Quantum Sails contest

Click here for details.

John Biddle videos

On the night of April 30, 2009 the Herreshoff Marine Museum / America's Cup Hall of Fame inducted John Biddle, Thomas Ratsey, and John Longley into the America's Cup Hall of Fame at a spectacular evening at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan, presented by Rolex Watch USA. Biddle, who passed away October 1, 2008, was represented by his son and daughter, Scott and Sophie, who accepted his award on his behalf, and his wife Amy acknowledged how pleased John had been to be nominated.

Spanning more than 40 years as the foremost yachting cinematographer-lecturer, John Biddle has sailed with Ted Turner, Dennis Conner, Ted Hood and dozens of other skippers on the U.S. east coast, Great Lakes, and west coast. He has raced to Bermuda 11 times, was aboard the winning yacht to Halifax in 1957, cruised among the icebergs off the coasts of Labrador and Greenland, sailed the SORC several times, and crewed aboard square-riggers in the North Sea.

Biddle pursued a life of sailing, travel and adventure, while at the same time making a living as a film-lecturer. Lean and fast moving, he was proficient at all things nautical including one-design racing and off-shore cruising or racing. He was thus able to combine his love for the sea and knowledge of sailing with a talent for film-making, resulting in 40 shows in 40 years, often highlighting the America's Cup.

However, at the request of his family, all of Biddle’s videos are being withdrawn from the market effective July 1st. These will likely become collector’s items and yacht clubs may wish to add them to their libraries. Anyone wishing to purchase them can go to the SEA-TV web site at www.sea-tvproductions.com or email: seatv1@gmail.com.

Excerpts above from the Herreshoff Marine Museum website.

Emotional Intelligence

So glad that people are looking after me:


Dear Mr. Leweck,

It was brought to my attention last week that you are the Editor at Scuttlebutt e-Newsletter, and I want to make sure you received your copy of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 from Simon & Schuster.

Emotional intelligence is critical in these trying times, and I think the book will appeal greatly to your audience. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 teaches readers step-by-step how to increase their EQ, and it includes a unique passcode in each copy so that readers can test their EQs online. The book's test and strategies are based upon research with more than 500,000 people worldwide.

Consider these findings from Emotional Intelligence 2.0:

AN EMOTIONAL EPIDEMIC - Just 36% of people can accurately identify their emotions as they happen.
KEEP YOUR JOB - EQ explains 58% of job performance, and 90% of top performers are high in EQ.
MAKE MORE MONEY - A one point increase in EQ adds more than $1,300 to an annual salary.

The book received glowing endorsements from The Dalai Lama, Stephen Covey, and Ken Blanchard, among others. Craig, if for some reason you haven't received your copy, just let me know where you'd like it sent and I'll make sure you get one.

Warmly,

Michael

Michael Schmidt
Director of Public Relations
TalentSmart
858-509-0582 x 250
mschmidt@TalentSmartdev.com

PS - In case you'd like to try the EQ test that comes with the book, I've included instructions and a passcode for you below.


1) Go to: TalentSmart.com/test
2) Click on "TAKE THE TEST"
3) Enter this passcode when prompted: EIQ9BWDZJV

iPhone wind speed application

Wind Meter - use your iPhone to measure wind speed. Wind Meter works by measuring the volume of the wind on your iPhone microphone and converts it into a wind speed reading. To use, simply point the microphone into the wind and push Get Wind! Wait a few seconds and push Got Wind! The final reading is the average of the period.

Summer Sailstice

The 9th Annual Summer Sailstice to be held June 20/21, 2009



Summer Sailstice is the global holiday celebrating sailing held annually on the summer solstice, the longest sailing days of the year.

The annual Summer Sailstice sailing event is free to all participants, with well over 2,000 boats and nearly 10,000 people taking part in the celebration. It's easy to participate, with Summer Sailstice participants who register automatically becoming eligible to win one of over 300 prizes from our sponsors, from yacht charters to sailboats to gift certificates from top sailing retailers.

Just sign up here and go sailing!

World Superyacht Awards

In case you were busy on May 16th...

The 2009 World Superyacht Awards, the most glamorous evening in the yachting calendar, was attended by 500 guests, 150 of whom were superyacht owners and their personal guests. Now in its fourth year, the World Superyacht Awards celebrates excellence in the design and build of superyachts, recognising the dedication and passion of owners and the talents of the builders, naval architects and designers who delivered the most outstanding yachts of 2008.

Winner, winner, chicken dinner: http://www.worldsuperyachtawards.com/2009_winners

Suspended eligibility

It is nice to see that a prominent American name no longer resides on the latest update from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) website on the athletes that currently have their eligibility suspended:

* Christine Johnston (GBR) - from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2009 - Anti Doping violation, refusal.

* Simon Daubney (NZL) - from July 14, 2007 to July 13, 2009 - Anti Doping violation, presence of cocaine metabolites.

