Laser Sailor Winter 2018 by Jerelyn Biehl

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WINTER 2018 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world

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Ofﬁcial publication of the International Laser Class Association North American Region US Postal Service: Please return undeliverables to: ILCA-NA 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 USA Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608 Please return undeliverables to: Bleuchip International PO Box 25542 London, ON N6C 6BC

Editors

Sherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl ILCA-NA

Ofﬁcers Andy Roy Chairman 15 Claudette Court Peterborough, ON K9J 7Y7 Canada 705-750-0189 aroy187740@gmail.com Meka Taulbee Vice Chairman Dunedin, FL USA 727-631-7005 meka@sailﬁt.com

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District Contacts .....................................................................................................6 President’s Report....................................................................................................8 Equipment Update: Clevis Pin update................................................................10 Jumpstarting the Laser 4.7 in NA.......................................................................12 Regatta Reports Chesapeake Masters..................................................................................16 US Master Nationals.................................................................................18 NA Dominated World Masters..............................................................20 World Masters - Technically Speaking................................................23 Lotsa Lasers...............................................................................................26 Laser Fall Series XX................................................................................27 2018 Event Schedule...............................................................................................25 District Reports.......................................................................................................28 Why Join the Laser Class?....................................................................................34 Membership Applications.....................................................................................35

Eric Reitinger Treasurer 7908 Normandy Drive Mt Laurel, NJ 08054 609-206-2973 er4599@gmail.com John Long Secretary 4707 Sierra Madre Road Santa Barbara, CA 93110 805-705-1435 jlonginsb@yahoo.com Al Clark Member at Large 337 E 6th North Vancouver, BC V7L1P7 604-988-4799 al.clark@shaw.ca

Cover photo: Nick Pullen blasts through at the Gorge. Photo credit: Christy Usher/Christine Robin Photography

Sherri Campbell Executive Secretary 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 USA phone: 619-222-0252 fax: 619-222-0528 sherri@odmsail.com

www.Laser.org

HAWAII

District 1

Claire Sears 506-650-8821 clairesears1@gmail.com

District 2

Philippe Dormoy, 385 Place Desmarest, Ile Bizard, Quebec, H9C 2G8 514-620-8124 Philippe_dormoy@steris.com

District 3

Nigel Heath 416-417-0193; nigel_heath@manulife.com D3 website: www.d3laser.com

District 4

Katja Smutney, Sail Manitoba; 409-145 Pacific Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2Z6 204-925-5647 sailing@sportmanitoba.ca www.sailmanitoba.com

District 5

Mark Lammens 510 Cynthia St. Saskatoon, SK S7K 7K7 306-975-0833, sasksail@sasktel.net www.sasksail.com

District 6

Andy Hunt, 111-2260 W 8th Ave Vancouver BC V6K 2A7 604-733-9663, hotline: 206-525-5788 athunt@vcn.bc.ca www.district6x.ca

District 7

Christine Neville Laserd7@gmail.com

District 8

Lindsay Hewitt lymanthorne@aol.com www.LaserD8.org

District 9

Peter Bushnell Cazenovia, NY 13035 315-655-4671- peter.bushnell@carrier.utc.com

John Shockey 216-386-1920 johnrshockey@gmail.com

Eric Reitinger 7908 Normandy Dr Mt. Laurel NJ 08054 Er4599@gmail.com http://d10.laserforum.org

Ken Swetka 27022 Koerber St., St Claire Shores, MI 48081 248-635-5363 www.d19laser.org

District 20

Jon Deutsch 3422 Blithewood Dr, Richmond VA 23225 804-305-1244, jon@laserdistrict11.org http://www.laserdistrict11.org

District 21

District 10

District 11

District 12

Stanley Hassinger stanley.hassinger@gmail.com www.d12laserforum.org

District 13

Michelle Davis laserbrain2@hotmail.com www.laser.org/m/_general/d13.asp

District 14 District 15

Griffin Orr Griffin.orr@me.com https://groups.google.com/ forum/?fromgroups#!forum/txLaser/

District 16

Tim Fitzgerald, 2322 Bromfield Circle Wichita KS 67226, 316-650-3636 TIMFITZ875@gmail.com

District 17

John E. Coolidge, Jr., 1113 Hanover St Chattanooga, TN 37405 423-309-1926 jc@chattprint.com

District 19

Sean Lennon 920-573-1922 spatricklennon11@gmail.com Facebook: Laserd20 Matthew Thompson D21.sec@gmail.com D21.laserforum.org

District 22

Kurt Hoehne, 524 N 67th St Seattle, WA 98103 206-335-8776 kurthoehne@gmail.com

District 23

Geoff Hurwitch Geoffh437@yahoo.com

District 24

Stephen Aguilar 1809 Brier Way, Carmichael, CA sailsteve55@gmail.com 916-968-3554

District 25

Jorge Suarez, 7 Covina Ave Long Beach, CA 90803 562-260-8116. jorgesuarez0@yahoo.com Groups.yahoo.com/group/nalaserdistrict25

District 26

Guy Fleming, 44-392 Olina St. #6 Kaneohe, HI 96744-2617 808-955-4405, guynsyd@hawaii.rr.com

District 18

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www.Laser.org

President’s Report I’d like to cover a few topics in this issue. ILCA World Council Meeting In mid-November I attended the WCM in Dallas. Here’s a brief summary: The WCM is held over 3 days, with the first day covering technical issues. My opinion as I left the meeting is that the Class is in very good shape, despite the challenges of trying to deal with a builder that seemingly has no interest in working with the Class Association in a co-operative manner. The ILCA runs 7 major events each year (except in the years when World Sailing runs the World Championships for Olympic classes, such as in 2018). In 2017 these 7 events saw a combined 1567 entries and 527 boat charters. ILCA has an attractive, modernized web site and an excellent entry system for major events. The ILCA Treasurer, NZ Master sailor Nick Page, provided a detailed financial report, which summarized that the ILCA is in a good long term financial position. Note that the NA Class Association is also in satisfactory financial position, although we do have a concern over decreasing membership and revenue/net income from previous years. A new ILCA Class measurer was elected and her name is Eileen Loo from Singapore. Eileen has a very strong sailing and sailing business background. She is also Chair of ILCA’s Asia Region. Jean-Luc Michon, the previous Class measurer for about 14 years, will continue on, we are pleased to say, as a class measurer in support of Eileen. He will also continue in his position as Chair of ILCA’s European Region. The class technical officer, Clive Humphries, provided his technical audit report. Clive performed extensive measurements on MKII sails earlier this year, including the sailcloth, from three different suppliers: Hyde, North and Pryde. He measured the sails both on the floor and in a rigged and sheeted configuration on his Laser. His findings are that there were no measurable differences that would lead to any real performance differences between the sailmakers. Development and testing of a composite Radial bottom section continues to progress. No conclusion as to when this will be completed and ready for introduction, but it’s getting closer. Clive and other members of the Technical Committee have been generating ideas to modify the hiking strap fastening arrangement at the deck in order to enable quick attachment and removal of a strap to/from the boat. This is often desired by sailors who charter boats at events and like to use their own strap (charter companies typically do not want their factory installed straps removed/reinstalled). Several prototype concepts have

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been developed where the screw down plate does not need to be removed, and this development activity will continued Several other minor rule improvements and proposals for modifications were discussed and will continue to be evaluated by the Technical Committee. The scoring format at major Laser championships (but not for Olympic class fleets: Open Men’s and Radial Women’s) will see a reduction in the number of discard races from two to one. If there is a qualifying series the sailor will still discard a race for qualifying purposes, but then that discarded race comes back onto the sailor’s scores for the remainder of the racing, and then the sailor’s worst race over the entire series will be discarded for the final scoring.

At the recent ILCA World Council meeting the voting results on the class rule changes were provided and all four have been approved. The rule changes have also been approved by World Sailing and will now come into effect on Jan. 1st, 2018. You can find the full text of the changes on the NA Laser website. This may be of interest to sailors planning to enter regattas in the New Year who might want to buy/try a digital compass. As far as we call tell from researching product availability there are currently three products on the market that meet the new rule (available through retailers): Nautalytics TackTic Micro I tried the Nautalytics compass and like it. Nautalytics has added an optional integral countdown timer that auto switches to heading at “0”, and also a backlight function. Nautalytics Compass, Mounted Fwd Adjustable Hiking Strap with Cleat This is a rule change that I worked on a couple years ago and then put forward through the World Council and then for the class vote. I’ve never liked the loop systems for adjusting strap tension, which seem to gradually loosen a little during a race. I also find these methods difficult to quickly adjust when racing. This new rule allows the addition of a cleat (that may not be affixed to the boat) that is simply used in a “floating” arrangement on the hiking strap line

