Batten Down The Hatch

"Batten Down The Hatch"

Batten down the hatch
Cause we're all coming in
Like uninvited guests
Romancing everything
Keep your hands away
From what you can't afford
We don't think that we'll stay
Now that you look bored
God only knows
What Brian Wilson meant
Pick out your clothes
With some real intent
You don't seem to care
That I've been waiting here
Pulling out my hair
For you to come
My dear
I'll go all the way
As long as you go first
Running all this way
Has given me a thirst
Believe in what you want
As long as you can see
What's right in front of you
I guess that that's just me

Florida Keys

Sailing a Hobie Cat in the ocean off the Florida Keys. It doesn't get any better.

Song by the Black Kids called 'I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You'. Huh?

Justin J. Chando SHORT: Islamorada Sail

I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You

You are the girl that I've been dreaming of ever since I was a little girl

One,
I'm biting my tongue
Two,
He's kissin' on you
Three,
Oh, why can't you see?
One! Two! Three! Four!

The word's on the streets and it's on the news:
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you.
He's got two left feet and he bites my moves.
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance, dance, dance, dance
The second I do, I know we're gonna be through.
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you.
He don't suspect a thing. I wish he'd get a clue.
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance, dance, dance, dance

[x2]

One!
I'm biting my tongue.
Two!
I'm kissin' on you.
Three!
Is he better than me?
One! Two! Three! Four!

The word's on the streets and it's on the news:
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance with you.
He's got two left feet and he bites my moves.
I'm not gonna teach him how to dance, dance, dance, dance

The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang

There are plenty of sites around the web which will give you the origins and meanings of nautical slang. Mostly the wrong ones. Etymology is a science: you can't just make stuff up.

What's the scuttlebutt?

'Scuttlebutt' is rumor or gossip. In any community there will be places where people like to exchange the latest gossip. In the days of sail the communal water butt was favorite. One may well imagine sailors swapping yarns around the water butt. But where does 'scuttle' come into it? There are two nautical meanings of 'scuttle'. One means to make a hole in something, as for example a ship, to sink it. The other one means a hatch or opening in the side of a ship for ventilation. Neither one applies here.

In the context of both a hatch and 'scuttlebutt', the word comes from Latin - 'scutella' - a small dish or drinking bowl. A hatch is most commonly square, but a scuttle is most commonly round - dish or bowl shaped - as for instance the round covers for glass portholes. Another type of scuttle deriving its name also from Latin is the coal scuttle.

In the days of sail a water cask would be broached - meaning that it would be newly opened. A dipper on a rope or chain would be to hand. The dipper was originally a bowl - a scuttle. Sailors would pass the scuttle at the butt. This became contracted to 'pass the scuttlebutt'. Finally, 'scuttlebutt' came to mean the rumors and gossip that were passed around the water butt like a scuttle. And the broaching of a cask by an officer was the ideal time to broach a subject with him - to open a topic for the first time. Even better, one might get together with a friend ashore in the snug2 and broach a cask of something stronger.

Broaching a cask of rum is fun. Broaching a ship is about as much fun as running full tilt into a wall. 'Broaching to' is best avoided. If you let go the wheel and the ship swings across the waves so as to slam sideways on into a wall of water - well - that's no time to broach the subject of a helmsman's low wages. -- Read more

Donate your used sails

John and Linda Dodge are into their second month with their Project Sails to Save Haiti, a donation program designed to get as many used sails (the bigger the better but we will take anything) as well as spinnaker poles, lines, and anything else one might think of to construct shelter to over 600,000 Haitians who have been left out in the exposure due to the January 12th earthquake that killed over 230,000.

With the rain season now upon them, time is of the essence. Their focus in on the sailing community of the Chesapeake Bay and will pick up donations with just a phone call. All donations will be shipped to Haiti for distribution to the homeless. North Sails Chesapeake in Annapolis has also agreed to act as a drop off point for local sailors in that area. For more information email or call John at dodger8385@aol.com or 804-334-6950.

Abuse Authorities

Great 'butthead story... here's a letter we recevied from Gayle Höeven:

Couldn’t help but share this after reading the CURMUDGEON’S OBSERVATION in Scuttlebutt 3051 on Thursday, March 18, 2010:

"You might be a sailing bum if your doctor reports your injuries to Abuse Authorities."

