Scuttlebutt Europe #1949

Brought to you by Boats.com Europe, Yachtworld.com Europe, Scuttlebutt Europe is a digest of sailing news and opinions, regatta results, new boat and gear information and letters from sailors -- with a European emphasis. Contributions welcome, send to \n

Preparations Gather Pace For Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice
With two weeks to go until the eight teams are scheduled to assemble for practice sailing in Nice, preparations for the first Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta are gathering pace.

The facilities in Nice are being readied, the race boats are being tested, equalised and prepared for racing, and some of the teams spent some time on ACC yachts last week, working out the kinks ahead of the first race day, November 7.

In Valencia, the site of the last America's Cup where several teams still maintain a base of operations, the four ACC boats that will be used for the racing in Nice have been set-up for the November regatta.

On Tuesday afternoon, two of the boats, GBR 75 (provided by TeamOrigin) and FRA 93 (provided by ALL4ONE - previously known as K-Challenge) arrived in Nice under tow, following a 400-plus nautical mile journey up the Mediterranean coast.

The confirmed line-up of eight world-class sailing teams for the Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice, which runs from the 7th to 22nd November, includes:

- ALL4ONE (FRA/GER)
- Azzurra (ITA)
- BMW ORACLE Racing (USA)
- Emirates Team New Zealand (NZL)
- Swedish Challenge Artemis (SWE)
- Synergy Russian Sailing Team (RUS)
- TeamOrigin (GBR)
- Team French Spirit (FRA)

BMW ORACLE Racing, Emirates Team New Zealand and ALL4ONE (as K-Challenge) each competed in the last America's Cup and TeamOrigin competed in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series earlier this year. While the other four teams are new to ACC racing, experienced Cup sailors are sprinkled throughout their crew rosters. This past week in Valencia, the Synergy Russian Sailing Team and Azzurra had an ACC familiarisation session using boats belonging to Victory Challenge, while ALL4ONE sea-trialled with FRA 93.

The Louis Vuitton Trophy - Nice is the first event inspired by the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland, New Zealand, earlier this year. The host team of the Nice event is ALL4ONE. Further dates and venues for the 2010 season will be confirmed soon.

www.louisvuittontrophy.com

Testing A New Racing Format for the Devoti-One at Garda
Photo by Pierrick Contin, pierrickcontin.fr. Click on image for photo gallery.

The brand new Devoti-One class is set to hold its first official regatta on Lake Garda later this week. The hi-tech, high-performance singlehanded dinghy is attracting at least 10 entries from five countries for a three-day competition from 23 to 25 October, 2009.

Devoti says the class is not just about the boat, but about delivering a different style of racing. "Rather than just accept the usual things that we have come to expect from sailing, we want to try a few ideas, some of which we'll be testing in Torbole:

- Fewer races - maximum of 5 over three days (one discard)
- Last race - Triple Points (so no one wins until it's finished)
- Limited intervention by judges and umpires (they can only act on the protest of another competitor. If a competitor initiates a protest and loses, he is disqualified).

"We believe that these changes will make sailing more enjoyable, more accessible, less exhausting, less confrontational than the racing formats which govern most small-boat regattas these days. But we're going to test everything, until we find the format that sailors really want, not the one that they are expected to conform to."

www.devoti-one.com

An Intriguing Link
Click on image for photo gallery.

As heat 1 of the Traditional 22 ft Dhow Sailing Championships takes to the water on Saturday 24th October it will be interesting to see who wins and to take a good look at the design of their boat and sail. The 22 ft dhow is the training boat not just for new sailors but it is also the prototype for the 43 ft & 60 ft racing dhows and a real family affair. Fathers look to the boat to teach their sons how to sail but also they use it as a tool to test improvements to the increase the effectiveness of their larger racing dhows.