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Laser Masters Worlds I had a great time in Split, Croatia at the Masters Worlds in September and once again great to see old friends. The racing (when we had wind) was very competitive and once again the race management was superb. Doug Peckover and wife Pam have an excellent Laser blog that you should check out if you haven’t yet. It’s called impropercourse.com. Doug interviewed several of the ﬂeet winners from the recent Masters Worlds and they’re really good articles. We’ve reprinted one in this issue Jumpstarting the 4.7 Class in North America I want to thank Jean-Pierre Kiekens who has initiated an effort to increase the visibility and size of 4.7 Class racing in North America. The class is very popular in Europe and also Australia, but has not caught on to the same degree in North America (although we have seen some positive trends of late). JeanPierre and Agustin Ferrario have co-authored a paper, called Jumpstarting the 4.7 Class in North America, and you can ﬁnd it in this issue of The Laser Sailor. It’s a great idea and the paper sets out some recommendations for the NA Class Association. We’ll be looking at these recommendations, as we of course support the author’s objective to increase 4.7 participation. If

we can encourage young sailors who are ready to move on from the Optimist to get into a 4.7 Laser as opposed to, for example, moving into a 2-person dinghy, this will ultimately strengthen Radial and Standard rig fleets. Laser Performance ILCA continues to have challenges in its efforts to establish a positive working relationship with Laser Performance. By now most Class members have experienced Laser parts supply issues. This has been a significant problem for both dealers and sailors to obtain boats, sails (although this has improved from what I understand) and various boat parts. We continue to encourage LP to improve this situation and the ongoing relationship in general, but it continues to be frustrating and also confusing to understand LP’s business objectives and the message it is sending to Laser sailors. What’s unusual is that the Class Association’s objective, at the World, Regional and District levels, is to operate as nonprofit organizations that ultimately (and indirectly) promote LP products through the organization of events where these LP sold products are needed and used by the participants. From a monetary perspective, the Class’ use of the Laser name and logo is solely to the benefit of Laser Performance’s business. On that note, I’ll say to all NA Laser Sailors: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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Equipment Update Update on the New Lower Vang Tang Clevis Pin from the Fall 2017 TLS GET RID OF YOUR RING-DING! There has been an improvement on the “Jurgan ToolFree Clevis” for our Laser vangs at the mast tang since my quick write up in the prior Laser Sailor magazine. Apparently, enough Laser fans called George (the creator, patent holder, and manufacturer) and pressed him to shorten the length to something more appropriate for the Laser. George did what he previously thought was impossible; making his clevis design smaller without losing any of the cool features. He sent me one to test out (see nearby photo) in appreciation for the review. While I haven’t had it out on the water yet, the smaller size certainly looks WAY tidier in the vang and has me much more excited bout using them. More info at http:// toolfreeclevis.com or call George at +1 (800) 587-4262.

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Jumpstarting the Laser 4.7 in North America BY JEAN-PIERRE KIEKENS AND AGUSTIN FERRARIO With the increased development of the Optimist In North America and the decline of the Byte class, there is an urgent need for a vibrant Laser 4.7 class, offering an optimal transition towards the Laser Radial and, ultimately, for men, the Laser Standard. A striking difference between Laser youth sailing in Europe and North America is the role played by the Laser 4.7. Huge ﬂeets of Laser 4.7 are competing at national and international events in Europe. While, in North America, the Laser 4.7 has until now had a limited, sporadic, presence only. It’s a situation that is unfortunate, because the Radial is a way too powerful rig for many youth sailors, particularly those just out of the Optimist class.

The European Experience with the Laser 4.7 Today, there are large ﬂeets of competitors in the Laser 4.7 class in Europe. Participation is limited to competitors aged 12 to 17. For example, at the 2017 Europeans held in Los Alcázares, Murcia, Spain, there were 240 youth boys and 104 youth girls competing. According to Macrino Macri, the vice-chairman of Eurilca — the European branch of ILCA - the success of the class can be attributed to several key elements. First, there was a decision to promote the 4.7, rather than the Radial, because the rig is less powerful than the Radial and much more appropriate for young sailors, and it reduces the risk of injuries, including to L4-L5 lumbar vertebras. What was also key was to establish an excellent governance of the class and to establish a ranking system the Europa Cup Trophy. Best sailors are recognized annually. In 2016, there were 396 youth girls and 448 youth boys ranked in the 4.7 class! A similar ranking exists for the Radial (559 girls, 639 boys in 2016). The rankings are based on a wide range of regattas, including very local ones. The numbers are a good indicator of the popularity of the two youth classes, the 4.7 becoming nearly as popular as the Radial.

Youth Sailing after the Optimist The Optimist is by far the most sailed and successful dinghy class in the world for kids under 16. The question that is faced by sailors, parents, coaches, is what to do after the Optimist. And this is not at all something obvious to address. The best Optimist sailors typically weight between 90 and 110 lbs. They will leave the class at maximum 120 lbs, even if they have not reached the age limit of 16, as they no longer can be competitive in the class. Until relatively recently, the Byte was the transition boat towards the Laser, but the class has substantially declined over the past years. So today, in North America, Optimist sailors typically have to choose between the Radial, or going double-handed (Club 420, i420, 29er). All of these boats are actually way to powerful for sailors weighting 110 - 120 lbs. So there are no obvious choices.

And there is typically a huge adjustment to do to sail those boats, which comes largely at the expense of all the advanced sailing skills learned through years of Optimist sailing. The fact that many young sailors give up on sailing after the Optimist, or a few years later, is to a signiﬁcant extent attributable to this transition issue. Is the Laser 4.7 the perfect boat for the Optimist sailor weighting 110 or 120 lbs? Maybe not initially, but it’s certainly the best choice available. It’s certainly much better than the Radial, and unless the sailor can ﬁnd a heavier crew to sail double-handed, it is also more appropriate than the Club 420, i420 and 29er.

Optimizing the Transition to the Laser 4.7, the Radial and the Full Rig For years, the laser class and manufacturers have been suggesting the following as appropriate weights for the three laser rigs: 35-55 kg (77121 lbs) for the 4.7, 55-70 kg (121-154 lbs) for the Radial, and over 60 kg (132 lbs) for the full rig. These weight ranges are unfortunately plain wrong when it comes to an optimal transition from the Optimist to the Laser. The 35 to 55 kg range (77 to 121 lbs) is actually the range for Optimist sailing! Out of the Optimist, sailors need to transition towards the Laser 4.7. And the question is up to when. When is the transition towards the Radial to take place? What is now clear about this is that sailors can typically stay in the Laser 4.7 for one or two years, and maybe more. It all depends on the sailor, his/her growth, weight gain, skills. As presented in Box 1, the 2016 4.7 World champion, Dimitris Papadimitriou, weighted 75 kg (165 lbs) when he won his 4.7 world title. That was at the end of his second year in the 4.7, at age 16. He then moved to the Radial in 2017, and was again crowned world champion. After a year in the Radial, he decided to move the Laser Standard. Other sailors, particularly female sailors, may stay longer in the 4.7, before making the transition to the Radial. What is clear is that the weight range typically recommended for the Radial is plain wrong too. Indeed, 55 kg (121 lbs) is way too light to move to the Radial. And 70 kg (154 lbs) is actually way too light to move to the Laser Standard. ILCA and manufacturers have work on their plate to get these weight ranges right! What is also clear is that there is some overlap between the 4.7 and the Radial. Steve Cockerill, a renowned coach and former world champion in the Laser Radial, suggests a weight of at least 67 kg (147 lbs) to be competitive in Laser Radial. Dimitris Papadimitriou became

4.7 world champion at around 75 kg (165 lbs) - yet he may not have won in light winds. So a suggested weight range for the transition between the 4.7 and the Radial would be 67 to 75 kg (147 to 165 lbs). In practice, a sailor should decide at the beginning

of the sailing season which rig he/she will sail - a decision to be made with the coach. In summary, the Optimist sailor going for the Laser should go ﬁrst in the Laser 4.7, and then move to the Radial at a weight comprised between 67 to 75 kg (147 to 165 lbs). And this means for most sailors, depending on growth, two years in the 4.7, before moving to the Radial. Note that the minimum weight for

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transitioning to the Laser Standard is about 79 kg (175 lbs). Very few full rig sailors can handle the boat at a lighter weight. The typical weight range for a competitive Laser Standard sailor is actually pretty narrow: 175 to 195 lbs.

The Way Forward in North America The case for developing a strong, vibrant, Laser 4.7 class is pretty clear. Now how to make it happen? The key is to bring the coaches of all the clubs with active Optimist and laser ﬂeets to support the Laser 4.7 as the preferred transition single-handed boat out of the Optimist, and preferred single-handed boat for any new sailor, who did not sail the Optimist, and yet wants to sail

create space for Laser 4.7 sailors, instead of solely relying on the Radial. There is work to be done. But it’s all feasible, and it has started to take place in Canada. Jean-Luc Michon, the chair of Eurilca explained it simply: a few years ago, North America missed the train of the 4.7. With lots of work, that’s a reality that can be corrected, within two or three years, in North America. This would greatly beneﬁt the class, and most importantly, offer young sailors, particularly those out of the Optimist, an opportunity to pursue their sailing career in an optimal way. Soon, hopefully, olympic medallists will not only be former Optimist sailors, but also former 4.7 sailors!

Portrait: Dimitris Papadimitriou At age 14, Dimitris represented Greece at the 2014 Optimist Worlds in Argentina. In a recent interview, he recognized he was just hoping to make it to the gold ﬂeet. Yet he placed 3rd overall! While still allowed to compete one more year in the Optimist, he moved to the Laser 4.7, because he got too heavy for the Optimist (he was nearly 120 lbs). He trained hard, on the water, at the gym, biking, running, and gained weight. While the transition to the Laser 4.7 was not easy, it took him some 10 months to really get used to the boat. He placed 10th at the 2015 youth worlds, yet felt still underweight for the boat. He continued to train hard and, in 2016, he captured the gold both at the European and at the World 4.7 Youth championships. In 2017, he moved to the Radial and captured

single handed, as long as he/she is not clearly overweight for the Laser 4.7. In Canada, the movement is already under way, and several clubs, including the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (Toronto) and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron (Halifax) have just started to develop Laser 4.7 fleets. Their top Optimist sailors are now being informed to go for the 4.7, if they opt for single-handed sailing. Guidelines for Coaches The « sell » is not really a hard one, as long as the sailor does not feel he/ • sailors leaving the Optimist and choosing single-handed need to go to the 4.7, she is isolated, that he/she is the only for at least one year - NOT the Radial one sailing that boat. Starting with • don’t let sailors less than approx 67 kg (147 lbs) and without advanced sailing the 4.7 and moving up to the Radial skills and body strength to move to the Radial - it’s ok to stay in the 4.7 also means that the sailor can learn • develop your 4.7 fleet, without rig changes with the Radial, even in light the trim characteristics of the Laser winds. Yes the 4.7 is slower, but what’s important is a level playing field, not absolute hull, starting with the 4.7, which speed. knowledge will carry forward when • make sure to request separate starts at regattas - work with regatta organizers, they move to larger rigs. For the so the 4.7 is treated as a separate class from the Radial parents, this means investing in one • get your club to acquire some laser hulls, new or second-hand, and get 4.7 sailboat, and not two (like it was the rigs, to let young sailors, particularly out of the Opti, to try the 4.7 case with the Byte), as only a sail and • be ready with very advanced coaching: many Optimist sailors are amazingly bottom mast section are needed to skilled, soon, you will be astounded at the high level of your 4.7 fleet move towards the Radial afterwards. • organize clinics with neighboring clubs, to bring 4.7 sailors together and In Canada, Sail Canada is already jumpstart the level of your sailors supportive of the initiative. It’s now • make sure to bring to the 4.7 class both girls and boys - and work with clubs, a matter of bringing the various with parents, to make the class attractive to both girls and boys provincial sailing bodies on board, • make the 4.7 fun - you may have sailors as young as 12 or 13 - see the 4.7 as well as all the key clubs. Clinics initially as a big Optimist geared towards Laser 4.7 sailors, and • don’t be afraid of involving parents, as is often done in the Optimist class, to other targeted initiatives, need also develop the 4.7 at the level of your club, and beyond to be developed. A similar approach can be implemented in the US. Youth sailing championships should also

