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SCUTTLEBUTT 3645 - Wednesday, August 1, 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: North Sails, Southern Spars, and Gladstone's Long Beach. 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES - SAILING EVENTS Weymouth and Portland, U.K. (July 31, 2012; Day 3) - The 2012 Olympic Sailing Regatta continued in Weymouth and Portland, U.K. with racing in the Finn, the Star, Women's Match Racing, the Laser, Laser Radial, 49er and beginning today, the Men's and Women's RS:X. After six races and having opened up a ten point lead over Ben Ainslie (GBR) in the Finn class Hogh Christensen (DEN) has blitzed the fleet and discards his seventh place from the second day of sailing and, with three race wins and two seconds, a total score of 7 points sees him lead the way. Jonathan Lobert (FRA) sits in bronze medal position with 23 points. Iain Percy/Andrew Simpson (GBR) and Robert Scheidt/Bruno Prada (BRA) traded blows in the Star today with both crews winning a race and finishing second in the other. Fredrik Loof/Max Salminen (SWE) have pulled themselves into medal contention with a string of solid results to put them in third place on 17 points, seven behind the leaders. Ireland's Annalise Murphy has won all four Laser Radial races to open up a 12 point lead over Belgium's Evi Van Acker after the second day of Radial racing. Marit Bouwmeester (NED) is third on 18 points and Van Acker, second on 16. Despite a capsize in the fourth race Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen (AUS) hold the 49er lead with 15 points. After four races, Peter Burling/Blair Tuke (NZL) are in second with 24 points, followed by Allan Norregaard/Peter Lang (DEN) with 26 points. Dorian Van Rijsselberge (NED) took center stage in the Men's RS:X, taking two race wins in the first day of windsurfing. Whilst the Dutchman was consistent with his bullets, so were Przemyslaw Miarczynski (POL) and Toni Wilhelm (GER) who finished second twice and third twice. Marina Alabau (ESP) leads the Women's RS:X by 1 point over Lee El Korzits (ISR). Zofia Noceti-Klepacka (POL) sits 3 points behind in third. Day 3 yielded strong results for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team. Overall after six races: Zach Railey, 12th (Finn); Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih, 6th (Star). After four races: Erik Storck /Trevor Moore, 7th (49er); Paige Railey, 5th (Laser Radial) and Rob Crane, 39th (Laser). Bob Willis is in 7th in Men's RS:X, while Farrah Hall is in 21st in Women's RS:X. Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly O'Bryan Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi extended their match racing record to four wins, two losses. Canadians are holding their own in most classes with Greg Douglas in 15th in the Finn, Richard Clark/Tyler Bjorn are 13th in the Star, David Wright is 18th in the Laser, Zachary Plavsic is in 8th in the Men's RS:X, Nikola Girke is 9th in the Women's RS:X, and in the 49er Gordon Cook/Hunter Louden are in 11th. Racing continues in all of these events on August 1, except for the Star and Finn, which will have a reserve day. Full report: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/news/31917.php Canada report: http://tinyurl.com/CST-072912 USA report: http://tinyurl.com/USA-072912 Results/schedule: http://tinyurl.com/2012-Olympics-Results-Schedule Canada broadcast: http://tinyurl.com/bs5wqoj USA broadcast: http://www.nbcolympics.com/sailing/index.html * A freshening southerly wind is expected across western and southern areas of England for Wednesday. For the sailing in Weymouth the winds will be stronger than of late with a 17-23 mph southerly and there will be a higher risk of showers around midday as the cold front sweeps in. -- Details: http://www.weather.com/news/uk-olympics-forecast-20120716 QUOTE UNQUOTE According to Anna Tunnicliffe, world's #1 ranked Laser Radial sailor, it's the mental aspect of the match racing that is most challenging: "It is a chess game," she said. "You're always thinking two or three steps ahead, and the five or six options that go with that play. You really like be able to plan everything well head of time so that you're ready for anything that your opponent throws at you." -- Full story at: http://www.wired.com/playbook/2012/07/anna-tunnicliffe/ BRITISH SAILORS SAY BAY CURRENTS PROVIDE HOME ADVANTAGE (July 30, 2012) - British sailors say their home- country experience with Weymouth Bay may help them keep their spot as the No. 1 team at the London Olympics and propel Ben Ainslie to a record-tying fourth gold medal. Their American rivals say the English waters may be too challenging even for the