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Around the World of Sailing

5 June 2002

Finish Line

Latest Olympic Class Sailing Rankings:
Top US teams Mark Reynolds/ Magnus Liljerdahl 2nd in Star,
Hannah Swett/Melissa Purdy/ Joan Touchette 6th in Yngling,
John Lovell/Charlie Ogletree 16th in Tornado and
Meg Gaillard 19th in Europe's.

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

Difference from Chart Datum +8
Difference from last month +4
Difference from last year +9
Difference from long term average for June -12
Difference from Record High -41
Difference from Record Low +19
Forecast for 1 July 2002 +3

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.
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Jamie Boeckel
	Time has now passed and there have been memorial
services and tributes to this lost at sea sailor.  Although
he's gone, there have been numerous positive statements
about his sailing skills and the life he lived.  For more
see http://www.bostonboating.com/Jamie/.
	The more difficult issue is the actual incident.
What happened that was in the middle of a spinnaker change
with winds in the 20's, a gust hit, the boat broached and the
spinnaker pole broke.  A true accident, unforeseen and
unplanned.  Many of the sailors on Blue Yankee has made
100's if not thousands of spinnaker changes.  The particular
circumstances just were not fortunate this one time.
	Blue Yankee's crew was a good one with plenty of
experience.  They had held a pre race safety briefing and
discussed man overboard procedures.  This is more than most
crew do.  When Boeckel went overboard the crew performed
well.  Sails were brought down, Boeckel was tracked,
communication was initiated- things went just as they should.
See http://www.sailnet.com/collections/articles/index.cfm?articleid=sailne1432
for a 1st person account.
	Another crew went in the water to attempt to rescue
Boeckel.  Neither was wearing flotation.
	I want to measure this next section carefully.  We
should be sensitive to the incident.  This does not mean that
we can't learn and take lessons from it for our future sailing
endeavors.
	We can learn safety lessons without becoming overly
cautious. Blue Yankee was behaving in seamanlike fashion during
a race.  What they did was safe.  Sailing such a boat in such a
situation with 2 reefs and a small jib would have been overly
cautious.  We don't need this.  I saw a suggestion that you
should be required to have a halyard attached when on the pulpit
etc.  There are always calls for one size fits all solutions
such as wear a PFD 24/7- even if it is 95°, calm and you are
at anchor.
	As the saying goes Until we grow gills only a fool
wouldn't wear flotation."  In this specific case PFD's could
have helped, but would have guaranteed nothing. Reports
indicate Boeckel hit the water face down- perhaps he was
unconscious.  However a flotation device would have increased
his chances.  The man who went to his rescue also did not
wear a PFD.  Supporting himself and Boeckle was too much
in the 50°.  I'll clearly state that we are in might have
been territory at this point.  If one or both had been
wearing flotation it might (or might not) have changed
things.
	What we can learn and take forward is that our
safety can be increased with no expense to caution by
wearing PFD's in many situations.
**************
America's Cup Comments
	I saw the following Alinghi web site: "members of
the Team make the most of a few weeks holiday."  This
vacation will start taking place for members of the Swiss
team in mid June.  Once back they'll have 3 months until
racing starts October 1st.
	Alighni along with Prada would seem to be the
challenging teams with the best shot.  Prada made the
finals last time and has continued methodically on.
Alighni has Russel Coutts and his Team Magic associates
as a base.  Alighni also has seemed to have a smooth
running operation in all phases.
	The USA based teams backed by 'B's' seems to be
not as smoothly run.  There are the innumerable allegations
Examples include One World Challenge and rules
infraction allegations regarding design information and
Oracle's afterguard which shrinks in size in inverse
proportion to Larry Ellison's ego.  True the competition
is an on the water thing where such distracting items
might not apply.  Still, the America's Cup is often one
by that extra small percentage of boat speed.  The more
interrupted the flow of your program it would seem the
better chance you have of concentrating on these needed
small improvements.
	Maybe Dennis Conner's now two boat Stars and
Stripes campaign is the USA's best chance.  The team
has 2 current generation IACC sloops sailing off of
Long Beach CA.  One World is the only other team that
has both of its boats sailing.  Stars and Stripes crew
is full of good sailors such as Read, Brun, Isler,
Whidden, Hutchinson, Trenkle, Kirby etc.  Perhaps this
talented experienced group along with 2 new boats is
the proper formula for ultimately beating Team NZL.
**********
Readers Write
 	From Bob Stover: "Tried the boatwax you recommended
earlier.  Went on and off really slick.  I hope it holds
up as well as it looks now."
	Thanks Bob!  Glad to know we are on target. FYI
the product is  Boat Armor Carnuba Paste Boat Wax.
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Rowing Reporter Interactive- Bringing people together,
passing messages and answering questions.  The Rowing
reporter seeks comments, questions and suggestions.
Send email to ike@torresen.com.