www.Laser.org

the bronze at the Youth Europeans and the gold at the Youth Worlds! After two years in the 4.7, and one year in the Radial, and with two world champion titles, Dimitris is now moving to the Laser Standard. Probably, it’s not the last time you will hear about Dimitris Papadimitriou! You can ﬁnd an extensive interview of him, where he explains the details of his transition from the Optimist to the Laser, and its various rigs, at: laser47canada.blogspot.ca And make sure to watch the videos, also accessible from the blog, where you can watch him in action! He is an amazing sailor!

Resources Blog (with articles, videos, pictures) : http:// laser47canada.blogspot.ca Facebook Group: https://www.facebook. com/groups/laser4.7northamerica/ ———About the authors:

Recommendations to the North American Laser Class Optimist

• formally recommend the Laser 4.7 as the transition boat out of the

• revise the official weight ranges for the three rigs, to make them fit with reality - here is a recommendation: • get a coordinator into place at the level of the ILCA secretariat to actively promote the 4.7 • establish a temporary task force, say for 3 years, and bring in volunteers, such as parents, master sailors, etc. - to ensure the 4.7 becomes a reality • implement clinics in key locations to promote the 4.7 and recruit talented Optimist sailors • ensure that no regattas are being organized with rig changes (4.7 / radial) • organize a ranking system of youth sailors, similar to the one implemented in Europe, covering local regattas, provincial/state and national level ones, with age categories ((U16, U18) and separate rankings for boys and girls - a similar system should actually be implemented for the Radial; software for such a system already exists, free of charge - so it’s more a matter of getting volunteers to implement it • work with the US and Canadian sailing federations to have the 4.7 sailed at official youth events • organize major 4.7 youth regattas, such as the Worlds • implement continued communications about the Laser 4.7 class development, through the Laser Sailor, the www.laser.org website, and other means to ensure the efforts to develop the 4.7 are visible and sustained.

Jean-Pierre Kiekens is a Montreal-based laser sailor, having competed in the Laser in Belgium while at university, and as a Master sailor in North America at various national and international events. For the past years, he has followed the evolution of his son, Jean-René, who is aged 13 and will represent Canada at the 2018 Optimist Worlds in Cyprus. He has also followed the evolution of his daughter, Alexandra, who is now 19 and who sailed the Club 420 and, brieﬂy, the Laser Radial, after the Optimist. Agustin Ferrario is the Halifax-based High Performance Sailing Coach at the Canadian Sport Center Atlantic, Head Race Coach at the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron, and Team Leader for the Youth Worlds with Sail Canada. Agustin is actively developing a Laser 4.7 ﬂeet in Halifax. Originally from Argentina, he has a distinguished sailing career, and still regularly participates in regattas, including in the Laser, the F18, the Soling and the J-70. The authors are grateful to several individuals who provided comments on previous drafts, including Jean-Luc Michon, Macrino Macri, Osvaldo Padron, Tyler Bjorn, Andy Roy and Randolph Bertin. The expressed views are however solely those of the authors.

WINTER 2018

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Regatta Reports 36th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship Fishing Bay Yacht Club November BY JON DEUTSCH It was great weekend all around at the 36th Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship where 44 sailors had 7 races over two days in a variety of conditions and Rob Hallawell from Milford, Connecticut won the championship. Sailors from as far away as Toronto and Miami began arriving at Fishing Bay Yacht Club in Deltaville Virginia mid-afternoon Friday as the weather began to turn and cloud up with some misty rain. That didn’t deter some hearty sailors from going for a practice sail. High tides on Friday night and Saturday made driving down Fishing Bay Road more of an aquatic adventure and cars queued up at the hose stations for wash downs much like sailboats do after racing. It was reminiscent of Saturday morning 11 years ago during the District 11 Championship when the road was impassible in the midst of a storm. Unlike that regatta – everyone made it and racing was soon underway across the Piankatank River in Godfrey Bay into a NNW breeze at 6-8 with cloudy skies and a few spots of a misting rain. The high tides made for some signiﬁcant current running 90 degrees to the course making the left favored most of the day. Susan Taylor (Severn SA) got off to a great start winning the ﬁrst 1-lap race. Luke Shingledecker (Severn SA) won the 2nd race. Last year’s champion Gavin O’Hare (Eastport YC) won the 3rd race and Rob Hallawell (YYC)

won the 4th. It would be Jacque Kerrest (Severn SA) with the best scores from the day to sit atop the leaderboard after Saturday’s racing. Saturday evening Alain Vincey and his crew of chefs including Claud Dumas, Frank Murphy, Don Hall, James Jacob and Kevin Lee served up another magniﬁcent meal of Virginia surf & turf, Dixie Baby Back Ribs, Chesapeake Bay Crab Cakes, Mac and Cheese and Green Beans Almandine. It was all topped off with warm apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert. The cool conditions didn’t stop TWENTY competitors (almost ½ the ﬂeet!) from hanging out after dinner and camping at the club Saturday night.

Sunday morning brought better weather all around. The wind clocked around to the WSW at 10-12 and the clouds slowly burned off throughout the day. In a building breeze Rob Hallawell picked it right to win the first two races of the day. Luke Shingledecker and Mike Schmidt were close behind finishing 2nd and 3rd in both races respectively. In what would be the last race of the day the first start was general recalled followed by a U-flag start in a breeze that dipped from 15 down to around 8. This shuffled the deck quite a bit as sailors tried to change gears. Bob Tan (Severn SA) won the race Rob kept enough points ahead of Luke and Mike to win the overall. Len Guenther and Charlie Brewer were the top Fishing Bay sailors both finishing in the top 10. Jon Deutsch, Frank Murphy, Mike Toms and Ron Jenkins rounded out the rest of the home team contingent. A big thanks to our Laser Masters race management team – led by Rick Klein including Mike Dale, Alex Alvis, Brad Miller, Becky Dale, Cathy Clark, David Clark, Debbie Cycotte, Donda Alvis, Doug Stinchcum, John Beery, Jon Wake, Paul Almany, Ruthana Jenkins, Sharron Bauer and

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Tom O’Connell. And thanks to Natalie Burls for helping on the safety boat. RESULTS: Overall Champion: Rob Hallawell (YYC) 1st Great Grand Master: Jacques Kerrest (Severn SA) 2nd Great Grand Master: Don Hahl (Brant Beach YC) 1st Grand Master: Mike Schmidt (Magothy River SA) 2nd Grand Master: Bob Tan (Severn SA) 1st Master: Rob Hallawell (YYC) 2nd Master: Gavin O’Hare (Eastport YC) 1st Apprentice: Luke Shingledecker (Severn SA) 2nd Apprentice: David Waiting (Severn SA) 1st Woman: Susan Taylor (Severn SA) Photos by Sharon Bauer & Jon Deutsch

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2017 Laser Masters US National Championship BY BILL SYMES The Gorge wind machine was cranked up to 11 for the 2017 Laser Masters US National Championship, hosted by the Columbia Gorge Racing Association in Cascade Locks, OR, July 7-9. Although gusts in the mid-30s tested the 46-boat fleet and littered the score lines with DNFs and DNCs, competitors were all smiles as we gathered around the beer cooler to hand out awards Sunday afternoon. Topping the 18-boat Standard fleet was Ernesto Rodriguez of Miami, prevailing over Charlie Buckingham (the Elder) from Haiku, HI, by one point after an epic battle. Rounding out the top five were Mike Matan from New York, Andrew Haliburton from Portland, and Laser Class Jefe Grande Tracy Usher from San Francisco. In the 28-boat Radial fleet, it was Ernesto’s former Cuban national sailing team mate Jorge Yanez of Vancouver BC holding off a stiff challenge from Andrew Holdsworth from San Francisco, followed by Jean-Yves Fillion from New York, David Lapier from San Francisco, and Bill Symes from Portland.

Holdsworth (Radial Master), Jorge Yanez (Radial Grand Master), and Bill Symes (Radial Great Grand Master). A touching moment at the awards ceremony was the presentation of the Tony Dahlman memorial trophy to Bay Area Laser vet Simon Bell. The Dahlman trophy, dedicated to a sailor who died on his Laser at the 2009 Laser Masters Nationals, is awarded annually to the competitor ﬁnishing in the middle of the Standard ﬂeet at this regatta. The award was presented with a moving remembrance by Nick Pullen, a club mate of Tony’s at Lake Tahoe YC. Thanks to Mark Townsend and crew for excellent race management, Susan Winner and the CGRA shore team for fabulous food and beverage, Christy Usher for the jaw-dropping photography, all the sailors who made the trek to Oregon from around the country (and as far as Australia!), and, of course, the Gorge wind gods for once again delivering an epic sailing experience for all.