When first married (1978) the ladies I worked with would leave pamphlets regarding spousal abuse on my chair after each weekend of brutal one design Cal 20 racing. But the best one was when I went to the Gynecologist, and he asked his Nurse to call the authorities, because I had hand-print bruises on both checks of my behind... My husband had hoisted me up quickly to catch the main halyard that had gotten away. Oh, now those were the days.

Demolishing America's Cup history

Planning Board to Consider Demolition Permit for Home of Former Rival America’s Cup Skipper

NEWPORT, R.I. – The house that once served as home to the skipper who stunned the world by defeating the U.S. in the 1983 America’s Cup on board Australia II, is being eyed for demolition. The property, located at 32 Dennison St. in the city’s historic yachting village, features a faded plaque, overgrown with creeping vegetation that reads “The John Bertrand House.”

Bertrand, with Australia’s innovative winged keel design bested defending champion Dennis Connor on Liberty in what would be the last Cup held in Newport.

The property, which is long past its glory days, is being eyed for demolition as part of a proposed expansion of the St. Clare Home, located on the corner of Spring and Dennison streets. -- Read more

Bacardi Miami Sailing Week 2010

Photographer Chris Silken is among a list of professional shooters that we really like working with. Here is a note that he just sent us:

Here’s the link and embed code for the Bacardi Miami Sailing Week slideshow if your readers would be interested in more photos of the event:

http://www.photoshelter.com/c/silken/gallery/2010-Bacardi-Miami-Sailing-Week/G0000gHRr2xkCjUY


2010 Bacardi Miami Sailing Week
Images by Cory Silken

Next stop: St. Barth’s Bucket

Cheers,
-C

Larry Ellison

My name is Ellison - Larry Ellison

Intrepid yachtsmen arrive in Sydney

By Peter Campbell

(March 15, 2010) - Intrepid sailors Alex Whitworth and Peter Crozier have reached their home port of Sydney today, Monday, 15 March 2010, at approx. 1200hrs, ending the second of two remarkable circumnavigations in their little 10m sloop Berrimilla.

Members of their home clubs, the Royal Australian Navy Sailing Association (RANSA) and the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, met Berrimilla as she sailed through Sydney Heads at 12.00hrs and is now berthed at the CYCA.

Berrimilla’s final leg, from Hobart to Sydney, marks the end of their second circumnavigation in Berrimilla – the first was a Sydney – Hobart (Race) – Fastnet (Race) – Sydney – Hobart (Race) combination of cruising and racing, via Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope. No other yacht has sailed in both the Rolex Sydney Hobart in Australia and the Rolex Fastnet Race in England in the one year and then sailed back to contest the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

The second circumnavigation has been a voyage from Australia to England through the daunting North West Passage across the top of Canada to again contest the Rolex Fastnet Race, and a delayed return voyage that took Whitworth and Crozier in Berrimilla down to the French-owned Antarctic Kergelen islands before reaching Hobart on 1 March.

After a week to spruce up the Brolga 33 and give her a much-need slipping and anti-fouling, Berrimilla and her crew set sail from the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania last Monday, 8 March. At noon today, Berrimilla was off Ulladulla on the NSW South Coast after a fuelling stopover in Eden.

Berrimilla is the first yacht to circumnavigate the world under sail via the North West Passage and the first to circumnavigate via both Cape Horn and the North-West Passage – opposite ends of the Americas.

She is also the first Australian yacht to sail through the North-West Passage unassisted and in a single season, extraordinary cruises that must rank Whitworth and Crozier as Australia’s greatest living seamen.

Get ready for April 1st

Publishing the Scuttlebutt newsletter requires contributions from all corners, with the April Fools edition providing the opportunity for the ‘buttheads to really flex their literary muscles. The best stories are the ones that could be true…but aren’t, with the biggest laughs coming from the readers who open up Scuttlebutt for their daily news fix and forget that it is April 1st.

So yes, Scuttlebutt is seeking your stories. Here are some suggestions:

* Volvo Ocean Race: With the event’s desire to gradually reveal information, this event looks to be a prime candidate for tomfoolery.

* America’s Cup: The BMW Oracle Racing team said they would reveal their plan on how to determine the venue and boat for the next event by the end of March. Our advice for the defender is to delay the announcement and let us have some fun.

