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SCUTTLEBUTT 3600 - Tuesday, May 9, 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, APS, and Pure Yachting. MIXING BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE Manhattan Sailing Club re-introduced recreational sailing to New York Harbor in 1987. One of the club's first major programs was a corporate racing series called the "Blue Chip Challenge." Today, Manhattan Sailing Club is based at Dennis Conner's North Cove, located on the Hudson River in front of the World Financial Center in Battery Park City. The club is one of the largest community sailing organizations in the country with 750 members and a fleet of more than 35 J/24 sailboats. It is the largest sailing school in the country, teaching more than 70 adults every weekend, with sailing opportunities from the prestigious America's Cup 12 Meter "America II" all the way down to Optimists dinghies in the junior program. In 2011, the club re-introduced the Corporate Sailing League. If you are part of a company, you can enter a team and start sailing in the harbor. And it is back again in 2012. The Corporate Sailing League is an amateur program designed to build teamwork and camaraderie among employees. Fan support is hosted on the "Honorable William Wall," Manhattan Sailing Club's floating clubhouse, a two-story barge that offers co-workers, customers and clients the venue to watch the action and cheer for their team. The upper deck of the clubhouse features an open-air bar, varnished rails and stylish furniture. The main deck features the luxurious "Champagne Bar" with historical pictures and trophies. During the sailing season, the Honorable William Wall is anchored in the harbor just north of Ellis Island. Transportation to and from North Cove is provided by "Admiral's Launch" or "Big Toot." Both are former US-Navy vessels and now operate as USCG-certi¬fied launches. -- Full details: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/csl.pdf SCUTTLEBUTT TRIVIA Which college team had the most All America's named in the 2010-11 season? (Answer below) COASTAL CRUISER? CLUB RACER? AROUND-THE-WORLD COMPETITOR? Are you looking for an edge while on the race course or taking a coastal cruise with your family and friends? North Sails has got you covered. It's true North designs and builds sails for many of the top competitors in our sport, but we also make sails for boat owners who want to race at their local yacht club, day sail with their family or cruise to an island for the weekend. With a wide range of upwind and downwind sails, North is sure to have a product that fits your style & budget! To see our full range of sails, visit: http://www.na.northsails.com/tabid/22064/Default.aspx 2012 SPRING COLLEGE SAILING NATIONALS Austin, Texas (May 27, 2012) - The Intercollegiate Sailing Association's (ICSA) three national championships, Sperry Top-Sider/ICSA Women's National Semi-Final and Final Championship, ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship, and the ICSA/Gill Dinghy National Championship commence Wednesday, May 30 with the Women's event, which will last for four days immediately followed by the Team Race Championship on June 3 and the Dinghy Championship on June 6, each lasting for three days. All of the events will be sailed in Club Flying Juniors (CFJs). These exciting events are the highest caliber regattas in the collegiate sailing year and are the culmination of two seasons of intense competition. The racing will take place in Austin, Texas on Lake Travis hosted by the University of Texas Sailing Team and the Austin Yacht. Lake Travis is technically a dammed river surrounded by a hilly and mountainous landscape. The two organizations hosted the National Championships last in 2005 where the competitors enjoyed shifty, but consistent wind speeds around 12-15 mph on clear water for nearly ten days straight. The conditions this year are expected to be similar; although a drought this year has dropped the water level quite a bit. Luckily the lake is deep and it will not affect the sailing. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13905 HONORED: The Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association (ICSA) recently honored five individuals for their contributions to the sport of college sailing by inducting them into the ICSA Hall of Fame. William 'Luke' Cragin (Flower Mound, Texas) was recognized with the James Rousmaniere Award for student leadership and Ryan Sanduleak Lee (San Diego, Calif.) received honorable mention for the student leadership award; Gary A. Jobson (Annapolis, Md.) was honored with the Lifetime Service Award; Gerard T. Coleman, Commander USN Ret., P.E. (Galveston, Texas) and Andrew Johnson (Kaneohe, Hawaii) were both awarded the Graham Hall Award for Outstanding Service by a college sailing professional; and