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SCUTTLEBUTT 3686 - Friday, September 28, 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: Henri Lloyd and Hall Spars & Rigging. THE RULES - SIMPLICITY PROVIDES CERTAINTY Emirates Team New Zealand's rules advisor Russell Green blogs on the America's Cup rules of sailing and a recent rugby result... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- I've just got off a Skype call with the "enemy" - Richard Slater, rules advisor for Oracle Team USA who, like their skipper, is Australian. The reason for the call wasn't his country's abysmal performance in the recent Bledisloe (Rugby) Cup, but it was mentioned of course. The topic was the on-the-water racing rules, known officially as the "ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing America's Cup Edition". Past America's Cup regattas have been governed by the ISAF Racing Rules with limited changes needed for America's Cup yachts. Fast catamarans with completely different handling characteristics racing on short courses needed a new approach. A simplified set of rules to suit the cats evolved; they have been trialled at the AC 45 events with progressive improvements and amendments after each event. A majority of the competitors must approve an amendment, achieved by discussions and negotiations amongst teams' rules advisors. The process is cooperative rather than adversarial, with everyone aiming to achieve the same goal - a practical set of rules giving the sailors simplicity and certainty in situations on the race course which often become complex very quickly. Sailors have to know their rights and obligations instantly. The job of a rules advisor is to ensure there are no gaps in that knowledge, the more complicated and uncertain the rules are, the more difficult this is. In some respects, such as at the windward mark, the AC rules are radically different from the standard ISAF rules. The sailors have embraced them and they are working well. Many of the changes could well be incorporated in to future ISAF versions of the racing rules. The big change at the windward mark is that the first boat to reach the three-length zone "owns" the rights to that mark even if the yachts are on opposite tacks. If a yacht is at that point either clear ahead or overlapped on an outside yacht it is entitled to room to round the mark including the room to tack. These rights are lost only if it leaves the zone. Basic rules such as a port yacht keeping clear of starboard, the clear astern yacht keeping clear, and the windward yacht keeping clear of a leeward yacht remain the same. Rule 17, prohibiting a yacht which establishes an overlap from clear astern from sailing above its proper course, has been deleted. In match racing this rule has always created arguments about "what is" a proper course, sailors were often in doubt about who was the obligated yacht, and it required difficult subjective calls by umpires. Many contentious decisions resulted. Different tactics apply but the change provides certainty and works well. Having certainty in the wording of the rules is only part of the story. Like all sports there is a need for consistency of interpretation and application of the rules by the umpires. The penalty system and umpiring in this edition of the America's Cup is also radically different from previous events, but that is a subject for another day. -- http://etnzblog.com/#!2012/09/the-rules-understanding-whats-going-on COMMENT: As Russell speaks above about the "need for consistency of interpretation and application of the rules by the umpires", it is hard not to consider the recent struggles in the National Football League. Will questionable umpire calls affect the 34th America's Cup? Will skippers be fined if they criticize the officials? Is controversy needed to elevate the America's Cup to primetime? - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt LEGAL BATTLE: As if organizing the 34th America's Cup and being the CEO of the team seeking to defend it isn't enough, the leader of Oracle Team USA is also amid a battle of a non-sailing variety. Russell Coutts is in the Kiwi courts to recover nearly $1.9 million after his insurance coverage proved to be inadequate to compensate him for the loss of his home that was destroyed three years ago in a fire. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/RC-092712 QUOTE / UNQUOTE "You could hardly find a better track for a television spectacular and you could hardly find a worse track if California lawyers ever have the chance to sink their teeth into some injury compensation claims." -- Quote by an insurance expert regarding the restricted shore side America's Cup race track on San Francisco Bay. Full story: http://tinyurl.com/IND-092712 PERFECT STORM When people think of California, the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco first come to mind. And while San Francisco has the smallest population of the three cities (805,000), it ranks first in the state and third in the U.S. in what important category? Public transportation. That's the good news, but even a City so adept at utilizing public transit will be tested next week when a perfect storm of events are scheduled. The Municipal Transportation Agency, which usually gets to relax a bit on weekends, is struggling to figure out how to handle more than a million visitors expected to pour into San Francisco to listen to bluegrass music (Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival), see the Blue Angels (Fleet Week), the 49ers (NFL), America's Cup World Series and possibly the Giants (MLB playoffs), and participate in a panoply of parades and festivals (Columbus Day) during the first weekend in October. The challenge is not just in planning how to get people to and from the various events but how to do so without breaking the MTA's overtime limits, which are being strictly enforced this budget year, and have already led to an increase in the number of buses that don't make their scheduled runs. "We'll have to provide more overtime than normal," said Paul Rose, an agency spokesman, "but we're going to have to use it judiciously to provide the extra service needed." Figures on the number of extra buses, streetcars and light-rail vehicles and hours of overtime to handle the weekend crowds were not yet available, he said. Muni plans to handle the throngs headed to the northern waterfront to see Fleet Week activities, including the air show, and the America's Cup Worlds Series races mainly by pumping up service on existing routes. Read more: http://tinyurl.com/SFC-092712 ACWS event details: http://tinyurl.com/ACWS-092712 STOP BY AND SEE HENRI LLOYD AT THE ANNAPOLIS BOAT SHOW Stop by our booth on the "F" dock from October 4-8 for unbeatable savings on all the latest Henri Lloyd products. Choose from our wide assortment of offshore, racing and cruising gear as well as accessories. Can't make the show? No problem. Shop online from the comfort of home. Receive special boat show pricing on select styles for a limited time only at http://www.henrilloydonline.com TIGHT AT THE TOP - MELGES 32 WORLDS Newport, RI (September 27, 2012) - PRO Hank Stuart fired off three more races at the 2012 Melges 32 World Championship, hosted by the New York Yacht Club (NYYC). With two more days left to race, the pressure to do well is extremely intense as the top five teams are separated by only three points. Unlike the two previous days, lighter winds prevailed today, with John Kilroy's Samba Pa Ti team winning two of them, further raising their rank after stumbling on the opening day. The drop race was initiated today, which dropped Wednesday's leader, Alec Cutler's Hedgehog team, down to fifth despite being the only team with all top 7 scores. Defending Melges 32 World Champion William Douglass on Goombay Smash showed up on the course today with the most unusual of sailing attire - complete head-to-toe, day-glow orange, skin-tight body suits (with matching shoes nonetheless). Two more races, with the option for a third, are scheduled for Friday, September 28 with a start of 11.00. -- Full report: http://melges32.com/?p=news&id=962 Current results - top 10 of 33 (Skipper/Tactician) 1. Andre Pozzi/Gabriele Benussi, Bombarda (ITA); 1-6-9-3-2-[26], 21 2. John Kilroy/Paul Goodison, Samba Pa Ti (USA); [20]-8-1-12-1-1, 23 3. Benjamin Schwartz/Chris Rast, Pisces (USA); 4-1-[19]-2-4-13, 24 4. Steve Howe/Morgan Larson, Warpath (USA); 2-[15]-4-7-8-3, 24 5. Alec Cutler/Richard Clarke, Hedgehog (BER); 5-[7]-2-4-7-6, 24 6. William Douglass/Chris Larson, Goombay Smash (USA); 3-3-12-[29]-9-9, 36 7. Pieter Taselaar/Nick Thompson, Bliksem (USA); 7-[16]-6-11-5-11, 40 8. Andy Lovell/Steve Benjamin, Rougarou (USA); 14-5-[16]-13-6-4, 42 9. Edoardo Lupi/Branko Brcin, Torpyone (ITA); 8-4-3-6-[22]-22, 43 10. R. Tomasini Grinover/V. Vascotto, Robertissima(ITA);6-[21]-5-20-3-14,48 Complete results: http://tinyurl.com/M32-Worlds-2012 BACK TO THE FUTURE The Rolex Big Boat Series, now in its 48th year, remains one of the cornerstone events in the sport. From the glory days of SORC, IOR and IMS to today's Grand Prix and One Design classes, this San Francisco Bay showcase has continued to be the West Coast's premier regatta where the best of the best meet for four days of challenging racing. But like most events, the Big Boat Series has seen a declining participation. No shortage of tinkering has occurred, with event organizers being on the front end of emerging rating rules in hopes of striking gold. But John Clauser and Bobbi Tosse, 2012 participants, are wondering out loud if 'new and improved' needs to be replaced with something more familiar. Here is their