* ISAF is reminding everyone that the ISAF Sailor Classification Code is changing on April 1st. Don’t they observe April Fools in England?

* The deadline for submitting an Application for Entry for the 2010 Newport Bermuda Race is April 1st. How about an extended entry deadline, a greatly reduced entry fee, and the requirement for only “single-hulled sailing vessels” be banished?

These are but a handful of suggestions. Game on!

Send your contributions to the Scuttlebutt editor: editor@sailingscuttlebutt.com

Hurricane sailing

Oman Sail’s A100 trimaran ‘Majan’ has been battling hurricane force winds in the Southern Ocean on leg 3 of the Indian Ocean 5 Capes Race en route to the next stop over in Fremantle, Australia. The six-man crew led by Paul Standbridge including new recruit Sidney Gavignet and two Omani crew, who are tracing out this new course ahead of the official race in 2012, have had their mettle tested to the limit in these ferocious conditions. ‘Majan’ left Cape Town on 10th March and are approximately 2,300 miles into the 4,600-mile leg, with another 5-6 days before arriving in Fremantle.

How not to launch a brand new boat

Courtesy of Pete McDonald at Boats.com

Rough winter for ice and snow sailing

William Tuthill provides this report on the struggles of a sport that relies on the weather:

“Ain’t it always the way?” Plan an event and everything will go wrong. Not only were we forced to relocate the 30th edition of the World Ice and Snow Sailing Association's (WISSA) Ice and Snow Sailing World Championshi that was two years in the making because of ice conditions that no one had ever encountered before, but, when we did relocate from Baie des Ha! Ha! to Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, the wind chose not to blow!

The real action was in the kite class with 19 meter and larger kites. The windsurfing and wing classes did a lot of waiting. We somehow managed to get off five races that were handily won by lightweight teenagers from Poland. Sleds with 250 cm jumping skis and large race sails have a way of gliding in the lightest of breezes.

Winter windsurfing is alive and growing. The irony of the WISSA Ice and Snow Sailing World Championships being the oldest international race in the history of windsurfing is not lost. I thought that windsurfing was a water sport!

Btw, ever heard of the Saguenay Fjord? WOW! Picture boreal forest fused with ocean water. It is one of the world's few geologic grabels [definition: a parallel set of fault lines that allow the bed rock to drop a few thousand feet]. The resulting gorge intrusion of Atlantic Ocean water into deep northern forest is hard to contemplate. Lobster, whales, codfish, and sharks in the deepest of northern forest? Walk north and you had better be ready. The next civilization you see is in Central Russia. The wilderness is pressing down everywhere. Wildcats, elk, bears, and owls are all around- roads and people are not.
It is an awesome environment for an international sailing event.

Of course, the dreaded warm weather is coming in a month early and destroying the best part of the whole season. March is usually the best with long sunny days and wicked fast ice. Instead it is raining. Bad news........

Playing possum in the 18s

We received this letter from Frank Quealey of the Australian 18 Footers League in Sydney, Australia:

There is rarely a dull moment in the 18 Footers and supporters are never surprised at what might happen, but last Sunday saw a ‘first’ – something even the most ardent follower would have never expected to see in an 18ft Skiff race.

It was the Australian 18 Footers League’s Ferry Patrons Trophy race and involved the Gill Racing Team, led by Dave Alexander.

After a slow start to the race and three capsizes in the 25-knot North east wind on the first lap of the course, Gill was further back in the pack than the team are normally accustomed.

The skiff was near Taylor Bay on the second windward beat when Dave Alexander noticed his two crew members looking into the boat. Thinking there was just a loose spinnaker, or something similar, he ignored their ‘distraction’ and kept sailing.

He noticed their ‘distraction’ continued but thought nothing more about it until crewman Ed called out “look at your leg”.

Dave says: “I almost ---- myself when I saw this thing (a possum) the size of a cat crawling up my leg. I shook it off into the bottom of the boat and it went out the back”.

“We all started laughing and capsized again. The last time we saw the possum it was swimming towards the shore but I don’t know whether it made it safely”.

Dave said this was actually the third time this season they had discovered a possum in the boat – although it was the first one to make it onto the water.

“One crawled out of the bow tube between the bow and the cockpit, then we discovered one dead in the bow tube. This one also came out of the same hiding place so we figure it must be a top spot for possums”.

Strangely, the boat is housed at a concrete car park in an industrial area. Hardly the type of location associated with possums.

