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SCUTTLEBUTT 3695 - Thursday, October 11, 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: Harken and Ullman Sails. WILL A NEW SPEED RECORD BE SET THIS YEAR? Luderitz is a harbour town in southwest Namibia, lying on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is also home to the fastest 500 meter race track yet known for speed sailing. A purpose built canal provides flat, shallow water, and is angled to take full advantage of the strongest winds that arrive in September through November. In 2007, the first edition of the Luderitz Speed Challenge (LSC) was launched, with the idea to attract sufficient participation to pay for the infrastructure needed to establish legitimate world records. Lightning struck immediately. The combination of the canal and the kiteboard proved fast. The outright female speed sailing world record was set in 2007, with the outright open record broken in 2008. The evolution of kite equipment and technique, when combined with the canal, saw records climb each year. The current records were set at the 2010 LSC, with American Rob Douglas holding the outright record of 55.65 knots. But the steady escalation of speed took a hit in 2011 when the LSC organizers undertook a mission to dig a new canal to improve speed and safety. A private event was held that year, with only a few select riders invited to test the new canal. Rob Douglas wasn't among them, and no new records were set. For the upcoming 2012 Luderitz Speed Challenge, organizer Sebastien Cattalan (FRA), who has personally twice set the outright record with a kite, appears to be using his position to reclaim the record this year. Kites have proven faster than windsurfers, yet the windsurfers are scheduled in the canal during the preferred winds in November 4-December 2. The chance for record setting winds decreases in December when the kites are scheduled on December 3-16. Time will tell if Seb is taking kite runs in November when the fastest kiters are on the sideline. So how does the fastest sailor in the world stay in the record-setting game? "Two weeks for kites is a short window for a world record attempt in Luderitz, especially in December," said Rob. "I am considering an event in France organized by Alex Caizergues (FRA) in November/December. Alex has held the outright record before so he knows what it takes. It is a risky decision for me as his new French trench is unproven but the area is capable of getting more wind than Africa. Can you imagine if France gets 55+ knots of cold dense wind? This could be wild!" An outside chance for speed records to fall comes next week at the 2012 North American Speed Sailing Championship Invitational on Martha's Vineyard October 15-31. With a $30,000 prize purse, the current forecast for Sunday is calling for gusts to 40 knots. Here is a promo video: http://youtu.be/J451QlDR06A SUFFERING A BLACK AND BLUE STERN SIDE? The cure is a new pair of extra grippy Harken deck shoes with 360-degree traction in the sticky rubber soles. Unless you enjoy crewmates snickering every time you do a deck-digger, it's time to buy a shoe that keeps you on your feet: Harken deck shoes and sandals, styled for men and women. Buy a pair at 30% off during Harken Sport's Big Shoe Sale: http://www.harkensport.com/usa IS SAN FRANCISCO THE 'NEW' SOMALIA? Local sailor Todd Tholke is either a Good Samaritan or a high-seas pirate. On Sept. 30, Tholke was a hero when he went out on the bay in the middle of the night to single-handedly rescue the runaway French AC45 catamaran Energy. The America's Cup World Series boat snapped its mooring line at Piers 30-32 that night and drifted off into the darkness, unmanned and out of control. It fetched up on the rocks of Treasure Island, where it was spotted from the land by Tholke. At 3:30 a.m., Tholke pulled it off the shore with his 14-foot Boston Whaler. He then towed it to the Treasure Isle Marina and handed it back to the racing team. The French were so grateful they offered to give Tholke a ride on the bay. But last Friday, as the French prepared for the regatta, Tholke's representatives presented them with a warrant from U.S. District Court to "arrest" the boat and take it into custody as soon as Sunday's races were over. Based on a law from the 1800s, Tholke's attorney John Edgcomb said in court documents, the rescue had established "a valid maritime salvage claim" and Tholke was entitled to "a liberal maritime salvage award." Edgcomb said the amount was up to the court, but something "in excess of $200,000." The French officially said in a statement that they were "surprised and disappointed," but it would be more accurate to say they were flabbergasted. It is hard to blame them. After all, the boat only floated a mile. It was only free for a few hours. And to be honest, if Tholke had just made a phone call, they would rather have picked it up themselves. It is tempting to speculate that Tholke figured his ship had literally come in. He quietly nabbed the boat, claimed the Coast Guard declined to pull it off the rocks, and went straight to legal counsel. Ridiculous, says Edgcomb, who said Tholke would not be available for comment. "Todd wasn't doing this for the money," he said. "He thought he was doing something heroic that people would appreciate." Read more: http://tinyurl.com/SFC-101012 U.S. TAX DOLLARS AT WORK After his big wins at the America's Cup World Series last weekend, Oracle Team USA skipper Jimmy Spithill headed to southern California and the US Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar on Tuesday where he had the honor of flying with the US Navy's Flight Demonstration Squadron, the 'Blue