ECOVER capsized at iShares Cup

Here are some images of Extreme 40 “ECOVER” capsized between race 3 and 4 at the iShares Cup in Kiel, Germany on Day 1. These photos are by ThMartinez/Sea&Co

Back cover

There are a few premium advertising locations in a magazine, and the back cover is one of them. Ullman Sails was the very first advertiser in Scuttlebutt, and it is now impressive to see them holding the back cover of Sailing World's September 2009 issue. Pretty cool ad too.

What about R/C sail racing events?

I received this email from Jonathan B. Luscomb, Palm Beach, FL:

It seems to me that we cover all sorts of sail racing events all over the world, but what about R/C sail racing events? I flew to Connecticut this weekend to sail both J-class model yachts and East Coast 12 model yachts. The event was a three day event at Mystic Seaport Museum. It was a very spectator friendly event in that it was much like a stadium event and well covered by local papers and TV. Something the 33rd Americas Cup Acts tried to accomplish.

On Friday the J-class model yachts that represented were Ranger, Endeavour, Shamrock, Whirlwind, and Enterprise. A total of 13 yachts sailed. These J's are built to 1/16 scale and are seven to eight feet long with 10-foot rigs and one foot draft. The sails are reinforced Mylar sail cloth. They weigh over 100 lbs. each. The racing was very close among the boats and Seaport patrons were treated to very intense and sometimes vocal racing all day long.

The East Coast 12 meter class began back in the 1960's (1963 I think) when a wave tank 12 meter plug designed by Charlie Morgan was splashed and made into a R/C model. This regatta was 21 strong and went on for two days. Again it was intense and a good show for the museum visitors.

These sailors sail by the RRS, have done the Bermuda Race, and drink Mount Gay, Dark and Stormys and beer just as fast and as many as big boat sailors do!


J-Class Start


J-class windward mark rounding (sailors in background) - notice channel marker size


EC-12 start (I am 92)

Click here for additional photos.

Regatta tech

How is the technology at the events you participate in? Here is how it is getting done at the RS:X World Windsurfing Championship to be held later this month at Weymouth, England:

Each of the 4 marks on the course will have a Race Committee boat in attendance, where there will be a GPRS enabled mobile phone loaded with custom Java software. Each time a board passes their mark, they tap in the seeding number and 10 seconds later that rider’s name and sail number appear on the dedicated web page on the RS:X Worlds site. Results for each race come up in the same way.

To follow a particular rider (or riders), you just go to the results page and sign up for an alert. You can choose whether to get the data sent to your mobile or your email address. In fact, all the athletes and coaches who have provided their mobile number will also get an SMS when an official notice is posted. The On Line notice board will mirror the information posted on the board at the venue for any changes to Sailing Instructions, the proposed racing schedule for the next day, etc.

While the armchair spectator will be able to follow every twist and turn of the championship, how long will it be until this information is on the water with each competitor? Will we soon see the iPhone as required sailing equipment to provide tide, wind speed, and competitor placing? Yikes!

the WORLD word

Paul Henderson (CAN), past president of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), provides this reminder for anyone who did not know that ISAF controls the use of the word “World” in a title of the event in their ISAF Regulations:

About the history of when/how/why ISAF took control of the word "WORLD" in event titles:

PAUL HENDERSON: “It happened 25 years ago and is a normal situation for most sports. US SAILING is committed as are all MNA's to enforce it. Any sailor sailing in it (an improperly named event) could get a Rule 69 (gross misconduct penalty) thrown at them and be banned from any ISAF sanctioned event.”

On why the competitors are held liable for a rule infringement when it was initiated by the host yacht club:

PAUL HENDERSON: “The sailors do not have to sail (in the event). As for the event organizers, US SAILING should censor the clubs also.”

Dreaming

When choosing the Curmudgeon's Observation for the Thursday newsletter, I spotted this one on the list:

Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream?

So I was curious... here is what I learned in one online report:

Most researchers believe that people who are blind from birth or who become blind in infancy do not see in their dreams. They do not retain visual imagery because it was never acquired in the first place.

