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SCUTTLEBUTT 2345 – May 16, 2007Scuttlebutt is a digest of major sailing news, commentary, opinions,features and dock talk . . . with a North American focus. Scuttlebutt is distributed each weekday, with support provided by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, Defender of the 32nd America's Cup (http://www.ubs.com/sailing). THE DAY OF THE TIGHT DELTAS (May 15, 2007) ETNZ let Desafio shave 3 seconds off yesterday’s winning margin, the Kiwis crossing the finish line 40 seconds in front of the Spanish to go 2-0 up in their Louis Vuitton Semi-final. But all the action was with Oracle and Luna Rossa - Oracle pegged it back to 1-1 with a finish margin of just 13s – which tells you about as much of the story as the opening credits of a James Bond movie. And that’s what it was - all gun-slinging melodrama compared to the subtle tragedy played out between ETNZ and Desafio. Where to start? Well, at the start… when Luna Rossa’s Jimmy Spithill bore away out of their port entry dial-up, fell onto starboard, and then gybed round to port to chase Oracle. It was a brilliantly executed move (I wonder how long Jimmy’s had that one in the locker waiting for the right moment?). It allowed Luna Rossa to get to leeward and overlapped sufficiently to pressure Chris Dickson into keeping high as they both sailed out to the right. They ended up over the starboard tack layline for the committee boat. From there, Dickson never got back into it, Spithill always had his hand on the door back to the start line. Oracle made a move to try and sail over Luna Rossa, didn’t make it, and when they subsequently started to try and push Luna Rossa back to the line both boats were late. The trouble for Oracle was that they were later, with Luna Rossa half a length directly in front of them and slamming the door shut in Oracle’s face….-- by Mark Chisnell, read on: http://markchisnell.blogspot.com/2007/05/day-of-tight-deltas.html First team to win 5 races advances to challenger finals. The pairings are: 1. Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL) 1-1-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 2 4. Desafío Español 2007 (ESP) 0-0-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 0 2. BMW Oracle Racing (USA) 0-1-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 1 3. Luna Rossa Challenge (ITA) 1-0-_-_-_-_-_-_-_ = 1 * Television schedule: Versus’ coverage of the Semi-Finals will consist of live coverage from 8:30–11:00 a.m. ET, with replays from 12-2:30 p.m. and 4:30–7 p.m. ET. -- http://www.versus.com/americascup * Race schedule: Semi-final racing will continue on Wednesday, with the first reserve day scheduled for Thursday. The next block of racing is on Friday and Saturday, with the second reserve day on Sunday. Complete schedule: http://www.americascup.com/en/americascup/program/calendrier.php * Weather forecast: According to the Emirates Team New Zealand website, the call for Wednesday is encouraging. Look for a southeast seabreeze from 11 to 14 knots, with sunny skies, and temperatures from 13ºC to 24ºC, sunny (55ºF-75ºF). -- http://www.emiratesteamnz.com * Online viewing: Sail TV is now providing an online subscription package that will include live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Cup Semi-Finals and Finals, and the 32nd America’s Cup. The offering is for viewers in countries where there are no exclusive TV Rights holder agreements in place. For the Americas, regions that are excluded from this service include the USA (Versus), Canada (TSN), and Latin America (ESPN Sur). However, other America ’s Cup broadcasts are still available free of charge to most of the world, including the daily news edit reporting on the action, and the 26-minute TV Highlights programming, press conferences and specially produced Sail TV features from the ‘Cup’. -- http://www.sail.tv QUOTE / UNQUOTE Michele Ivaldi, Navigator, Luna Rossa Challenge, on their loss in Race 2: “James (Spithill) had a fantastic start. Our goal was to get the best start and our weather team gave a good call so we accomplished that well. We had the match in front and we could see we had the lead increasing, but downwind we got out of phase and it was tough to keep our lead. You cannot close that just on boat speed. I think they got two or three good puffs in phase, and made our job even harder. It was a turning point when we got out of phase, and we couldn’t go back. Thinking the Valencian sea breeze was stable misled us.” -- http://tinyurl.com/2y3zhj ANOTHER CLEAN SWEEP FOR UK-HALSEY Eighteen J/105’s battled for position in the American Yacht Club’s Spring Series. All the silver went to boats powered by UK-Halsey sails. Not just First to Third: First through Sixth. If you didn’t fly UK-Halsey, you didn’t have a chance. Our silver-gathering extended into other classes (well, not to the same degree … but we’re working on that). There’s still time to contact your local UK-Halsey sailmaker-run loft, get a quote, and get some sails that can move you up in your fleet. Stop by our web site for the latest rules quizzes and safety videos. 