Division winners were Ernesto Rodriquez (Standard Master), Tracy Usher (Standard Grand Master), Andrew

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North Americans Dominate World Masters Split, Croatia BY KURT HOEHNE, AL CLARK, BILL SYMES There may be nothing as worthwhile as messing about in boats, unless it’s specifically racing the Laser Master Worlds. For the 300+ “mature” (35 years old +) sailors, it’s a chance to enjoy sailboat racing in one of its purest forms, against an international crowd who are as interested in having an enjoyable regatta as winning it. It’s a long, tough regatta for a sailor of any age and the quality of racing is quite extraordinary. Pacific Northwest Lasers outdid themselves this year in Split, Croatia. Bill Symes (Portland) won the Great Grand Master Radial, Al Clark (Vancouver) in the Grand Master Standard Rig and Deirdre Webster (Portland) in the Women’s 75+ all won their divisions. But more than victory on the water, the event and venue were by all reports tremendous. Bill and Al both sent in reports, and we’re lucky to have them. Reading Coach Al’s piece really gives an insight into the racing aspect end of things, especially the psychology, within the lead group. Championships aside, Greg Jackson, who raced in the Great Grandmaster full rig division, had every bit as much fun if he was “making the top half of the fleet possible.”. Photos by Duje Petric were all lifted from the event’s Facebook site. To scroll through all those excellent photo galleries is to see a lot of fit “mature” sailors having a lot of fun with one of the world’s simplest, yet most challenging, boats.

Report from Al Clark

2017 has been busy for me with my full time position at Royal Vancouver YC as their head coach. Duties included coaching our Laser/Radial high school aged sailors. Also I coached 29’ers at their Midwinters in March and Worlds in August. I particularly enjoyed these high level events with some very talented sailors. I love to learn about new boats and get all the pieces together to help them go fast the right way. The third component has been coaching some of our Martin in his Finn (Miami OCR and Sailing World Bertold (Delta Lloyd and Worlds in Holland).

Race Team alumni, Kyle Cup Final) and Isabella

I watched and competed in about 17 regattas, 8 major would say I saw plenty of high level sailing and have the years how to get to the front of the ﬂeet. My training for this year’s Worlds (Vacation time for was very minimal. I wasn’t sure I had the mental signed up believing that when the time came I would

events in 2017. So I come up with ideas over

I did sail a local regatta in early July in Radials Nationals in Lake Tahoe later that month. I kept Crossﬁt gym and riding my bike.

and then sailed the US in decent shape at my

On water training prior to the worlds was a few days and then it was on the plane to Croatia with the site. I had chartered a private boat and was able to September 17th, so with the practice race on the the week to work up to race trim.

in early September, idea of sailing at the start practicing Sunday Saturday the 23rd, I had

me with my wife Sharon) energy to attend but be excited to race.

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I bought a carbon top section and had a new sail, and added my own hiking strap and compass (I use the compass quite a bit these days). Generally I was quite happy with the boat (I really like the new boats from LP) and the gear by the end of the week. I have marks for my vang, outhaul and cunningham. I find that when I feel the boat is fast with certain adjustments I make a note of it and try to keep that in mind. An example is I had 2 distinct marks on my vang for puffs and lulls in the 6-10 kts we sailed a lot in. My outhaul marks are for upwind, a 1-5 scale on my deck. The practice race (I sailed one lap) went well and I had decided to start near the favoured end then go on the first shift. Andy Roy was first off the pin then tacked, Peter Vessella was fast off the boat and I trailed both of them at the weather mark. I was in about 6th by the end of the run. Generally happy with my execution. The breeze was about 6 knots. One of the factors for this event became clear after the practice race. The sail out to the race course was going to be about an hour and a half each day with at least an hour sail in. The wind didn’t happen till about noon each day (if it happened at all) so we were going to have long days on the water with lots of waiting. As a coach I am used to this. The silver lining for me is that all the sailing out then in gave me plenty of time in the boat and I know that as I get the “feel” back I can be very quick in moderate wind in the Standard rig. I was training whenever I wasn’t racing. Also entering the harbour each day there was no wind so I had a chance to work on roll tacks and gybes. The first two days of the regatta (Sunday and Monday) we had no wind so there was a lot of catching up with old friends. Monday was cancelled early so after chatting with some of the guys I was walking home and noticed there was a late afternoon breeze so I went sailing for a few hours. I really like sailing every day when I’m at these events, even for a short time. The Tuesday we had a decent sea breeze (12 knots) by the time racing started and many of the favourites were near the pin at go. Andy Roy was smokin’ fast in this start and I made up my mind to stay with him. This ended up being a recall. In the next start I was motivated to go hard near the pin again and was near Andy and a number of other favourites. I realized that my speed was good and my height as well. I arrived first to the weather mark then sailed too conservatively on the run and rounded third. I fought through the race and was better on the final run, I had a 5 boat length lead down the final reach. Unfortunately

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I picked up a bag on my rudder and was passed by 2 boats. Race two I made adjustments and again was pleased with my speed. I won this race with a good gap and felt, as I sailed in that this was one of my best sailed ﬁrst days at a master’s worlds (nerves had been an issue) My self-talk was to execute the game plan without fear. Keep the “what ifs” at bay. Examples are don’t go to the lay line to early and have faith in the decision you are making. Wednesday was slightly lighter wind but again 2 good races. I was a little too conservative in race one but was generally happy with a 4th, Andy won that race. The next race was Andy leading again at the top mark, I snuck into 2nd on the rounding and I sailed smarter on the run and rounded close behind Andy going out to the right. I hung with him (happy with my height) then decided to carry on after Andy tacked, this got me into the lead, I extended down the reach and won race 4. So after 2 days Andy Roy, Tomas Nordqvist, Peter Vessella , Wolfgang Gerz and Nick Harrison were all sailing well and the battle was on for the Championship . Wednesday there was no racing Thursday brought again little wind and lots of waiting on the water with one race. This turned into a pivotal race. I started near the pin even though my compass was saying square line, even a bit boat favoured. I never came back from this and with plenty of scrambling ended 10th. Andy sailed a nice race and could have led but a big righty came in late up the ﬁrst beat, so Tomas won this race. So now we have a close battle for the podium with others ready to pounce. I decided that generally this race was one that I left the game plan and that I would ignore it and focus on the good races I had sailed. Friday there was no racing, we actually had a breeze

come up but ended up being too unstable and with the 175 Standards, we needed 2 hours to get in before sunset, pressure was building. There were a number of sailors that thought I had it won because the forecast for the last day was poor and no racing after 3. I kept to the routine and sailed out to the race course Saturday. I will say that the long waits and the broken up regatta between races was difficult and I was pleased that I entered the final race with a positive mind set. I was determined to be on my front foot going hard, same as all the races that I did well in We had one race with a late moderate sea breeze that was enough for me to be in the hiking strap (always good). I had a midline start that turned into a decent rounding at the weather mark (5th). I passed Tomas on the run and headed left in 4th with the two leaders well ahead. Tacking on the shifts up the beat (many were going left), I gained and was close in 3rd with a good gap to the rest of the fleet. Andy and Tomas now had their own battle going on and I only had to keep my head. I ended 2nd in the race and was relieved that I had not let myself down by sailing poorly, but had risen to the occasion. Andy did what he had to with Tomas ending 2nd overall, Tomas 3rd . My post mortem for the event is that the psychological aspects of competing are of utmost importance. There are a number of factors that helped me succeed – boat speed and height (when needed), executing quality starts, solid lane sailing tactics on the first beat, aggressive tactics on the run, hitting shifts on the second beat (and remembering that what seemed to work on the first beat doesn’t always work on the 2nd) , pushing hard to the finish . It was amazing how much nicer it is to have a countryman and friend (Andy Roy) nearby on the race course when I wasn’t sure about a strategy. We fed off each other in terms of confidence, discussing tactics etc. at the end of each day.

Men’s Worlds (that’s the one for the younger, fitter, full-time sailing crowd) were leaving town, and the city was gearing up for the onslaught of 350 Laser “masters” (minimum age: 35; maximum age: unlimited), their significant others and assorted entourages. We were greeted with a gala opening ceremony on the city’s waterfront promenade – the Riva – complete with welcome speeches by the mayor and various local and Laser Class grandees, live performances by folkloric singers, a really loud audio visual spectacle, and vast quantities of food and beverage (the first of many). Unfortunately, the wind in Split turned out to be somewhat less robust than the hospitality. We settled into a daily routine of waiting all morning for the offshore breeze to die, then waiting all afternoon for the sea breeze to fill in. The first two days it never did. Racing finally got underway on day three, with each fleet completing three races in lightmoderate conditions. The pecking order quickly emerged, with the usual suspects topping the leader board in most divisions. In the 62-boat Radial Great Grandmasters fleet (65+), I ended the day with finishes of 4-1-16, leaving me in third place behind a couple of Australians, current world champion Rob Lowndes and former world champion Kerry Waraker. Day four produced enough wind for two more races and 4-1 finishes for me. More importantly, I was

Looking forward to the Worlds in Ireland next September

Report from Bill Symes

My wife LauraLee and I have just returned to planet earth from one of the most dramatic sailing venues I’ve experienced in more than half a century of sailing, the Croatian coast. Split, Croatia’s second largest city and site of the 2017 Laser Standard Men’s and Masters World Championships, rises up from the remains of a 3rd century Roman emperor’s palace against a towering backdrop of granite cliffs, facing a cobalt sea and a string of islands surrounded, even in October, by swarms of white sails. Very cool. We arrived as the guys from the just completed Standard

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able to drop the 16th, which boosted me into second, two points shy of the lead. The next day, on a dying breeze and shortened course, I managed a third bullet and moved into a two-point lead. The forecast for the next couple of days was for no wind and, sure enough, after drifting around for 3 hours on day six, we were sent in without a race. Now the regatta was mine to lose; another abandoned race on the ﬁnal day would not have been an entirely bad thing. But the race committee was determined, and they sent us out at noon to wait on the water while they prayed for wind. Their prayers were answered at 2:55 pm, ﬁve minutes before the deadline for last warning gun. We took off in an 8-knot breeze, and despite my initial anxiety and a mediocre start, the

momentum was now on my side, and I was able to work through the fleet and take the race and the championship. Laser Masters Worlds is like an annual reunion with several hundred of your best sailing buddies, always in some wonderful place you’d have never thought to visit were it not for this event. For masters, the après sailing revelry is just as important as the on-the-water action. Not that the racing isn’t serious business; the field always includes former world champions and Olympic medalists, and the competition at the front of the fleet is intense. There’s a bumper sticker for Laser masters that says “Cheat the nursing home. Die on your Laser,” and these guys are living it. I can’t think of a better way to go.