However, those blinded in childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, or afterwards usually do see in their dreams. "They often retain visual imagery in their waking life and in their dreams," according to Drs Nancy Kerr of the Department of Psychology at Oglethorpe University and G. William Domhoff of the Department of Psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Confusing acronyms

Attending an annual association conference is reaching the pinnacle of involvement. These gatherings typically bring together people with the greatest passion and commitment to their trade or activity. And wouldn’t it be a mess if you booked a trip to the wrong meeting? If you are planning to attend the 2009 US SAILING Annual Meeting, make sure you are heading to Texas in October and not somewhere else:

USSA - United States Sailing Association
Mission Statement: “To provide leadership for the sport of sailing in the United States”.

USSA - United States Superyacht Association
Mission Statement: “To promote the superyacht industry of the United States and to serve as its voice”.

Future technology

Ah, the America’s Cup. This is truly a land of the inventive, and with the gloves taken off for this next Match, some of you ‘buttheads are really going to wet your drawers on the ingenuity that will be on display. At the BMW Oracle team’s media briefing on Tuesday, the Challenger was certainly not going to reveal all their tricks - heck, that would be foolish. However, with so many of the Racing Rules of Sailing being dismissed by the Swiss defender, the Alinghi team, the challenger did provide a glimpse of what lies ahead.

As for the engine option, that is a lock. Skipper Russell Coutts and helm Jimmy Spithill will be sorry to see their burley mates off the boat, but the engine will replace the four grinding pedestals and the odorous scent of sweaty men working with old school methods. Anyway, Spithill had tired of the endless rugby talk, and is eager to surround himself with more cerebral conversation. The bonus, of course is that with the engine, all the other options come aboard as well.

Moveable ballast? Heck yea, but don’t let your small mind think just water. With a wink, Russell noted how there are a lot heavier things than water, which is only 8.34 pounds per gallon when Mercury is available at 113.4 pounds per gallon. But who wants to carry that much weight offwind? While dumping Mercury in the ocean might seem like an environmental offense, the rules in the Persian Gulf are not nearly as restrictive.

Ah yes, the Persian Gulf. Some people think that Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE was chosen because of it weather and suitable facilities. Naive! The challenger recon discovered that the Alinghi team had concocted a system to release toxic polymers from their boat, and they didn’t want all the “Go Green” activists slowing them down. Can’t you envision those wave piercing bows not piercing waves at all, but slicing through chemical emissions? The challenger is now working on a system that includes both bow and stern emissions. The Batmobile was equipped with a smoke emitter and a nail spreader to discourage pursuit… those Swiss are in for a sticky mess.

As for the hard wing sails, the challenger knows how fruitful that concept is, and given additional time, the flaps and superior coefficients would be onboard as well. No, they will be staying with their soft sails. However, they do expect the Swiss to have the hard stuff. The Deed of Gift requires the Defender to be constructed in the country of the Club holding the Cup, so it would hard to explain why it is okay for them to use their 3DL sails from Minden, Nevada…in the U.S.A.

Curmudgeon’s Comment: While all the above is only 'theoretical', I will take full credit if any of it comes true. However, for better or worse, this America's Cup will go where no yachting event has ever gone before...in so many ways.

Ownership of Cyberspace

Virtual racing got big exposure during the Volvo Ocean Race, which claimed to have had over 220,000 players participating in an online simulation of the race, with users competing on the same course and making decisions not unlike the actual sailing teams. The Volvo Ocean Race Game was hosted by VirtualRegatta.com, but other providers have gotten into the act, which is now complicating the ownership of cyberspace.

When the Royal Ocean Racing Club started its 608-mile Rolex Fastnet Race last Sunday, there were again online users, with the RORC having partnered with VirtualRegatta.com for their virtual race. However, a competing brand, Sailonline.org, had provided a Fastnet Race for their users too - called the Cowes-Plymouth Challenge - but in the eyes of the RORC that became one too many sheriffs for their town.

On August 9th, when all the races - both real and virtual - were starting, Sailonline.org announced they had to cancel their race after being contacted by solicitors engaged by RORC, who were seeking to protect their brands, both real and virtual.

