|
SCUTTLEBUTT 3555 - Monday, March 26, 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: Dieball Sailing, Camet, and NYYC. TRANSITIONING TO AMERICA'S CUP LITE By C.W. Nevius, SF Chronicle The America's Cup came to San Francisco with a trumpet fanfare and soaring expectations. The Embarcadero waterfront would be transformed and finally developed. Up to 10 sailing teams would skim across the bay for the right to challenge for the Cup. Hundreds of thousands of people would attend an event that would create jobs, stimulate the local economy, and cost the city virtually nothing. OK, that was fun. Now here's the reality. The waterfront will get a bit of a sprucing up, and the black hole known as Piers 30-32 will be shored up to extend their useful life another 15 to 20 years. There will be more like five sailing teams. And not only is the Cup not yet generating thousands of jobs, the America's Cup Event Authority is cutting staff to save money. And frankly, we're not sure how many spectators will show up, but the current thinking is to revise the numbers down. Stephen Barclay, interim CEO of the event authority, says 28 employees were laid off Friday, but that only makes sense as we transition to America's Cup Lite. "We now know the deal," he said. "It means we have a reduced footprint and we will pay more but earn less. It therefore gives us the opportunity to organize ourselves accordingly." Quite frankly, that's just fine. This may be a downsize from the original extravaganza, but it will still be an awesome event in the perfect spot. I continue to think that even people who don't know a spinnaker from an anchor will find these races unexpectedly compelling. It will be a showcase for the city and the bay, and I will be extremely surprised if it isn't a killer event. There will be inevitable doomsayers as the expectations are downsized, but other than learning a good lesson about promising too much too soon, I don't see this as a problem. -- Read on: http://tinyurl.com/SFC-032512 Staffing announcement: http://media.americascup.com/pressreleases/?id=536 COMMENT: I don't see it as a problem either. And better yet, the organizers are now embracing their immediate audience - sailing enthusiasts - rather than stepping over them. What is most important now for Oracle Racing is to re-boot with realistic event goals, and then focus on defending. Everything from this point forward must be achievable. Especially defending. - Craig Leweck, Scuttlebutt DIEBALL SAILING - THE SEASON IS HERE!! Being a Sailmaker in the Midwest, we are often asked if we are getting busy. The warm spring has everyone jumping early on the season and we are no different. We share the passion with our customers and offer products and services to help make sailing easier. That is what we do and how it should be. Racing or Cruising, give us a call...because, ready or not, the season is here!! http://www.dieballsailing.com. "CROWN JEWEL" OF CARIBBEAN REGATTAS St. Thomas, USVI (March 25, 2012) - It came down to the wire on the last day for winners in three of six classes at the International Rolex Regatta, which began Friday and hosted 68 boats and over 500 sailors representing the U.S., Great Britain, Puerto Rico, Canada, The Netherlands, Russia, Italy, Sweden, Monaco and multiple Caribbean islands. The event, in its 39th year and hosted by St. Thomas Yacht Club in the USVI, is the oldest regatta in Rolex's portfolio of global sailing events, and is considered the "Crown Jewel" of Caribbean regattas. Today's tactically demanding Pillsbury Sound races, with courses that wound through the cays of St. Thomas and St. John, decided winners in one IRC and three CSA classes as well as a Beach Cat class, while one-design IC 24s completed six short-course races in Jersey Bay to determine that class's victor. The races were sailed in picture-perfect conditions, which included plenty of sunshine and 15-knot breezes, which made the overcast skies and intermittent rain showers that prevailed over the last two days but a distant memory. Peter Cunningham's (George Town, CAY) 52-foot PowerPlay took overall victory in IRC, where nine boats were competing, and won a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Submariner Chronometer as a prize for its excellent performance. The team's main competition was Willem Wester's (Breskens, Zeeland, NED) Grand Soleil 46 Antilope (steered by Belgian Olympian Philippe Bergmans) and Ashley Wolfe's (Alberta, Canada) IRC 52 Mayhem, which finished second and third, respectively. -- Read on: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/12/0325/ Photos: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0325a Videos: http://youtu.be/B4NrSnT2VRk http://youtu.be/31z-sLdk514 http://youtu.be/oSpIbvx_YtQ SOUTHERN OCEAN COUNTS ANOTHER