The UAE Marine Sports Federation supports and encourages the sailors to think about not just their sailing but also about the design of the boat and sail as long as they keep within certain guidelines. There is fierce competition between the teams that must include two sailors less than seventeen years of age. Most of the training is done during the racing. The programme has been a success and the fleet has flourished since its inception in 1999 and now boasts a start line of over 70 boats. Dubai International Marine Club runs a Championship through the year and a series of match races to put the sailors through their paces.

The boats, with their shallow hulls and keels are portable and easy to store, cost around US$ 4,000 to make and made mostly in the families back yard with the sails sewn by local tailors. It is an evolving family industry and will be interesting to see how it develops in the future. A new inclusion for this season is that sand bags that have traditionally been used for ballast in the keel and for stability in stronger winds has been banned as an environmental measure.

Henri Lloyd Flare Hood
The Flare Hood, is part of the Henri Lloyd knitted insulation range for 2009, made from Thermal Pro technology from Polartec the Flare Hood provides outstanding warmth without weight, due to the polyester internal velour which creates air pockets that trap air and retain body heat, whilst the knitted face resembles a woollen knit providing both style and function. .

Available both in men and ladies versions, the Flare hood is machine washable and is available in both carbon and light grey.

www.henrilloyd.com/marine

Key West Race Week Fleet Takes Shape
Photo by Ken Stanek / kenstanek.com
Key West, Florida, USA: The fleet grows daily as IRC, PHRF and one design entrants make their intentions known. Key West 2010, presented by Nautica racing begins January 18, 2010.

IRC classes will see the debuts of Laidlaw's latest Fling and at least one new Mills designed (and Sailing World Boat of the Year nominee) Summit 35. The competition under this global handicapping system has been first rate in recent years and 2010 promises to be no different.

Over the past decade the trend towards one design racing has been obvious. For 2010 the Farr 40, Melges 32 and J/80 classes are all projecting strong turnouts.

Key West Race Week and the Miami Grand Prix later in March will ensure that the Farr 40 crews prepare, and then peak, in time for their April World Championship in the Dominican Republic's Casa de Campo. World Champions Jim Richardson (Barking Mad - 2009, 2004, 1998), Vincenzo Onorato (Mascalzone Latino - 2006-2008) and Massimo Mezzaroma (Nerone - 2003) are all bound for Key West. Nerone most recently prevailed in the 2009 European Championship last July in Cagliari, Italy.

The Melges 32 has become a featured class at this mid winter classic. Since their Key West debut in 2006, the numbers have grown each and every year. The quality and size of this popular sportboat class now rivals any in Key West. Their southern winter circuit begins with the Gold Cup in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (30 boats expected) followed by their Mid Winter Championship in Key West and concluding with the Miami Grand Prix.

The J/80 class - with the third largest class in Key West last January - are projecting up to 20 boats next January. Their recently announced 2010 East Coast Tour will kick off in Key West with their Mid-Winter Championship. The tour finishes with their World Championship in Newport, RI next October.

For a decade now the Melges 24 crown has been one of the toughest gets in Key West. The biggest class each year is also routinely one of the most talent-laden. Franco Rossini and his Blu Moon crew (Lugano, SUI) return looking for that elusive crown after finishing a mere 3 points out of first last year.

Other invited one design classes include the J/105, Swan 42 and Farr 30. Corsair 28Rs and 750s will race as a multihull handicapped class.

New this year is a 20 foot sportboat class. At press time, seven different designs had been approved for participation. The K-650, Laser SB3, Audi Melges 20, Open 570, Open 650, Ultimate 20 and Viper 640 classes have all expressed interest in competing in Key West. Final numbers will determine whether they will race one design or together as a handicapped fleet.

www.Premiere-Racing.com

The Big Boats In Hamble
Hamble, England: The Hamble River Sailing Club continued with the long-standing tradition of putting on a fantastic Winter Series weekend, with the Big Boats enjoying a great day of racing on Saturday.