locals to figure out. The southwesterly winds and counterclockwise currents of the bay, which is off the English Channel on the country's south coast, will be easier for British sailors to navigate because of their experience in the waters, 470 class sailor Stuart Bithell, 25, told reporters last week in Weymouth. "Weymouth Bay is a very unique sailing venue, and it's very different to a lot of venues with the tide and the cross- swell," Bithell said. "There's absolutely no doubt that having done that for the last five years, consistently, will bring a slight home advantage." The conditions might be too variable for the British to use their experience, according to U.S. Finn class sailor and 2008 silver medalist Zach Railey. "The situation out there is changing constantly," Railey said before teams took to the water for the first time two days ago. "There is current out there that is going every which way, there's wind which is sometimes steady, sometimes not. I don't think anybody can honestly say that they have this place figured out." -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/cmbwu5y CONGRATS JASON CARROLL AND TEAM ARGO ON WINNING THE MELGES 32 NATIONALS! Congratulations to Jason Carroll and team on Argo for winning the 2012 Melges 32 Nationals! Racing with a 100% North Sails inventory, including North 3Di upwind sails and V-Series spinnakers, Argo came from 3rd place going into the final day to winning by an impressive 6 points in an extremely competitive fleet. The weekend prior, North powered boats stole the show at NYYC Race Week winning IRC 1, IRC 2, IRC 3, IRC 4, Swan 42, J/111, 12 Metre Grand Prix, 12 Metre Traditional and Classic Classes 2 and 3! When performance counts, the choice is clear: http://na.northsails.com KEEPING THE CAT BACK Auckland, NZ (July 31, 2012) - Team New Zealand kept their shiny, new America's Cup catamaran on a predictably tight leash during the AC72s historic maiden sail on a gloomy Hauraki Gulf this afternoon. After craning the big cat's 40m wingsail into place around 8am, Emirates Team NZ waited until 1pm before slipping out into the Gulf with more than a dozen structural engineers, system engineers and sailors on board. The 22m long multihull was nursed gingerly up Auckland's East Coast Bays to an area off Tiritiri Matangi Island where she was then tested under increasing loads in between rain squalls in what skipper Dean Barker described as the moment when "science meets real life". Not surprisingly, the first of the new version America's Cup cats to sail was kept in check as she glided back and forward toward Rakino Island in a nor-easterly hovering around 10-12 knots, with Team NZ giving little away to rival syndicates Luna Rossa and Oracle who trailed behind in tenders. During the two hours Boating New Zealand watched from a safe distance, NZL2 wasn't allowed to fly a hull despite her blood red, 12-storey wingsail offering ample power to achieve this, even in the light conditions. The time for pushing New Zealand, as the catamaran was christened at a public ceremony in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour last Saturday, will come soon enough now she has undergone her initial load and system tests. Under new cost-cutting rules, today's short sail counts as the first of just 30 days Team NZ are able to sail the first of their two AC72s between July 1, 2012 and January 31, 2013. Data from on-board sensors was today closely monitored from Team New Zealand's new 1200hp chase boat as loadings were slowly increased. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/bmbspks ARE YOU A GOOD SPORT? What about the rest of us? Sailing is more dependent on sportsmanship than most sports. So how are we doing? Sailing World and Scuttlebutt have constructed a survey to find out. It wasn't so long ago that the penalty for any infraction during a sailboat was as simple as it was severe: drop out. At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, U.S. Finn sailor Peter Barrett brushed the rudder of an opponent while on port tack. The contact was so slight that his opponent didn't even take notice. But Barrett did. He retired from the race and cost himself the chance at a gold medal. It was perhaps the ultimate example of sportsmanship in sailing. Much has changed in the last half century. The punishment for committing a foul, for one, is much milder. But has that made it any easier, or any more likely, for a sailor to admit when he or she has made a mistake and then take the proper action to exonerate him or herself? In most other organized sports, referees are present to enforce the rules of the game. There is little responsibility for the competitors themselves to police the