Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Finish 2nd at Miami Olympic Classes Regatta
Posted on February 5th. Look for next posting on February 22nd.
Scott and Julia looking upwind prior to a start.
After a tough first day in the SKUD 18 class, Scott and Julia rallied, finishing off the Miami OCR with finishes of 1-2-1-2-1. It was a predominantly light air event; the breeze in the windiest race was only about 11 knots. Several races were held in the 3 – 5 knot range. Nick Scandone and Maureen McKinnon-Tucker excelled in the conditions, winning the first 5 races of the event. With no finish worse than 3rd, Nick and Maureen were in control of the regatta from beginning to end.
Scott and Julia entered the event this year hoping to repeat their 1st place performance from the 2007 Miami OCR. Although they were unable to duplicate that feat, the pair were happy with how they performed. Scott Whitman remarked, “We had a tough one early on, but we are happy with how we sailed after that. Nick is going really well right now. You make one mistake, and he’s gone.”
Scott and Julia just after rounding a windward mark in 1st Place.
Rounding a leeward mark in close quarters.
Scott and Julia should be happy with how they sailed. They were very fast, and had excellent boathandling. It was great to see team
Bull and Bear Sailing Carl Horrocks, smiles after winning a race in the 2.4 Meter Class.
Carl finished 5th overall in the very competitive 25 boat fleet.
SKUDS in Miami
Posted on January 23rd. Please look for next post on February 5th.
I am down in
Scott and Julia rounding a windward mark at the 2007 Miami OCR.
Scott and Julia have their eyes set on a medal, and towards that end, they will campaign straight through the 2012 games. It is very common for sailors to stop their campaigns if they do not win the selection trials, and spend a period of time away from sailing. Scott and Julia have been wise to continue on though. They made great strides leading up to the trials in October, and they can improve even more while they help Team Scandone/Tucker prepare for the 2008 games.
About the SKUD 18
I went sailing in the SKUD for the very first time last week. Scott was not feeling well, so Julia and I went out for the day together. It really is a sensible design that is very fun to sail.
The class rules are written in a manner that allows sailors of various ability levels to compete on an even playing field. For example, helmsman and crew are both required to sit in seats mounted on the centerline of the boat, and the competitors are not allowed to leave their seats during racing. This allows sailors with very limited mobility to compete evenly with those who are more able. The SKUD 18 does have a lead keel, which contributes most of the boat’s righting moment. In addition to that though, the sailors are allowed to fit their seats with motorized levers which tilt them towards one side of the boat or the other. This allows the sailors to shift their weight to the windward side of the boat. I learned early in my first sail that one wants to start shifting his seat from one side to the other before the tack begins, otherwise you end up leaning over the leeward side of the boat, with your face almost in the water.
Almost every SKUD is set up with all the control lines leading to the crew, because many of the helmsmen have limited use of their arms, or they are unable to grip lines very well. This makes it very busy for the crew, especially at the leeward mark, as the spinnaker must be doused, then the mainsail, jib and other control lines such as the vang and cunningham need to be trimmed.
The standard steering system is comprised of two levers, one on each side of the seat, and the helmsman can head up or down by pushing and pulling on the levers. It took me a few minutes to get used to this system, and I even steered us in the wrong direction twice as we were leaving the harbor (this may have shaken Julia’s confidence in coach!). It is a similar sensation to that of steering with a wheel for the first time, after learning how to sail by using a tiller. You are used to motion in a given direction producing a given result, and it can be surprising when the exact opposite happens.
The SKUD steering system - notice the levers in each of Scott’s hands.
The jib is a non-overlapping self-tacking sail, which makes things a little easier for the crews who trim both the mainsail and the jib. But the sail trimmer is still pretty busy, as the boats become overpowered in about 8 knots of wind, so vang, cunningham, and mainsheet are always need adjusting. Upwind the boat is quite lively, and it drives really nice. Downwind, the boat smokes right along once the asymmetric spinnaker is raised. The boat is capable of planning in about 11 or 12 knots of wind, so it is a really fun ride off the breeze.
The Miami OCR will begin next Monday, January 27th, and it will run through Friday, February 1st. Please follow Scott and Julia at that event, and throughout their campaign to win Gold at the 2012 Games!
Good Luck Scotty!!
C-Class Catamaran - The Cogito Project
Steve Clark and Duncan MacLane sailing Cogito in 2004.
Posted on Thursday, January 10th. Look for next posting on Wednesday, January 23rd.
In March of 2004 I was fortunate enough to start working for Steve Clark in preparation for the International C-Class Catamaran Championship. The event was scheduled for the following September. I wrote a posting several weeks ago where I described my first sail on a Tornado as feeling like I was on a spaceship. I had that feeling again the first time I sailed on a C-Class, except that, the feeling of sailing on a spaceship did not really go away the more time I spent on the boat. Modern C-Class cats, such as
Length – 25 feet
Beam – 14 feet
Sail Area – 300 square feet
Crew – 2
Trapeze – 2
Lars Guck and I racing Patient Lady VI.