Jenny Shawcroft, the energetic Club Secretary at the Hamble River Sailing Club, was on hand to ensure a smooth running event off the water. "Working with Ritu (Manocha) and the team at 50° North definitely added to the enjoyment of this weekend's series. The Wight Vodka 'red caps' for the class winners went over very well, and there as a hearty "hooray" from the crew of Jammy Dodger when the trophy and bottle of Wight Vodka was handed to Neil Martin, the skipper. Capping the weekend off by serving the Winter Wight cocktail also went down very well!"

On the water, under the Race Direction of Jamie Wilkinson, IRC class, Neil Martin's J-133 Jammy Dodger maintained her domination with two more firsts, with Gary Shaffer and Peter Jackson's Assassin and Ian Matthews Jinja grabbing a win each in races two and four. In the Level Racing 45 foot class all six Farr 45 entries were at the start line, and it was Jerry Otter's Werewolf and Stewart Whitehead's Rebel showing best form in the moderate conditions. Shaun & Emily Frohlich's Exabyte Four had seemed the early series favourite, but their points advantage was gradually eroded by Werewolf, and she clinched the overall trophy by three points.

The Winter Wight:

One shot Wight Vodka
Three shots Cloudy Apple Juice
Splash of Triple Sec
Cinnamon

The Winter Wight is best enjoyed when coming off the water on a cold, rainy, nasty day! Pour the Wight Vodka, cloudy apple juice and triple sec into a clean pan and slowly heat on a stove. When it begins to steam, pour into your favourite cup, add a dash of cinnamon and enjoy with friends and competitors while discussing the day's action.

www.hambleriversc.org.uk

Brad Van Liew Returns to the Velux 5 Oceans
Click on image to enlarge.

Race organisers are pleased to announce that today, Brad Van Liew confirmed his entry in the Velux 5 Oceans 2010-11 race. Van Liew's new ocean racing campaign targets the popular and exciting Eco 60 Class, and constitutes the first United States entry in the race. The move represents a return to the race he famously won in 2003 as the skipper of the Class II Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America.

Van Liew's nascent campaign is currently named "Lazarus" and the American sailor has targeted the Eco 60 Class from the outset. "The new class provides a low-cost platform with true 'green' credentials that appeal to me personally and will also appeal to potential US sponsors," Van Liew said. "I've quietly built a team around me over the past few months to secure the necessary funding and a boat to race competitively and safely, and while there's a huge amount of work to do over the next twelve months, I'm confident that we can cross the starting line in La Rochelle to complete this amazing journey."

Van Liew made his name first as the skipper of Balance Bar in the 1998 edition of the race, sending in gripping daily reports of a horrific Southern Ocean storm that were read by millions. He returned in the 2002-03 race as the skipper of the colourful and patriotic Tommy Hilfiger Freedom America, winning Class II convincingly.

www.oceanracing.org
www.velux5oceans.com

Five Questions to the Ullman Sails Design Team
Smar-Azure Q1: Can you please introduce yourself?
USDT: The Ullman Sails Design Team is directed by David Ullman and includes members of the Ullman Group from Australia, Europe and the United States.

Q2. What type of sails do you design?
USDT: We design all different types of sails, but primarily racing sails.

Q3. How long have you been using AzureProject for?
USDT: We've been using the AzureProject over a year and a half. It's easy to use and very accurate. What you design on the screen is what you get on the loft floor!

Q4. In short, what are the main benefits of using AzureProject?
USDT: In AzureProject, the full set of design tools are all in one package and the 3D display is extremely realistic. We're able to model the hull, rig, headsail and spinnaker tracks and see sails flying in 3D on the model with the sheeting lines displayed. The program also allows us to do our design, aero and structural analysis in-house. For our string sails, the fiber layout tools are extremely versatile and precise. The program produces panels where the fibers line up exactly from panel to panel. Finally, it's easy to work with SMAR Azure team: they're accessible and are receptive to our suggestions.