CASUALTY (March 25, 2012; Day 8) - After Volvo Ocean Race Leg 5 leader Team Sanya was forced on Thursday to return to New Zealand after their starboard rudder bearing snapped, it was soon Camper that took over the position... but with reservation. Said skipper Chris Nicholson, "I don't feel comfortable talking about being in the lead right now because one slight problem it will evaporate in no time." And sure enough, on Saturday Camper reported that bow damage had been sustained after falling heavily off a wave and delaminating a forward structural beam. Plan A was to pull the hand break and start on repairs, but a day later Nicholson said that the team would divert to Puerto Montt on the west coast of Chile to repair bow damage. "We are running out of spare materials to effect repairs at sea and the repairs are struggling to be effective so we had to slow the boat down immediately and assess the situation," said Nicholson. "We estimate it will be three days of repairs and then we will be on our way to Itajai. So we will suspend racing once we get closer to Puerto Montt, do our repairs and get back in the race." At the front of the fleet are the three Juan K boats, and for the third edition of the race, this design is proving most suitable in the hard running conditions. In short, the Juan K bow lifts up better than the others. But even on leader Groupama, there is no calm on even the best designed boat. "The closer we get to South America, generally speaking, the more difficult and confused the conditions can get,'' Groupama helmsman/trimmer Damian Foxall said. "Once we get to Cape Horn everyone will breathe a mental sigh of relief, but then you have to go up wind for another couple of thousand miles and there's some heavy reaching, so there's an awful lot of banging and smashing yet." While the wind had calmed from gusting in excess of 60 knots to the high twenties, Foxall said there was still an unmistakable sense of Southern Ocean sailing on board. "We're not that far south, but you certainly feel the cold,'' he said. "We had snow and a mix of hail yesterday in a thunderstorm. A bit of snow on deck always gives you the ambience of the place." Abu Dhabi is fighting to get back into the race after being forced to return to Auckland just five and a half hours into the race to repair a bulkhead in the bow which secures the heavy weather J4 headsail that had ripped clean out. But for skipper Ian Walker, his men lie becalmed in the 'roaring forties'. "We cannot help but look at the position and wind reports of the boats ahead to even wonder if we aren't in the best place," mused the skipper. -- Event media Leg 5 - Auckland, NZL to Itajai, Brazil (6,705 nm) Standings as of Sunday, 25 March 2012, 22:04:32 UTC 1. Groupama 4 (FRA), Frank Cammas (FRA), 3867.1 nm Distance to Finish 2. PUMA Ocean Racing (USA), Ken Read (USA), 45.5 nm Distance to Lead 3. Telefonica (ESP), Iker Martinez (ESP), 164.7 nm DTL 4. CAMPER (NZL), Chris Nicholson (AUS), 384.1 nm DTL 5. Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), Ian Walker (GBR), 1081.1 DTL 6. Team Sanya (CHN), Mike Sanderson (NZL), Suspended racing Tracking/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 IMPRESSIVE AND INTIMIDATING It may have been the sea gods of the Southern Ocean that first said, "If it was easy, anybody could do it." For the Volvo Ocean Race fleet now traversing this stretch of water, nothing has been easy. Here are reports from onboard Puma... Ken Read, skipper: "This is the leg that just keeps on giving. First a storm right out of the gates. Now, relentless wind pressure is bringing cold but still not frigid winds from the South. The waves are both impressive and intimidating in this part of this world. The massive swells are...who knows...30, 40, 50 feet tall. Ask anyone on any of the boats and I am sure you would find a different but still very large number. It's the waves within the waves that get you. They seem to go every which way. Oh, and the fact that we are about as far away from land as you can get. Also, it is blowing between 30-50 knots the last few days. Sound like fun?" Amory Ross, media crew: "I don't know how it happened, but on a boat laden with fancy doodads, gizmos, and thingamabobs, somebody forgot to put on a thermometer. Consequently, the only way to tangibly see the temperature is through the rigidity of our chocolate. The current batch of 11 Mars bars - one for each of us - is frozen solid, so it must be cold (this, in stark contrast to the last two legs, where chocolate was more or less liquefied in high heat), and we can now all see our breath in the air. The water temperature is showing 11-degrees Celsius (that's 50-degrees Fahrenheit), and I'd put the air below that, maybe around 40? 