For a quick comparison, a C-Class is 5 feet longer than a Tornado and 4 feet wider. A Tornado has only 34 square feet more upwind sail area, and the boats are raced with about the same sized crew. Note that there is NO minimum C-Class weight. Cogito weighs in at about 375 pounds; this is only 35 heavier pounds than the Tornado class minimum.
The result is an unbelievable sailing machine. A C-Class can fly a hull in just about 4 knots, which is unheard of. But more amazing than that is the boat’s ability to sail through lulls. The boat is so light, and its sail plan and blades are so efficient that once Cogito is flying a hull, it can sail through patches of almost no wind at all.
Steve and Duncan demonstrating the speed of the C-Class in extremely light air.
However, the first thing I noticed when I got on board was not how light the boat was, but how the sail did not luff. It made these loud, creaking noises in stead. As you probably know, modern C-Class cats have a hard sail, also known as a wing sail. Cogito’s wing has three distinct ‘elements’ which rotate on a series of hinges in a manner similar to that in which the aft flaps of an airplane wing move. The manipulation of these elements allows the sailors to induce shape into the wing, or, trim the sails. When the boat is stopped, rather than hearing a sail luff, one hears creaking, and an occasional bang, as each of the elements swings back and forth. I can try and explain further about how a C-Class wing is trimmed, but I think I would be unsuccessful. Almost every C-Class wing is different, and my explanation would be useless without several drawings which I do not have (I can try and draw for you myself, but you would probably just laugh at me).
The upwind VMG of the C-Class is almost unmatchable, it sails higher and faster than almost anything you have ever seen. But more surprising is how smooth and quiet the ride is. The boat is almost noiseless, just one narrow hull knifing through the water, with two crew, 14 feet away from that point, flying high above the water.
Lars and I, sailing Patient Lady VI with experimental lifting foils
Brief History of the C-Class
The first C-Class race took place in 1961. In 1962, Van Alan Clark (Steve’s father), had an entry in the competition. That year the victor was Hellcat I, sporting an innovative idea – cross beams. Previously, most catamarans had a solid deck connecting the hulls. Hellcat’s cross beams allowed for a much lighter platform, and brought home the C-Class crown as a result.
It is unfortunate that C-Class events have not received more attention over the years, as the sailing and design talent involved in the projects is usually top-notch. Prior to designing the Olympic Tornado, Reg White designed several C-Class Cats. Van Alan Clark, whose contributions to the sport both on and off the water are too numerous to mention here, built the World’s first boat with a canting keel, the Red Herring. The 6 person team Steve put together to build Cogito included David Hubbard and Duncan MacLane. Both David and Duncan were on the design team for the catamaran which defended the
Of course, the C-Class is now most widely known because of the wing sails which all boats use. The first wing sail appeared at a C-Class championship in 1974 on Miss Nylex, and it was made of spruce and balsa. Miss Nylex won the title that year, but was defeated by a soft sail boat (Aquarius V) the following year, mostly because Aquarius V was lighter. However, the future was clear, and C-Class engineers have been trying to find ways to make both their wings, and platforms lighter and more efficient ever since.
Most C-Class participants have been either American, British, or Australian, but challenges have also come from
Steve and Duncan, sailing upwind in Cogito.
After Cogito won the C-Class title handily in 1996, there were no challenges until 2004. Cogito won handily again, with Patient Lady VI finishing second, an Australian entry finishing 3rd, and a British entry finishing 4th. Just after the 2004 regatta, a Canadian named Fred Eaton purchased Patient Lady VI to use as a model for his own project. Fred built Alpha and raced against
Merry Christmas!
Don’t be that guy.
A friend sent me these pictures a while ago. I do not know what event they are from. Probably makes you feel better about the last mistake you made though. More are below.
I’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback about this blog, but mostly regarding pictures. I am a little short on time right now, so rather than write an article, I’ve included some pictures of a trimaran crash (and a few news tid bits). I appreciate your feedback, and I am happy to hear suggestions about how to improve the site.
Francis Joyon – Is still on pace to beat Ellen MacArthur’s around the world record. He’s got a little while to go, but he’s tearing it up right now. I believe he is averaging just under 20 knots an hour at the moment, not bad for sailing by yourself.
Royal Yachting Association letter – The RYA’s Chris Atkins recently sent a letter to ISAF President Goran Petersson asking that the slate of Olympic Sailing disciplines be reconsidered. ISAF can review this decision at a meeting in May of 2008. The letter cited recent requests by the International Olympic Committee which included making Olympic sailing more media friendly, more focused towards younger athletes, and focused towards developing the sport in more countries. To that end, the letter states that in 2002 the IOC actually recommended to ISAF that there should be a reduction in the number of keelboat events at the Olympics. Reasons for that recommendation include the high cost to run keelboat events (compared to dinghy events), and that the keelboat events “suit the resources and physiques of established Olympic sailing nations and are hardest for new ones to break into.”