Click here for additional commentary.

Are you smarter than an 11 year old?

Some of the best Scuttlebutt Letters to the Editor have to do with the Curmudgeon's Observation that concludes each issue. This one comes from Matt Rosenberg of Newport, RI:

My 11 year old daughter Violet, was not amused by your reference to Scuttlebutt 2903's OBSERVATION: The words 'race car' spelled backwards still spells 'race car'.

So much, that she compiled here own list . .

wow
mom
dad
evil olive
hannah
bib
radar
Never odd or even
If I had a hi-fi
Madam, I'm Adam
Too hot to hoot
No lemons, no melon
Too bad I hid a boot
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Warsaw was raw
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
Rise to vote, sir
Do geese see God?
"Do nine men interpret?" "Nine men," I nod
Rats live on no evil star
Won't lovers revolt now?
Race fast, safe car
Pa's a sap
Ma is as selfless as I am
May a moody baby doom a yam?
Ah Satan sees Natasha
No devil lived on
Lonely Tylenol
Not a banana baton
No "x" in "Nixon"
O, stone, be not so
O Geronimo, no minor ego
"Naomi", I moan
"A Toyota's a Toyota"
A dog, a panic in a pagoda
Oh, no! Don Ho!
Nurse, I spy gypsies -- run!
Senile felines
Now I see bees I won
UFO tofu
We panic in a pew
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
God! A red nugget! A fat egg under a dog!
Go hang a salami, I'm a lasagna hog

Don't nod
Dogma: I am God
Never odd or even
Too bad – I hid a boot
Rats live on no evil star
No trace; not one carton
Was it Eliot's toilet I saw?
Murder for a jar of red rum
May a moody baby doom a yam?
Go hang a salami; I'm a lasagna hog!
Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas!
A Toyota! Race fast... safe car: a Toyota
Straw? No, too stupid a fad; I put soot on warts
Are we not drawn onward, we few, drawn onward to new era?
Doc Note: I dissent. A fast never prevents a fatness. I diet on cod
No, it never propagates if I set a gap or prevention
Anne, I vote more cars race Rome to Vienna
Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus
Kay, a red nude, peeped under a yak
Some men interpret nine memos
Campus Motto: Bottoms up, Mac
Go deliver a dare, vile dog!
Madam, in Eden I'm Adam
Oozy rat in a sanitary zoo
Ah, Satan sees Natasha
Lisa Bonet ate no basil
Do geese see God?
God saw I was dog
Dennis sinned

On the other hand, several of my friends and I were very entertained by Wednesday's OBSERVATION:

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.

When I shared this with my wife, she recited her favorite Dr. Phil quote "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy!?!"


Here's a video that should make us all feel better:

Rule 53

There are too many sailing rules. It is a popular contention, and some feel it holds the sport back. Rules experts point out that despite the girth of the rule book, it is only the 14 rules in Part 2 that are relevant on the race course. To provide a simpler rules guide, Scuttlebutt posted in March 2009 an abbreviated rules publication by Ken Quant titled 'The Basic Sailboat Racing Rules All Racers Should Know'. US SAILING also provides a simplified, pocket sized rules guide to help.

Now the America’s Cup defender, the Swiss Alinghi team, is coming to the rescue as well. For the next Match, they have decided to eliminate six rules from the rule book. Among them is Rule 53 - Skin Friction. The rule reads, “A boat shall not eject or release a substance, such as a polymer, or have specially textured surfaces that could improve the character of the flow of water inside the boundary layer.” Without this rule, what is it that we will see on these maxi multihulls?

The uproar last week at the Swimming World Championship was about the new generation of body suit that is 100% polyurethane, admittedly better and soon to be banned from that sport. So that is one option. What about air hockey? How cool would it be for tiny air jets along the hull to lift the boat up and out of the water? Better yet, how about bow jets emitting a substance so the hulls glide through something more slippery than saltwater? There has to be some kind of chemical that is faster to sail through than saltwater.

The America’s Cup has always been a source of technology break-thrus that trickle down into the sport. Let’s hope this isn’t one of them.