35? Doing the dishes is chillingly painful, and it takes a ton of soap just to get anything off the silverware. Today I saw Ryan come down, light a burner, and hold his glove-covered hands over it for a minute or two." Puma video: http://youtu.be/o3B90t72s0I OVER 20 YEARS For over 20 years Camet International has been making the best shorts in quality and design in the industry. Our latest model the Anakena once again has shown the quality and durability that has made it one of the most desired products. Built of lightweight, multi-ply nylon fabric that is comfortable and dries quickly. These shorts have lots of pockets, an adjustable waist and reinforced seat pad. Activities: yachting, paddling, hiking and trekking. Contact us for your team uniform shorts and shirts, for the upcoming summer events. 100% made in the sunny California. http://www.camet.com/?Click=2095 SAILING PROS ZERO IN ON CONGRESSIONAL CUP If you're an ambitious sailor who wants to make it big in match racing, you couldn't find a better place to start than Long Beach. It's worked for several of the competitors in the Long Beach Yacht Club's 48th Congressional Cup running Tuesday through Saturday, including past winners Ian Williams of the UK (now ranked No. 1 in the world), Johnie Berntsson of Sweden and four-time winner Gavin Brady of New Zealand and Annapolis, Md. All built successful professional careers on the foundation of the game's granddaddy event. Simone Ferrarese plans to follow that path. The young Italian was a 23-year-old unknown until he wangled an invitation to last year's Ficker Cup qualifying event and won his way into the Congressional Cup, where he finished an impressive sixth in the 10-team field. From there he jumped onto the World Match Racing Tour, where he has raised his world ranking to 17 with a steady stream of successes in Grade 1 and 2 events---good enough to secure a Tour Card for automatic entry on this season's Alpari World Match Racing Tour. Ferrarese, Williams, Berntsson (No. 7) and Laurie Jury of New Zealand (No. 11) are among only nine WMRT card holders with automatic entry to the series' 2012 events. Others competing here are Staffan Lindberg, Finland (14); Eric Monnin, Switzerland, (15); Will Tiller, New Zealand (19), and Taylor Canfield, U.S. Virgin Islands (27). Ferrarese can almost make a decent living at it now---and is well aware that this $60,000 purse, with $15,000 to the winner, would help. -- Read on: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13483#13483 MOBILE SCORING PROGRAMS In Scuttlebutt 3456, Chris Luppens asked why there was a great lack of scoring programs and other useful apps for iPads and Androids. Not sure ourselves, we gave a shout out to see what scoring programs can work on the iOS and Android platforms. The information is now posted on the Forum... here are some of the info: * Simon: "SailRacer has developed a tablet based scoring app. This has been successfully used by the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS), where finishing positions are quickly recorded by simply clicking on the appropriate team image. These are automatically published to various web pages, including progressive analysis and direct push to Social Media such as Twitter. In this fast and furious environment, the speed of operation and results publication has bought many benefits." * Claude Nix: "At the end of this month, I'll be launching a product called JibeSet that seeks to greatly improve the racing experience for everyone involved. It provides a streamlined set of tools for Race Committees to more efficiently manage their events and engage their competitors. For racers and crews, it provides a social experience that has been absent from the racing world thus far. Here's a short list of features..." * Mike Ludtke: "Regarding scoring programs for your smart phone, I couldn't find any general apps, so I wrote my own. It's pretty simple and my first javascript. Since it's web based, it works on the iPhone and Android." * Hugh Elliot: "One useful app for Android, iOS and Windows phone would be for those of us who have to take finishes for handicap (PHRF, IRC etc.) Classes. The line sighter needs three eyes for this: one to look at the watch, one to look at the bow of the boat and one to look for the [frequently lengthy] sail number. The essential feature of the app would be the ability to tap the screen for each finisher and generate a list of finish times that could be downloaded and matched up with the one design style order of finish." Full report: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13419 SCUTTLEBUTT SAILING CALENDAR Events listed at http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/calendar SAILING SHORTS * Miami, FL (March 25, 2012) - Thirty-seven teams competed in the 2012 Etchells U.S. National