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American Olympic Tornado Team to Measure August 13th
Qingdao / China, August 10 2008 - On Sunday August 10 2008, the Dutch Tornado-duo Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis are to complete the measurement procedures tomorrow. Today, the sailors presented their catamaran and widely discussed sail in the burning heat of the Olympic harbour in Qingdao. That means they plan to use the upwind gennaker at the 29th Olympic Games. The class measures looked carefully at the equipment. The Dutchmen have to come back tomorrow morning for the last details, such as correcting weight. As soon as everything is complete, the measurement can be concluded.
“It is progressing well”, said Mitch Booth this afternoon. “We have to finalize some details, but that is not unusual. We presented our small gennaker, which goes as planned. They started measuring the sail, but they haven’t stamped it yet, since the measurement is not final.” To the question whether the upwind gennaker is legal, Booth responded: “The ISAF announced that if the concept fits within the measures, it is fine. To us, it is more a question whether the sailing conditions will be ok. According to our forecast so far, there will be one or maybe two days above our range of eleven knots. The circumstances will be perfect during the rest of the time. Luckily we have one more day to monitor the forecasts.”
According to Booth, the Americans Lovell/Ogletree, training partners of the Dutchmen, will have their measurement on August 13th. The Australian favourites Bundock/Ashby will be next. Both teams have a code zero, but it remains the question whether they will use it. Booth: “I think they all look at us.”
The Olympic Tornado regatta will start on Friday August 15 2008.
Dutch Tornado Olympic Sailing Team Sticks with Upwind Spin
Qingdao / China, August 9 2008 - Despite the commotion about the new ‘code zero’, Dutch Tornado sailors Mitch Booth and Pim Nieuwenhuis stick to their strategy. They plan to use the upwind gennaker, especially designed for the predominant sailing conditions in Qingdao. The final decision is a weather depending call. Their measurement is scheduled on Sunday August 10th, so they have one more day to monitor the weather forecast.
As revealed earlier, the upwind gennaker will give an advantage in speed up to 11 knots. However, on the downwind legs there will be a disadvantage with a significant smaller sail area. Booth: “But the advantage upwind makes up for the disadvantage downwind.” For every Olympic Games the designing process of the best possible equipment starts all over again. Booth explains how they decided to work on the smaller and flat gennaker: “In Qingdao the current has a big effect on the race course. We already know quite accurately what the current will be. And with the predominant wind from the south east, it means that in terms of percentage the upwind leg will take a lot longer than on a normal course without current. The lighter the wind gets, the bigger the change in percentage upwind/downwind will be.” If this is the weather forecast, the Dutchmen will defenitely use the code zero. Booth: “But if the wind comes from the opposite direction then the numbers will reverse and we might reconsider our strategy.”
Pim Nieuwenhuis expresses the fact that they did not use a loophole in the rules: “We just designed a different gennaker that complies with the required measures.” According to Booth, they don’t have any doubt concerning the legibility of the sail: “Two coaches and three professional teams worked on it for a year. We all know the rules very well and we asked ourselves every possible question. In case there was only a small doubt, we would not have wasted a year of testing and developing. I have no fear that it doesn’t come through the measurement.”
Share Catamaran Repair Tips at TheBeachcats.com
A lot of you have done a lot of catamaran sailing this season with the normal wear and tear on your boats. Sometimes the wear (or tear) is a little beyond the "normal" category. When that happens, don't forget your fellow catamaran sailors who might have the same situation in the future.
As you do your repair, or fix your problem, please take a moment during this stressful time to take pictures and make a few notes about how the problem happened, any warning signs, and how you fixed it.
Nothing fancy is needed, a phone camera, disposable camera, or professional SLR will all result in pictures to tell the story. As soon as you have the pictures, upload them to an album in the Beachcats Technical section of the photo gallery to help the next sailor with the same problem. You can easily come back later and add more detailed information to the pictures.
If you are currently struggling with a problem on your boat, check out the Beachcats Technical and you might find a solution.
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