1-800-253-2002, http://www.ukhalsey.com HELL BREAKS LOOSE ON THE ATLANTIC The Coast Guard in North Carolina knew Sunday night, May 5, that a 37-foot sailboat nine miles off Oregon Inlet was having problems in a growing storm. They were maintaining hourly contact with the crew on board Seaker — a 70-year-old man and two women — when at 3 a.m. Monday an EPIRB signal came in. But this was from the sailboat Lou Pantai. A half-hour later a second EPIRB signaled, this one from the 54-foot sailboat Flying Colours, and by 6:15 yet another EPIRB, from the 67-foot sailboat Illusion, had been triggered. Hell was breaking loose out on the Atlantic. Seas were piling up to 40 feet, and winds were topping 60 knots as the Coast Guard in Elizabeth City scrambled C-130 aircraft and HH-60 helicopters. Thirteen lives were in jeopardy on the four sailboats; Coast Guard rescuers were on the way. -- The Rescue Channel, full story: http://ms.soundingspub.com/Rescue_Channel/story.asp * Soundings has recently launched The Rescue Channel (see link above), a new interactive online feature with video and audio coverage of the powerful early May storm off North Carolina. The Rescue Channel is a multimedia news platform that includes video, photos, audio and exclusive news stories covering rescues and disasters at sea. The new Web component also will include stories of survival and the overreaching issues of safety on the water. SCHWAB REQUIRES RESCUE (American Round the World Sailor Bruce Schwab is in La Rochelle, France, where he is getting ready for a transatlantic delivery. Traveling abroad is not always easy, but even the experienced Schwab did not anticipate his latest challenge. Here is his update.) (May 15, 2007) Help! I'm emailing from an Internet cafe that I've been trapped in all night. No, I'm not joking, although it IS a funny story. After a very late dinner with crewmembers Mike, Carina, Anna, and volunteer Thomas, I came here to catch up on email and download some large weather files. I stayed right to closing time...and there were three people in the cafe when I went into the bathroom to use the john and brush my teeth (saving the walk to the other side of the marina after getting to the boat). I heard the sliding of doors and clanking of locks, and rushed out...too late to catch the tired and rushing young employee before he was out of earshot. I guess I took to long to brush my teeth? Rattling the doors and some shouts at the late hour was of no use. No phone in here, but of course I have free internet...so I got on Skype and made some calls trying to get the police. I called at least five different police stations. However, my number must have appeared as something strange as they would not answer or I would get a click and disconnect after letting it ring for a long time. Called the boat...but evidently the crew had obviously gone to sleep on the boat and turned off all the phones. In the wee hours I wound chatting on Skype with friends in Spain, Florida, and Texas; and trying different numbers to call that we dug up on the Internet. No go. So here I sit, waiting for morning opening of the opening of the Internet cafe. I took a brief nap on a table. Hopefully the new coffee-swilling online gaming Internet junkie cafe kid will arrive soon. -- Read on: http://www.bruceschwab.com/news.asp?ID=61 CONGRESSIONAL CUP Long Beach, CA (May 15, 2007) - Kiwis ruled the world of match-race sailing when Simon Minoprio followed Emirates Team New Zealand's Louis Vuitton semifinals victory over Spain at Valencia Tuesday morning by running the table 5-0 on the first day of the Long Beach Yacht Club's 43rd Congressional Cup, presented by Acura. Minoprio perfect day was diluted slightly when rival Scott Dickson red-flagged him during their late match for not having his foregut block that controls the spinnaker attached to the spinnaker pole, a violation of the Sailing Instructions. But the race jury ruled that it had no effect on the outcome of the race, which Minoprio won by 16 seconds, so Minoprio had only a quarter-point deducted from his score, leaving him at 4.75-1, followed by top-seeded Mathieu Richard of France and Johnie Berntsson of Sweden at 4-1, with 13 rounds remaining in the double round-robin through Friday before Saturday's championship sailoffs. "We made too many mistakes in the pre-starts," Minoprio said, "but on the race course it was good to stand in the back of the boat and watch the guys sail a perfect day." Tongue-in-check, he explained