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SCUTTLEBUTT 3602 - Thursday, May 31, 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 Camet. VERY BRITISH Olympic team manager Stephen Park has conceded Great Britain's sailors may forfeit a some home advantage with the hosting of a World Cup regatta at the Olympic venue in Weymouth and Portland less than two months before the Games. The build-up to next week's Skandia Sail for Gold event, which will see over 700 sailors descend on British waters, has been preceded by grumblings that the event should have been cancelled or relocated this year. It follows similar debates in other Olympic sports. Dave Brailsford, British cycling's performance director, said he was "miffed" the Velodrome had staged a full-blown World Cup as a test event in February when a lot of the other venues were using national championships. "We're basically inviting the rest of the world in to look at the nuances of the Olympic track," Brailsford said. "I'd prefer we didn't do it." Two-time Olympic champion Iain Percy said on Tuesday that foreign Olympic hopefuls would "arguably get more" out of next week's regatta than British sailors who already know the waters so well. While his crew in the Star class, Andrew Simpson, added that hosting the event so close to the Olympics was "very British". Park argued that Britain had an obligation to be as accommodating as possible. "It would be ideal if we just didn't let them cross the Channel, wouldn't it?" he said. "Of course from a competitive perspective we want to do everything we can to win medals - but within the rules. "From a British sporting perspective we want this to be the best Games we can remember. So we have got a bit of an obligation to do a really good job of hosting." Park added that, in any case, home advantage in sailing was minimal because many foreign teams already have bases in Weymouth. "For years now international sailors have been able to access the Olympic marina," he said. "A lot of the visiting teams have got their accommodation sorted in the area and have done for a couple of years." - The Telegraph, http://tinyurl.com/TT-053012 * The Sail for Gold Regatta on June 4-9 is the sixth of seven ISAF Sailing World Cup events. Racing will be on the same venue as the Games. Event website: http://www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk * The sailing events at the 2012 Olympic Games will be July 28 through August 12. Details: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/home.php BACK IN THE DAY The Los Angeles and Long Beach combination that was seen in the 1932 Olympic Sailing Competition was used again at the 1984 Games as the USA hosted the Olympic Games for the third time. Although Soviet countries refused to attend, the sailing event was the biggest one seen at the time as 62 nations descended upon Long Beach to sail in seven events. And for the first time since Melbourne 1956, sailing was contiguous to the rest of the Games. Highlights... Kiwi Russell Coutts fought off terrible salt-aggravated boils to win the Finn gold from American John Bertrand. Brazil's Torben Grael made his Olympic debut in the Soling class taking silver. By 2004, Grael had won a medal in five of his six Games, missing out in 1992 with an 11th. From 1988 onwards, he moved from the silver medal winning Soling to the Star and won a further two bronze and two gold medals. Spain's Jose-Luis Doreste won the 470 gold yet many remember 1984 as the year when Briton Cathy Foster, crewed by Pete Newlands, won a race against an all-male fleet in an Open Olympic class, finishing seventh overall in a 28 boat competition. Near Perfection For Home Sailors... The American team had a near faultless Olympic sailing competition as they picked up medals in all of the Olympic sailing events with three gold medals and four silver medals. Jonathan McKee took the Flying Dutchman title with Carl Buchan his crew, whilst Carl's dad Bill won the Stars with Stevie Erickson as crew. Robbie Haines, crewed by Rod Davis and Ed Trevelyn took the Soling title. Their medal sweep had not been seen since Stockholm 1912 when hosts Sweden picked up medals in all classes. The Americans nearly did it again at Barcelona 1992 as they secured nine medals in ten events but the feat has never been done by anyone since. And with a wide distribution of talent worldwide it will take a fantastic team to do it again. View full results from Los Angeles 1984 here: http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/news/26269.php THE CATS LIKE THE CHASE TO MEXICO Monohulls haven't been the only Ullman Sails customers winning races to Mexico this season. Sarasota