Laser World Masters – Technically Speaking

BY MACIEJ GRABOWSKI Courtesy of Improper Course

and it turned out that the NeilPryde sails had more stitching at the sail head.

Training in Split

So I started asking how they set their sails, meaning vang, cunningham etc. As it turned out, the way I was trimming the MK2 was wrong - I was doing it the MK1 style, meaning no cunningham even in a big breeze, and it was not working with the MK2 sail.

Arriving to Croatia I was hoping to use the seven days before the event mostly to select the mast and sail I was going to use. I was lucky to have Brett Bayer (AUS) bring a NeilPryde sail for me which I thought would be better with the composite top section I was going to use. So I started sailing in Split with a composite top and new sail. At the beginning it was looking really bad. I could not keep up with the guys I was training with. I was slower and even with a lot of effort I was able to be fast enough only a short while (we did some speed tests and I was able to keep up for 2-3 minutes) and I knew that in a regular race I would not last for the whole race. Since I was mostly sailing with Brett and couple other guys from the Masters fleet, I knew that they were in a good shape but could not believe it was only better hiking causing so much speed difference. So I figured I needed to start looking elsewhere. First of course I would pay more attention to what the other guys were doing regarding their sail tuning (I was still at almost zero cunningham and big vang tension which is fast for the MK1 sail). Additionally I looked online at some photos from previous senior events just to have some reference regarding the sail trim. What got me thinking was the sail damage happening in the senior fleet because several straps at the top of the sail were ripping. I’m not sure how many sails ripped and believe it was close to 20. Apparently, the stitching that attached the strap that limits the mast movement in the mast sleeve could not hold the big cunningham loads. This is what got me thinking about the cunningham because the sails would break when rounding the top mark with full tension. Surprisingly, this was only happening to Hyde sails

www.Laser.org

This was a turning point for me, and from then on my upwind speed got at a level that I knew I was able to keep up with the rest of the ﬂeet.

Competing in Split

For the worlds at Split, there was not really that much wind that having enough Cunningham tension was that relevant. I still would play a lot with this adjustment whenever breeze was up a bit. For me I’d say that learning how to trim the sail properly was more of a confidence boost so I knew I’d be competitive in 12 knots up. The Apprentice fleet had only 14 boats, and Adonis Bougiouris (GRE) and Maksim Semerkhanov (RUS) were guys I knew from the World Cup circuit. I knew they did so much more sailing those past years than I did and it was not making me feel too comfortable before the regatta. Back in 2014 in Hyères I won first 4 races but from then on the breeze picked up and Adonis managed to beat me in what was looking like a match racing competition. I was really disappointed back then and was anxious not to let it happen again. Because of the size of our fleet, I knew that I would have to keep an eye on both Adonis and Maxim and kind of let the other boats sail on their own. I’m sure it was a kind of an awkward view seeing the three of us sailing a separate race, but I knew it had to be like that. Adonis was actually the one trying to sail on his own in some of the races and it cost

him few paces. When I look back at it now, is sounds funny after winning all of the races, but right after the ﬁrst start Adonis was to windward of me and he managed to roll over me with so such ease that I said to myself that there was no chance I was able to keep up with him. But I slowly started to get in the shift rhythm and arrived at the top mark maybe 3-4 boat lengths behind Adonis. Lucky I was at my (almost) senior speed downwind so I put maybe extra 10 boat lengths on both Adonis and Maxim on the ﬁrst run. I think that in every next race I was a little quicker upwind. But it was my downwind speed/technique that was winning races.

wind early in the morning and sail from 8 until 11, break for lunch, wait for the wind to turn to southerly and sail back downwind again for another 3 hours.

Downwind Sailing

Back in 2003 I used to train a lot with Mark Mendelblatt (USA). He invited me over to the US to train with him prior to the US Olympic trials. He already ﬁnished 6th at 2003 Laser Worlds, myself I just ﬁnished 3rd at the Laser Europeans (in Split) so we made a good training team.

Regarding sailing downwind I could probably write many pages about it. The way I see it looking at the masters fleet, is that most guys were competing before downwind sailing techniques introduced the S sailing - meaning changing course when sailing downwind by either heading up or bearing off in order to get on more waves. This is a way more complicated and sophisticated technique than it sounds. It is not only about going at a different angle than dead downwind. It is about being aware of how you need to adjust your sail, hull, position body in the boat – all in order to get on a wave a bit quicker. Even going by the lee is a skill - you obviously can’t go by the lee forever and getting back to the mark is an important part of the game. But to make it short, I think that for most of the masters fleet, this technique is something new, something they didn’t have a chance to learn properly. There are of course some guys doing it better than others, but it is still possible to gain 200m or so during single downwind. It won’t happen in all conditions of course but this is something that all masters could work on. Other than that there is really not that much difference between masters (in any category) and the senior fleet. Many masters would be competitive enough and fast enough upwind to be sailing senior’s gold fleet. But the downwind is something that makes all the difference. The challenge with downwind training is that you would need to sail upwind for 2 hours in order to sail downwind for 30 minutes. And you need long hours sailing only downwind. We used to go to lake Garda and train with the northerly

The problem with Mark was that he was pretty slow downwind, so our focus was to make him a bit more competitive for the trials. We spent two weeks training in Oregon on Columbia River doing 20-25 miles downwind every second day. After moving to Texas for the trials we kept training for another two weeks with 75% of time focused on downwind. Mark eventually won the trials and ﬁnished 2nd at 2004 Laser Worlds. He was never the one gaining downwind like many of us were, but he stopped losing.

To sum up

So this ended up being my plan for the Split world championship – sticking with the guys going upwind and passing them downwind. Doesn’t sound like very exciting sailing but it actually was. I knew I had to stay focused because of what happened in 2014 in Hyères. On the last day Adonis made it a bit easier for Maxim because he was late for the last race with a black flag so we ended up match racing with Maxim, and was only able to pass him halfway up the last short upwind to the finish. This ended up being the race I was most happy with. Looking back at the event with a two month perspective, I’m afraid that if ILCA doesn’t do something with the regatta format, the Apprentice fleet will be gone soon. It was a bit disappointing racing only few boats after driving 1600km. Back in 2015 my home club was hosting Masters Europeans and all fleets sailed together. It made racing really fun.

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2018 Schedule Please contact the ILCA-NA ofďŹ ce if interested in hosting an event below: Regatta

Standard

World Championship

Aarhus, DEN July 30-Aug 12

NA Championship

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club Long Beach, CA July 12-15

Radial

Laser 4.7

Masters

Aarhus, DEN July 30-Aug 12 Youth: TBD Men: TBD

Gdynia, POL July 9-17

Dun Laoghaire, IRL Sept 7-15

Alamitos Bay Yacht Club Long Beach, CA July 12-15

West Coast TBD

St Margaret Sailing Club Glen Haven, NS July 20-22

US Championships

Houston Yacht Club La Porte, TX June TBD

Brant Beach YC Brant Beach, NJ Aug 24-26

CORK

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 17-22

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 12-16

30 GP Pts. ISAF 100 points

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 22-25

USSCMC Jensen Beach, FL Feb 6-9

Midwinters West

Santa Barbara Yacht Club Santa Barbara, CA March 23-25

Miami OCR

Miami, FL (men only) www.ussailing.org January

Miami, FL (women only) www.ussailing.org January

Atlantic Coast Championships

Lauderdale YC Ft Lauderdale, FL Jan 13-15

Pacific Coast Championships

CGRA Cascade Locks, OR Aug 3-5

Gulf Coast Championships 25 GP Pts

St Pete YC St Petersburg, FL March 30-April 1

No Coast Championships

TBD

Britannia YC Ottawa, ON June 9-10

Royal Hamilton YC Hamilton, ON Sept 8-9

Georgian Bay,ON

ISAF 200 points

40 GP pts. ISAF 100 points

Canadian Championships

30 GP pts. ISAF 50 points

30 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 2

30 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

Midwinters East

30 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

ISAF 200 points

25 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

25 GP Pts

Great Lakes Championships 25 GP Pts

www.Laser.org

CORK Kingston, ON July 6-8

Sail NC Menteo, NC Sept 29-30

Lotsa Lasers 2017 By Bruce Richards, PRO and regatta organizer Since 1975, two years after the Laser was “born”, the Lotsa Lasers regatta at HIYC has been an opportunity for sailors of all ages and skill levels to nurture old friendships and kindle new ones through shared experiences on short race courses in perfect (well, almost perfect) early fall conditions on Old Hickory Lake, Tennessee. Those sailors have included some who have traveled from every corner of the region but I could not hide my surprise when Alexander Birukoff, a new face in the crowd, told me that he was from Miami: “You have traveled a long way to sail with us this weekend!” “We have no more sailing clubs,” he explained. Then the impact of Irma on our fellow sailors to the south hit me, though not with the force that hurricane brought to bear on Florida’s coast, completely destroying Alexander’s home club, the US Sailing Center, adjacent to Coral Reef Yacht Club and the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.

favorite memories of this event is another moment about twenty years ago when Anne Beesley rolled Marc Jacobi (an Olympic hopeful on the qualifying circuit trying to “rack up” Grand Prix points wherever he could find them… including Nashville) at the finish of one race. Anne has raced Lasers since 1975 and with Fred helped build the fleet and perpetuate enthusiasm for small boat one design racing at HIYC and in the region. Anne returned “once more to the lake” to race Saturday…to the admiration of all those on the racecourse…undaunted by a couple capsizes and thrilled to hike out again in the breeze that carried her home. Anne has “set the bar” for those of us who wonder how long we might continue to race Lasers: for the oldest and most passionate among us, at least ten more years. Thanks to Hayden Summers and Bob Carlton on the race committee boat and to Jim Waller for driving Bob ‘n Jack on short notice Sunday morning; to Peter Bennett and Gene Lovelace (returning to his “regatta roots” planted as a seed many years ago when he helped out on the race committee one Sunday morning at Lotsa Lasers) with guest and photographer Ashley, on the weather mark boat, providing great advice as always about wind and course location and race management; to Paul Latour for sharing his nimble Scout which served as the weather mark boat, to Jim Milliman and Sheila aboard the Whaler managing the starting lines and leeward gates and serving as a safety boat; to Peter and Hayden for handling registration; to Greg Theriot for preparing the club boats; to Chandler Owen for pressure washing the docks…to Michael Underwood for preparing dinner and to all those who helped out in the kitchen including the Vanderbilt Sailing Team…and as always to HIYC’s support of one-design sailing in general and to this traditional weekend of Laser racing in particular.