report: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Recently, discontent with the IRC rating rule has spawned the HPR rating rule. Dual scoring under both HPR and IRC of a very small subset of the 2012 Rolex Big Boat Series (Div C, with only four boat types) was offered as a possible test of the new rule. The results were reported recently in Scuttlebutt by Dobbs Davis. He noted a "dramatic compression (20 - 25%) of the corrected time deltas in HPR compared to IRC". He also reports a "less dramatic compression of the corrected time deltas" for "four HPR-style boats in the IRC A class". It should be noted that the NorCal PHRF system was used prior to 2000 for handicapping the StFYC Big Boat Series. It was therein rebranded as the StFYC Handicap System (to allow minor adjustments to it by StFYC). Following a squabble between US Sailing and RORC over IRC, IRM and IMS usage for international events and the Admiral's Cup, the StFYC Handicap System was replaced by IRC for BBS handicapping, and has been used thereafter. Sadly, the popularity of IRC on the Bay has significantly and continuously declined since then, as has the number of BBS handicap entries. Moreover, the StFYC is the only club on San Francisco Bay to offer IRC handicapped regattas. In 2012, it offered 3 IRC events -- the Rolex BBS drew 24 IRC boats, the Phyllis Kleinman Swiftsure Regatta drew 8 IRC boats, and the Aldo Allesio Regatta drew only 3 IRC entries whereupon its IRC class was canceled for lack of interest. On the other hand, PHRF events thrive on the Bay. For example, the 2011-2012 Corinthian YC's 4-race mid-winter series drew at least 35 BBS-qualified entries. The authors' limited survey of the owners of a few boats who eschewed entering the 2012 BBS revealed that they felt that IRC gave them grossly unfair handicaps, whereupon they believed that entering was pointless. With the declining popularity of IRC in mind (with respect to NorCal PHRF), it is perhaps worthwhile to consider what the results of the 2012 Rolex BBS would have been, had it been instead scored using NorCal PHRF (i.e. the old StFYC Handicap System), and to compare the corrected time deltas for IRC, PHRF and HPR. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14546#14546 SAILING SHORTS * Marseille, France (September 27, 2012) - After his progression through Qualifying at Match Race France went down to the wire, Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar put in a dominating performance in the Quarter Finals to beat the reigning 2011 event Champion, Damien Iehl (FRA) Wind 2 Win in three straight matches. Also advancing to the Semi Finals was William Tiller (NZL) Full Metal Jacket Racing, Laurie Jury (NZL) Kiwi Match and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing. The four teams will begin the Semi Finals on Friday at Match Race France, the sixth stage of the Alpari World Match Racing Tour. -- Full story: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-092712 * (September 27, 2012) - In the second college rankings of the Fall 2012 season, Georgetown edges out Yale at the top of the coed rankings. Meanwhile, Yale leads the women's rankings, followed by Navy and Boston College. Full rankings here: http://tinyurl.com/SW-092712 * The International Kiteboarding Association has created, with the help of ISAFs Racing Rules Subcommittee, the 2013-2016 edition of the Kiteboard Course Racing Rulebook. The rules in it are identical to the corresponding rules in the Racing Rules of Sailing for 2013-2016. However, each rule in Appendix F has been moved into the appropriate rule in Parts 1-7 and each definition that is changed in Appendix F is shown in red. Complete rules: http://tinyurl.com/IKA-092712 * (September 27, 2012) - Sally Barkow (Nashotah, WI) returns to the top of the rankings for U.S. Open match racers with third place finishes in two Grade 2 events, the Knickerbocker Cup and the Chicago Match Cup Qualifier. Don Wilson (Chicago, IL), founder of the Chicago Match Race Center, is at number two, winning the Grade 3 Chicago Spring Invitational and finishing 6th in the Grade 2 Chicago Match Cup Qualifier. Moving into the top five for the first time is Dustin Durant (Long Beach, CA), winning the Grade 3 Ficker Cup and finishing 5th in the Grade 2 Chicago Match Cup Qualifier. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14559 RETRO IS IN Carbon innovation since the 1980s - Hall Spars has the experience you can trust. Now, you can upgrade your rigging with a Hall SCR retrofit, and achieve an immediate, measurable improvement in speed, with no sacrifice in strength or longevity. SCR Round is 70% lighter than metal rod rigging, and Hall offers retrofit packages for the most common brands of stainless rod. A plug-and-play solution that uses the existing mast tangs and spreaders, an SCR retrofit can be installed in a matter of hours - without a mast re-work or spreader modification. Check out SCR Round and Airfoil at http://www.hallspars.com PHOTOS OF THE WEEK Some of the random photos from the sport received this week at Scuttlebutt include yellow men, October calendar, FDs, to be a kid again, sword fight, hooligans, perpetual overload, and the reason why. Here are this week's photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0928/ Bonus Photos * Trivia question... what 3-time Olympic medalist crewed on the winning boat at the 2012 PC National Championship? Answer and photos by Bob Betancourt here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0927/ * A fortuitous occasion when a prominent event lands into the backyard of a prominent photographer. Here are photos from the U.S. Match Racing Championship by Leighton O'Connor: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0926/ SEND US YOUR PHOTOS: If you have images to share for the Photos of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com VIDEO OF THE WEEK Brazilian Mauricio Santa Cruz snatched the lead on day one of the 2012 Quantum Loop Solutions J/24 World Championship and never looked back. The team stacked up a 42-point advantage heading into Friday's final race and was able to stay ashore and let the others duke it out for the remaining podium spots among the 96-boat fleet. Hosted by Rochester Yacht Club in Rochester, NY on September 13-21, no one expected such a runaway performance. In a fleet so large, at a venue so varied, how did the Bruschetta team achieve this remarkably consistent performance of seven top-ten tallies, a 13 and 19 in the ten-race series (including one discard)? This week's video details how it was done, courtesy of H2OOverdriveHydrate: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/media/12/0928/ Bonus Videos: * This week on America's Cup Discovered features all things America's Cup World Series in advance of racing in San Francisco October 2-7. We review the teams, personalities, tactics, training...and of course the ever exciting capsizes, and celebrity racers. We review AC72 sea trials and testing....just how fast are the big cats? Tune in on Friday, September 28: http://www.youtube.com/americascup * Chalk Talk Presented by US Sailing, the first, best and only college sailing video news show on the internet is back for its 7th season, premiering Thursday, September 27, 2012. Hosts Jane Macky and Chris Love along with Erik Storck discuss recent results and events: http://ussailing.blogspot.com/2012/09/chalk-talk-season-7-episode-1-season. html SEND US YOUR VIDEOS: If you have clips to share for the Video of the Week, send them to the Scuttlebutt editor: mailto:editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com 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 John Sangmeister: I first met John Grant (Eight Bells, 'Butt 3685) at the Commissioning of Stars & Stripes '85. He barked, "Arrive in shape" and then walked off with a broad smile. A veteran of three tours of duty in Vietnam, Rambo survived being shot down twice in a helicopter and then decided he'd rather fly jets. John graduated from flight school an A4 fighter pilot. Headstrong and forthright, John led by example and from his heart. I will remember his tremendous work ethic, his true Gung Ho attitude and a certain mischievous sense of humor. He was generous in spirit and in action. You were in a good place knowing Rambo had your back. Stewart Silvestri wrote, "We are all better, harder working people for having known John Grant, for that I will always be grateful." Henry Childers added, "It wouldn't have been the same without Rambo. What a character. He was a significant part of the collective achievement. Many, many good memories. He will be missed! Indeed John Grant will be missed. Semper Fi! * From Chris Oliver ('14): The University of Michigan Sailing Team is looking to connect with alumni and former team members! Please let us know you're out there by filling out the Alumni Contact Form on our website and stopping by our Facebook page. Feel free to tell us a story or give us your thoughts! Be sure to check out our upcoming alumni events and check the schedule to see when the team will be in your local area. Contact: Email: eb@umich.edu Website: www.MichiganSailing.org Twitter: @UMichSailing Facebook: Michigan Sailing Team CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Men socialize by insulting each other, but they don't really mean it. Women socialize by complimenting each other, and they don't really mean it either. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Summit Yachts - Doyle Sails - North Sails - Gowrie Group Soft Deck - Team One Newport - Harken - Pure Yachting Camet - Ullman Sails - Henri Lloyd - Hall Spars & Rigging Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
