Around the World of Sailing

3 July 2002

Event News: Queens Cup Report
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/news/atwos/2002/jl/0703/ms.htm

The Queens Cup this year was a thoroughly light air affair. The first to finish boats had a passage that was an hour slower than in 2001. Once they finished the wind really shut down and things got slower yet.

The overall winner was decided by 8 seconds between a pair of the bigger boats. Mirage and Nitemare Santa Cruz 70's were held together by a virtual string throughout the race. For handicap purposes they rate even, meaning first across wins.

Nitemare took the north side of the line and flew a jib top. Mirage chose the south end of the line having to sail a hotter angle as they were flying a regular head sail. Throughout the nite these two boats sailed literally even as indicated by compass bearings. There were no sail changes just close sailing.

At the Grand Haven finish the boats finished overlapped. Nitemare was to leeward, Mirage to windward. By under a boat length Nitemare crossed the line first and took overall honors by 8 seconds. 3rd overall was another SC 70 Holua which took line honors.

Links:
2002 Results
http://www.ssyc.org/_site02/Queens_Cup_2002.htm

Theme Article: Sailing Tools- Knife
http://www.torresen.com/news/atwos/2002/jl/0703/ms.htm

Onboard sailboats, or in a sailors kit bag there will always be tools. These can range from a common screwdriver to bolt cutters used to cut away rigging in the event of a dismasting. This months 5 theme articles will cover different tools a sailor might need including knives, and oil filter wrenches.

For hundreds of years the knife has been a sailors basic tool. No sailor on a clipper ship would have been caught without a sharp sheath knive. Sailors carried these knives and used them constantly in maintenance work.

Today's sailor still needs a knife. He will still use them in the course of doing marlinespike seamanship. A knife can also be of great importance in emergency situations. Or in a odd situation like a head sail jammed in a headfoil, a knife maybe the only solution.

This article will not go into specific knife models. However, it will discuss general characteristics desirable in a sailing knife.

Most of all you want a knife that cuts well. Since much of your cutting will be with cordage a blade that is at least partially serrated is desired. The serration constantly changes the angle and pressure of the blade making for better cutting.

The knife should be light weight and easy to open- preferably with one hand. In an emergency one hand maybe all you have. You should be able to open the knife with just a thumb or index finger. A lighter knife may make you more apt to carry the knife. A heavy knife that stays in a seabag, won't help you out.

For most people a folding blade rather than a fixed blade will be used. The days of sailors with fixed blade knives are largely over, although fixed blades should not be automatically ruled out.

You should also consider the effort needed to resharpen the blade. There is nothing more dangerous or useless than a dull knife.

Depending on whether your knife will see duty in fresh or salt water, corrosion resistance should be a factor considered.

In conclusion a sailing knife should cut well, be lightweight, open with use of only 1 hand, be capable of being re sharpened easily and be resistant to corrosion. A knife with all these characteristics will both be with you and operate properly when you need it.

Event News: Sailing Games
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/news/atwos/2002/jl/0703/ms.htm

The ISAF sponsored World Sailing Games are underway in Marseilles France. Sailors from over 60 countries are racing in a variety of classes from J 80 keelboats to Hobie 16 catamarans. Racing began yesterday, with 8 days of a maximum of 3 races per day to come. Winds began around 10 knots and increased to approximately 20 for the afternoon racing.

The US has a full team of sailors in attendance. The best 1st day performance was by the J22 women's team skippered by Kris Zillman with a pair of 4ths. Also doing well was the women's Hobie 16 team which finished the 1st day in 4th. In the Laser fleet with legend Robert Schedit of Brazil sailing the US sailors are 35th and 38th. In the men's 470 the US teams are 21st and 42nd. One of the US teams managed a 4th in the Hobie 16 Open division group but sits 15th overall. 20th is the position of the top US J 80 team. In men's sailboard Benjamin Barger is 14th of 22.

Links:
Sailing Games
http://www.sailing-games.com
Results
http://www.sailing-games.com/eng/classifications/presentation.php?pays=e
US Team
http://www.sailing-games.com/eng/delegations/fiche.php?fiche=United_States_of_America&pays=e

News: Boat Smart
Available on line at:
http://www.torresen.com/news/atwos/2002/jl/0703/ms.htm

Boat Smart is a weekly column written by Chief Tom Rau,
Group Grand Haven, U.S. Coast Guard and appears in a number
of newspapers. Chief Rau has been writing and promoting safe
boating since 1986. Many of his columns are taken from real
life experiences from Station St. Joseph/South Haven, where
Chief Rau is currently serving.

Breakwaters, boats and alcohol- a dangerous and costly affair

By Senior Chief Tom Rau, Coast Guard Group Grand Haven, Mi

Station Manistee, May 11, 2002. The ringing telephone jarred Coast Guardsman Chris Bouchard awake. His eyes travel to a nearby clock, it was 2:30 a.m. A weather call he thought. A moment later he was running for the motor lifeboat. The telephone call had come from a boater claiming his boat had slammed into the Manistee South Breakwater.