A Laser Radial sailor, Alexander sailed a full rig for the first time. That was not his only first; “Miami” (the nickname given him by his fellow competitors) won every race, attributing his horizon job in the first race quite humbly to “a private breeze” but in fact connecting the puffs masterfully and in the second race creating a passing lane at the leeward gate and on Sunday simply patient in lulls (vacuums!) and 90+ degree wind shifts. Others of course had their moments. Duane led the second race for two legs…and then the wind shut off. Captain Hof mastered the harbor Sunday morning. Birthday Boy Ted bettered his third place finish in the series last year with a second this year. Superdads Ed and Scott from Louisville had top three finishes. LOTSA LASERS 2017 The most memorable moment of the weekend was the photo finish of the first race, when Abbie (sailing a Radial) beat Daddy…by a foot. Among my

PLACE SAIL # SKIPPER R1 1 177194 Alexander Birukoff 1 2 2778 Ted Chapin 6 3 188119 John Coolidge 4 4 184607 William Hofmeister 5 5 191963 Mandy Hofmeister 3 6 170378 Duane Hatch 7 7 159000 Ed Spengeman 2 8 3 Clint Webb 8 9 210708 Scott Binzer 10 10 166118 Abbie Binzer 9 11 HIYC4 Anne Beesley 11

R2 1 2 7 8 6 5 4 9 3 10 11

R3 1 4 3 2 7 5 NS 6 NS 8 NS

TOTAL 3 12 14 15 16 17 18 23 25 27 34

CATEGORY AM M GGM,C L,F,GM AM,C AM AM M J,L,F GGM,CLUB WINTER 2018

2017 Fall Series XX Long Island, NY The 20th annual Fall Series at the South Bay Sailing Center sponsored by the Dinghy Shop ended Sunday October 22nd. For 20 years the Fall Series has given nearly 800 young sailors the opportunity to extend the season and hone their skills on the Great South Bay. Every year we eagerly look forward to hosting this program for competitors and their families. As winter settles in we will recount the camaraderie of sailing with friends, both old and new. We’ll think about the struggles and accomplishments faced on the water: capsizes, windy days, adverse currents, successful finishes and great recoveries. This year the center hosted three classes. 63 sailors from across the island, and even from as far as Australia, sailed in 105 races over the six-week series. 32 Optimist sailors participated in the 20th year of their series. 16 Laser sailors competed in the 5th year of their series, and 15 Sunfish sailors kicked off our first year for the Sunfish class. Last years Optimist champion, Nikki Berstein, was an excellent race committee and coach. We look forward to seeing you on the water again next year! Laser Fall Series 2017 was the fifth year that we hosted Laser sailors in our fall series. 14 sailors competed. 2017 Laser Competitors: Junior Sailors Jarred Hosking, Sag Harbor Owen Himsworth, Patchogue Sean Murphy, Massapequa Nora O’Donnell, Sayville Connor Queenan, Massapequa Griffin Sisk, Westhampton Sr. Sailors Bill Archer, Oyster Bay Ed Berenblum, Cold Spring Harbor Bob Blanco, Oyster Bay Matt Doherty, Sea Cliff Lindsey Hewitt, Cold Spring Harbor Ryo Sakai, Astoria Frank Seckler, Massapequa Bob Terry, Huntington Week one five junior sailors set the tone for the event and sailed most Saturdays. Jarred raced a 4.7, most other sailors raced radials. Bill Archer won day one. Day two Ryo Sakai joined us and notched all firsts. On day three, junior sailor Liam Sisk joined the fleet and sailed his first laser radial regatta. Day four laser aces joined us. Lindsey Hewitt won a tiebreaker over Matt Doherty. Both had three firsts, but Lindsey had more seconds. Sean Murphy had a chance to hop in a boat and sailed his first few laser races. Over the course of the series thirty-four races were sailed. Owen Himsworth sailed with determination, never missed a race, and ultimately won the series. Final Scores 1st Owen Himsworth 2nd Nora O’Donnell 3rd Griffin Sisk

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District Reports District 3 Nigel Heath Ontario We are in the midst of pulling together the District 3 regatta schedule for 2018, so if your club is interested in hosting one of the Fogh Gold Cup events or another event let us know ASAP. Given our schedule is typically jammed with events throughout the short summer sailing season, the sooner this happens the better. Looking back on recent sailing, the Water Rat Sailing Club resurrected its Ice Bowl regatta this year (it had been frozen in the past) in early November and a group of hardy sailors had a decent one day regatta in relatively light wind. The results were as follows: (1) Ray Davies, (2) Nigel Heath, (3) Chris Van Rossem. Not those three guys AGAIN, you might be thinking to yourself (or screaming out loud). Well, we want to do something about this and as part of a laser fleet development initiative we are going to run laser race training this coming summer at the Rats. We are still working out the details, but we may do one night a week of racing and another of training aimed beginner and intermediate skills development. There has been a lot of interest in some coaching from numerous sailors who are newer to the sport, so stayed tuned. Where is the fun in getting your butt kicked by the same guys over and over? So we hope to “give back” to the fleet and provide some “go fast” tools so that the entire fleet becomes more competitive and expands. Sailing lasers recreationally is good, but racing lasers is great, so come and improve your skills. If you are a 2017 Fogh Gold Cup series winner and haven’t yet picked up your prize, contact Fogh Marine ASAP and they can snail mail your gift certificate. Let’s hope we have a real winter this year with lots of frozen lakes and bays for wind sports on ice. Get out there and stay in shape!!

District 4 Brigitte Smutny Manitoba Slow time of the year for District 4. Snow and Ice is covering the lakes and everyone is either playing or watching hockey! The planning for the new season is on the way. No major event will be hosted in Manitoba in 2018. Our volunteers are needing some rest after a very busy 2017 season but will be ready again for a big event in 2019. I will be leaving my position as District 4 representative and will hand it over to the new Executive Director of Sail Manitoba Katja Smutny. All the Best and Happy Holidays from Winnipeg, Manitoba!

District 5 Mark Lammens Saskatoon The Dick Degner District 5 ﬁnal scores have unique situation we have not had in the 10 years of the award. When it was established there would be no tie breakers. In 2017 it has happened twice with the Radial and the Laser. In Laser it is a tie with Evan

Mah and Issac Bussin with 39 points, 3rd place is Ian Hern with 18 points. In the Radial the tie is with Lesley Reichenfeld and Kate Easton with 41 points. In the Masters 1st is Mike Hooper with 61 points, 2nd Barry Tee with 60 points and 3rd is Louis Pierre Gagnon with 57 points. The Radial Award will be “changed” in 2017, thanks to Stephen Reichenfeld. The award was originally intended to be a female Radial award but SR was always winning it. Steve has agreed to let it be a female Radial award. The Dick Degner recognition does stay in the family because his training partner is his wife Lesley.

District 6 Andy Hunt Vancouver, BC Greetings to all District 6 sailors, volunteers and coaches, The racing season in District 6 has officially ended. There are no scheduled regattas until the month of February. Sailors who desire to race over the winter must belong to a club that have a winter weekend racing program (unfortunately not JSCA). In the month of October, there were three events of note. The first event was the Doug Baxter Closer. FYI, the Doug Baxter Closer is part of the SPOG group (Scott Point Old Guys aka Old Guys in Old Boats) which is based on Salt Spring Island at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club outstation. The SPOG group uses a handicap system (similar to Masters Sailing) and there are 4 divisions: OGIT (Old Guy in Training), OG (Old Guy), OOG (Old Old Guy) and ROOG (Really Old Old Guy). The Doug Baxter Closer was held on October 7. The description on the SPOG website stated that there were very light winds but there were 5 races. The old fashioned scoring results (handmade spreadsheet) listed only the last names of the sailors but the website often mentions both first and last names. Don Martin won the event with Brian Woodward in second and C Sanderson in third. There were nine sailors in total. The second event in October was the Pumpkin Bowl Regatta. This regatta is part of the BC Sailing Circuit and was held (as usual) at the West Vancouver Yacht Club. The dates were October 14 and 15. There was enough wind for the RC to run 5 races on Saturday for the Laser 4.7s and Laser Radials and 6 races for the Laser Standards. On Sunday, the RC ran 4 races for the Laser 4.7s and Radials and 5 races for the Laser Standards. The extra two races for the Laser Standards meant that the Standard sailors were allowed to throw-out two races while the Laser 4.7 and Radial sailors only had one throw-out race. There were 5 Laser 4.7s, 19 Laser Radials and 7 Laser Standards. Of note, this regatta had competitors from the US and Alberta which is often not the case. The five Laser 4.7s were: Cameron Hay, GSC (Calgary), 9.00; Ava Frewster, GSC (Calgary), 20.00; Robert Simpson, GSC (Calgary), 22.00; Nathan Lemke, GSC (Calgary), 24.00 and Angelina Qia, WVYC/NSST, 46.00. In regard to the Laser 4.7, I have acquired two Laser 4.7 sails but I am looking for a class legal Laser 4.7 bottom section. Any help is appreciated. Back to the PB/ The top 5 Laser Radial sailors were: Conrad Miller, WSC (Portland), 22.00; Alex Cherniavskii, WVYC, 28.00; Bob Ennenberg, JSCA, 29.00; Alec Coleman, WVCY, 31.00 and Josh Dean, RPSA, 32.00. As you can see, it was very close racing between the second to fifth place sailors. The top three Laser Standard sailors were: Jorge Yanez, JSCA, 9.00; Tim Murphy, JSCA, 19.00; Matthew