I did not intend to bring this issue up again, because I thought it was over and that multihulls were out of the 2012 Olympics. But there are several countries pushing the issue with ISAF, including the
On a side note, I was surprised by the statements in Chris Atkins’ letter regarding the state of Olympic sailing in general. Although sailing does not have the media appeal of many other Olympic sports, I always understood that sailing was a sport the IOC looked upon favorably. Furthermore, it was my belief that it is a very popular sport worldwide in terms of people who participate in sailing. Mr. Atkins letter suggests otherwise. I am not sure what the facts really are. I saw Chris Atkins’ letter on Sailing Anarchy the other day, but it is not there anymore. I am not sure where on can find it now.
420 Clinic in
That’s why you need an escape hatch.
The Mitchell Report
I love baseball. I watch baseball all the time. In fact, if there was no such thing as baseball, this blog would probably have 10 times the content it does right now. I even get depressed after the baseball playoffs are over. I am excited to have just learned that the Red Sox will open their season a week early next year. But the games will be in
But I digress, back to the task at hand.
It is refreshing that Senator George Mitchell’s report on his investigation into the use of performance enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball was made public. Baseball players should be made to play by the same rules as other athletes. People will always try to cheat, in any sport. But sports organizers should put forth their best efforts to ensure that the playing field is level. It is their duty to the competitors, and to the fans. The testing program for Olympic athletes is so strict, compared to that of Major League Baseball, that it is ridiculous.
As we speak, there are American sailors training to go to the Olympics. They are paying for their sailing with their own money, and donations made to their non-profit organizations. Conducting a sailing campaign in the
US Anti-Doping’s list of banned substances is comprehensive to say the least. It includes everything from anabolic steroids and HGH to recreational drugs such as cocaine and marijuana. It also includes some over the counter medicines and used to proscribe the maximum level of caffeine one can have in his or her system. I campaigned Tornados from 2001 – 2004. During that period, I was told that someone my size was in danger of failing a USADA test if he had more than 3 cups of coffee a day. Caffeine has since been removed from the banned substance list, fortunately.
The WADA policy states “The presence of a prohibited substance in an athlete’s urine (or blood, when applicable) constitutes an offense, regardless of the manner in which the Prohibited Substance came to be in the athelete’s system.” Representatives from USADA recommend that individuals be extremely conscious of every pill and protein shake they put into their body. Manufacturers of illegal performance enhancing drugs often also produce legal drugs, vitamins, and supplements. It can be the case that trace elements of the illegal drugs appear in the legal ones. Individuals have failed USADA drug tests in this way in the past (although I do not think any sailors have). Many individuals in USADA’s testing pool refuse to take any cold medicines or vitamins at all, for fear of failing a test in this way. Almost everyone refuses to buy medicines when traveling out of the country, as it is too difficult to verify their source. This makes life difficult if you get run down on the road. Barry Bonds said he did not know what “the cream” and “the clear” were. That would not have gotten him very far with a USAD agent. But is got him the Major League home run record.
Seventeen aspiring Olympians received penalties from USADA this year. The most lenient suspension was to a weightlifter that had THC in his system. He received a 3 month suspension from competition. Several individuals on the 2007 list, including Marion Jones and Floyd Landis, received suspensions and were stripped of their results. One track athlete was banned from competition for life. Two people were cited for “failure to submit to doping control”, which probably means they missed their tests. Their suspensions were one year and two years. It is not that hard to have a missed test. Everyone in the testing pool is required to submit quarterly calendars detailing their training and competition schedules. These must be detailed almost down to the hour. So on December 1st, one has to be able to say where they will be on February 20th, at 2 PM. Of course, one can update travel plans, but this is difficult to keep up with (it used to make me feel like I was a teenager, calling my mom to see if I could stay out late). If an individual is not where they stated they would be, they have two hours (or maybe four, I forget), to turn up, or they receive a missed test. Three missed tests = a suspension. All of this information can be found on www.usantidoping.org.
Although I am critical of how inconvenient and condemning the USADA testing policies are, I understand their purpose. For even with such strict policies, people will try to cheat, and they do figure out how to pass tests while using performance enhancing drugs. Marion Jones is a prime example. But it is shocking that amateur athletes are subject to such strict testing, while
Major League Baseball has been trying, kind of, to ban performance enhancing drugs for many years. But the players’ union is strong, and MLB never fought that hard about it. Just as importantly, Barry Bonds hitting home runs sells tickets. The league did not really mind seeing players find ways to enhance their performance.