Peter Johns (Osterville, Mass.) was awarded Outstanding Service by a volunteer. -- Full report: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0528/ AVOIDING OBSTACLES San Diego based navigator/electronics expert Artie Means has nearly 20 years offshore experience. With the prevalence of commercial traffic along the California and Mexico, routing a fast course includes avoiding obstacles. Here are some tips he shares: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- As a most basic parameter, we should be flying radar reflectors in busy shipping areas. When they are required by a race organizing authority, boats rarely put them up the rig. Unfortunately they don't work well in the bilge. But, even with a good lookout and radar reflector, I think it's crazy to race a boat offshore without an AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver. The AIS is inexpensive, easy to integrate into software such as Expedition, and provides a heap of valuable information. All commercial ships are required to transmit AIS info, so speed, heading, vessel name and closest intersection point are all displayed on the navigation personal computer or chart plotter. This obviously is much better than trying to radio to "some merchant vessel off my port bow". Going one step further, an AIS transmitter is another good safety device. They are rare in racing, as everyone can see your position, but great for deliveries. These have toggle switches, so you can quickly change from stealth mode and RX only to transmit mode. If you are on a collision course and can't radio the other vessel, turning the AIS transmitter on will probably set off an alarm on his bridge and wake up their lookout. ANYTHING BUT A PICNIC (May 28, 2012; Day 9) - "This could only be described as bizarroworld," said PUMA skipper Ken Read, as he attempts to analyze the current leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. "Lead changes all over the place. Way behind to way ahead to way behind again. More weather features than you can shake a stick at. Typically this time of year you head north to a low, get in front of it and haul the mail to Europe. Not the case this time, it appears. "So what gives? Why isn't it more straightforward? I wish I knew. Seems to me that everyone has lead at one stage or another on this leg except for maybe Sanya and us. This is the wind gods trying to make this regatta close in order to drive us all crazy and keep you on the edge of your seats. I think it is working." While the U.S. celebrated their Memorial holiday weekend, it had been anything but a picnic in the North Atlantic. "It's uncomfortable and cold, and we're stuck bashing into a big seaway while looking for an escape around the top of this high," reported Puma media crew Amory Ross. "Everyone's criss-crossing around out here and the first boat free will likely have a large advantage as forecasts are calling for fast downwind conditions." It was Abu Dhabi that caught the first train, pointed their bow at Lisbon, and rocketed away at speeds more than three knots quicker than their nearest rivals. One significant obstacle remains - a band of high pressure blocking the European coast. The Emirati leader will be the first to encounter these calm conditions, offering the advantage to their pursuers to witness how this first transition is panning out before they too have to tackle it. Beyond these calm conditions, the wind will shift round to the NNE along the Spanish coast, building in a Portuguese tradewind system to reach a lively twenty knots: the first to escape the high pressure trap will stand a good chance of making their mark in Lisbon. -- Event media Leg 7 - Miami, USA to Lisbon, Portugal (3,590 nm) Standings as of Monday, 28 May 2012, 22:04:25 UTC 1. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 1125.6 nm Distance to Finish 2. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 42.0 nm Distance to Lead 3. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 66.9 nm DTL 4. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 72.5 nm DTL 5. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), 76.1 nm DTL 6. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 80.8 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 THE APS CATALOG WHENEVER YOU NEED IT APS is happy to announce our new digital catalog is available now! Every wonderful, colorful, gear packed page can now be accessed online. Flip through the best performance sailing catalog anywhere on your computer, smartphone, or tablet. Looking for something specific? One click on the index will take you right to the page you want. A paper catalog can't do that. It's here any time you want: http://bit.ly/L7ZlG3 SAILING SHORTS * Annapolis, MD (May 27, 2012) - Annapolis, MD (May 27, 2012) - The finale of the Farr 40 East Coast Championships saw John Demourkas score his first victory since joining the Farr 40 class in 2004. The California skipper and his crew aboard Groovederci put forth a consistent performance over four days of racing on the Chesapeake Bay to top the 12-boat fleet. Listed as crew for Demourkas was Cameron Appleton (NZL), Michael Bradley (USA), Peter Crawford (USA), Andy Estcourt (USA), Patrick Gavin-Brynes (USA), Simon Johnson (USA), Christian Kamp (USA), and Brian Pistay (USA). -- Daily reports: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13834 * Newport, RI (May 27, 2012) - #115 Mare (GER), skippered by Jorg Riechers, Ryan Breymaier (offshore) and Charles Euvrete (inshore), continued its Atlantic Cup dominance by winning three of the five inshore races, finishing second in the other two heats, en route to claiming The Atlantic Cup over a field of 15 Class40s. Mare had won the first offshore leg (Charleston, SC to New York), and came in second in the leg from NY to Newport. With the victory Mare claims the champion's share, $15,000, of the $30,000 overall prize purse, one of the largest in sailing in the United States. -- Full report: http://atlanticcup.org/115-mare-wins-the-2012-atlantic-cup * Cambridge, MA (May 27, 2012) - After completing the qualifying round of the Interscholastic Sailing Association Team Racing Championship in second position behind defending champion Tabor Academy (Marion, MA), 2010 champs Point Loma High School (San Diego, CA) went 5-1 in the double elimination championship round to overtake Tabor and claim the Baker Trophy. Skippering for Point Loma was Olin Paine, Jake Reynolds, and Scott Sinks. Cathedral Catholic HS (San Diego, CA) and Antilles HS (St. Thomas, USVI) were third and fourth, respectively. The championship was sailed in FJs and Fireflies at the MIT Sailing Pavilion on the Charles River. Details: http://www.hssailing.org/baker * Langenargen, Germany (May 28, 2012) - Phil Robertson's WAKA Racing team has won Match Race Germany, the opening stop on the nine event 2012 Alpari World Match Racing Tour after taking victory against Laurie Jury in an all-Kiwi final. The race for the 2012 ISAF Match Racing World Championship continues at the Korea Match Cup in Gyeonggi, South Korea from May 29-June 3, which will feature eight of the nine Tour Card Holders - including defending champion Ian Williams (GBR). -- Full report: http://www.wmrt.com/mobile-news/headlines/ * Five prominent European events have created a new series, commencing in 2013, to be known as the EUROSAF European Sailing Cup. It is designed to complement the ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Europe and to develop a strong, competitive series, with top class racing for all Olympic and aspiring Olympic sailors. The series has been harmonised with the ISAF Sailing World Cup events in Europe, in order that sailors visiting from other continents can compete in a European summer of racing, in a series of well run and established regattas, enjoying top class competition, with a minimum amount of travelling in between events. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13900 * The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) has predicted the atmosphere and the ocean favor a near-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin this season. For the entire six-month season, which begins June 1, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center says there's a 70 percent chance of nine to 15 named storms (with top winds of 39 mph or higher), of which four to eight will strengthen to a hurricane (with top winds of 74 mph or higher) and of those one to three will become major hurricanes (with top winds of 111 mph or higher, ranking Category 3, 4 or 5). -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/NOAA-052812 * Barcelona, Spain (May 27, 2012) - The closing chapter of the TP52 MedCup Cicuit in 2011 prompted the birth of the 52 Super Series, a series of five events this summer in Spain and Italy. Four teams attended the inaugural event, Trofeo Conde de Godo de Vela regatta, which saw 2011 MedCup champion Quantum Racing continue their dominance to take the title. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/52SS-052812 TRIVIA ANSWER In the 2010-11 college season, Boston College had the most All-American's named to their team out of any other school. They had three members named as All-American crews, two co-ed skippers named, one Honorable Mention Women's skipper, one All-American Women's skipper and Annie Haeger won Quantum Women's Sailor of the Year. -- http://ussailing.blogspot.com/2012/04/daily-lift_18.html PREFER YESTERYEAR'S OLDSMO-BUICK OR CITROEN? We thought not. A lot of RIB designs are really old. PURE YACHTING offers all new custom RIB's built in the USA. Multi-purpose YC RIBs. Coach boats for all programs. SuperYacht Tenders. Harbormasters. Police & Fire. Call RIB legend Whitey Russell now at 401-338-7457. Info at http://www.pureyachting.