Angels'. From a full-reheat take-off from which pilot Lt Mark Tedrow took the F-18 into a 500ft/sec vertical climb to a steep/hard simulated aircraft carrier landing, Spithill had the ultimate 'Guest Racer' experience during the 45 minute flight from the back seat of the fighter jet. -- http://tinyurl.com/ACUP-101012 MOORE 24 + CIRCUMNAVIGATION = ADVENTURE By Tim Zimmermann, Sailing World If you are a sailor and a wanderer, here's someone I definitely think you should know. Webb Chiles is an American original, a sailor, poet, and explorer who has circumnavigated the globe five times (once in an 18-foot Drascombe Lugger called Chidiock Tickbourne). In 1975 he became the first American to solo around Cape Horn. In case it is not clear, he is not afraid to live a full life (he's also been married six times), and to his credit appears to treat adventure as a basic necessity, on par with breathing. Here's how he describes himself, and introduces his website: "People who know of me at all probably do so as a sailor; but I have always thought of myself as an artist, and I believe that the artist's defining responsibility is to go to the edge of human experience and send back reports. Here are my reports." Unsurprisingly, Chiles, now in his 70s, is not done yet. His wife, Carol, expects him to fall off a boat in the middle of some ocean at age 90. In preparation, Chiles has put together a Requiem playlist he'd like to hear in his final moments. But until that moment, and perhaps leading to that moment, he has plans. His next adventure is another circumnavigation, naturally with an interesting wrinkle: His boat choice is a Moore 24, which he has called Gannet. I'm inspired by what Chiles has done with his life, and I love what he is about to do. So I contacted him with some questions, and he was kind enough to respond. Here is an online Q&A.... http://www.sailingworld.com/blogs/sailboats/the-webb-chiles-way WORLD'S LARGEST COLLEGE SAILING REGATTA A record 425 college sailors from 38 schools racing 45 borrowed boats came together for the 2012 Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta ("IOR") hosted by the Storm Trysail Foundation and the Larchmont Yacht Club (Larchmont, NY) on October 6-7. With so many college sailors participating, the event has become the world's largest college sailing regatta. Schools traveled from Canada, the Midwest, New England and the mid Atlantic states with the University of Wisconsin Madison travelling the farthest. The regatta introduces college sailors, most of whom sail dinghies, to the dynamics of big boat racing. This regatta also gives college sailors who already have big boat experience a chance to take charge of some of very vast and evenly matched offshore boats. The fleet racing boats were divided into five divisions: J/105s (10 boats), J/109s (eight boats), J/44s (five boats), a PHRF class (10 boats) and an IRC class (10 boats). The IRC class included four Swan 42s, a King 40, a Farr 400 and an assortment of J/Boats ranging from a J/133 to a J/111. These are very leading edge boats! For the first time, the regatta had a Match Racing division on a separate circle with on-the-water umpires. Four teams raced on two 52-foot match racing machines lent by Brewer Yacht Yards. The boats were built in the early 1990s by Dennis Conner when he was preparing for the first America's Cup defense in Cup Class mono-hulls. Teams from SUNY Maritime, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, Tufts and the U.S. Naval Academy sailed an eight-race double round robin followed by a best of three finals. Tufts won the round robins, and Navy won the finals 2-0. The Navy team was the first winner of the Commodore James D. Bishop Trophy. "Seeing the teams improve through the weekend was truly impressive," said match racing PRO Dick Neville. "I don't think any of them had any experience in match racing, particularly in big boats. They handled the boats really well." Race Committee Chair Charles "Butch" Ulmer said: "Since our first experience with match racing went so well, we intend to invite more teams to participate and to enlarge this part of the IOR next year." With match racing a new discipline in college racing, match racing big boats is a great way for schools to merge their dinghy and offshore sailors into one team for an event. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/STS-101012 BUILT ON A TRADITION OF ONE DESIGN The Ullman Sails group is often perceived as a one design sailmaker. In reality, this distinction is the reason why we are the ideal sailmaker for both racing and cruising sails. After years of racing and testing sails in one design fleets, our designers and sailmakers use the same development techniques to build and deliver consistently fast big boat sails. Our sailmakers also follow a "one design" standard, closely monitoring the quality of every sail from design to construction to finishing. You can be confident that every detail is built to the highest standard. Invest in your performance. http://www.ullmansails.com SAILING SHORTS * Newport, RI (October 9, 2012) - A new record was set for the Around Jamestown Record today by Dan Flanigan and Max Kramers, sailing their 18 foot Hobie Tiger around Jamestown with an elapsed time of 1 hour 47 minutes and 24 seconds. The team chose to sail the course in a clockwise direction with 17 knots of wind in a northwesterly on an ebb tide. If by October 31st, no other team in any division bests this elapsed time, they will own the Around Jamestown Record and Skipper Dan Flanigan will win his weight in Mount Gay Rum. -- Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14612 * The ISAF World Sailing Rankings, which are for events