. We talk about specifics, we talk about responsibilities, but there is never a need for a rah-rah Lombardi-ish speech. Q: If you were to compare your crew to an NFL team, which positions would everyone play? A: The bowmen would be like wide receivers with their balance and coordination. The driver, myself included, would be in more of a quarterback role. The grinders would be like linemen, down in the trenches, toughing it out. The trimmers would be somewhat like a tight end - a jack of all trades, all over the boat, good at everything. Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-051612 Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Schedule: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos Race website: http://www.volvooceanrace.com TIPS: If have any interest in yachting photography, particularly if you will be on the water for the Volvo Ocean Race in Miami, Leighton O'Connor produced this video to provide tips on how to do it well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPk4uM7qteM ULLMAN SAILS POWER M24 SWEDISH OPEN VICTORY Congratulations to Norwegian Christen Horn Johannessen and team on "Baghdad 2" who won a hard-fought battle for the Swedish Melges 24 Open Championship last weekend! Fully powered by Ullman Sails, Christen and his crew of Kristoffer Spone (skipper), Sigurd Paulsen and Børre Hekk Paulsen scored five bullets in the eight-race series. Their win in the final race sealed their victory in the 24-boat fleet. "Baghdad 2" competed with an Ullman Sails Dacron Shark mainsail, medium jib, and showed excellent speed downwind flying the AP+ Spinnaker. Kristoffer's feedback: "We never had a speed edge with other sails - now we do!" http://www.ullmansails.com GONDOLAS, MOVE ASIDE Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill carries a narrow one point lead into racing in Venice, with Dean Barker's Emirates Team New Zealand eager to regain top spot. Venice marks the penultimate event of the 2011-12 AC World Series, with the overall winner to be determined in Newport, Rhode Island, next month. "Every single person here wants to win this Series," Spithill said. "But Venice is going to be very, very challenging. I think the key is to be consistent. Now the level is such that everyone can win. We've seen that, and in Venice there will be a lot more opportunities for passing. It will never be over until you get across the finish line. For the spectators it will be fantastic and for the sailors it will be a real test." "The battle for consistency is pretty difficult..." agreed Terry Hutchinson, skipper of the third place Artemis Racing."The challenge is dealing with the conditions and the other competitors and trying to get through some situations that appear quite random at times to get that consistency. The good news is that it's not a big mystery, the difficult part is in executing." America's Cup World Series racing is Thursday through Sunday. The race schedule on Thursday includes two fleet races along with the first quarter final match races. Broadcast will include fleet racing only on Thursday through Saturday, but will include both the fleet race and match race finals on Sunday. Teams, Skippers Artemis Racing (SWE), Terry Hutchinson (USA) China Team (CHN), Phil Robertson (NZL) Emirates Team New Zealand, Royal (NZL), Dean Barker (NZL) Energy Team (FRA), Loick Peyron (FRA) Luna Rossa Challenge - Piranha (ITA), Chris Draper (GBR) Luna Rossa Challenge - Swordfish (ITA), Paul Campbell-James (GBR) Oracle Team USA (USA), Darren Bundock (AUS) Oracle Team USA (USA), Jimmy Spithill (AUS) Team Korea (ROK), Nathan Outteridge (AUS) Broadcast on YouTube at 0800-0935 EDT. Details: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13802 MOBILE: Available now from Apple's App Store, the new, free mobile Real Time Race Tracker is built into the Enthuse app, and lets sailing fans follow all the America's Cup World Series races as they happen. Introduced by CupExperience.com in cooperation with Seahorse Magazine, the Real Time Race Tracker uses the Emmy Award winning Liveline technology to superimpose the races on Google Maps. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13803 COMMENT: People have questioned why the focus of the broadcast is on fleet racing. This decision was made so that the broadcast had the greatest chance to deliver riveting entertainment. Simply put, a lopsided match race is not too interesting, whereas a fleet race tends to always have action somewhere in the race. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt 2012 GRAND SLAM MATCH RACING SERIES After last year's successful debut, organizers from the Chicago Match Race Center (CMRC), Bayview YC (BYC), Manhasset Bay YC (MBYC) and Oakcliff Sailing have expanded their international slate of teams to compete in this year's GRAND SLAM Match Racing Series. In all, teams from eight countries will be represented in this year's series of four consecutive ISAF Open Grade 2 events: Australia, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, US Virgin Islands, and throughout the US. "What began last year as a series to promote the growth of match racing in the US has grown to be a major international series," said Oakcliff Sailing's Executive Director Dawn Riley. "The requests for invitations for our event have come in early and hot, with only a few spots remaining." The four events of this year's GRAND SLAM are held over four consecutive weeks to allow invited overseas teams the best opportunity to optimize their travel costs in one US trip. The schedule is as follows: CMRC's Chicago Grade 2 Invitational, held over August 17-19 at Chicago's iconic venue for stadium sailing, Navy Pier, on TOM 28's; BYC's Detroit Cup, held in Ultimate 20's with racing in front of the clubhouse on the Detroit River over August 23-26; the oldest event of the series, MBYC's Knickerbocker Cup, will be held in Oakcliff's Swedish Match 40's in Long Island's Manhasset Bay over August 29 - September 2; and the Oakcliff International, held over September 5-9. Besides winning valuable Grade 2 points for the ISAF World Match Race Ranking List, the winning team of the series this year will be determined by scoring the best three of four events. That team will then receive an invitation to the oldest Grade 1 match racing event in the US, Long Beach YC's Congressional Cup, to be held in March 2013. -- Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0516/ HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 1998 Washington, DC (June 16, 2012) - Total boating fatalities last year rose to 758, the highest number on record since 1998, according to the U.S. Coast Guard's official 2011 Recreational Boating Statistics released today. From 2010 to 2011, total reported accidents decreased less than one percent from 4,604 to 4,588, deaths increased 12.8 percent from 672 to 758 and injuries decreased 2.3 percent from 3,153 to 3,081. Property damage totaled approximately $52 million. The fatality rate measured 6.2 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels, a 14.8 percent increase from last year's rate of 5.4 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels. Operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, excessive speed and machinery failure ranked as the top five primary contributing factors in accidents. Alcohol use was the leading contributing factor in fatal boating accidents; it was listed as the leading factor in 16 percent of the deaths. Seventy percent of all fatal boating accident victims drowned, and of those, 84 percent were not reported as wearing a life jacket. Only 11 percent of deaths occurred on vessels where the operator had received boating safety instruction. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/USCG-051612 A WARM WELCOME HOME Congratulations to Puma - the Hall-rigged Mar Mostro gained a second consecutive first place finish, capturing the top spot in Leg 6 of the Volvo Ocean Race, holding onto the lead position from Itajai, Brazil, all the way to the finish in Miami. Meanwhile, in Acona, Italy, Hall Med manager Andrea Merani and the Hall crew were on hand to step the mast on the new Wally 50m. The Superyacht features the largest spar ever manufactured at the Hall U.S. facility, as well as the largest-ever Oceanfurl boom, built by Hall New Zealand. For updates and products, visit http://www.hallspars.com SAILING SHORTS * US Sailing has been selected as a finalist in Toyota's 100 Cars for Good Program. This is a Facebook contest whereby Toyota will give away up to 100 cars in 100 days to 100 eligible nonprofit charitable organizations. Votes must be cast by May 16th 11:59pm EDT for US Sailing to help them win a vehicle from Toyota's 100 Cars for Good Program. Vote for US Sailing at http://www.100carsforgood.com * Three-time America's Cup winner Grant Simmer (AUS) has joined the America's Cup champion team Oracle Team USA as General Manager. His role gives him day-to-day operational responsibility for the American team that is currently designing and building the race boats to defend the America's Cup in San Francisco in 2013. CEO Russell Coutts (NZL), four-time winner of the America's Cup, remains in overall strategic charge of the team whilst also fulfilling his role of ensuring that the 2013 America's Cup is the most successful in the 161-year history of the most iconic event in sport. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/OTUSA-051612 * The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships announced the event exceeded economic forecasts after independent reports showed it injected almost $39million into the Western Australia economy and generated nearly $15million of global media exposure for the region. Backed by the State Government who invested $8.8million into the Championships, the 16 day event hosted the world's best sailing talent from 10 Olympic classes in over 630 races in December last year. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13808 * Barcelona, Spain (May 16, 2012) - With qualifying now complete at the 2012 470 World Championships, two races today took the fleet closer to the title . Australians Mathew Belcher/ Malcolm Page have now built a 20 point lead, while Americans Stu McNay/ Graham Biehl struggle in 18th position. The women's side is much closer with only four points separating the top three. A 3-22 by Americans Amanda Clark/ Sarah Lihan dropped them from 11th to 14th overall. Racing concludes Saturday. -- Event website: http://worlds.470.org/eventsites/default_s1.asp?eventid=66686 * Falmouth, UK (May 16, 2012) - Light and unstable winds prevented racing on day four of the J.P. Asset Management Finn Gold Cup. The forecast is 18-22 knots on Thursday, with three races now scheduled to conclude the opening series, before Friday's medal race and final race. Locals Ben Ainslie (GBR), Ed Wright (GBR) and Andrew Mills (GBR) are currently on the podium, with Canadian Chris Cook in eighth overall. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/Finn-051612 * Boltenhagen, Germany (May 16, 2012) - Tactically challenging conditions with mildly oscillating winds from 15 to 20 knots today's races at the Audi Women's Laser Radial World Championship 2012. Alison Young (GBR) dominated the day with a 2-1 to lead the 130 entrants, with Tania Elias Calles Wolf (MEX) in 11th. American Erika Reineke leads the under 21 division. Racing concludes Sunday. - Event website: http://www.laserworldchampionship.com/en/home.html * (May 16, 2012) - After seven months on top of the ISAF Women's Match Racing Rankings, Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) has been knocked off the top by Lucy Macgregor (GBR). Making it an all British affair in the ISAF Match Race Rankings is Ian Williams who remains on top in the Open Rankings. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/38586.php INDUSTRY NEWS UPDATES The Industry News category of the Scuttlebutt Forum provides an opportunity for companies to announce new products and services. Here are some of recent postings: * Become a professional racer on The Moment on USA Network! * Mike Ingham Joins Quantum Newport's Team as One Design Specialist * Nordic Marine will distribute SOS Dan Buoy & Sea Scoopa rescue equipment View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 Kathleen Tocke: Few sailors have any idea how difficult Olympic Windsurfing is. I have raced internationally in the Radial, the Europe, the 470 as both skipper and crew, the 29erXX, the RS:X, and have a medal from the 2011 Pan Am Games in the Snipe. By far, the RS:X is the most physically demanding discipline I have experienced. The skill level is unimaginably high. It is extremely technical - an outhaul, downhaul, nine mast rake positions, a daggerboard, changes in mast and boom length and boom height. Even batten tension is adjusted between races. While kiteboard racing may be popular in San Francisco, compared to other sailing disciplines around the world, there is little competition and few participants. Kiteboard racers are mostly an elite group of sponsored boarders who will be unhappy once ISAF limits kites (favoring heavier boarders) and regulates equipment. ISAF's decision to get rid windsurfing is like telling ex-Olympic baseball players they should switch to cricket. One sport cannot be substituted for another. Kiteboarding won't help save the sport of sailing. Uneducated audiences won't equate it with sailing - since it lacks a sail. * From Gregory Scott: Neil Pryde nailed it in Scuttlebutt 3591. We/sailing seem to be on a suicide mission. The AC has become a mess. The Volvo is a train wreck (still cheering for Kenny) and the Olympics is diving off a cliff. Who cares...who watches? Every sailor in the world today who is worth watching learned what we all want to know - when no one cared! So we chase this TV viewer and in the process lose sight of all the marvelous attributes of sailing that are in fact sailing. The ones who hold this charm and wisdom that has elevated them to pro/Olympic and AC are also real live humans who have (and still do) lift a beer at a YC bar and share what they learned today. TV will never get that and without that we have no durable audience. COMMENT: One thought that comes to mind is if sailing can sufficiently contort itself to become a viable broadcast product, it could allow sailing to evolve like other sports. Currently, with some exception, professional and amateur sailors compete together. What other sport does that? As long as the format for amateur events best serves amateur sailors, maybe it is good that professional platforms evolve so that professional and amateur sailors can thrive... apart from each other. Comments? - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt CALENDAR OF MAJOR EVENTS (Sponsored by West Marine) Is your event listed on the Scuttlebutt Event Calendar? This free, self-serve tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. 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