Q5: Would you recommend the use of AZUREProject to other sail-designers?
USDT: Definitely!

For more info:
Dave Ullman, Ullman Sails President: \n 
Sabrina Malpede, SMAR-Azure Managing Director, \n

smar-azure.com

RS:X Evolution
The ISAF Conference is almost upon us so I thought I'd take this opportunity to bring you up to date on our plans for the evolution of the RS:X equipment after our very successful 2009 RS:X World Windsurfing Championships staged in Weymouth, UK.

First off and an almost immediate cosmetic evolution in the look of the sails. There was a feeling in the ISAF Events Committee last year that our sails could be more colorful. Neil Pryde has responded to this with RS:X Class approval, by proposing to change out the grey film used in the top half of the sails.

The RS:X Class Annual General Meeting voted to accept the proposed 'Lipstick Red' 8.5m film and the 9.5m 'Gold' film. These 'stand-out' colors make following the racing a breeze.

Neil Pryde are now doing accelerated UV testing and will announce when production will start in the New Year.

Secondly, the RS:X AGM voted to give the 'green light' to the light weight hull feasibility study on condition that no change is made to the shape of the hull and that the costs involved in the study are not passed on to the end user.

The first prototype was shown in Weymouth. The RS:X Evo-1 Proto is 14kgs. Neil Pryde are looking for ways to lose more weight without resorting to any exotic solutions. However, early feedback says that Evo-1 is a step ahead.

There are no plans to introduce this evolution before the RS:X AGM has had a chance to vote on any proposed class rule changes resulting from this on-going testing programme and anyway these will not come into effect before January 1st 2013.

"The plan is to lay out a clear pathway for the evolution of the RS:X so that MNAs can plan accordingly" said Class Chairman Mike Dempsey "This staged evolution of the RS:X will ensure that the selected Olympic equipment remains up to date and representative of the whole sport". Neil Pryde, himself, will be in Busan, Korea for the ISAF Conference to answer any questions and demonstrate his continuing support for ISAF, Olympic Sailing and the RS:X in particular. -- Rory Ramsden, COO, RS:X Class Association

www.rsxclass.com

Product Recall: Burke Marine
Australia's Burke Marine has issued a voluntary recall of its Deluxe and Standard Bosun Chairs that were purchased nationally after July 2007 that do not display either a production batch number or inspection label.

Several Bosun chairs that were manufactured between July and August 2007 may have been be fitted with a defective stainless steel lifting ring that, when used, could split or break, causing injury or death.

Burke says that due to the potential danger to users and uncertainty when the Bosun chairs may have been purchased, the product recall applies to all Burke Bosun chairs sold after June 2007.

Anyone who has purchased a Burke Bosun chair after July 2007 is advised to cease using it and contact Burke P/L to organise for free inspection and load testing of the stainless steel lifting ring.

For more information, email \n  or Tel: 61 02 9638 4333

From International Boat Industry, www.ibinews.com

Letters To The Editor - \n 
Letters are limited to 350 words. No personal attacks are permitted. We do require your name but your email address will not be published without your permission.

* From John Rousmaniere: Vain lot, sailors, indeed. That's a fascinating piece about the treasure trove of vanity objects found in the Mary Rose. Here's a good example of the Morale Department at work. A content crew is a good crew, and it really doesn't take much to make people content: some recognition here, a kind word there, and, always, permission to be an individual with unique tastes. Today, the same weight-obsessed ocean-racing skippers who limit how many socks their sailors bring on board also allow them their IPods.

* From Peter Cook: All these claims and counter claims of who invented what and when leave me slightly bemused. Nearly every advance is a development of what went before and has been ever so since the wheel was invented.