Finally though, in 2002, it became illegal to use performance enhancing drugs in baseball. But tests were infrequent. In 2005 the penalty for a first-time positive test was increased from 15 games to 50 games. That is under one-third of one baseball season. Several pro baseball payers have failed tests, served suspensions, and are back on the field, earning huge contracts. There current program is hardly a deterrent. One is unlikely to be tested, and even if one tests positive, the suspension is lenient. For an amateur athlete, the mere publication of a failed test could end his or her career. It is hard enough to raise money for an Olympic effort when things are going right. Trying to raise support after failing a drug test would be rather difficult.
Who knows what will happen next? Will the Mitchell Report actually lead to an effective testing program for baseball? Maybe. Will anyone named in the report be suspended? Maybe, maybe not. Senator Mitchell actually recommends that no one in his report be suspended. This is surprising. If the guy at my gym drops his stash on the floor in front of the cop who uses the locker next door, he gets arrested. But if you make 10 million dollars a year, and use HGH, they just tell you not to do it anymore. In the meantime, fathers all over New York City have to explain to their 10 year old kids what Human Growth Hormone is, and why their favorite player, Roger Clemens was not supposed to be using it. Then they have to explain why Roger Clemens is suing the league, and why it is hard for guys that use HGH to get voted into the Hall of Fame.
It is idealist to think the sports world will totally eliminate the use of performance enhancing drugs. But it should try, and everyone, in every sport, should be held to the same standard.
Sailing on a Spaceship
Just after I graduated from Boston University, I decided to charter a Tornado for the 2000 Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. Jon Baker and I (we were competitors in college while he was at Tufts University), made plans to race the regatta together. We chartered a boat from Richard Feeny, who took us out for our first sail a couple of days before the regatta. Neither of us had ever been on a multihull before. All three of us went on the boat for our orientation sail. There was not much breeze at all when we left the beach that day at the Miami Yacht Club.
Every type of boat has its own characteristics which make it feel a little bit different. The length, beam, sail area, boat weight, and all the other design variables make each boat sail in a unique fashion. On the other hand, a boat is a boat. Right? I thought differently about five minutes into that sail. We got one puff (which was probably no more than 6 knots), the boat began to fly a hull, and I felt like I had gotten whiplash (I kind of wanted a seat belt). The ease of acceleration was so foreign to me. It was amazing how effortlesssly the boat wanted to go forward. I learned later why the Tornado is so efficient.
Its dimensions are,
Length – 20’
Beam – 10’
Total Boat Weight – 155 kilos (341 pounds)
Mast Height – 30’
Sail Area – mainsail – 16.35 sq. meters (176 sq. ft.)
Jib – 5.29 sq. meters (57 sq. ft.)
Spinnaker – 25.77 sq. meters (277 sq. ft.)
Crew – 2 (average crew weight of about 320 pounds)
Trapeze – 2
Considering the numbers, a couple of things become apparent.
Boat Weight - At 20 feet long, and weighing in at 341 pounds, it is a very light boat. Compare this to two other very strong racing classes, the Lightning – 20 feet long, 960 pounds, and the Melges 24 – 24 feet long, 1780 pounds.
Crew Weight – I state the average crew weight at about 320 pounds, although that may not be totally accurate. But the range of crew weights in the fleet is something like 300 pounds up to about 360. The Tornado is a big boat with a lot of sail area for two people. But with two trapezes and a 10 foot beam, your 320 pounds exerts plenty of leverage. This is another odd sensation for the first time Tornado sailor, your head is really far from the middle of the boat when out on the wire. Almost all production beach cats are no wider than 8′ 6″, the legal width for trailering down a road. A Tornado is more time consuming to rig and derig, because its beams must be removed for trailering. But it is much faster than comparable beach cats in breeze because of its wider beam.
High Aspect Sails – The Tornado’s 30’ tall rig allows for a very efficient sail plan.
There are some other important factors not obvious from looking at the boat’s dimensions. One comes to mind pretty quickly - catamarans can fly a hull. When a multihull flies a hull, its wetted surface is reduced dramatically, and the boat goes faster. Another factor is less obvious when watching a catamaran sail, but readily apparent when onboard – the rig rotates. Mast rotation dramatically increases the efficiency of the mainsail. On any boat where the mast does not rotate (which is most sailboats), the mainsail area immediately aft of the mast is not working efficiently (and on some boats, hardly at all) because the mast is disturbing the airflow over that part of the sail. By allowing the mast to rotate, one can position the mast so it allows the wind to flow correctly over the entire mainsail. Equally as important, when the mast is rotated at the correct angle, the wind flows efficiently around the mast itself and so it also creates lift. Thus, rotating rigs make the mainsail more efficient, and they really add area to the sail plan too. This is why all multihull handicap systems require the mast height and mast chord length to be submitted when assigning ratings. Rotating masts are counted as sail area.