his infraction of the S.I.s as a misunderstanding of the language that "was not really in Kiwi." He will be tested Wednesday in his first matches against Richard, the No. 2-ranked match racer in the world, and Berntsson. -- Event website: http://www.lbyc.org/concup/index.html Standings after 5 flights 1. Simon Minoprio (NZL) 4.75 2. Johnie Berntsson (SWE) 4.00 3. Mathieu Richard (FRA) 4.00 4. Damien Iehl (FRA) 3.00 5. Andrew Arbuzov (RUS) 2.00 6. Scott Dickson (USA) 2.00 7. Eugenly Neugodnikov (RUS) 2.00 8. Brian Angel (USA) 2.00 9. Przemek Tarnacki (POL) 1.00 10. Martin Angsell (SWE) 0.00 GOING, GOING, GONE... Team One Newport's Virtual Warehouse Sale has been awesome but it ends on May 24th, so check it out for the incredible give-aways! If you don’t find what you are looking for there, look for the latest and the best in sailing gear in the main store, from Musto's MPX Race Salopettes to Henri-Lloyd's Breeze jackets to Patagonia's Cap 1 shirts to Gill's sailing gloves to Kaenon's sunglasses! There is so much to find at Team One Newport. Call 800-VIP-GEAR (800-847-4327) or visit http://www.team1newport.com ON THE WIND (Here is an excerpt from Chris Caswell’s monthly column in Sailing Magazine titled, “Save kids from nature deficit disorder by teaching them to sail.”) Not long ago, I was visiting my old hometown and, by chance, I found myself near the bay where I had learned to sail so many years ago. On a whim, I drove down to see what remained of the waters where I had spent long lazy summers learning the nuances of wind and sail, with more than a little time splashing around my capsized dinghy, at least in the early stages. Where there once had been clapboard beach bungalows scattered among sandy lots covered with iceplant, now stood multimillion-dollar waterfront mansions. The sandbars that we’d used for picnics at low tide were long gone, dredged into submission to create marinas filled with gleaming yachts. But, amazingly enough, the clubhouse and pier that had been the home for my long-ago junior program still stood alone on an empty patch of sand. As I pulled to a stop, I looked around to see if Rod Serling was stepping out of the shadows to introduce me as the subject for tonight’s episode of “The Twilight Zone”. -- Full story: http://www.sailingmagazine.net/onthewind-0407.html HIGH DESERT SAILING "Prescott, Arizona? Sailing?" and the exclamatory answer, "You bet!" are the first Q&A you'll find at the Prescott Sailing Club website. The questions echo the surprise that both visitors and residents often express at the notion that there are sailworthy waters here, let alone a sailing club. But indeed there are. Formed in the late 1990’s, the Prescott Sailing Club at first held meetings in a sailboat shop on Grove Avenue (yes, a high desert sailboat shop). The club currently has 19 members and an email list of another 20 or so folks who are interested in sailing. There's certainly potential for growth of the club, and not only because of the area's population growth: it's likely that there are experienced and potential sailors already in Prescott who simply haven't yet discovered the club or the pleasures of sailing here. -- by Rod Moyer, Read It Here, full story: http://www.readitnews.com/content/view/310/32 SAILING SHORTS * Veolia Environnement skipper, Roland Jourdain, who confirmed his participation in the double-handed Barcelona World Race just under three weeks ago in Paris, has now named his co-skipper for this new race as 44-year-old Frenchman Jean Luc Nélias. Nélias, an experienced monohull and multihull sailor who won the 2005 Calais Round Britain Race with Jourdain, will now face his very first circumnavigation of the globe in the new two-up, non-stop round the world race that starts on 11th November 2007 from the city of Barcelona. 7 entries are confirmed so far. -- http://www.barcelonaworldrace.com * North Sails has partnered with Sailing Weather Services to provide FREE weather forecasts for the California Cup Regatta from May 19-20 with an "overview" forecasts on Friday, May 18. To sign up, log on to North Sails' weather center: http://na.northsails.com/ew/ew_main.taf * Correction: If you had trouble with the link for Tim Kent’s guest commentary in Issue 2344, here it is again: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/07/0514 EXPANDING MILLS DESIGN SEEKS DESIGN MANAGER The role encompasses yacht design and project management, working closely with clients, engineers, and builders. It requires decision making and attention to detail with relevant industry experience in drafting, modeling, numerical analysis. This is an exciting opportunity to join a dynamic racing design firm with custom and production projects worldwide: http://www.mills-design.com/designmanager.htm 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 