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SCUTTLEBUTT 3570 - Monday, April 16, 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: Team One Newport and Harken. TRAGEDY San Francisco, CA (April 15, 2012) - One sailor died and four others were missing Sunday morning after 12-foot waves pummeled James Bradford's Sydney 38 Low Speed Chase, which was competing in the Full Crew Farallones Race, sponsored by San Francisco Yacht Club. Coast Guard and National Guard rescuers were scouring the choppy waters 27 miles west of the Golden Gate for the missing sailors early Sunday. Three other sailors were rescued from the rocks Saturday afternoon after the boat crashed onto Southeast Farallon Island at around 3 p.m. "We'll continue to search as long as we need to," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read. Forty-nine boats competed in this year's race, which started Saturday off the St. Francis Yacht Club race deck, taking the fleet out the Golden Gate Bridge and around the Southeast Farallones Island. The finish was at the St. Francis Yacht Club race deck, with a calculated race distance of 58 nautical miles Several boats turned back when 25-knot winds and high waves churned up the waters near the Farallones, but otherwise the race conditions were typical for that area and this time of year, said San Francisco Yacht Club director Ed Lynch. Low Speed Chase was slammed by a powerful wave that washed five crew members overboard near Southeast Farallon Island, Lynch said. The remaining three on board turned the boat around to rescue their crewmates when another wave threw the boat onto the rocks on the northeast corner of the island. The three on board climbed onto the rocks, where Coast Guard personnel in helicopters picked them up, flew them to San Francisco International Airport and transported them to a local hospital. One of the crew suffered a broken leg and remained hospitalized Sunday morning. The other two were released after undergoing treatment for severe bruises, Lynch said. The sailor who died was found in the water near the rocks, Read said. Of the eight-member crew, three - including the sailor who died and two of the missing - were affiliated with the San Francisco Yacht Club, Lynch said. Seven are from the Bay Area and one is from Ireland, he said. Their identities have not been released pending notification of their families. "These were all very experienced sailors," Lynch said. "Anybody that's doing this race would have years of experience. It's inherently dangerous and they were well aware of the risks." Full story: http://tinyurl.com/SFC-041512 SWEET HOMECOMING Naples, Italy (April 15, 2012) - Chris Draper led his Luna Rossa crew to a thrilling win in the final fleet race in Naples, Italy, collecting 50 points for his efforts to vault up the leaderboard and win the AC World Series Naples Fleet Racing Championship. The victory kicked off celebrations among the tens of thousands of Italian America's Cup fans lining the Naples waterfront to catch a glimpse of their heroes. "We're very pleased with the event, with the team effort," an excited Draper said afterwards. "We didn't have huge expectations, but to come away with a first (in the fleet racing) and a second (in the match racing) is awesome." Conditions were light, tricky and testing on Sunday, but Draper and his crew were up to the challenge. As was James Spithill and his ORACLE Racing crew, who appeared to be dead and buried in last place early in the race, only to recover and claim an impressive second place. Earlier in the afternoon, the Match Racing Championship was decided when Terry Hutchinson and his Artemis Racing team took advantage of a pre-start mistake by Chris Draper's team to sail away with a win in the sudden-death Final. The victory was a vindication of sorts for Artemis, who had capsized in the first race of the regatta, damaging their wing and being shut out of the points on Wednesday. "I can't say enough about the effort from the guys on the boat and on the shore," Hutchinson said. "After Wednesday (capsize and damaged wing), we'd have taken today's result, that's for sure. Our team trainer says it's not how you fall down, but how you get up. Now we have to come back in a few weeks in Venice and work on our consistency." Full report: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-041512 Results: http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-041512a Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0415/ Wednesday replay: http://youtu.be/8G3kN44AGZY Thursday replay: http://youtu.be/gtZnAa8uhmM Friday replay: http://youtu.be/sBtwrcXYsG0 Saturday replay: no racing Sunday replay: http://youtu.be/SdRjUfhsM4g BUY A CLASSIC BEFORE THEY'RE GONE Soon after Suunto announced they were no longer making the very popular Regatta and Yachtsman watches, the experts at Team One Newport bought the remaining inventory. Suunto touts their watches are "Replacing Luck" and we couldn't agree more! Shop with Team One Newport, the Foul Weather Gear Experts, for this classic time piece before they are gone. Service, Selection & Expertise Since 1985. Shop with us for Suunto or one the over 60 other brands of sailing gear we carry. http://www.team1newport.com - 401.VIP.GEAR (401.847.4327) DEAR MR. ELLISON Thank you for bringing the America's Cup to San Francisco Bay. Having sailed all my life in San Francisco and having competed in two America's Cups, I am so thankful you had the vision to pursue the cup and bring it to San Francisco. The excitement your quest has generated for the sport is truly great, it is manifesting itself in so many ways from the explosion in youth and high school