Yacht Club's Dean Cleall and crew on Dolphin 46 catamaran "Catabelle" scored first in class and first overall (corrected) in the XLIV Regata del Sol al Sol ocean race from St. Petersburg, FL to Isla Mujeres, Mexico! Kathryn Garlick and her team on Etincelle 60 "Cool Cat I" were also in the hunt - they were first to finish, placed second in class and 3rd overall (corrected). Both catamarans were powered by Ullman Sails upwind inventory, finishing the 456nm course in less than 72 hours. http://www.ullmansails.com IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS (May 30, 2012; Day 11) - The final stretch of the Volvo Ocean Race's transatlantic leg looks set for a thrilling climax as the fleet compressed into a high pressure ridge off Portugal on Wednesday. First to feel the effects of the 200 nm-wide light winds was front runner Abu Dhabi, whose northern position has made it hard to adequately cover the fleet. "I guess what you try and do is put yourself between the boats behind and the mark (finish) and cover," skipper Ian Walker said. "But it's very difficult to do that without losing even more miles because we don't have the same wind direction. Sooner or later we're going to have absolutely no wind, and it's going to be a question of who pops out first." After languishing in sixth place just a few days ago, Groupama has been able to leverage wind conditions the leaders did not have. "A couple of days ago we thought we had no chance of victory and now it is a possibility," helmsman Charles Caudrelier said. "There are still a lot of things left to do but we have come right back on the leaders." Race meteorologist Gonzalo Infante expects the lightest winds to be mid tonight. "The way the boats are lined up north-south (70nm apart and all aimed at Lisbon), they could all enter the lightest winds at the same time." The transition into solid northerly Portuguese trade winds is expected Thursday at dawn, with winds building to 15-18 knots. "It should be fast reaching to Lisbon," Infante noted. "The leaders should reach the coast of Portugal by sunset when there could be a transition to lighter more unpredictable breezes caused by the proximity to the city of Lisbon. "There could be a few surprises in the final stretch up the River Tagus to the finish," Infante said. "If they arrive around midnight, a patchy and shifty northerly wind may prevail, but if they are delayed until early morning, local thermal effects could mean light offshore breezes." The finishing time is estimated to be between late Thursday night and early Friday morning. -- Event media Leg 7 - Miami, USA to Lisbon, Portugal (3,590 nm) Standings as of Wednesday, 30 May 2012, 23:06:21 UTC 1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing(UAE),Ian Walker(GBR), 273.4nm Distance to Finish 2. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 1.5 nm Distance to Lead 3. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 9.4 nm DTL 4. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 13.6 nm DTL 5. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 15.5 nm DTL 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 29.8 nm DTL Tracker/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 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 WHAT HAPPENED TO STEALTH PLAY? In the 2008-9 Volvo Ocean Race, an attempt was made to disrupt the position reports that were being updated every three hours. The concept was to allow a team to go dark, to hide from their competitors. It was called Stealth Play', but the idea was not renewed for the 2011-12 edition. Jack Lloyd, Race Director for the Volvo Ocean Race, explains: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We introduced the initiative as several other ocean racing events were trying similar systems. Some were organizer-imposed and others, like ours, were used at the discretion of the boat. We had mixed feedback on the "Stealth Play" from both the teams and the fans; it appeared that you either like them or loath them. We imposed some rules on their use which I believe were the reason that the idea ultimately failed: Stealth Play was not available on all Legs, as for some legs 24 hours was a significant portion of the total elapsed time, or (initially) within 50 nautical miles of the finish line. On the leg from Rio de Janeiro to Boston we had to introduce a large zone around the whale sanctuary outside Boston, the stopover organisers asked if we could extend the ban on using the "Stealth Play" out to 250 nautical miles and after that it was difficult to reinstate the 50nm zone. With a fleet so close together the use of the "Stealth Play" becomes fairly predictable