Frederic Berg: It appears the Melges 24 fleet is a rare fleet grounded in both ends of the age spectrum with Shark Kahn as world champion in 2003 and Dave Ullman this past weekend. Congratulations to the Melges fleet for its display of diversity. * From Jacob Ullman: (regarding Dave Ullman’s win at the Melges 24 Worlds) Well done Dad. When I'm 61, I hope to be lying on a tropical beach somewhere! I am glad that you are still able to excel at the things you love. You won your last World Championship in 1980 in the 470 and your 3rd son wasn't even born yet and you weren't married to Linda yet. Pretty impressive stuff. I'm very proud of you. Curmudgeon’s Comment: It would seem that Ullman has won the Daily Double: the M24 Worlds AND the admiration of his son. Jacob and many others have written notes to Dave. If you would like to send him your congratulations, please do so here: http://sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4844#4844 * From Bruce Gresham: ACup semi finals on Versus is a hit! I agree with Brent Boyd, loved the on-board cameras. But please, lose the totally pointless "fish cam." * From Alex Watters: Being up here in the frozen north it is very tough to read the glowing reports regarding the Versus coverage of the AC. Our useless sports networks seem content with showing us the ultra exciting and highly competitive sport of bar room darts, large beast bareback riding, and other extremely popular events. Sailing…no way! Not even updates or a 30 min synopsis. Nothing...we have to LISTEN to the races on our PC's. Come on TSN, OLN or Sportsnet.... give us a break. Throw us a bone. Do something other than cover 5 out of shape persons (politically correct) playing poker...PLEASE. Curmudgeon’s Comment: We have been told that the coverage in Canada will be provided by TSN, but our search of their website has not revealed their show schedule. Our attempts to contact them have also been unsuccessful. Anybody listening? * From Steve Boothe: Cover, Cover, Cover! Isn't that what we've been taught all of our lives in match racing? It doesn't matter what the shifty wind conditions are in Valencia, if you cover your opponent and have an equally fast boat and able crew you will prevail. So why aren't the "Americans/ Kiwis" covering? If you are both in the same wind and you are in the commanding position then you cover to win! You don't take a flier off to the right looking for a better advantage when your opponent is going left. Valencia gets really shifty the closer to shore you get because of obstacles like mountains or buildings. That is when you hug your opponent more closely, not sail away hoping for a miracle breeze. I just don't understand Why BMW is blowing off the basic tenants of match racing. A win is a win, regardless of the distance or time! * From Hank Flash: We hear how shifty it is in Valencia, and how the boats can be in different winds while being quite close to each other. It is hard to pick this up when watching on TV or computer, but. I can only imagine the conversations onboard when the lead boat has to decide to whether to tack to cover. When both boats are on lifts, yet on separate tacks, the lead boat has to decide if tacking – and riding a header to cover – is better than playing the shifts. All the interviews are suggesting that in the shifty winds of Valencia, you often have to play your own shifts and forgo the traditional covering. It does make the lead boat look silly, as in Tuesday’s match where the Luna Rosa let BMW Oracle get a lot of leverage on the second beat, which the Americans successfully used to narrow the margin. Rough day at the office for Torben et all. * From Jamie Frank: I have to agree with Andrew Campbell's accounting (in Issue 2344) of this past weekend's high school nationals in Long Beach, CA. The Race Committee did a great job, but unfortunately our young sailors need some more policing for when they move onto college and so on. There were a few protests and unfortunately I believe they were dismissed. I say unfortunately because I think there could have been a resounding affect throughout all high school sailing had a protest been filed for foul language gone through. It's not a nice thing to happen to anyone, getting a Rule 69 thrown against you, but you won't do it again if it does - that's for sure and neither will your teammates and probably no one else. Lesson learned, hard way, yes, but learned nonetheless. CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION Statistics show that at the age of seventy, there are five women to every man. Isn't that the darndest time for a guy to get those odds? Special thanks to UK-Halsey Sailmakers, Team One Newport, and Mills Design. Scuttlebutt is also supported by UBS, main partner of Alinghi, the Defender of the 32nd America's Cup. |
