PALM SUNDAY/APRIL FOOL’S WEEKEND

Last night I listened to Tom Ehman speak about the “new” America’s Cup, a live video link with Kenny Read aboard Mar Monstro having rounded the Horn and now in the relatively calm South Atlantic.

For me, the selling of the America’s Cup is a little like when hollywood knows it has a bad movie it needs to advertise to try to boost the gate.

It was a moving moment to listen to Ken say the Southern Ocean had beaten him into submission. That he would not do this race again. Nature is relentless and without remorse.

Today is a lunch meeting of the New England Six meter class.

Palm Sunday and April Fool’s somehow don’t seem to go together.

TRACES OF THOMAS HARIOT

“Traces of Thomas Hariot” by Muriel Rukeyser is one of those books I have found fascinating . It connects the dots in  a period of time, showing just how interconnected men of science were despite the complications of communication and travel. I had studied Elizabethan Drama in school.

A renaissance man in the true sense of the word. As always, the context of time is important, Many of the theories to which Hariot subscribed were considered heresy; the reason he never published and was so secretive. He belonged to a group known as “the school of night“. Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake and Christopher Marlowe were also members. Thomas Kyd was tortured to death because a of a letter containing heresy was found in his apartment; one that he had shared with Christopher Marlowe.

The author had to find references concerning  Thomas Hariot since he could never publish. I was reminded of the search again when I was asked for a press review of my sailing achievements. As far as a I know there are none.  So how do I prove my achievements, such as they are? I don’t exist without a piece of paper? Something we have all joked about; but I was suddenly faced with exactly that problem. More recently one is given a certificate of participation in many regattas and races, but nothing like that existed in my time.

 

 

 

AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES

SAN FRANCISCO APPROVES AMERICA’S CUP RACE FOR SEPTEMBER 2013

POSTED ON 27 MARCH 2012

It’s full speed ahead for the 2013 America’s Cup race in San Francisco.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today approved the agreement to host the America’s Cup in San Francisco September 7 to 22, 2013.

One of the most fiercely competitive and sought after trophies in all of sport, the America’s Cup, was first raced in 1851 around the Isle of Wight, 45 years before the modern Olympics. The U.S. yacht Americawon, giving the international sailing competition its name.

At the first race, Queen Victoria, who was watching at the finish line, asked who was second to America. The famous answer, “Your Majesty, there is no second.”

The 2013 race will be the first time the competition for the “Auld Mug” will be held in San Francisco, a perfect natural sailing arena where more than one million spectators will see the 34th edition of the America’s Cup.

The San Francisco agreement calls for teams to be based at Piers 30/32 and for the America’s Cup Village – the public Race Headquarters – at Piers 27/29.  The pier improvements will be funded by the Port.

“We have worked very hard to bring this historic race to San Francisco and we’re very happy to have finally reached an agreement,” said Stephen Barclay, interim CEO of the America’s Cup. “Now we are focused on making this the most spectacular race in America’s Cup history.”

“We are thrilled that, in addition to the Louis Vuitton Cup and the America’s Cup racing in 2013, that the America’s Cup World Series will also take place in San Francisco in 2012,” said Mayor Edwin M. Lee. “This will add even more visitors, jobs and economic development as part of hosting one of the world’s premier sporting events.”

The inclusion of Piers 30/32 as the “pit row” for the teams in close proximity to the America’s Cup Village at Piers 27/29 will make the event’s footprint more compact and will benefit the teams as well as the general public.  Racing will be visible from the shoreline – only minutes from downtown shopping and hotels, making this the most spectator-friendly event in the Cup’s 162-year history.

The dates for this year’s (2012) racing for the America’s Cup World Series, the global circuit of events leading up to the 2013 America’s Cup regatta in San Francisco, were also confirmed today:

  • AC World Series Naples, Italy – April 11-15, 2012
  • AC World Series Venice, Italy – May 15-20, 2012
  • AC World Series Newport, USA – June 26 – July 1, 2012
  • AC World Series San Francisco, USA – August 21-26, 2012
  • AC World Series San Francisco, USA – October 4-7, 2012

Each event will be a combination of practice and championship racing, with additional practice sailing on-site ahead of each event.

Racing for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the America’s Cup Challenger Series, will take place in July and August, 2013. The America’s Cup Match (finals), pitting the winner of the Louis Vuitton Cup against defending champion ORACLE Racing – Team USA, commences Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013 and is a first to win five-race series.

America’s Cup racing in 2012 and 2013 will be televised internationally, and for the first time in more than 20 years it will be broadcast free-to-air in the U.S. by the NBC network. It will also be broadcast internationally through our family of media partners, and will be streamed to the web on www.youtube.com/americascup.

This unprecedented broadcast coverage is a reflection of the exciting venue, the technologically-advanced yachts, the Emmy-nominated fan-friendly advances in the television production, and the sheer physical and tactical challenge presented to the world’s best sailors by the yachts, format and venue.