That day of our first sail was not quite sensational enough to make me think I was “sailing on a spaceship”, as the title of this article suggests. It was the second day that made me think that. The breeze was up, probably about 20 knots steady, with gusts that were higher. Feeny was probably having second thoughts about having chartered his boat to us. The rest of the fleet was dying to see what would happen when we left the beach. To put things in context, it was January of 2000, and the 2000 US Olympic Selection was scheduled for April of that year. The fleet was fully active, and at the top of their game after having campaigned for the previous years. And they were pleasantly surprised to get some unexpected entertainment from a few rookies (actually, everyone was very helpful with tips as they were excited to welcome new faces to the class, but they were probably also trying to ensure that we wouldn’t crash into them on the race course).
Zack Leonard suggested we sail around Key Biscayne because that was a “nice, easy” training run. But it also meant we would have to sail out Government Cut. Uh, maybe not on our second day. Finally, we decided we would stay in the enclosed area around the Miami Yacht Club. So leaving the dock, with some assistance from Feeny, and some grinning spectators on the beach, we set out for our sail. We made a small island near Star Island our first destination. That sent us downwind first. We had our instructions, including, “weight back downwind.” The first puff hit us, the bows dug in, the rudders came out, and we understood what “weight back” meant. Clinging to the rear beam, I was trying to remember if we knew how to right the boat from a capsize (I was pretty sure we didn’t). Spray was shooting off the hulls like a firehose; waves were exploding through the trampoline. I did not think I had enough hands to hold on. Then … we had to gybe.
Gybing is actually a relatively safe heavy air move in a catamaran, but we did not know it at the time. The helm went over, the boat was slowly turning, but the mainsail wasn’t coming over. What gives? Suddenly then, “BANG!!” The traveler ripped across the boat, from all the way to leeward on one side to all the way to leeward on the other. We had only been on the water for about 90 seconds, but all the little tips and tricks we were told took on new importance. The one about keeping clear of the traveler car popped back into my head, after watching it whiz by my face. Feeny did mention you could break a finger or hand there (I thought he was exaggerating, but not really).
Much to our dismay, we had to gybe several more times on our way to the monument, as we were sailing in and out of moored boats and other traffic. We managed to stay upright, and not kill ourselves, or anyone else. Although I think we only stayed out for about 30 minutes or so. We had enough excitement for day #2. By the time we had completed one downwind and one upwind run, we wondered if we were on a machine with a mind of its own. The difference was so big to me that we might as well have been a spaceship or an airplane.
After that day, I thought sailing Tornados was like playing a different sport; it seemed so much different than “regular” sailing. But then I sailed the boat for a while, and became used to its sailing characteristics. Although that process did take a while, and came at the costs of bumps, bruises, and broken equipment, I thought again that a “boat is a boat”. This transition from collegiate sailing to Tornado sailing was the same as the transition from any one class to any other. Any class transition requires one to learn heaps of new things (although there are some exceptional sailors who can win in new classes from day one). But once one gets experience sailing a particular boat, it becomes sailboat racing again. You need good boathandling, good boatspeed, and sound tactics if you want to win races.
A couple of years after my first sail on a Tornado, I did have to revisit my belief that “a boat is a boat” again though. This was after my first sail with Steve Clark on his C-Class catamaran Cogito …
Coming Up Next …My next posting will highlight the sailing characteristics of the C-Class Catamaran, and illustrate some of the many interesting development points which have taken place in this class over the years. I know I said this posting would be about the C-Class, but I got carried away with my thoughts about my first sail on a Tornado with Baker.
In Other News …A third boat encountered major problems in the Barcelona Around the World Race. Delta Dore was dismasted yesterday evening in the Southern Ocean. They had to fully cut their rig away an hour later, and mentioned that they were trying to jury rig a sail with some remaining mainsail battens. Forty knot winds, heavy seas, near freezing temperatures, that’s not exactly the most desirable work environment for that kind of troubleshooting. The ISAF web page headline reads, “Southern Ocean Claims Another Victim”, which I thought met someone died. Softer language may have been appropriate there. The current leader Paprec-Vorbac 2 covered 472 miles yesterday. That’s an average of 19.6 MPH!
505’s in Bermuda
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007
I just got back from Bermuda, where I was helping out with a 505 training session. It was for a tuning group organized by Hasso Plattner and Peter Alarie. Three 505’s were sailed by Hasso and Peter, Andy Beekman and Jeff Nelson from Southern California, and Boris Herrman and Julian Kleiner came over from Kiel, Germany. Head coach for the session was Skip Whyte, and I was his assistant. It was a great group to work with, and we got a lot of great sailing in over our eight day session (we were there from November 11 – 19). Bermuda is a very reliable place for wind in the late fall, and very warm. The group had many hours on the water, so it was a rather comprehensive session. We ran several boathandling and starting drills each day, and we were able to get a lot of tuning work in.