I remember back in the late 1960s, just after I had joined my old, and now late, mate Peter Milne, then the editor of Yachts and Yachting and the designer of the Fireball and many other boats, as his assistant editor, we used to run cartoons in each issue. One showed a single-handed sailor who had just crossed the Atlantic claiming that he was the first person to achieve the feat in a yacht with deck beams with a moulded depth of 3⅞ inches; another, at a time of proliferation of new dinghy designs, showed a keen designer clutching a bunch of plans approaching a magazine editor and saying: 'This is the ideal design to fill the gap between 13ft and 13ft 2in."

It was ever so!

* From Stuart Roy: re: Should We Celebrate Yacht Racing's 350th Birthday?

It was well recorded at the time that the first official yacht race took place on 1st October 1661 when King Charles II of England sailing the "Catherine" raced against his brother James, Duke of York, sailing "Anne" on the River Thames. For a prize of one hundred pounds, they raced from Greenwich to Gravesend and back, a distance of around 40 miles. The Duke's boat had gained a small lead by the Gravesend turning mark, only to be overtaken by the King's yacht on a downwind dash back to Greenwich.

In two year's time, on Saturday 1st October 2011 we have the opportunity to celebrate yacht racing's 350th birthday, give our sport and the yachting industry a welcome boost, make a great spectator event for London and raise a bit of money for a sailing charity.

So how would it work?

Perhaps the modern-day equivalent would be for HRH Prince of Wales to challenge his two brothers, sister, and two sons to a yacht race over the original 1661 course. Up to six identical yachts would be borrowed from a charter company (such as The Sunsail Fleet). Each yacht would be captained by a Royal Prince or Princess, but crewed by a team of experienced racing sailors, led by a sailing celebrity such as Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy, Paul Goodison, Dame Ellen Macarthur, Shirley Robertson, Sarah Ayton, etc. A London-based yacht club, preferably one with "Royal" in their title, would organise the regatta. The Mayor, Mr Boris Johnson would be asked to fire the starting gun. A specialist film company such as APP would film the highlights, with commentary by an expert such as Richard Simmonds, and sell it to the TV networks, any proceeds going to a sailing charity such as RYA Sailability or the Ellen Macarthur Trust. These days a sponsor is probably needed to cover the set-up costs and a professional events company taken on to manage the publicity and spectator arrangements.

Does this idea have any merit, or are there other plans to celebrate our sport's 350th birthday?

* From Denis Peres: I enjoyed the thoughtful reactions about the Australia II affair, especially the letters by Daniel Charles and the great German Frers.

Regarding Colin Curtis contribution, with all due respect to Tom Schnackenberg, and in the friendly interest of historical exactitude, I bring the following to your attention:

Upwind sails for Australia II were certainly from North, and remembered for their "leechcut" design.

Spinnakers, it seems to me, were from Sobstad....and Hugh Treharn from Sobstad Australia was onboard as tactician, while Tom Whidden from Sobstad USA was on Liberty.

Those spinnakers are easily identified by their characteristic sail numbers design (Americana police) as it was before the "continuous thickness of lettering" rule came into existence.

In those days, almost all sailmakers had specific sail numbers design. It was part of the "identity".

To further confirm this information, may I remind you of one "famous" ad that Sobstad ran just after the 1983 Cup ? It was saying " We were pulling for both sides....", with a picture of the two twelves.

Liberty's sails came from Sobstad, of the Whidden / Conrad era.

How do I know all this, you may ask ?

I am 56 years old, a sail consultant for Quantum Sails Europe, and I joined Sobstad a month after the Cup in 1983.

I wonder if anybody remembers a black and white picture published in "Yachting", before the Cup, of the empty construction shed of Australia II, where the "shadow" of the wings was visible on the ground after the hull was faired. There was white dust everywhere, except under the keel area. Amazing.... I will search in my archives !

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1990 75' Vaton Sloop 'Javelin', EUR 800,000. Located in Marmaris, Turkey.

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She is now in superb condition.

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The Last Word
To gulp down anger is the most courageous act one can perform. One who does it becomes humble. -- Meher Baba

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Scuttlebutt Europe #1949 - 22 October

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