and were generally used when a boat wanted to gybe away or go the other side of an island etc. I personally think the only time "Stealth Play" is a real tool for the teams is when you are within 50 (or 250) nm's of the finish, especially when coming into Rio for instance with patchy light wind, having the cover of the "Stealth Play" adds to the excitement. We took the decision prior to the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 to remove the "Stealth Play" based on our experiences on the 08-09 edition and as the move towards more live or as live coverage "Stealth Play" did not fit our model. In the present edition, our experience of an imposed stealth zone (in the Indian Ocean due to piracy concerns) was not great. The public could not understand the need for the stealth zone approaching the Maldives and it was difficult to portray the boats in a meaningful way while keeping the real whereabouts of the boats as secret as we could. Unless we need to have a covert operation as we did on Legs 2 and 3, I think the "Stealth Play" is gone for good. WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR - SECOND EVENT Gyeonggi, South Korea (May 30, 2012) - Capacity crowds were on hand for the first day of the 2012 Korea Match Cup, the second event of the professional Alpari World Match Racing Tour 2012. Reigning ISAF Match Racing World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) GAC Pindar carried his impressive form from last season in his first event of the 2012 Tour season, joining Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Mekonomen and Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Team Korea White Tiger Challenge at 3-0 on the first day of qualifying. "It was a tricky session for us today as we hadn't had a morning practice with the boat and the conditions were a bit shifty but we settled into it after the first one against Johnie [Berntsson]," said Williams. "They were all close races but I feel we controlled them." After finishing seventh last season, Bjorn Hansen is looking to make his mark on the Tour this year. "We know it's going to be hard but we should be able to achieve a top three finish. We had a frustrating time in Germany (last week) but Korea is a completely different feeling. We've always done well here, whereas we've never done well in Germany!" Day 1 video highlight: http://new.livestream.com/WorldMRT/korea-day1 Live coverage of day two on Thursday at 1000 local time (Wed., 1800 PDT): http://new.livestream.com/WorldMRT Full report: http://tinyurl.com/WMRT-053012 BOAT: The KM36 is a new design that has been especially commissioned for the Korea Match Cup. Designed by Bakewell-White Yacht Design, the boat requires a crew of five, and utilises a centreline retracting carbon bowsprit and asymmetric spinnakers. The ballast is carried in a bulb on a deep keel and combined with a flat bilged hull produces a very stiff and powerful yacht. Details: http://www.wmrt.com/tour-info/boats.html?boat=2 BACKGROUND: The nine event World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) is the leading professional sailing series, and is sanctioned by the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with "Special Event" status. Prize money is awarded for each event, with event points culminating in the crowning of the "ISAF Match Racing World Champion". -- http://www.wmrt.com 4 KEYS TO SUCCESS ON THE WATER A key difference in Camet clothing that sets us apart from our competitors is that we are not just about selling clothing. (CODE ZIP) Our primary focus as a company has always been to help fulfill the need for better products in the market place. (CODE ZERO) We take the time to listen to what our customers have to say about their sailing needs. (ANAKENA SAILING SHORTS) Through constant assessment, we are committed to providing the finest quality products to meet those challenges and needs, at an affordable price. To (BUY NOW) go to http://www.camet.com COLLEGE SPRING NATIONALS Austin, TX (May 30, 2012) - The 2012 Intercollegiate Sailing Association's series of National Championships began today on Lake Travis in Austin, Texas with the Sperry-Topsider/ICSA Women's Semi-Final Championship. The Semi-Finals are the precursor to the Women's National Championship slated to begin Thursday, May 31 at 1 p.m. CDT provided that all qualifying races are completed. Nine teams have already qualified for the National Championship: Georgetown University, University of Michigan, Stanford University, University of Texas, University of South Florida, U.S. Naval Academy, Boston College, Yale University and Western Washington University. Nine more teams will qualify over the next two days from the 18 currently racing in the Semi-Finals. Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0521/ Live updates: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0521/ SAILING SHORTS * (May 30, 2012) - The ISAF World Sailing Rankings have been updated, with the top North American positions held by Americans Amanda Clark/ Sarah Lihan (3rd, women's doublehanded dinghy), Zach Railey (3rd - men's singlehanded dinghy), and Paige Railey (3rd - women's singlehanded dinghy). On May 16th, Americans Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer, and Debbie Capozzi were recognized as the top ranked women's match racing team. -- Full rankings: http://www.sailing.org/38668.php * IYRS, a marine trades and technology school based in Rhode Island, has been recognized as a 2012 "Editor's Choice" winner in Yankee Magazine's Travel Guide to New England. IYRS trains the skilled maritime craftsmen and technicians who fuel Rhode Island's important marine-trades industry. -- Read on: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/5/prweb9555766.htm * A private venture, LightSquared, backed by billions of dollars in funding, had plans to build a nationwide 4G broadband cellular telephone network which tests had shown would interfere with GPS signals. The company recently announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the build-out of the network was halted by the FCC. The company originally asked the FCC for permission to build 40,000 network ground stations across the United States. Recent government reports concluded interference issues with the GPS system could not be overcome. -- BoatU.S., full report: http://www.boatus.com/pressroom/release.asp?id=795 * Deciding the greatest American sailor is no easy task. The U.S. has developed and produced a distinguished list of talented and successful racing sailors who have competed and won at the highest levels, from legendary World Champions, to Olympic greats, to America's Cup and ocean racing icons. It's time to settle the debate about who is the best. Beginning on Monday, June 4 fans will have a chance to participate in a game that will answer the question - Who is the Greatest American Sailor? -- Read on: http://membership.ussailing.org/sweeps.htm * (May 30, 2012) - The third stop on the five event RC44 Championship tour began today in Lake Traunsee at the RC44 Austria Cup. The 12-boat fleet began with match racing, and while no one managed to finished the day undefeated, the French Aleph Sailing Team with Mathieu Richard at the helm came closest, winning their first four flights before losing their final match of the day to Peninsula Petroleum. Thursday see's the start of the fleet racing phase; racing continues through to Sunday. -- Full story: http://www.rc44.com/news/view/synergy_stay_on_top 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: * Ockam GPS Interface 041D3 * CharterSavvy reaches 100,000 page visits in first 21 days * Sea Scoopa receives a NATO Stock Number View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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. These are some of the events listed on the calendar for this weekend: * Jun 1-3 - J/24 Canadian Championship - Vancouver, BC, Canada * Jun 1-3 - Southern Bay Race Week - Hampton, VA, USA * Jun 1 - Susan Hood Trophy Race - Mississauga, ON, Canada * Jun 2 - Jack Elfman Orange Coffee Pot Laser Regatta - Surf City, NJ, USA View all the events 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 Howard Paul: Regarding Mr. Spijkerman comments about traveling with an inflatable life-jacket (in Scuttlebutt 3601), he has to understand that this is a canister that is under pressure and could be filled with any number of gases that could lead to a terrorist act on board an aircraft, in a terminal or on the airfield. I am sorry he feels "inconvenienced" by not being able to take his canister along. Maybe the answer is to talk to the people at the regatta and ask them to get one for him at the local chandler. * From Bill Gladstone, NorthU: I carry a couple of copies of the Prohibited Items list for domestic (US) travel, printed from the TSA website: http://tinyurl.com/TSA-053012 When I check my bag I put one copy of the print out loose in the bag and wrap another copy around the CO2 cylinder. I got this suggestion from Scuttlebutt 2405 (August 7, 2007). CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION Never mistake motion for action. SPONSORS THIS WEEK North Sails - APS - Pure Yachting - IYRS Gowrie Group - Sailor's Night Vision Cap Ullman Sails - Camet - Soft Deck - Allen Insurance Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
