Month: March 2011
OK I COULDN’T RESIST
NATIONAL SAILING HALL OF FAME
The National Sailing Hall of Fame has taken a while to get launched. Let’s hope it takes a healthy direction. We can all think a a number of worthy potential inductees. For Ocean Racing, I will be proposing Dick Nye Sr. of “Carina” fame. His accomplishments even without the context of time stand out.
PHOTOGRAPHS
http://stephenlirakisphotography.com/
AT LAST. PLEASE VISIT MY SITE. IT HAS BEEN SOME TIME IN THE MAKING. THE IMAGES ARE FOR SALE.
FLAT BOATS
This is not a new subject. The discussion has been a continuing thread for 30 years at least. In fact as I write I am reminded of boats even earlier that exhibited the trends. I would blame the trend for the fall from grace of the design firm Sparkman & Stephens. Olin always stated that he disagreed with the trend of flatter, straighter runs on boats and refused to compromise his beliefs to win contracts.
Races with large attrition rates are more common. The Fastnet race in 2007, the Middle Sea race in 2009 are good examples. In each example almost half the fleets did not finish.
As far as the Volvo 70’s. The boats have very little breakage. The number of crew injuries is another story. These boats are very hard on the people.
DESIGN TRENDS PROVE HARD ON BOATS AND CREW
By Bruce Nelson, Nelson/Marek Yacht Design
Much has been said and written about the attrition of 9 of the 15 big boats
from the latest Newport-to-Cabo Race, but I have yet to hear anyone mention
what I consider the major reason for the high rate of drop outs –
sea-kindliness, or the lack thereof.
The simple fact is that the large modern light displacement hull forms,
ranging from the 70 foot sleds spawned in the 1980’s to the even lighter
and beamier modern IRC hull forms, and even the latest Volvo 70
Around-the-World race boats, are far less sea-kindly than their heavier and
narrower predecessors when sailing into head seas.
One doesn’t need a PhD in Naval Architecture to recognize that these
lighter and faster, flat-bottomed hull forms are going to experience
greater accelerations, and decelerations, while slamming in waves – and the
longer, faster boats are going to slam harder than the shorter, slower
ones. Then add 10+ tons of lead suspended on a 10+ foot steel strut below
the hull, and watch the dynamic loads and motions spike through the roof!
These design characteristics are not only hard on the boat structural
engineers, and the rig and rigging, but the onboard crewmembers get to
enjoy the benefits as well. The fact is that aside from Bella Mente’s rig
failure, and a frighteningly loud mast tie-rod failure onboard Orient
Express, it appears there was very little actual structural damage amongst
the fleet, but many were concerned about safety and personal injury due to
the violent motion in the rough seas – with good reason.
Interestingly, when the Storm Trysail and Transpacific Yacht Clubs
developed the (now defunct) STP 65 Class, there was consideration given
towards a more sea-kindly set of design parameters, in lieu of the lighter
and beamier version which was ultimately selected. Apparently there was
more market interest in going faster off the wind than in performance and
comfort while thrashing upwind – which parallels the direction that the
Volvo boats and others have gone.
Today, many races which were once a test of seamanship are now more often a
test of nerves, and the physical stamina of the crew. Every ship in the US
Navy is designed to meet minimum sea-kindliness standards so that the
sailors are not routinely injured, or seasick beyond all usefulness.
Perhaps yacht racers need to consider some similar criteria.
And finally, I would like to nominate octogenarian Lindy Thomas as the
tough-old-guy-of-the-week award winner for completing the Cabo race onboard
his 70 foot sled Condor – nice going, Lindy!
ELIZABETH TAYLOR 1932-2011
ARE YOU TIRED OF THIS STORY YET?
For many of you this is the story of the America’s Cup. Stating the obvious; It’s about Television ratings. The rules of sailing have been altered to keep the flow. The races will likely not last more than a few hours at most. It fact the America’s Cup seems to be everything that Peter Wilson (a former America’s Cup sailor himself) was writing against.( see the previous entry)
The Cup is about money, not sport. Is it possible to reconcile the direction the Cup has taken and the direction sailors would like to see the sport take? I don’t see how. These forces are purposefully tugging in opposite directions. What is there to be done? Probably nothing, but to wait and see. The professional arm of sailing, for me is separating itself more and more from the sport as we know it. Is this a bad thing? All other sports have professional arms that operate independently from their respective sport; so why not sailing? Are we simply watching the growing pains of an emerging professional sport? I guess we shall see.