Stranaghan, WVYC, 24.00. Two weeks later, the Kitsilano Yacht Club hosted the third event which was the Bluenose Regatta. There were no Laser 4.7s at this regatta. There were 9 Laserr Standards and 17 Laser Radials. The Race Committee had to postpone the start of racing on both days due to lack of wind in the morning. Once the wind filled in, the RC ran 5 races on Saturday for the Standard fleet (ensuring that the sailors had at least one throwout race) and 4 races for the Laser Radials and 2 races on Sunday for both fleets. There was a time limit on Sunday so the RC was restricted on how late in the day they could run races. The top three Laser Standards were Peter Woytkowiak (JSCA) with 13 points, Benji McMaster (RVANYC) with 17 points and Tim Murphy (JSCA) with 19 points. Unlike the Standard fleet which was made up of mostly local sailors, the Radial fleet had sailors from all over BC. The top four Radial sailors were: Maura Dewey, RVICYC, 5.00; Marta Zattoni, RVICY, 9.00; Alex Cherniavskii, WVYC, 20.00, Jacek Suski, JSCA, 22.00. The Bluenose Regatta marked the end of the BC Sailing Circuit. There were 51 Laser Standards, 93 Laser Radials and 14 Laser 4.7s who participated in the BC Sailing Circuit. Regattas ran from April to October. Full results are available on the BC Sailing website: www.bcsailing.bc.ca under racing and bc circuit. For those District 6 Master sailors who like to travel, there is a 4 event in 4 weeks circuit in the west coast of the US (California and Oregon). The first event is the North American Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 Championships in California on July 12 – 15 in California. The second event is the North American Laser Master Championships on July 20 – 22 in California. The third event which is the Pacific Coast Laser Master Championships is also in California and is on July 28 and 29. The fourth and final event is in Oregon at the GORGE on August 3 – 5. This event is the Pacific Coast Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 Championships. If 4 regattas are too much, at least there is an opportunity fo race two consecutive weekends in the San Fran area. Details are on the ILCA NA website. Finally, I now have confirmation that the Frigid Digit Regatta which is hosted by the Corinthian Yacht Club (Seattle) and the Seattle Laser Fleet, will NOT conflict with the Frozen Assets Regatta (Victoria) in 2018. The Frozen Assets will be on February 10 and 11 while the Frigid Digit will be on February 24 and 25. I would be remiss not to mention that Allan Clark from District 6 was named Sail Canada Helly Hansen 2017 sailor of the month for September. Al (as he is usually called) competitively races Laser Standards and Laser Radials and is also the head coach of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club’s race team. Al won the Grand Master Division (Standard) at the recent Laser Master Worlds in Crotia. Al is also the ILCA NA Region executive committee member-at-large. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions and / or comments.

District 7 Christine Neville New England Ah the waning of Fall as it effortlessly slips into Winter, well maybe not so seamless here in New England. But as some regions are packing their boats away to slumber, the New England Laser sailors begin to dig their boats out from the piles of Technicolor leaves! Up and down the region packs of insulated enthusiast’s rally every weekend to see who can endure the best that Mother Nature throws at them. Before we get into plugging the ﬁne ﬂeets to

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spend the winter with we need to do a little recap….. Summer Sailing- shorts, rash guards, Visors, warm water in your face, and an ice-cold drink after wheeling up the beach. There are a huge number of events here in New England and I will do my best to recap them. The District 7 Champions were decided at the Wickford Yacht Clubs sport boat extravaganza, The Wickford Regatta. Amongst 29ers, 505’s, F18’s and UFO’s, Full rig Lasers and Radials braved the conditions to crown Daniel Petrovik and Connor Harding the 2017 District 7 Champions. Daniel had fierce competition from master sailor Lawrence Mcgrath who got edged out in a tie breaker! While Connor put on a master’s class for the Radials with 7 straight bullets, yes I guess you can throw out a 1st!!! On June 24th 24 sailors descended upon New Bedford Yacht Club for a great regatta in honor of an even greater person, John Bently, if you do not know of John, ask a masters sailor, he was quite notorious!! Steve Kirkpatrick went on a tear of bullets to run home with the prized Saltmarsh Trophy, Chris Bollengier kept the pressure on to finish 2nd, and Will Donaldson rounded out the podium in 3rd. I would be a bad friend if I did not mention that Will’s 2nd place in the last race bested the tie he had with Dan Neri. Rhode Island again hosted laser sailors for Sail Newports’, Newport Regatta, where junior sailor John Kirkpatrick (yeah that’s his dad just above) threw up so many 1’s that it will make you dizzy to win the regatta. To say he is gaining his speed it an understatement, his competition had included a fine pedigree of sailors of whom have Regional, National, World, and Olympic medals!!! Peter Shope, Masters World Champ 2015, fought valiantly for a strong 2nd place finish and Preston Duclos finished up in 3rd place. As a quick aside, John has had an amazing year of sailing, he just finished 4th in the ISSA Cressy Trophy sailing for St. Georges, previously a second-place finish in the Sears Cup and a third in the US Youth Sailing Championships!!! Definitely one to watch, many members of Newport’s Fleet 413 are hoping his school work load keeps him from abusing us on the water all winter. Two Fantastic regattas shared one great weekend, Marblehead’s Helly Hansen NOOD regatta and The Hyannis Regatta on Cape Cod. If these two can split weekends it would make for an endless summer of back to back sailing!! Past District 7 Secretary Judith Krimski took high honors over Dave Crawley with another tiebreaker decision in Marblehead’s Radial fleet while Nik Froud sailed clear of Bryce Andreason for the top step. A little further south Caleb Robinson made the trek down from Maine to win the full rig, Matthew Priebe bested the 49 boat Radial fleet in a tight contest with Paul James that came down to the last race. James needed just 2 points to make the win his.

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Thanks to the hard work by the brilliant mind of Dr. Mark Bear, Lasers were welcomed back to the Buzzards Bay Regatta!!!!! Racing for the Buzzards Bay Masters Trophy, 2 dozens Masters sailed in New Bedfords finest breezes and accompanying waves. If you have not sailed there, you need to!! Just a short sail out of the harbor to awesome breeze no matter the direction, and to bring them up a notch, Jim Cook of Sam Adams beer fame is a club member!! I wonder what is on tap? Throwing out a 5th after 10 races Peter Shope showed that his consistency is what wins him races. Mark Bear, whose fantastic idea it was to bring Lasers back to this event after a 2 year hiatus, finished 2nd. It must have been blowing as heavy air specialists locked down the top 3 spots, New Yorks Mike Matan kept it flat for 3rd. For the 3rd year running, and a commitment for their 4th, The Dynamic Dolly New England Masters Laser regatta was held at Wickford Yacht Club. It was a regatta of epic proportions!!!! Old sailors, older sailors, even older sailors, and where did I leave my wheelchair? While all Masters age groups were represented it was the Grand Masters who came alive! ? The top 4 were Masters regulars, legends and even long lost champions and all Grand Masters……HHmm maybe this point system is rigged! Scott Ferguson returned from his Americas Cup campaign in Bermuda to finish 3rd to long time Masters and part time Snipe sailor Andy Pimental who came in 2nd. Dan Neri had a few 1’s and 2’s to place him within striking distance of Ferg but he had to settle for a close 4th, Peter Shope again for the win! That was your Grand Masters Fleet and overall, Masters Class had Rob Halliwell, Steve Kirkpatrick, and Patrick Wacholz, yup the Canadian, as 1st to 3rd. Great Grand Masters was a model of laser history as Dave Fraiser, Peter Seidenberg, and Lindsey Hewitt accepted their awesome towel Trophy’s. The kids class, Apprentice, was won by Christine Neville followed by Scott Pakenham and Bob Kinsman. After sailing Wickford YC hosted an amazing BBQ dinner for all sailors and guests. If there is one regatta to put on your list for 2018 this should be it!!! Thanks to Wickford Yacht Club and Dynamic Dollies for Hosting and Sponsoring! For me the Changing of seasons is not the turning of the leaves but the Newport Laser Fleet 413 Fat Boys Regatta, as it marks the end of summer sailing and the entrance to Frostbiting. Last year’s event was marked by the exceptional victory of a truly humble and modest sailor, for this year to be memorable it had to be special! With some challenging negotiations and schedule manipulation we saw a combined weekend of liquid mayhem, Fat Boys Trophy (Saturday) and Frostbite opener (Sunday), Sail Newport Agreed to host and provide all access usage to their brand new waterfront facility. Fleet PRO and long-time member Moose McClintock worked the hardest to log in 6 awesome races in grueling shifty, fluky and splotchy winds. His crew moved almost every mark in every race as Mother Nature just could not make up her mind. Adding his name to the perpetual trophy for a 4th time is Peter Shope, followed by 3 time winner Steve Kirkpatrick, Max Lopez, Ed Adams and Paul Clifford in 5th. Helly Hansen provided awesome backpacks, Sail Newport Handled a fantastic party and we all left a bit heavier than we arrived. The Party, for what you ask? So 2017 was a big year but perhaps the biggest thing to happen this year was Peter Seidenberg turning 80. Don’t know who he is? Look back in Sailing world for the Iron Master cover and read up. Still don’t have a clue….look at the dolly that sunder your boat, and the boat next to yours, now you’re getting it. Peter was the father