action and ensure everyone competes fairly. This isn't the case in sailing, so sportsmanship plays a bigger role, whether it's following the rules of a particular class or fleet, admitting when you have made a mistake, or treating your competitors civilly when trying to determine who was at fault. The editors of Sailing World and Scuttlebutt are curious what you think about sportsmanship in sailing. Whether you race once a month in a local fleet or do it for a living, we want your perspective. To do so, we've constructed a survey. It will take a few minutes to finish. But we think the potential reward for getting a better handle on sportsmanship in sailing, and whether it's a problem that should or soon may need to be fixed, it's well worth the time. Thanks in advance for your time. Here is the survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q5CQWJ3 BIG TECH FOR LITTLE AMERICA'S CUP (July 31, 2012) - The catamaran that will compete in the Little America's Cup under the Swiss flag in September 2013 is currently under construction at the Decision SA shipyard in Ecublens, Switzerland. It will benefit from innovative Swiss technology that has never previously been used on a yacht. The catamaran was designed by architectural firm VPLP, which is working exclusively with Hydros on the project, with the aim of winning the legendary race to be held in the United Kingdom in September 2013. Two versions of the catamaran are being built by the Decision SA shipyard, so that the sailing team will be able to test and compare different configurations of foils and centerboards. The construction process is innovative and completely new: both catamarans will be built using thin ply technology (TPT), a technique invented on the shores of Lake Geneva that has already been used in Formula 1 and on a number of wing masts for the forthcoming America's Cup, but which has never previously been employed in yacht construction. As Gilles Rocher, Head of Marketing at North TPT explains: "This process allows us to use exactly the right amount of material in the right place and in the right way, thereby optimizing the yacht's structure and markedly improving her performance." Meanwhile Bertrand Cardis, Head of the Decision SA shipyard is of the opinion that, "The construction method has more in common with aeronautics than traditional racing yachts. We fine-tuned this technique when we built the second plane for Bertrand Piccard, and we are now going to use it in the construction of the hulls, beams and wing mast of the Hydros catamaran." Right from when it first took place in 1961, the Little America's Cup has symbolized fundamental research and ground-breaking technological development, on a human scale. The yachts, which have a crew of two, must measure a maximum of 7.62 m x 4.20 m, with a sail surface area of no more than 27.8 m2. These restrictions are precisely what makes the class so exciting, since the yacht designers are forced to explore cutting-edge techniques. Furthermore, these boats have been sailing with wing masts for over thirty years! -- Read on: http://www.bymnews.com/news/newsDetails.php?id=106755 SEND US YOUR RACE REPORTS Posting your event information on the free, self-serve Scuttlebutt Event Calendar tool is the easiest way to communicate to both sailors and sailing media. But don't stop there... send us your race reports too. Here are some of the upcoming events listed on the calendar: Aug 1-2 - Techno 293, Kona, & RS:X Championships - Vineyard Haven, MA, USA Aug 2-4 - Sunfish North American Championship - Lake Bluff, IL, USA Aug 3-5 - Buzzards Bay Regatta - S. Dartmouth, MA, USA Aug 3-5 - Monhegan Race - Falmouth , ME, USA Aug 4-5 - O'Pen BIC North American Championships - Oshkosh, WI, USA View all the events at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar RIGGED TO WIN Southern Spars rigged yachts take out IRC0 & IRC1 at the 31st annual Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre! The winners of the 31st Copa del Rey Audi Mapfre regatta were determined after six days of very tight racing in the Bay of Palma. Southern Spars' rigged RAN in IRC 0 and Southern Spars' rigged Audi All4One in IRC1 were the teams to clinch victory in the most important regatta of the Mediterranean. In IRC 1 Southern Spars dominated, the overall title went to Audi All4One, Audi Azzurra Sailing Team came second overall and Tony Langley`s Gladiator third, all sporting Southern Spars rig packages. -- http://www.southernspars.com SAILING SHORTS * Torbole, Italy (July 31, 2012) - The second day of the Melges 24 Worlds brought plenty of sun tanning, but very sadly no racing, as a most unusual weather system meant that Torbole was not able to