We still managed to find a little time to run around the island. Bermuda is an interesting place for several reasons. It is a very isolated place, as it is 600 miles from the nearest land. In an effort to reduce congestion on the roads, which were originally designed to accommodate horses, foreigners are not allowed to rent cars (motorcars did not really become popular among native Bermudians until the 60’s). So tourists rent mopeds, and are readily identifiable by their white helmets (the locals wear black helmets). This branding is safer for everyone though, as it is common for tourists to forget that one drives on the left in Bermuda. Since it is a volcanic island, the landscape is striking, with peculiar rock formations and small caves all over the island. A reef surrounds the island, which makes it an ideal place for diving and fishing. Cost of living is very high in Bermuda though, so one does need to save a bit before planning to visit the island. Pictures of the trip will follow shortly.
In the news …
A-Class Worlds
Glenn Ashby – 9 points, 1st place
Lars Guck - 11 points, 2nd place.
Lars and Glenn battled in an extremely competitive 98 boat fleet which included Pete Melvin (3rd Place), Mitch Booth (5th Place), Charlie Ogletree, Randy Smythe, Howard Hamlin, Cam Lewis, and Goran Marstrom (and several other talented sailors). In addition to Lars’ finish, the Bristol,
Glenn Ashby, almost airborn. Photo by Mel Ashby.
Lars Guck racing downwind. Photo by Lou Vest.
Multihulls and the Olympic Games
There is still a push by the multihull community to alter the ISAF Council’s slate of events for 2012 games. It’s a long shot, but worth a try.
The America’s Cup
Something about a law suit, an improper challenge, and the event dates changing (its all very confusing). There is an occasional mention about the possibility of the next America’s Cup being held in catamarans too. I have been asked about this a bunch of times. Sounds great to me, but that doesn’t mean much. If you asked me about this before last Sunday, I would have said that the possibility of multihulls in the America’s Cup is about as likely as the Philadelphia Eagles (the team I grew up watching) beating the Patriots. But that almost happened. All that means is that Vegas called it wrong though (Pats were favored by 24). We are not going to see multihulls in the next America’s Cup.
Tune in soon for a posting about C-class catamarans, wing sails, and lifting foils.
ISAF Votes to Exclude Multihulls from 2012 Games
ISAF Votes to Exclude Multihulls from the 2012 Games If you do not feel like reading this entire article, please skip to the bottom, and consider visiting the link. This unfortunate decision was made just yesterday at the ISAF annual conference in Portugal. Olympic classes are changed from time to time, and this is always harmful to those who have invested their time and funding in a class that has been excluded from the games. That said, no one would argue that Olympic sailing equipment should remain constant forever.
But the ISAF decision to exclude multihulls from the Olympics is particularly troublesome, not just for multihull enthusiasts, but for the sailing community as a whole. The Tornado is one of the most exciting and athletic classes that will race in the 2008 games (although, given the 2008 venue, it is unlikely that anyone will consider sailing exciting at the upcoming games). The decision to exclude multihulls from the 2012 games will prove counterproductive to sailing’s effort to gain mainstream media attention and to promote its various disciplines.
ISAF President Göran PETERSSON said: “The selection of events for the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition will have a significant impact on the sport around the world. Sailing has a long and glorious history as an Olympic sport and has been on every Olympic programme since 1908. The ten events chosen for the London Games provide a perfect showcase of the wide range and diversity of sailing. I am certain they will form the backbone of a terrific Olympic Sailing Competition in 2012.” (copied from www.sailing.org).
The 10 events selected for the 2012 Olympics are,
One person dinghy – men
One person dinghy heavy – men
Two person dinghy – men
Two person dinghy high performance – men
Windsurfer – men
Keelboat – men
One person dinghy – women
Two person dinghy – women
Keelboat, match racing – women
Windsurfer – women
Five dinghy classes, 2 keelboat classes, 2 boardsailing classes, 1 skiff class.
I do not mean to say that the Tornado is a better boat than the Finn, Star, or whatever classes will ultimately be selected to for the above events. But it does not make sense to include 5 dinghy classes, and exclude the only multihull class. At least the boards and the 49er survived the vote.
This is not exactly a “showcase of the wide range and diversity of sailing,” that the ISAF President claims it is. Excluding an Olympic class is a difficult decision, and it did need to be done. That’s fine, but to do so, and then try to tell us the selected classes showcase sailing’s diversity is not right.
There is one possibility, although remote, that the selected events could be changed. The slate the ISAF council chose needs to be approved by the International Olympic Committee. The British Nacra class has organized a petition that will be sent to the IOC. If you are interested, you can sign the petition at the link below. http://www.asnr29.dsl.pipex.com/UKCRA_Press_Release_20071110.doc
Tommy Hilfiger Wins Italy’s Centomiglia Regatta!