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 Paul Heineken: I love windsurfing and kitesurfing. My personal opinion is that both should be in the Olympics. However, with all the discussion about kitesurfing safety, I think it's important to report on fact, not opinion. Last Thursday (5/24/2012) was set up for epic SF City Front conditions. High pressure at sea, low pressure to the east, and a thermal to develop--an enormous gradient that led the iWindsurf forecaster to warn folks to hang onto their cars in the parking lot. Plus there was a NW ocean swell coming into the Gate and a 2 knot ebb tide pushing against it. It was the night of the every-other-week Cabrinha StFYC evening kitesurfing races. The fleet is heterogeneous in experience and talent, varying from world class to those sailing their first ever race, both men and women. Kitesurfers, of all levels, eagerly anticipated this evening's competition, especially because the top 3 racers were away at the Gold Games in France. However, the race committee looked out with trepidation...it looked like the Columbia Gorge, just as windy and with the same 8-10 foot steep waves, but the Bay is much bigger than the Gorge. Windsurfers were flying by on tiny boards with 3.5 to 4.0 sq m sails. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13907#13907 Editor's note: The above letter was originally and incorrectly attributed to Robbie Dean, Director of Race Operations - St Francis YC * From Paul Warren, Redington Beach, FL: In response to Dan Knox's perspective (in Scuttlebutt 3599) about Olympic sailing which seems to diminish Olympic sailing competition and its television broadcasts, my thoughts are: - I've just come off a six-month effort to raise supporting funds for (Americans) Zach & Paige Railey for their current Olympic campaigns (Finn and Laser Radial classes, respectively.) During that time, I came to understand much better the grueling path that it takes to be an Olympic athlete/sailor. An Olympic sailing campaign includes multiple local, national and international regattas each year for four years (I'm guessing the total is probably 20+ regattas a year.) There's substantial training involving conditioning/endurance, strength-training, sailing techniques and mental/psych/motivational training. Add to that, there are hundreds/thousands of hours on the water in a wide variety of wind & sea conditions. Then, there's the "administrative/business" side of an Olympic campaign, replete with fundraising, sponsorship development/commitments, travel & logistical arrangements, equipment development. I can certainly tell Mr. Knox that the sailors are NOT the beneficiaries of any 'big money' that may accrue to Olympic sailing. They scratch and beg for just enough funds to support their Olympic dreams. If 'big money' was available, there wouldn't be a need for grass-roots efforts like the one I've just completed. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13899#13899 OPEN LETTER: ATLANTIS WEATHERGEAR TO THE US SAILING TEAM As your apparel partner for this "quad", we'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for being such great teammates over the past four years. You are a group of incredibly dedicated, driven and upstanding individuals, and you have been a real pleasure to work with. Our association has provided the Atlantis brand with immeasurable benefits, and on top of that, it's been a ton of fun for us to follow your exploits and cheer you on as you travel the globe working hard to hone your already formidable talents and raise your games. Fact is, you've been a sponsor's dream come true - we're not sure we've ever seen a picture of any of you when you weren't sporting the AWG logo somewhere. It's something we would never take for granted, and it's another thing we truly appreciate because, while we know your closets are full of technical sailing apparel, the fact that you've worn our stuff so religiously and represented the Atlantis brand so well means a lot to us. From the youngest newbie on the team on up to Dean and the coaches, we stand in awe of the sacrifices you've made pursuing your Olympic dreams and the class you've demonstrated in both victory and defeat. While medals may be a bit harder to come by than they used to be, there's no question that our team is among the most respected and admired the world over, and you make us proud to be American sailors. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0525/ 2012 Olympic Schedule July 27 - Opening Ceremony July 28-Aug 12 - Competition Aug 12 - Closing Ceremony http://www.sailing.org/olympics/london2012/home.php CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION My mind works like lightning. One brilliant flash and it's gone. 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 |