San Francisco needs to tell a new story for an America’s Cup win
San Francisco Business Times – by Patrick Twohy
Date: Friday, March 18, 2011, 1:31pm PDT – Last Modified: Friday, March 18, 2011, 2:20pm PDT
Photo: I Wilkins via Artemis Sailing
A Bay Area kid, Paul Cayard, is skipper of the Swedish team challenging for the America’s Cup.
- Patrick Twohy
- Senior Editor
- Email: ptwohy@bizjournals.com
S.F. has won the right to stage the next America’s Cup. So what?
Pulling off the same old white-shoe event custom made for a bunch of smug-looking stuffy old gents and their mega-millions won’t cut it.
Fortunately, no one here wants that. People here, particularly those associated with America’s Cup Event Authority and the city of San Francisco’s side of the deal, know this is a huge chance bring the America’s Cup and San Francisco as a major sailing venue to potentially millions of new fans.
But good intentions alone won’t turn around very traditional ways of doing things in a very old sport.
So how do you tell this story to new readers and viewers?
San Francisco and the America’s Cup Event Authority have to fundamentally reinvent not just the America’s Cup but sailing itself, partly in the minds of participants but mostly in the minds of those they hope to attract, particularly in the United States.
But what kind of story do you tell?
It’s all about the story
Given the massive click numbers on anything we post about the America’s Cup, it’s clear that Business Times readers understand the Cup is fundamentally a business story. That’s a good place to start — the business of America is business and all that.
But how do you get the attention of a broader U.S. public for whom watching golf on TV seems more exciting. (Golf on TV? Really? Isn’t there anything on the Paint Drying channel?)
For the tech-leading Bay Area, the America’s Cup is, among other things, a huge technology story.
It’s about how a remarkable — and remarkably simple — design made a sailboat that goes faster than the wind. Faster than you can safely drive through the S-curve on the Bay Bridge (especially if you’re hoping to catch a glimpse of the racing). Faster even than a U.S. Navy destroyer.
It’s a story about people like Stan Honey, a master navigator and Bay Area sailing icon who, not coincidentally, is also the inventor of the first-down-line technology that anyone who has watched football on TV is familiar with. He has been enlisted to help bring America’s Cup racing to life for the world’s TV viewers.
It’s about personalities
It’s a story about huge personalities (and egos), of course. Dozens of ’em. Start with Oracle Racing boss Larry Ellison. Then move to Paul Cayard, the Bay Area local kid (a graduate of Crestmoor High in San Bruno) who is CEO and skipper of Sweden’s bid to win the Cup.
It’s a story of many things. But there are a few things this story is NOT.
This is NOT primarily a sports story. Yes, the America’s Cup involves struggling against odds, challenging one’s self and one’s team to overcome, bringing your A game; giving 110 percent. Yada, yada. Snore.
Sports pages and websites are already full. If that’s the only place — or even the primary place — you’re looking for attention, well, best of luck to you.
Arrgh, drop the weird sailor talk
And surely, telling this story will have to involve NOT speaking the arcane language that sailors use to describe what they do.
Sailors speak of speeds in knots, directions in starboard and port, wind as pressure, turning as “coming about” — it’s like Steve Martin once said of the French, they have a different word for everything.
In some cases, those terms describe something more accurately than standard vocabulary can, the way “lateral” and “hail Mary” describe different ways of throwing a football. But in many cases, the only purpose sailors-only terminology serves is as a secret sailing handshake to keep the uninitiated out. Avast ye lubbers!
Hey kids, this is your chance at the bigtime. Climb down from your tree fort and join the rest of us. Tell us how fast boats are going in miles per hour. When they turn, it’s right or left, please. Wind is wind — not pressure. Or you’ll lose, no matter who wins the Auld Mug.
There are many ways the Bay Area and sailing could blow this chance to turn sailing into a more mainstream sport. One of the most obvious would be to inadvertently limit this to a story for people like me who already like sailing. And this chance is really much bigger than that.