In early September, we took the Hilfiger Extreme 40 to the beautiful Lake Garda, located in Northern Italy. Our team was comprised of Americans Randy Smythe, Jonathon Farrar, myself and the Dutchman Mark van Gelderen. The four of us arrived in the village of Torbole on the North end of Lake Garda on September 3rd to prepare the boat for the regatta, and to get some practice time in. In addition to doing some normal boathandling drills, we had a new spinnaker we needed to try out, and we also had to practice doing spinnaker changes. Throughout the 2 years we have been racing the Extreme 40, we had entered only one distance race, and it was short, so we had never practiced sail changes on the boat before.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
We combined our practice time with come corporate entertainment for Tommy Hilfiger. The setting of Lake Garda was excellent for corporate sailing. It is such a beautiful place to sail. Picturesque mountains rise right out of the lake. Small Italian villages dot the hillsides all around the lake. We took several Tommy employees and clients out sailing, and we also spent a day with Marco Melandri, an Italian star on the Moto GP circuit. Although the Extreme 40 was not as fast as his bike, he did find it exciting. He liked the quick movements of the boat, and talked about how funny it was to be darting around on something that was noiseless. After a quick orientation, we gave Marco the tiller, and he liked steering. But he said it felt strange because he had to rely on the crew members to trim the sails, as opposed to his bike, where he is in control of everything.
The Centomiglia Race began around 8:15 AM on September 9th. Roughly 300 boats entered the race, and several fleets had started ahead of us. We were not bound by the normal X40 crew rule of four people, so we brought on a 5th person as tactician and this paid off in spades. Through our hotel manager, we met Roberto Benamati, a world class Star sailor, and 7 time winner of the Centomiglia Race. Whenever you can stack the cards in your favor, you do so. Lake Garda is a tricky place to sail, especially in this race, where the course is start, sail 25 miles to the North end of the lake, 50 miles all the way down to the south end of the lake, and then another 25 mile leg back to the middle of the lake. The north end of the lake is shaped like a finger, and it is very narrow at some points, with mountains rising right out of the water on either side. The wind funnels either up or down this portion of the lake. The south side of the lake is quite open, and the wind can often be light and variable there. Having a local on board removed a lot of guess work for us on this day.
We had a light (about 4 knot) southerly as we started the race, which meant we had our spinnakers up as we crossed the starting line. After about 15 minutes, the northerly overpowered the southerly in one of the fastest 180 wind transitions I had ever seen. There was virtually no transition zone between the two breezes, one instant we were in a 4 knot southerly, the next, we were furling our gennekar because we were going upwind in a 4 knot northerly. The 4 knots became 8 knots, which became 12 knots, and in about 8 minutes time we were sailing upwind in an 18 knot Northerly breeze. The breeze continued to build as we sailed up the lake, and it probably topped out over 25 knots sustained (and puffs that were higher) as we sailed through one particularly narrow area on the lake.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
We had some equipment problems during this part of the race, as our jib sheet ripped off of the clew board on the sail. We were able to put it in another hole on the clew board, which quickly ripped out. So we lashed it through the remaining 5 holes in the clew board, and hoped that this would spread the load out. Fortunately, our fix held for the rest of the race. But our jib issues did not stop with the clew board. We were also ripping the jib luff out of the foil on the forestay. Only about the bottom 6 inches had gone by the time we noticed, and we were able to punch some holes in the luff of the sail, and sew it to the forestay before it ripped out any further. This was not an easy job though, as it required us to send someone out onto the spinnaker pole, and climb up the forestay bridle to the point where the sewing needed to be done. We were fortunate that we were able to get this fix done without incident. About the time were doing the fix, we were sailing through the bulk of the monohulls in the race, which had started before us that morning. While sewing the job to the forestay, I would catch an occasional glimpse of a monohull on its ear, or struggling with their own breakdowns. The race had gone from boring to out of control in only a few short minutes.
The wind was a bit more manageable at the first turning mark, located at the extreme north end of the lake. We rounded that mark in winds of about 10 to 15 knots, but we knew we would see more as we went downwind away from the hills, and back to the more narrow areas of the lake. We had a new spinnaker on our boat which was much larger than the one we use for one-design racing. The builder expressed some concern with us using this sail, as it is hoisted to the mast head, where the normal sail has a hoist point of over 2 meters lower. Having used the big sail for the week prior to the Centomiglia race, we felt comfortable that the mast would be okay. And we knew this sail was faster!