Before the end of 2013 the America’s Cup is expected to have generated more than $1 billion in economic benefits for San Francisco, and created several thousand jobs.

Major sponsors include some of the world’s top brands: Louis Vuitton, PUMA, Prada, Emirates Airline, TAG Heuer, and Oracle.

MATCH RACE TO THE HORN

There are two Volvo 70 teams still racing towards Cape Horn.  The number of breakages in this race has been significant. If this was the first time the class was being used for the event I might find it acceptable, I might. But there is a lot of data available, the boats have been well used. I have expectations that the science and materials are better every year and therefore the boats produced could safely race around the world.

There are two boats still racing. Six started, that is already a small number. This is a huge budget race. Each team surrounds itself with secrecy, has spent grand amounts of money to produce boats they believe are capable of winning this race. The sails seem to be standing up well to the punishing conditions. Not so for the boats.

The boats I sail are not built to the same standard and I recognize that they would not stand up to the same abuse if you like. I have taken my “foot off the throttle” under circumstances, while the boat was still under control, there was a risk of damaging the boat. You don’t get points for not finishing and it is even less appealing to be rescued.

So why has this generation of Volvo 70’s had so many breakdowns? Particularly disturbing is the delamination problems these boats are experiencing. I will include the bulkheads and longitudinals that are simply ungluing. It seems that the lessons from the previous races has not been put to good use.

RATING RULES

The book about the three “Carinas” written by Richard B. Nye came out a few weeks ago. The saga of “Carina” continues as she having sailed to Australia to participate in the Sydney-Hobart race from England after having completed the 2011 transatlantic race and now sailing home to the East coast of the United States where she will sail in the Bermuda Race this June. Follow her story HERE.

The story of “Carina” is interesting from many points of view. Her conception was the culmination of years of experience of ocean racing by the Nye family. She was launched in 1969. This is where the story is so interesting as we look back. At the time two racing rules dominated the world: the CCA in the United States and the RORC in the rest of the world.

I have added the photo of “Outlaw” to illustrate the RORC rule. Anyone wondering where the pinched ends under the IOR came from. This was one of the compromises in order to achieve one rule.

Back to the “Carina” story. In 1968, the Nyes had won class in the Bermuda race with the old yawl, but wanted a new boat. The new rule was still being negotiated, no one knew what the final rule would offer, so Jim McCurdy and Bodie Rhodes were tasked with designing a boat that would rate well under any circumstances. The result was a boat that is still winning races 40 years later

“EXPENSES SHOULD MATCH REVENUE”?

America’s Cup lays off 28 people, race officials say

Posted on March 23, 2012 at 2:29 pm by Stephanie M. Lee, John Coté in San Francisco

 

The business arm of the America’s Cup laid off a quarter of its staff Friday, the latest sign the premiere sailing competition has dramatically scaled back its presence — and budget — in San Francisco.

The America’s Cup Event Authority laid off 28 people, 14 of them in the San Francisco office and the other 14 in offices around the world, race officials said. They worked in the information technology, marketing and communications departments.

The shake-up stemmed from the pared-down deal between the America’s Cup and the city to host the event this year and in 2013.

“We’re having expenses match the revenues as much as we can,” said Stephen Barclay, who took over as interim CEO for the event authority this week in another sign of reorganization. “And a number of people will be leaving as a result.”

Originally, the Event Authority was going to invest $111 million in infrastructure work to repair deteriorating piers the city has sought for decades to fix. But race officials backed away from that agreement earlier this month.

The new deal, set to be considered by the Board of Supervisors Tuesday, calls for the port to invest nearly $22 million in pier repairs, including up to $8 million for team bases at Piers 30-32. A team of fundraisers, meanwhile, is responsible for raising $32 million to cover the city’s costs to put on the event, and have so far raised $12.5 million, according to a city audit released Friday.

Beyond the rollback of the development deal, the event authority is also scaling back event facilities, including no longer trying to have any at Crissy Field, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area.

 

GLOBAL WARMING?

I cannot confirm that we are experiencing global warming, but I can tell you something is happening. Last summer’s transatlantic race sailing through the Azores high that had expanded to cover the entire north atlantic, unusual at best. A virtually snowless winter here in the northeast and really quite warm. And Spring is here, six weeks early.

It is difficult to imagine that the growing population and continued use of fossil fuels is not having an impact.

PAUL,HELENA AND SAILROCKET

Paul and Helena with Sailrocket have devoted what is becoming quite alot of time and effort for the quest of speed under sail. First it was 50 knots now 60 knots is the target. They have always been so generous with their knowledge and time. I wish them the best of luck.

I had gone to Weymouth speed week  with Ben Lexan, Jack Knights and Bob Fisher. Jacob’s Ladder,Icarus, Crossbow and lots of truly homemade boats were there to try to set records. The lofty target at the time was 30 knots. Hard to imagine now.