Read more: San Francisco needs to tell a new story for an America’s Cup win | San Francisco Business Times
RESPECT
It is with sadness I report the passing of Bruce McPherson. He was very bright,clever and intellectually curious; always exploring the deeper corners of thought.
EIGHT BELLS
John Bruce McPherson of Hyannisport (MA) passed away peacefully on March
15, 2011. A graduate of The Lawrenceville School and the University of
Virginia, Bruce spent most of his life as a designer. In 1966, Bruce moved
to New York City to work for yacht designer Sparkman and Stephens, becoming
Olin’s right-hand man in many ways during the ’60s and ’70s.
In 1975, he designed and built the Maltese Cat, his own 30′ racing yacht.
He later designed and built his dream sailboat, a 36′ 20-knot cruising boat
known as CAYUSE. Bruce spent his recent years on Cape Cod exploring his
interest in responsible wind energy.
A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 19, at Union
Chapel, 15 Wachusett Ave., Hyannisport. Donations, in lieu of flowers, may
be sent to Cape Cod Maritime Museum, 135 South St., Hyannis, MA 02601,
designated for the “McPherson Sailing Skiff Project.” —
http://tinyurl.com/8Bells-031711
The following is written by Peter Wilson, with whom I have sailed and respect enormously. For me it touches a cord that transcends sailing, and questions our essential values as a society.
IS THE ‘FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE’ STILL RELEVANT?
By Peter Wilson, US SAILING Umpire/Senior Judge
As a racing sailor who is also a coach, judge and umpire, I worry that the
‘fundamental principle’ which is the foundation of our (mostly) ‘self
regulating’ sport has become significantly less relevant. As a consequence,
our racing rules appear to have less value to competitors, and the behavior
we expect these rules to encourage is not as prevalent as it used to be.
Quoting from the RRS, “Competitors in the sport of sailing are governed by
a body of rules that they are expected to follow and enforce. A fundamental
principle of sportsmanship is that when competitors break a rule they will
promptly take a penalty, which may be to retire.” Most of us would agree
that this means; 1) If I hit a mark and whether someone sees me do it or
not, I should take a one-turn penalty; 2) If I tack to port because I can’t
fetch the starting pin and force a boat on starboard to tack when she can
fetch, I should take a two-turns penalty whether or not the other boat
hails protest; and 3) If a boat fouls me in a way that significantly
worsens my position in the race, I should enforce the rules and protest.
However, what I have observed on the race course over the past fifteen
years, in the U.S. and abroad, is a growing percentage of sailors who do
not enforce and follow the rules. I see sailors break rules with contact
between boats and ignore their infraction, even when the other boat
protests or the infringing boat gains an advantage in a flagrant foul. I am
not talking about incidents where who is at fault is unclear and no penalty
turns are taken or no one is protested. We all do that from time to time.
I’m talking about the apparent trend towards an obvious level of clear
infractions with no action by either party. What seems puzzling is, if it
is so easy to exonerate, why does it happen so seldom? Why do sailors break
rules and keep on sailing if no one protests? Why do sailors use kinetics
when there are no judges around? And a related question is, why aren’t
there more protests taken to the room? Are the rules not as relevant in
today’s world as they used to be?
Perhaps the best analogy is speeding on the highway. Lots of us drive above
the speed limit. But when the radar detector says we are approaching a
trap, or we see a cop parked up ahead or coming up behind us, we slow down.
But most of the time, the ‘speeders’ speed. Similarly, when there are
judges or umpires enforcing Rule 42 (kinetics) on the water, body pumping,
rocking, and sculling seem to disappear when the judge boats are close by,
but they often reappear when the judge moves on to observe other boats.
And, when judges whistle their observation of a foul with the option to
protest, competitors usually take their penalty.and when the judges are not
around (or don’t whistle/protest), not much happens. Just like speeding, it
seems as if one doesn’t break a rule unless an official says we do.
(My only remark of a minor sort would be that I have never agreed with the rule against pumping. It is a skill that must be developed to do well. That said, until the rule is changed it is still a violation. ) But this is a remark that is not at the core of Peter’s thesis.