We had about a 10 minute lead on the next boat at the first mark, and quickly extended, ripping downwind through the rest of the boats. Again, we saw about 25 knots sustained, and some puffs that were higher. We had to be cautious, and sail the boat very deep in this much wind. A pretty substantial chop had developed, and we needed both hulls in the water to keep the bows from plowing through it. We also needed to be careful of not overloading the mast. We reached the midpoint gate having made very good time. No one looked at their watches as we passed through it, but I believe we had done the first half of the 100 mile race in about 2 and a half hours.
Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
The rest of the race though, would take a bit longer. After the mid-point gate, we sailed into the southern half of Lake Garda, which is much more open than the northern portion of the lake. During favorable sailing weather, one sails through a small transition zone around this point of the race, and into a southerly breeze which takes one to the final turning mark in the race. This was not one of those days. The southerly never materialized, and we limped downwind, sometimes sailing in absolutely no wind at all. We were struggling to keep flow over our blades in some spots. We even had to furl our gennekar at points, as it was simply draped on the shrouds and it was actually stopping our forward movement. At these times, we find it helpful to leave just a few feet of the gennekar unfurled, and we use that portion of the sail as a windseeker. This proved helpful, as small zephyrs were materializing from any and all directions.
We slowly made our way to the south end of the lake, sometimes drifting, sometimes sailing in a light Northerly breeze. By the time we rounded the final turning mark and started sailing upwind, we had a very light, but steady northerly wind. At this point, we were being followed by many spectator boats, and a couple boats from the Italian media. The Centomiglia Race is very popular in Italy, and it was being covered live on Italian television. Although we had a substantial lead by this point in the race, we knew it was not over. Our tactician, Roberto, kept reminding us that the lake is very finicky on days like this, as it would be possible for the fleet to sail right up to us in a breeze we did not have.
Fortunately, this did not happen. We finished the race in a 4 knot Northerly, which was light enough for us to keep our gennekar up while we sailed upwind. We were met at the finish line with a gun shot, followed by much applause and shooting of horns. Champagne arrived quickly, and was sprayed away just as quickly. Our elapsed time was just about 8 hours and 15 minutes, which was good enough for the multihull course record. We were very surprised to learn this since the second half of the race took so long. But Extreme 40’s are fast, we ripped through the 1st half of the race, and even approaching the finish line, we were averaging about 8 knots. It was a good thing we brought that big sail along. It was also a good thing we brought Roberto. Our local tactician definitely took us to some good spots we would not have known about. It is always good to sail with a local, especially a smart one.
Victory! From left, Randy Smythe, Jonathon Farrar, Mark van Gelderen, At van Barneveld (our program manager from Tommy Hilfiger), me, and Roberto Benamati. Photo by Roberto Vuilleumier/Slidebox.it.
The Centomiglia was a great race for us. We sailed well, and had tons of fun. Lake Garda is truly an amazing place. It is a great place to race, or to go for recreation. Sailing, windsurfing, kite boarding, biking, hiking, you can do it all there. If you have the opportunity, it is a place worth checking out.
The Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Team
Over the summer, I started coaching Scott Whitman and Julia Dorsett (The Whitman/Dorsett Sailing Team), who are on a campaign in the SKUD 18 class. Scott and I grew up racing Blue Jays and Lightnings against each other on the Jersey Shore. While he was in college, Scott had a swimming accident which left him paralyzed. During the winter of 2005, Betsy Allison approached him regarding the new Paralympic Class – the SKUD 18. Although she now resides in
Team Whitman/Dorsett surfing down a wave at the SKUD 18 World Championship.
Scott teamed up with Julia Dorsett, who attended the 2004 Paralympic Games as a tennis player. Julia learned how to sail when young, and she jumped at the chance to campaign a SKUD. The SKUD is 18 feet long (obviously), and it is a two person boat with a mainsail, jib, and asymmetrical spinnaker. It has a carbon fiber mast, relatively light weight construction, and a planning hull shape, all of which make it a very exciting boat to sail, especially downwind.
Scott and Julia instantly hit it off as a team, and had great results last summer, in spite of Scott’s 6 year lay off from competitive sailing. The two won the 2007 Miami Olympic Classes Regatta last January. This past August, Scott and Julia won the Clagett Trophy which was a warm up event for the trials, held in the same location, with all the US teams participating. Just after the Clagett, they tied for 2nd at the SKUD 18 World Championships in Rochester, NY, missing the podium only because they lost a three-way tie breaker.
Team Whitman/Dorsett rounding a windward mark at the SKUD 18 Paralympic Selection.
The regatta was held from October 3 – 14 in
Just off the line, Scott and Julia winning the start. Starting was a strong point for them at the trials.
Julia and her father, Scott and his mother.
Although they did not receive a berth for Beijing, Scott and Julia intend to continue racing. Their future goals include winning a SKUD 18 World championship, and winning Gold at the 2012 games in London. They will be training with Nick and Maureen through the 2008 games, as they want to see their friends and fellow Americans bring home the gold. Their next regatta will be the
Ripping downwind on a raw day.