Championship, hosted by Coral Reef Yacht Club. After gaining a Z flag penalty in the first race, Jeffrey Siegal and his team of Jeff Madrigali, William Van Waay, and Sarah Callahan took the lead by mid-regatta and remained in control through the eight race series. Second overall was James McHugh/ Andy Beadsworth/ Pete McCormick with Dirk Kneulman/ Anatole Masfen/ Phillip Carlson in third. -- Photos and results: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/12/0325/ * Long Beach, CA (March 24, 2012) - Local Dustin Durant won his way into this coming week's 48th Congressional Cup with a victory in Long Beach Yacht Club's Ficker Cup. The 24-year-old LBYC member succeeded today in dispatching his nearest rival, Nevin Snow, 18, of San Diego by sweeping the day 3-0 and finishing with 12 wins and 2 losses in the three-day, double round robin. Snow ended 11-3. Durant's crew included tactician Scott Dickson, Brandon Folkman, trimmer; Shane Young, main trimmer and pit; Max Moosman, downwind trimmer; Ben Wheatley, bow. Andy Witham subbed Saturday for Young, who was unavailable. -- Full story: http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=13479#13479 * (March 25, 2012) - The International Lightning Class Association's Boat Grant program begins its 6th season by announcing the 2012 grant recipients. The successful applicants are Tyler Braun (24) and his team of Jerrett Scherrer and Dustin Stauffer are from Lancaster, PA and James Simmons (22) of South Dartmouth, MA and his team of Caroline Hall of Brick, NJ and Jeremy Henry of Groton, MA of the University of Rhode Island's varsity sailing team. -- Full report: http://www.lightningclass.org/racing/boatGrant/2012/pressrelease2.asp 158TH NEW YORK YC ANNUAL REGATTA REGISTRATION NOW OPEN The 158th edition of the NYYC Annual Regatta presented by Rolex, to be held June 8-10 in Newport, RI, has something exciting to offer all levels of interest.Classic yachts to sport boats, novice racers to Grand Prix sailors.competitors will have a unique racing experience on the beautiful, historic waters of Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island Sound, combined with spectacular social events at the Club's Harbour Court clubhouse. Four separate race circles are planned, including "Navigator" races for PHRF and IRC-NS. The NOR and Entry Form are now posted at http://www.nyyc.org/158th-annual-reggatta-jun8-10. Open to all qualified boats. For more information: sailingoffice@nyyc.org 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 Frank Pong: Anyone who had done even a little bit of offshore sailing would appreciate the way the Volvo Open 70 crew getting completely soaked and buffeted, causing the crew to succumb to fatigue much more so than the rough seas and strong winds. Rather than passively building a pilothouse, it would be better to shape the boats to be less susceptible to get so wet, and we are not talking about the occasional waves splashing the people sitting on the windward rail, but 2 to 3 cubic meters of water burying the whole length of the boat. It may appear to be good exciting stuff on videos, but it is wrong. As a spectator, I feel it is irresponsible of people behind the scene and ashore to allow this to happen. Boats meant to be raced hard in rough seas and cold weather should be made to protect the crew from this kind of constant torture. COMMENT: If you haven't seen how a VO70 and crew can get fully pancaked by the ocean, this video may leave you hugging your pillow: http://youtu.be/UrKQgJykdO4 * From Peter O. Allen, Sr., Rochester, New York: Living on Lake Ontario, we know that we will always have to travel to see any America's Cup action, even when it's in the United States. Thus I eagerly follow the machinations of the City Council of San Francisco, as they consider accommodations for spectators to the impending AC-related contests. It appears that the City will get its act together and by pressing on, will complete improvements to their waterfront in anticipation of the America's Cup. I expect the completion of those improvements to come about by the end 2015, as most members of that City's legislature appear to have little or no understanding of (or concern for) the needs and deadlines of other bodies. Unfortunately, that's pretty typical of government. Thanks for sharing the interview with John Kostecki in yesterday's issue (Scuttlebutt 3553). CURMUDGEON'S OBSERVATION "When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow SPONSORS THIS WEEK Dieball Sailing - Camet - New York Yacht Club - North U North Sails - Soft Deck - US Sailing - Doyle Sailmakers - Henri Lloyd Point Loma Outfitters - Ullman Sails - New England Ropes - Summit Yachts Need stuff? Look here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/ssc/suppliers |
