Around the World of Sailing

9 January 2002

This weeks features:

Finish Line

Congratulations to Holland's Sam Padnos Gold Medal Winner in the Optimist Green Fleet at the 2002 ORANGE BOWL REGATTA. Afterwards Sam said, "I had good starts and good advice from my Dad."

Water Level Update

Weekly Water Level Update
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/atwos/2001/oc/1024/frw.htm

Below you'll find water level info that pertains
to Lake Michigan and Huron.
For information on other lakes see:
http://huron.lre.usace.army.mil/levels/weekly.html

Reference Point

Difference from Chart Datum 0
Difference from last month -1
Difference from last year +10
Difference from long term average for January -13
Difference from Record High -45
Difference from Record Low +17
Forecast for 4 February 2002 -2

Rowing Reporter

The Rowing Reporter is a weekly column of commentary and
observations by Ike Stephenson, Marine Informationist. It
concentrates on the home waters of Around the World of
Sailing, Lake Michigan and Muskegon Lake.
****************

Muskegon Museum of Art Nigh Light Exhibit
Upon deciding to go to an exhibit of photographs with the subject of
The Aesthetics of Time By Events in Space, I didn't think there'd be
a marine connection. I figured on lots of different ways of looking at
nite light none involving boats and water. Wrong again.
There were two marine subjects. One was the South Haven MI piers. A
black and white silver gelatin print with long strings of lite above the lit
pier. Unlike most pier head photos the light house was not the focal point
but a visual after thought.
Another was a house boat in Forgotten Canyons, Utah. There was
jagged light from the ships electrics overhead. Commonplace Meijer deck chairs gave off no lite.
For whatever reason the light that hugged the ground was jagged. Sky
and overhead lite was represented in blinding straight white lines.
Two further thoughts occurred both about digital photography. One,
could digital images be turned into a gelatin silver print? Two, how would
a typical digital camera with it's instant review feature change these
photos which must be an uncertain proposition given the vagaries of nite
time lighting?
****************
Programs and their Problems
After finishing 6th on Leg 3 of the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad
made a distressing admission. His boat has a speed problem.
Frostad's words were: "We had major weakness with our jib reacher
across the Tasman with an obvious speed deficit." To put this to rights Djuice's boats were testing the day after finishing Leg 3.
Frostad admitted a similar problem with light air speed. He said
that the problem was corrected during the Cape Town stop over.
Two observations. One, Frostad and Djuice built two identical boats
designed by Laurie Davidson. They tested extensively. Shouldn't you be able to get a boat up to speed reaching, which after all is not the most difficult part of sailing. Second, did he cut off options by not testing against a Farr design which is the VOR 60 baseline?
Whatever, the answers multiple admissions of the slows would seem
to be a main reason why Djuice is 7th of 8th. What troubles might the other teams have?
For SEB it's reliability and crew. They suffered a broken headboard
on leg 1 and a busted rudder on leg 3. They've also lost two watch captains.
Tyco came back nicely when they needed it most. Now they face
another Southern Ocean leg. The last one they did not finish.
For Amer Sports II it's the fact that despite some equipment
troubles they just haven't kept up. A couple of new crew step aboard
hoping to ramp up the program.
For Assa Abloy the problem is consistency. Chris Larson
who helped steady the brain trust won't sail the next leg. Will problems with flyers crop up again?
News Corp. has been pretty consistent always in the fight for the
podium. Can they go beyond this and win a leg?
Amer Sports One seems to have middle of the pack boat speed and
fairly conservative tactics? Can they make a break out in either one and do better on the second Southern Ocean leg?
Finally illbruck leads the pack. Perhaps they have light air
boat speed issues. They have suffered some on reliability. Can they keep
improving to maintain their edge?
*************
Weather Observations
Friday 4 January in Muskegon. An average wind speed of 18.4 knots.
Blustery conditions, I'd say.
At 0614 the wind was west at 25 knots. What's causing the
atmospheric bluster? A low above Lake Superior. This low produces a tight pressure gradient as shown by 3 isobars over Lake Michigan.
From North to South, the readings are: 1008 millibars at Sault Ste.
Marie, 1009 at Mackinac Island, 1012 at Manitowoc, 1016 at Muskegon. In Muskegon this was a decline of 6 millibars in 24 hours.
Obs. # 2: Now this morning temperatures 10 degrees above normal. My
weather prognosticating would call for a warm front in the area hence the
warm air.
No, not in this case. The weather map is devoid of a warm front.
In fact another low above Lake Superior.
However, there's a trough off the low. Add this to a SSW wind
direction and perhaps the warm air is advecting from the warmer south?
*************
CPR Saturday
Finally, for those readers from the Muskegon area. This coming
Saturday is the American Red Cross' annual CPR Saturday and Family Safety
Day. Location is Muskegon Community College from 9 Am to 1 PM.
Learn both Adult and Community CPR which includes CPR for Infant's
and Children. Even Learn Pet First aid. Cost is $ 15.00 for the pet course,
$ 25.00 for the others.
For sailors CPR is an excellent tool to have. Many safety courses
such as the one for Sydney to Hobart sailors require CPR and First Aid training. Utilize the off season to grab some CPR skills!
Why wait until the week of the event to write about it? You'll
not have time to prepare if you actually must perform CPR. So don't wait until an emergency has occurred to learn what you could have done and attend CPR Saturday!