to be held at the 2016 Olympics, have been released for 10 October 2012 and for the first time include Kiteboarding. Since the previous ranking release on 19 September, ISAF has re-graded the ISAF Sailing World Cup regattas of the 2011-12 circuit to apply the new grading system. The Nacra17 and 49erFX are set to be introduced into the ISAF Sailing World Cup for the first time throughout the 2012-2013 series and will appear on the rankings following each regatta. -- Full report: http://www.sailing.org/news/32684.php * The third edition of The Atlantic Cup presented by 11th Hour Racing will kick off May 11, 2013 in Charleston, South Carolina. The Atlantic Cup is the only dedicated Class 40 race held annually in the U.S., with the 2012 event hosting an international fleet of 15 boats. The 2013 edition begins in Charleston, South Carolina with a 642 nautical mile doublehanded leg to New York City, which is followed by a 231 nm doublehanded leg to Newport. In Newport, a full crew will race a two-day, inshore series. -- Full report: http://atlanticcup.org/2013-atlantic-cup-announced/ * (October 10, 2012) - In the third Sailing World college rankings of the season, Georgetown and Yale remain at the top of the coed rankings, while Charleston moves up to third. On the women's side, St. Mary's moves up to third place behind Yale and Navy. Twenty-two coaches voted in this poll. -- Full report: http://tinyurl.com/SW-101012 * Organizers of the U.S. Sailboat Show say an estimated 50,000 people attended and dozens of boats were sold last weekend during the 43rd edition of the annual event in Annapolis, Md. There were more than 600 exhibitors, and organizers said attendance equaled or slightly exceeded that of the 2011 show. -- Soundings, read on: http://tinyurl.com/TOT-101012 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: * RIBCRAFT to Sell Nautica RIB Inventory * Quantum Announces 2012 Fall Sale & Giveaway * Special offer on O'pen BICs View updates here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/industry_news 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 Garry Hoyt: Apropos of the recent discussions in Scuttlebutt, the basic building block for the growth of sailing - and for arresting the current lamentable decline - is the development of a new, car toppable singlehander. For the past 50 years, this category in the U.S. has been dominated by two designs - the Sunfish and Laser - with the Olympic Laser the clear international leader. Without disputing the deserved popularity of these classics, the challenge of new growth would seem to require the kind of stimulation that only a new product with clearly better performance can provide. I have been working on this and have developed a new design that meets this criteria. I am sure there are other designers with ideas of equal or greater merit. The small size of the market, the high initial cost of building and proving a prototype and sailors' traditional resistance to change, are all serious obstacles. It would be interesting to find out how Scuttlebutt readers see this. COMMENT: Garry is one of the foremost innovators our sport has ever known, and is duly suited to take on this challenge. Please email to Scuttlebutt your thoughts: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com * From Paul Henderson: Regarding the Laser class situation (Scuttlebutt 3694), sailors tend to have their own terminology which does not fit the IOC Regulations. IOC has "Events" like Keelboat Men or Women Singles which must be decided at least four years before each Games. What we call classes the IOC calls equipment which ISAF does 4 years before but the IOC Regulations say must be done 3 years before the Games. By changing the name of the Laser, it could be construed as just equipment and therefore must be done by next summer. If ISAF approaches the IOC and sensibly make the case for why it has to be changed they are not that rigid... at least I found that to be the case. * From John McNeill: I was at the SF Marina both Saturday and Sunday for most of the day during the AC World Series, and would repeat what has appeared in the local press praising the event authority and City for excellent planning and handling of the crowds. Yes, it was shoulder to shoulder on the beach, but open enough for most to have good viewing, and the general air of civility was great. What was most impressive to me, however, was the quick adjustments made overnight by the authorities as they learned of snags from the prior day. It appears from this peak experiment that 2013 should be a very good year for the fans. A special 'wow' should also go out to the competitors and John Craig and crew for the awesome job of managing the racing in the midst of the air show Sunday, when the fleet race was pocketed in the middle of the air show. It was just amazing to see a large fleet of race committee boats and the competitors mass to positions on the course and be ready to go in a matter of minutes. IS YOUR EVENT LISTED BELOW? 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. If your event is listed below, please send us your race reports too: Oct 13-14 - Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship - Deltaville, VA, USA Oct 13-21 - Manhasset Bay Fall Series - Port Washington, NY, USA Oct 17-21 - J/105 North American Championship - San Diego, CA, USA http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION If you do not say it, they can't repeat it. SPONSORS THIS WEEK Pure Yachting - Ribcraft - Gowrie Group - North Sails J Boats - Doyle Sails - IYRS - Allen Insurance and Financial Harken - Ullman Sails - The Pirates Lair - Quantum Sails Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
