Formal dress

Yachting is not as formal as it used to be. Or so I thought. Maybe it is a west coast thing, as events that once warranted blazers for the guys has... in some instances... worked its way down to khakis, collared shirt, and flip flops. However, I came across the photo gallery from the New York Yacht Club Annual Awards Dinner 2008. Looks like formality is alive and well there.


L-R, Commodore Townsend, Christopher Malloy, Rear Commodore Robert C. Towse Jr., John Hayes and Peter Cummiskey.

April Fools Writing Assignment

In anticipation of April 1st, Scuttlebutt is hosting an April Fools writing assignment. There are countless themes to choose - just scroll through recent issues of Scuttlebutt and put your own absurd twist to any event… or make up your own. Don’t forget the America’s Cup legal ruling that we expect any day.

We will publish every story, and dig into the prize bin for the most worthy. Deadline is Monday, March 30th, and be sure to indicate on your submission that it is for the April Fools writing assignment (we don’t want to confuse your story with legit news).

Send stories to the Scuttlebutt editor at editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com

Terry's alliances

Terry Hutchinson has a lot of reasons to smile these days. Following his accomplishments on the water in 2008, he won the Rolex U.S. Yachtsman of the Year award. Now he is on the endorsement circuit... which is reminiscent of a previous post on this blog.

Ice speed sailing

For sailing, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) authorized the World Sailing Speed Record Council (WSSRC) to administrate any claims of sailing speed records. However, for ice sailing, there is no international authority to oversee speed records on ice. But that does not stop people from making claims of speed.

This week, Windsurfing magazine’s website posted a story about how Jeff Brown set a new GPS World Speed Record on his iceboard Freeskate (essentially a windsurf rig attached to a board with runners/skates). Jeff goes further as to say that he is now ranked #1 in the world for a "Freestanding rig ice-sled class" which covers all handheld windsurfer type craft on ice.

Personally, I don’t dispute anything he is claiming. All the data is based on sophisticated GPS devices, with the data uploaded and analyzed, with the results then posted to a newly established website called GPS Icesailing. But shouldn’t somebody be in charge? After Jeff made his claims at the GPS Icesailing website, a moderator said they do not allow any self-claimed 'WORLD' records on the site. As for Jeff’s reply, he said, “As far as whatever claim to call my achievement, it is what it is, and I am happy about that!”

It would seem that for the validity of these speed claims to pass the sniff test, some entity needs to be established as the international guardian of ice speed sailing, and then determine the standards and practices that everyone abides by. Until then, ice speed sailing is more about bragging rights in the bar… and less about making “world record” claims.

No party too far

It’s far from summer, and not even spring, but don’t tell that to the New Orleans Yacht Club. This week, Wednesday night sailing returned to the lake, with the warning signal to start the first class at 6:30 PM and live music at the party starting around 9:00 PM. As for event sponsorship, it should come as no surprise that the racing is supported by the Live Bait Bar & Grill.

Culture Shock

By Tom Leweck, Scuttlebutt founder:

“I don’t think I’ve been outta bed at five in the morning for five straight days in the last 30 years,” commented Tom Priest as we all stumbled around in the dark - packing our bags for an early morning flight back to California. Priest, and the rest of us in our rented crew house, had just raced on Damon Guizot’s Long Beach, California-based Swan 53 Katrina in the St Maarten Heineken Regatta. For us, the daily 5 a.m. wakeup calls were a bit of culture shock.

In California, the sea breeze doesn’t fill in until late morning, so races rarely start before noon. The wind blows all day and all night in the Caribbean, and the Heineken Regatta’s first warning signal was scheduled for 0855 each day. Consequently, our Swan always left the slip at 0700 to insure we didn’t miss the 0730 bridge-opening … trapped in the lagoon while the rest of the 218 boats in the regatta were out racing.

What was even more mind-blowing was just how hardy these Caribbean racers are. It’s hard to believe that any regatta has a more extensive party schedule than the Heineken, with live bands playing past 2 a.m. every night. Partying all night and then getting up in the pre-dawn hours to go racing in 30+ knots of breeze definitely requires a bit more stamina than many of us were prepared for. And it sure reminded me of what Dorothy said in ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ “I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

Harken perch

With a bad economy, great customer service is vital. From this Harken report, I think they just pushed the bar a bit higher:


HARKEN PPDT (Parrot Perch Development Team)
1252 East Wisconsin Ave.
Pewaukee, Wisconsin USA 53072-3755

Hello Harken Humans,

I would like to thank you very much for my superlative perch, complete with engraved name to make sure some other parrot does not try to lay claim to such a finely crafted piece of gear.

I have completed initial trials and I’m happy to say the perch is flawless in its design and execution. During the recent Friday night Beer Can races off Waikiki, we saw winds gusting in excess of 30 knots. The perch remained solidly mounted and could be precisely rotated for proper head-to-wind alignment, avoiding any uncomfortable gust up the tail-feathers.

Some of my fellow sailors asked if there was a titanium model available. I much prefer the weight of the stainless steel model which keeps my 900 grams of feathers and fluff securely ballasted in stronger winds.

I look forward to future developments in HARKEN perches.

I am sending a few island style treats for the team to enjoy.

MAHALO - ALOHA - SQUAWK,

Robert

Harken perch:


Previous model:

Hell has frozen over

The Optimist class has enormous popularity worldwide, but a few areas had held onto their own junior trainers. For the west coast of the United States, Northern California used El Toros, but now the Opti has nearly squeezed out the youth class. Working down the coast, the Opti has infiltrated SoCal sailing sites such as Marina del Rey and Los Angeles Harbor. However, further south from Long Beach to San Diego, the Naples Sabot is the dominant class.

Now I wonder how long that will last, as this announcement could carry a lot of momentum for change:

2009 US Optimist National Championship Regattas
Hosted by Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club, San Pedro, California
Team Racing Nationals, Girls Nationals, USODA Nationals
July 18-26, 2009

Billboard photos

I received a batch of billboard photos from James Marta, and while they have nothing to do with sailing, they were too good to toss. So I made a movie.

March madness

Depending on the location, winter may be a problem for the sailing enthusiasts. There are soft water solutions (frostbiting) and hard water solutions (iceboating), and there are even open fields with snow solutions (kitewing skiing). But winter is cold, which is enough for many to curtail their sailing drive. However, March is not just the time for college basketball…

* Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow on February 2nd, so winter would last another six weeks (March 16th)

* Sock Burning: This Chesapeake Country ritual (maybe elsewhere too?) occurs at the vernal equinox (March 20th) to celebrate the end of winter.

* Daylight Savings Time: When the above don’t work, nothing replaces additional light at the end of the day. For the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, daylight time begins on March 8.