* Juan Diego Nunez (MEX) - from July 26, 2008 to July 25, 2009 - Gross beach of good manners and sportsmanship.

* Mr Anders Steen Gotschalk (DEN) - from Oct. 5, 2007 to Oct. 5, 2009 - Anti Doping violation, presence of cocaine metabolites.

* Shinya Kunieda (JPN) - from Nov. 1, 2007 to Oct. 31, 2009 - Breaking RRS 5 (banned substances and method).

In the two years that Scuttlebutt began publicizing the list of suspended sailors, this is the fewest individuals that we can recall being listed. We hope it can stay that way.

ISAF website -- http://www.sailing.org/suspended-sailors.php

Paul Cayard's 50th Birthday

If you've played the game of sailing at a high level, odds are Paul Cayard has kicked your arse at some point.

And now he's achieved another milestone - turning the big FIVE-O on May 19th.

Help Paul blow out his candles, and click on the comments link to send him your birthday wishes.


Here Paul is definitely not acting his age, teaming up with Howie Hamlin for the 505 Worlds to be held on San Francisco Bay later this year.

Free GPS sports tracking

Sent to Scuttlebutt... seemed interesting:

Free GPS sports tracking for mass participation events

UK-based Map My Tracks is making GPS tracking accessible to sports events of all sizes, thanks to its new events management system and price plan. Competitors just need a compatible GPS-enabled mobile phone with the MMT Tracker installed to track their progress in an event. The Map My Tracks Event Manager shows a live position and track for each competitor as they move around the event course. It also allows event organisers to display a live bird’s eye view of the race activity on a branded web page.

Click here for additional information.

Auction house

An auction section has been now added to the Scuttlebutt Forum, to help facilitate the transfer of a few items:

Level Regatta 2008 Mount Gay Hat - free
Battened Hiking shorts - 40% discount
Autographed t-shirt from Volvo Ocean Race - Charity

The autographed Scuttlebutt University t-shirt was signed by all the skippers competing in the Volvo Ocean Race 2008/9 at the Boston stopover. This is a one-of-a-kind item, and 100% of the proceeds for this item will go to a sailing charity to be named later.

View all items here: http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/forum/auction

Multihull momentum

The Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship is the absolute premier youth event… period. For the young sailor that is immensely gifted or a tremendous hard worker, merely qualifying for the event is an honor. It is clearly one of the most visible stepping stones toward Olympic level competition.

If ever there was a master plan in the sport of sailing, the type of boats used in the Youth Worlds would reflect those used in the Olympics. And nearly they do. A boys and girls division exists for the Laser Radial, the International 420, and the RS:X (with 8.5m2 sail & 60cm fin). These are all very close or identical to the current slate of Olympic sailing events. But then there is one oddity… the open division using the Hobie 16 with Spinnaker.

What in the world is a catamaran doing at the Youth Worlds? Didn’t the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) banish the multihull from the Olympic Games? Of course they did, so why in the world is ISAF permitting this odd craft in the Youth Worlds? Better yet, what in the world are all these highly prized youth sailors doing in this dead-end event?

But wait, what is this we are hearing from the International Hobie Class Association? They have just announced that the 2009 Youth Worlds in Brazil (July 9-18) has attracted the largest number of multihull entries than ever before. Is there a connection here - no Olympics means more interest in multihull sailing. Or could there be an epic disconnect, where the multihull discipline has lost its Olympic event right when youth interest was at an all-time high.

For those keeping score, the multihull event got eliminated when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandated that ISAF reduce the size of Olympic sailing from 11 to 10 events for the 2012 Olympics. However, there is a chance now that the IOC will allow the next Games to return to 11 events, but they won’t decide this until their June 15-16th meeting. As for what this 11th event might be, that will be on the “to do” list for the 2009 ISAF Mid-Year Meeting to take place in Warsaw, Poland on May 7-11, 2009.

Full disclosure

I was sent information from Glowfast Marine about their Luminous Draft stripes. This is posted on their website:

Using patented products and our own revolutionary processes to incorporate extraordinary glow in the dark capabilities into lightweight and durable products for yachts, powerboats and commercial vessels. All Glowfast products and materials are built to withstand the harsh marine environment.Our products contain specifically designed materials that automatically charge and then glow in the dark for up to 20+ hours.

Along with the information was two images of their Luminous Draft Stripes. These images are posted below. One image is to show the stripes during the day and one is to show the stripes at night. When I looked at the images, I could tell they were the same, but that the night image had been edited to make it look like it was night and to make the stripes look like they were luminous.





When I pressed the company, marketing manager Brita Fowler said:

"Our photograph has been retouched for the night shot as we are unable to take "action" shots of the draft stripes. The product requires long exposure to photograph properly hence the photoshop."

Personally, I would like to believe that Glowfast Marine actually has draft stripes that luminate at night. I also would like to believe that it is hard to photograph these stripes at night. But, I have to believe that if you are sending out photos that have been edited to show this, you better have full disclosure on the front end... and there was none.

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