Image below shows the Gill 18ft skiff in spinnaker action. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a shot of Dave’s face at the precise moment he saw the possum on his leg so we have taken the liberty above of creating our own image of Dave – based on the concept “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.

Boats suffer in Chile earthquake

On February 27, 2010 at 500 km from the 8.8-magnitude earthquake epicenter in Chile, significant changes in the sea level were observed. The photos below show the marina of the Yachting Club Higuerillas in Viña del Mar, Chile. In the first images the sea level is unnaturally high and then the water practically disappears. -- Enrique Roselló

Proper Course: Strangest Excuse Ever for Losing a Sailing Regatta

Proper Course: Strangest Excuse Ever for Losing a Sailing Regatta

Trailer protection

This would have saved me from dinging a lot of car bumpers and from losing one Star boat.



DuraSafe Coupler Connect is an easy-to-use trailer alignment device that also offers optional protection against accidental trailer uncoupling.

Optimist sail testing

St Maarten Heineken Regatta 2010

Thirty years of the St Maarten Heineken Regatta, 4-7 March 2010.

Shredder

A hot tub gets shredded...



Click here to see other stuff get shredded too.

Tania Elias Calles

March 3, 2010

Aloha Scuttlebutt,

My husband and I are cruisers, former racing sailors, enjoying the sun & breezes on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Our boat/home is currently in La Cruz, center of the action for the ongoing MEXORC series.

Today’s excitement was the arrival of Tania Elias Calles, who sailed a laser from Cabo San Lucas to Puerto Vallarta. This amazing young woman is just 17 years old, and hopes to represent Mexico in the 2012 Olympics. Her crossing of the Sea of Cortez to set a Guinness World Record had a clear objective: “por mi, por Mexico” (for me, for Mexico). She’s hoping this brings attention and support for her goal to represent Mexico in the 2012 Olympics, and more coordinated support from the Mexican companies who help fund their journey to the event.

Watching her come in was a proud moment! Her big smile and triumphant thumbs-up to the supporting crowd said all we needed to know. I could feel my old dinghy racing past creeping up as I watched her come in with my daughters- it was truly inspiring.

Thanks,

Behan Gifford

the America’s Cup is NOT about sailing

This from famed photographer Daniel Forster, following his attendance at the 33rd America's Cup:

Some musings, or müeslings as the Swiss would say, from a photographer.

I could send you some helicopter pictures from the second race where I froze my assets off, but instead will send you the following thousand words:

In the spirit of Jon Stewart, here is some fake news:

The 2010 DoG match was the first America’s Cup race started by the radio message: “Gentlemen start your engines”.

Fact:
Russell Coutts never said:
“Show me another letter from somebody giving us suggestions what boats to use and how to change the event and I will puke”.

When will people realize that the America’s Cup is NOT about sailing?

• Do you want exposure? Run the races during the Super Bowl halftime show!
• Do you want to experience sailing? Go to the Olympic Rolex Regatta, Key West Race Week, or the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.
• Do you want to spend sponsors money and get exposure around the world? Join the Volvo Ocean Race or the future 60 foot catamaran round the world race.

Speaking about Russell Coutts:
There is no truth to the rumor that he got fired by Ernesto because he could not prove that Lake Geneva is on an arm of the sea and that he is having nightmares now because he has to prove that San Francisco Bay is on an arm of the sea.

Speaking about Tom Ehman:
There is no truth to the following claim that, after copying and pasting the 1988 NZ challenge papers, Tom Ehman is now copying and pasting the Ten Commandments to create a new Deed of Gift.

Now to the movie:
Mutiny on the Med. With Johnny Depp playing Tom Ehman and “Silence of the Lambs” actor Anthony Hopkins playing Vice-Commodore Fred Meyer.

You might have noticed that there are no women characters in this movie, it would need a Mata Hari to make it a blockbuster, or: Kimberly Skeen-Jones where are you?

In the meantime, here in Rhode Island we take the predictions one step at a time, San Diego today, Newport tomorrow.

Final thought:
What will Russell Coutts do for his retirement? Go back to New Zealand and engineer wings for the flightless Kiwi.

PS...Message for Larry Ellison:
There is no more room on Mount Rushmore and it is not for sale..


Daniel Forster Photography, 57 High Street, Jamestown, RI 02835 USA