sailing to Match Racing at the club level. I know some times you must question your investment when conversing with the city and logistics and I am sure there will always be detractors, but the desire to see it through and deliver a world class event to San Francisco Bay will leave a lasting legacy and something thousands of sailors will be forever grateful for. Best of luck in winning and once you do, the third time will be even greater because the world will "get it". Keep it going, thanks for your generosity and vision to have the Cup on and in the Bay; it will be one COOL Event! Regards, Russ Silvestri THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX Lucas Gonzalez, 15, will represent the United States at the ISAF Youth World Championships this summer in Ireland. Sarah Newberry, 24, recently trained with Navy SEALs at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, then went to Spain to evaluate new classes of multihull sailboats for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. Geronimo Nores, 12, will defend his title in the 2012 O'Pen BIC World Championship in Miami Beach this fall. Nores' older brother, 13-year-old Maximo, won silver in the junior division of the 2011 Kona World Windsurfing Championship in Denmark. All cut their sailing chops at Miami Yacht Club on Watson Island. But for some of the junior sailors, international sailing success almost didn't happen. About four years ago, participation in youth sailing's traditional starter boat, the Optimist dinghy, had dropped from 100 kids to a handful at the club. To try to rekindle interest, the Nores' father, Tomas Nores, took some youngsters to an "un-regatta" at nearby Shake-A-Leg Miami in Coconut Grove featuring some new, nearly unbreakable boats called O'Pen BICs, from the same company that manufactures ballpoint pens. "I like how you don't have to bail like an Opti," Geronimo said. "It's fast and responsive, easy to rig. I feel powered on the boat. You can do wheelies and hang off the back of the boat." In 2009, Miami Yacht Club purchased 20 of the O'Pen BICS, and participation shot up quickly, according to Florencia Barletta, director of the Youth Sailing Foundation. The Nores brothers traveled to international regattas, scoring podium finishes. Today, about 40 youngsters are sailing the boats - coached by Hernan Peralta and overseen by U.S. Olympic coach Leandro Spina. The club will put on the 2012 world championships Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. Registration is nearly maxed out. For the older kids, the club brought in some Techno 293 windsurfers. From those quick sailboard-style craft, coached by Jim de Silva, sailors such as Raul "Coqui" Lopez, 15, graduated to RS:X - the windsurfing class in this summer's Olympic Games. Lopez has ambitions of representing the United States in the 2016 Games. Meanwhile, he mentors some of the younger kids on Technos. "We're trying to bring the U.S. back on the map in windsurfing," Lopez said. Read more here: http://tinyurl.com/MH-041512 CUTTING IT CLOSE (April 15, 2012; Day 29) - As CAMPER continues to chew up the remaining miles of Leg 5, skipper Chris Nicholson talks about motivation, recuperation and what it will take to see the Kiwi/Spanish team back on the start line for the DHL In-Port Race Itajai. Here are some excerpts: "Our current ETA has us getting there on the afternoon on April 17. We're racing ourselves to get there as soon as possible to prepare the best we can for the in-port race. We've been on the back foot now for a couple of weeks so we need to get there in good time to get the boat sorted and get back to in-port racing. The motivation is to get to shore as soon as possible to allow for the best preparation." * How much work needs to be done on the boat? "As tempting as it is to leave the boat in the water, the rig alone has done an extra 3,000 miles than anyone else on this leg so we need to pull it out and check it over. We also need to do another thorough inspection of the hull because it's been a pretty hard 3,000 miles since Puerto Montt on the hull. Everything seems fine but we need to do a rapid check. The little tweaks here and there won't happen - they will have to happen in Miami. This is about making sure the boat stays in one piece between Itajai and Miami." * The in-port race is on April 21. Can you make it? "Yes. But it's only doable because we've had a good run from Puerto Montt to here. The whole team have their heads around what's expected of them. The sailors know it's going to be a very short break before the in-port race, the shore team know they have a shorter schedule in which to check everything, and we all understand the little tweaks and little jobs we'd all liked to have done in Itajai won't happen. That won't affect the result but it can add a bit of frustration where guys want certain jobs done in areas of the boat which we just won't have the time to do." Full interview: http://tinyurl.com/VOR-041512 ABU DHABI: Since leaving Puerto Montt, Chile by ship on Apr 10, the team estimates their arrival to be the evening of April 18. Once in Itajai, the team needs to chop out 4m x 1m sections on each side of the boat, which will be replaced by new core foam pieces. The repair is estimated to take 72 hours. The In-Port Race is on April 21. PROTEST: The International Jury has scheduled a hearing on Thursday (Apr 19) to review a report from the head of the Measurement Group over the sails carried by Team Telefonica during Leg 4 from Sanya to Auckland. The protest concerns an alleged breach of the Notice of Race 5.2.2, which specifies the sail requirements and limitations while racing. PUMA skipper Ken Read discusses the issue on Sailing World: http://tinyurl.com/SW-041512 SCHEDULE: Racing will commence in Itajai with the Pro-Am Race on April 20, the In-Port Race on April 21, and the start of the 4800 nm Leg 6 to Miami on April 22. -- http://tinyurl.com/VOR-2011-12-schedule Leg 5 - Auckland, NZL to Itajai, Brazil (6,705 nm) Standings as of Sunday, 15 April 2012, 22:01:23 UTC 1. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), Apr 6, 019d 18h 09m 50s 2. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), Apr 6, 019d 18h 22m 28s 3. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), Apr 10, 023d 12h 58m 44s 4. Camper (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 390.3 nm Distance to Finish - Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), Retired - Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), Retired Tracking/Standings: http://www.volvooceanrace.com/en/racetracker/rdc.html Video reports: http://www.youtube.com/user/volvooceanracevideos BACKGROUND: During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race, which started in Alicante, Spain (Oct. 29) and concludes in Galway, Ireland during early July 2012, six professional teams will sail over 39,000 nautical miles around the world via Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Sanya, Auckland, around Cape Horn to Itajai, Miami, Lisbon, and Lorient. Teams accumulate points through nine distance legs and ten In-Port races. - http://www.volvooceanrace.com HARV AND THE HARKEN TECH TEAM! - CHARLESTON RACE WEEK Winches or furler need a tune-up? Looking to optimize systems on your boat? Our full-service mobile workshop is powered up with a drill press, grinder, hand tools, cork screw and a complete inventory of Harken spare parts. The Harken Service Trailer will be stationed near the Race Village at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina starting Wednesday, April 18. So come on over, meet Harv and the team, and get your boat primed for action. SAILING SHORTS * Oakland, CA (April 14, 2012) - The ten equally matched 68-foot yachts competing in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, which were a popular attraction at the Strictly Sail Pacific boat show, today began a 5,500 mile leg from California on the US West Coast to New York on the East Coast via the Panama Canal. The first boats are expected to arrive in Panama around 7 May after which they will transit the Panama Canal before commencing the final 2,100 miles to New York. -- Race website: http://www.clipperroundtheworld.com/ * At the Jackson Cup Team Racing, a top tier team racing event this weekend (Apr 14-15) hosted by the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA - the New York YC (New York, NY and Newport, RI) lead by only one point with Larchmont YC and Eastern YC tied going into the final round robin on Sunday morning. While the NYYC team was able to hold on to win, Seawanhaka Corinthian YC (Oyster Bay, NY) and Royal Thames YC (London, UK) edged in to take second and third, respectively. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13573 * Irene has been retired from the official list of Atlantic Basin tropical storm names by the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) hurricane committee because of the fatalities and damage it caused in August 2011 and will be replaced by Irma. Storm names are reused every six years for both the Atlantic Basin and eastern North Pacific Basin, unless retired for causing a considerable amount of casualties or damage. Irene is the 76th name to be retired from the Atlantic list since 1954. -- Read on: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120413_irene.html SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar 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 Robert Thuss: Wow - I really hope the AC isn't as stupid as that game. How they could let that half-baked game get published is beyond me. Take it back and let me download it later when it's done! COMMENT: Anybody disagree? I haven't trialed the game as it is for iOS only, and I am a Droid guy. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt * From Gary H. Oberbeck, 'Zonie' since 1959: ".........possibly the best weather of the summer and all the Zonies have gone home." It is comments and attitude like this (in Scuttlebutt 3569) that have kept me away from your 'fair' city for over 40 years now. I would have thought you 'cool' folks would have come up with a 'new line' of "SoCal hipster drivel" to attack the people who inject massive amounts of $ into your economy buying fish tacos and over-priced lodging - not the ages old hippie style "Zonies" label. The 'locals' attitude and the wonderful 'ashtray quality sand beaches' got tiresome and finally cast the vote for other destinations. I left my annual summer address at Mission Beach in the very early '70's, never looking back. We moved the boat out too. Really --- 'Zonies' In the day - circa 1968 - the local mantra was "Zonies Go Home - But leave your chicks." Zonie response:"Yeah we had to bring our girls over - nothing HERE worthwhile."' I really thought we were beyond junior high school antics. Sorry for the rant - I was disappointed in the quality of the 'editorial content' -usually very good and fair. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Bureaucracy: a method for transforming energy into solid waste. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Team One Newport - Harken - Gowrie Group - North U - Soft Deck North Sails - Hall Spars & Rigging - Ocean Racing - Ullman Sails Southern Spars - The Pirates Lair - New England Boatworks Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