deliver her legendary Ora wind today. The World Championship still has four days to run and tomorrow racing is scheduled to start at 0800 to take advantage of the northerly morning winds. Race committee will try to run three races tomorrow. -- Full report: http://www.melges24worldchampionship.com/?p=945 * The Thistle Nationals are currently underway in San Diego, Calif, hosted by the Mission Bay Thistle Fleet and Mission Bay Yacht Club. Racing continues through Aug 3. -- Event website: http://thistlenationals.madebydigitalstyle.com/ * (July 31, 2012) - To coincide with the release of Boating Industry's 2012 Market Data Book, BoatingIndustry.com is hosting a free webinar to help readers go behind the numbers featured in the annual resource. Expert speakers from Info-Link, Spader Business Management, Dominion Marine Media and ADP Lightspeed will be on hand to discuss what happened in 2011 and the early part of 2012, as well as answer any questions from webinar attendees. -- Info at: http://tinyurl.com/cwgopy3 * (July 30, 2012) - At the William I. Koch International Sea Scout Cup Regatta held July 22-28 at the California Maritime Academy Campus in Vallejo, four teams battled in tight competition in extremely exciting races. After 17 races the winner was Jack Donnell of Dana Point, California, trailed by Mike Anderson and Amanda Norris of New Zealand. In third place and only 1 point behind the New Zealand team were Niklas Kirkomaki and Zacharia (Finland). The spread between these three and the rest of the field was 19 points or more. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/cr5vjh2 ONE IF BY LAND, TWO IF BY SEA, THREE IF BY FOILING TRI The parking's improved, new guest docks are being installed permanently on the Pine Avenue Pier, and the foiling trimaran L'Hydroptere is now based just steps away from the restaurant. It's all happening at Gladstone's Long Beach in Rainbow Harbor (CA). Enjoy our new patio outdoor bar serving adult libations made with Mount Gay Rum. Because sailors need more than cheeseburgers. View L'Hydroptere video here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151127177239468 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 Geoff Becker: I saw this morning that a New Zealand Kayaker, competing in the 2012 London Games, was penalized during the kayaking competition by a judge who was his mother. I guess kayaking is a sport that appreciates talent before prejudice? When I read Appeal #107, I could not believe that US SAILING could single out a specific group of people as automatically prejudice. The question now is, where does the prejudice end? Aunts? Uncles? Grandparents? Best friends? Neighbors? Coaches? Alumni? I was the committee chairman for the ICSA (college sailing) Procedural Rules for three rule book cycles and the attitude that college sailing took with regard to interested parties judging was a simple one..."Everyone is from somewhere!" Without the support of coaches and alumni at a large number of college sailing events, those events may not happen. Using Appeal #107 as a reference, I can see how it might have a much larger impact than originally intended, especially with college and high school sailing. Clear instances of prejudice are easy to spot. Having a rule that identifies a specific and automatic prejudice is not only wrong, but it insulting to anyone who feels they can support sailing in a management role without prejudice. * From Ari Barshi, Laser Training Center, Cabarete, Dominican Republic: Following the intense daily sailing battles in the Olympic Games, it is time to admit that ISAF created a very exciting addition with the medal races. And, while we're at it, Chapeau to Oracle and their team for coming up with the giant Cat concept. A real game changer that has the power to create a BC, and AC acronym prior to the word sailing. (yes, before Cat, and after Cat). * From Suzie Beattie (re, Scuttlebutt 3344): The recent story of the Fourth of July Fireworks on Oyster Bay was just heartbreaking to read. Another joyful day that brought a life changing tragedy. Crowded boats are often so typical on these "special days" with great intentions by hosts, intended to share the event with many. The only thing we can do is learn a lesson from this. It happens too often - it's not OK to overload any kind of water craft. So sad. CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION For every "10" there are 10 "1's". SPONSORS THIS WEEK Dieball Sailing - Melges Performance Sailboats - Doyle Sails Atlantis WeatherGear - Allen Insurance and Financial - North Sails Southern Spars - Gladstone's Long Beach - Ullman Sails - Summit Yachts Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