Within minutes, the 47-foot motor lifeboat was standing off the Manistee Breakwater Light. The 22-foot boat, however, was not on the seaward side of the breakwater as first reported, but on the inside. The man was standing on the breakwater holding a cell phone in one hand and in the other a bow line to the boat, which was rapidly taking on water. The boat rolled over before we could take action, said Bouchard.

The Manistee police and paramedics soon arrived and attended to the 36-year-old male on the breakwater. According to them, the man thought his boat was on the south side of the breakwater. The fact he blew a .16 on the breathalyzer helped explain his confusion.

Soon after first light the Coast Guard understood why the boater seemed confused. Early that morning I went out with a couple of guys to check the capsized boat to make sure it was still tied off to the breakwater. A man fishing near the boat asked me if the guy survived the jump, said Bouchard who looked at the fisherman then his mates in disbelief. The fisherman pointed to an oil and fiberglass trail that streaked across the cement breakwater revealing the path the 22-foot boat had taken. We were in shock regarding this impossible feat, said Bouchard.

Shock was my reaction too when Bouchard told me the story that morning. I had to see for myself and sure enough I too found it mind boggling. The speeding boat struck a two-foot wide riprap with a slight incline that acted like a ramp propelling it over the entire seawall. Had the boat hit a foot or two right or left of that small flat riprap it might have been fatal. Of the thousands of squared ripraps stones that lace the 1700-foot long vertical seawall, he hits one with an upward slope.

In my twenty years of conducting search and rescue on Lake Michigan, I ve responded to and know of dozens of seawall collisions, but never one that found a boat clearing the entire seawall. The odds of that happening again would defy Las Vegas odd makers. Yet, not only did it happen again, it happened on Manistee s South Breakwater a month later and within yards of the previous collision. That boat was also 22-feet in length.

On June 21, 2002, a Coast Guard crew aboard a 21-foot rescue boat while conducting training with a Coast Guard helicopter off the Manistee Harbor around 11 p.m. heard a collision like sound. Within moments they were along side a 22-foot cabin cruiser, rapidly taking on water alongside the South Breakwater Light. They transported the two occupants- a husband and wife- to a nearby boat ramp where emergency personnel waited. Both refused medical treatment.

The Manistee police took the 42-year-old male into custody for operating a boat while intoxicated. His blood alcohol count was .14. The Coast Guard returned to the floundering boat and towed it to the boat ramp.

The boat had struck a wedge-shaped riprap that propelled it over the seawall. That v-shaped riprap lay on the other side of the seawall almost in line with the flat one the boater had struck a month earlier.

Luck, however, does have its limits. That same night a 22-foot boat collided with Muskegon s North Breakwater. The people aboard were less fortunate. Although the 21 year-old male operator escaped injury, his 19-year-old female passenger suffered facial injuries. When I arrived on scene I could see her lower teeth had been knocked out, and she was complaining of shoulder pain, said Coast Guardsman Allan Hasford. The crew raced the victims to Coast Guard Station Muskegon where paramedics transported the injured woman to Hackley Hospital in Muskegon. Authorities took the boater into custody for operating a boat while intoxicated. His blood alcohol count was .138. When the CG crew returned to the boat, it had already sunk.

Gary Berdinski, head of the Muskegon County Sheriff Marine division said: A motorist wouldn't t race along a dark country road at night without head lights. Well it s no different for boaters and they don t carry headlights. If you can t see beyond your bow bring back the throttles, especially in dark waters and near structures.

Ignoring Gary s advice could find a boater reaching for the billfold. Boat damage, equipment lost, salvage fees, court fines, federal fines and insurance rate hikes: it could be costly enough to sway any sensible boater to cork the bottle.

Probably the most over looked, yet more painful of these is insurance. Wayne Comstock of Wolverine Mutual, whose company insures a large number of recreational watercraft in Michigan and Indiana said: If a boater is found guilty of operating a boat while intoxicated and is involved in an accident, we will cancel their insurance.

I asked Wayne what would a new premium cost a boater. Well, if he can find an insurer, the policy coverage will be limited and their monthly premium cost will be around what they were paying annually before.

It could even be worse- if a boater fails to find an insurer, and the boat is financed through a lender they can demand the loan be paid in full unless proof of insurance is provided.

Boat Smart, take out the best insurance policy of all and it s free- boat sober.

Note: Other Boat Smart columns are on the Internet at www.boatsmart.net The site also has Lake Michigan weather and water temperatures.

Links:
Boat Smart
http://www.boatsmart.net/

Coast Guard Auxiliary vessel Dream Chaser glides up to the flat rock that helped launch a 22-foot cabin cruiser over Manistee South Breakwater on May 03, 2002. The Auxiliary vessel is also fiberglass and 22-feet in length.

Once airborne the 22-foot long boat flew 65-feet from the impact point to where it landed in the water on the other side. When Manistee s 47-foot motor lifeboat arrived moments later the disabled boats stern was leaning hard over to starboard and rolled before the crew could take action.

A Manistee Coast Guard official inspects the stern of the boat. The only visual damage is a 3-inch slice off the three-bladed prop and a small crack on the bottom of the transom. A mouth later another 22-foot boat leaped the Manistee seawall at about the same location. See attached story.