of the Seitech Dolly and one of the birthing partners of Dynamic Dollies. If that’s still not enough, he has more Laser Championships that Robert Scheidt, trust me don’t check. And at 80 years of age he ﬁnished his surprise birthday party regatta 5 places ahead of me. His performance in a laser in all his years is an inspiration to every masters sailor, if we all can be sailing at 80, let alone with the results he keeps putting up event after event. Mark Bear made an amazing speech and PowerPoint presentation to illustrate his appreciation for Peter and he made a shirt, we have some still available. It has every chevron Peter has ever earned on it, mind boggling, and the number 80, only the 8 is an inﬁnity symbol. Happy Birthday Peter!! This ends the long winded results term paper, I do apologize, next one will be shorter. Now for the plugging….Go Sailing!! Bristol Yacht Club, RI Saturdays, 1st gun 1:00pm Drinks after at Club Bar Newport Laser Fleet 413, RI Sundays, 1st Gun 1:00 pm Pizza and Drinks after at IYAC Marblehead Frostbiting, Eastern Yacht Club, MA Sundays, 1st Gun 1:00 PM Cedar Point YC, CT Sundays 1st gun at 12:00pm Cottage Park Frostbite, MA Sundays, 1st Gun at 1:00 PM Connecticut River Squadron, CT Sundays, 1st gun at 1:00 PM Stamford YC, CT Sundays, 1st gun at 12:30 PM Photos by Joe Berkely, Thanks Joe, Roger that!

District 9 Peter Bushnell Upstate New York We wrapped up the season in district 9 with three very nice one-day regattas. Here’s a brief report of results. September 9, WILLOW BANK YC, Death Roll Regatta, Cazenovia, NY. Six races in 10-15mph NW. Excellent close racing at a bunch of levels. Congratulations to Susan Light Olson sailing her ﬁrst regatta. Congratulations to Ray Cudney for 1st overall with a very consistent series. Final results: (1) Ray Cudney [7pts], (2) Drew Porter [10], (3) Peter Bushnell [13], (4) Mike Lorenz [16], (5) Brad Dunn [26], (6) David Filiberto, (7) Eduardo

Solessio, (8) Joe Miller, (9) David Burtis, (10) Todd Harrington, (11) Tom French , (12) Susan Light Olson. September 16, OTSEGO SAILING CLUB, Glimmerglass Regatta, Cooperstown, NY. This was the 50th annual Glimmerglass regatta, multi-ﬂeet event. Laser one-day. Light North wind (3-7mph). Very warm conditions with several of us taking swim after racing. 5 races. Thanks very munch to Drew Porter and Otesgo Sailing club for hosting this event. It is really nice to mix it up socially with the Thistles

and other ﬂeets. Final Results: (1) Peter Bushnell [9pts], (2) Kurt Offer [10], (3) Drew Porter [19], (4) Ray Cudney [19], (5) Peter Gould [19], (6) Brad Dunn. October 8, HENDERSON HARBOR YC, Columbus Day Regatta, Henderson Harbor, NY. The forecast the evening before this event was daunting with winds in the early morning predicted to be gusting up to 45mph, but HHYC and Tom King wisely let everyone know that we’d assess the situation and postpone as needed, anticipating a gradual easing of conditions. As expected, we were greeted by a very stiff breeze on arrival at the club, and the RC waited for a couple of hours for with wind to subside a bit. We ended up starting the ﬁrst race at about 2PM in erratic 20-25mph NW breeze with gusts up to 30. Conditions were challenging and very wet. Beautiful sunshine and unseasonably warm conditions made it an especially memorable regatta. Thanks Tom King for hosting, and Jack Jones and Jim King for race operations. Final Results for 6 races: (1) Sky Munger [7pts], (2) Ray Cudney [13], (3) Peter Bushnell [17], (4) Tom King [17], (5) Andrew Green [18], (6) Kira Munger, (7) Peter Gould, (8) KJ Wolaver. Photo of Ray Cudney bearing off in a 30mph gust with the bow driving down under the all the pressure (photo by Jack Jones).

District 10 Eric Reitinger New Jersey

Er4599@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/1384665518239646 As the fall started, many went back to school and did other sports. There were some clubs who kept the sailing going in the form of fall series. Beachwood

hosted 5 boats over September and beginning of October and Matthew Brooks won the series. Toms River’s Fall series ran through end of September into October with only 3 Radials racing, all sailed every weekend). Tyler Mowry won the series. Marsh Creek also hosted their series and got their usual suspects out there and attracted some new folks with their club boats they have refurbed. Now Marsh Creek also hosted their fall regatta on October 14th. 9 boats sailed in light winds and after 3 races, Jim Irwin wound up winner of the day with Joe Folds in 2nd and Bill Parsons in 3rd. Monmouth decided to keep their Fall regatta as a kick off to their frostbite series. Sadly the first day was too windy so it moved back a weekend. 15 boats arrived on the 13th of November. Winds were light but MBC fleet captain Chris Henkel pulled of a convincing win with Larry Nociolo in 2nd and Marc Gordon in third. Their frostbite series goes through the winter but does have a break around Christmas. Cooper River’s Frostbite series is still going on as of this writing with one week to go. Racing goes through many of the Sundays in November (minus the one we lost due to rowers), and also Thanksgiving. This year the series also leads into December. We had 23 different fulls and 3 different radials over the series so far. As for who will win the series…stay tuned to the next issue. You can find some great video of the racing on Cooper River’s Facebook page courtesy of Craig Priniski.

District 12 Stanley Hassinger NC, SC, Georgia Wow 2017 is in the books! Hard to believe it’s

about to be 2018. This year was a busy one for D12. We had 6 races that were a part of our District Championship Series. The Series began in May at BYSC in Beaufort, SC then in June we went to SYC in Savannah, GA. In July we sailed at CYCSC in Charleston, SC and August was CYC-NC in Wrightsville Beach, NC, (an all time Masters favorite venue). Next stop was in September at LNYC in Mooresville, NC and our Grand Prix event aka “Grand Finale” was at CSC in Columbia, SC. Through the races we had about 40 different full rig sailors come out to at least one event, about 20 radial sailors and 11 4.7 rig sailors. The District saw growth in Charleston, SC this year as a group started a frost bite series out of James Island Yacht Club. We also have a great group growing on Jordan Lake in the Raleigh, NC area. A few of those folks traveled to the last two D12 events of the year and are thirsty for more in 2018. They say they might even convince some of the other 18 sailors to travel with them! We had a couple of “father/son” teams come to the events. John Porter/full rig master with his son Collin, (who was a threat in both full rig and radial rig) and Laser new comers Allan Barton/full rig master and Graham/radial rig. Every event was very competitive. Very often 1st through 3rd were only separated by a point or two and we had some tie breakers! John Porter got his name on the D12 Perpetual Championship trophy this year. He had a string of 1st places which allowed him to sew up the championship at our 4th regatta of the year in August. John was the guy who never finished worse than 4th, (regardless of fleet size) and never made that “mistake” on the race course. Congratulations John! Rob Bowden finished 2nd in the series a point behind

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John and Stanley Hassinger finished 3rd 2 points behind Rob. This result was much like the last 4 regattas of the season! New comer Graham Crosby won the Radial fleet and has his name now permanently etched on the D12 Radial Perpetual trophy. Before the first race of the final event in Columbia I sailed over to Graham and told him, “Hey – all you have to do is finish 2nd in this event and you’ll be district radial champion man!” I don’t think he believed me because he was a total deer in the headlights when his name was called at the awards ceremony. Way to go Graham. Graham was the only Radial sailor to make every single D12 event this year! Finn Hassing won our Great Grand Master trophy having made it back from the Masters Worlds just in time for our final event. When I grow up I want to be Finn! The final event was a bit of a floater wind wise, but CSC always provides the best venue for camping and family fun! This was where we held our district members meeting. As one may imagine, (with the current state of LP) finding class legal parts and boats was a big part of the discussion. The next big topic was next year’s schedule and things we can do to grow interest in our class when it’s hard to buy new boats and parts. We settled on the schedule and things we’ll allow people to do, (or not have to do) so they can get their boats on the water and compete in our events! Sailing can have enough barriers to entry on its own much less people not being able to sail due to a parts availability issue. So we’re removing as many barriers as we can to encourage participation. We will continue this philosophy until the new sail and parts embargo is lifted. If there are any interested sailors out there wanting clarification please reach out to Stanly or Rob. So, what’s happening next year you ask? Well, the frostbiting at JIYC in Charleston will pick back up where we left off last year. We’ll start after New Year’s and run through March. Anyone who wants to come and play is welcome! Reach out to Rob Bowden if you want schedule info. I understand they will be frostbiting on Lake Jordan in Raleigh, NC as well. Again, contact Rob Bowden for more info and a contact for that group. Some of us are threatening to go to Atlanta for some of their epic frostbiting. We will likely have a few folks make it to Florida for the notorious Masters week there as well. During the “off season”, (is there really such a thing in Lasers?) we will work to grow our relationship with SAYRA, (our local governing body). This year we piggy backed our events with SAYRA Jr. Championship series events. We found this not only helped individual fleet participation numbers, but it also exposed many Jr sailors to the “Laser path” of 4.7, radial, full rig and old fart masters. See kids, you never outgrow a Laser. You can keep sailing, but you just get a little grumpy…but you can drink after the racing is over! I’ve even seen some mini bottle action on the course and an occasional cigarette. I digress…. Anyway- SAYRA. Yes! We’re going to send a D12 representative to the annual SAYRA convention to work on growing our relationship and tie in tighter to the Jr, (up and coming sailor) network. Our focus will be stepping kids up from the Opti fleet, encouraging female sailors, working to encourage parents getting into boats to be on the course with their kids and finally attempting some degree of retention of the college age sailors when they go off to school. The path to healthy, organic fleet longevity can’t be sustained through master sailors alone! The 2018 District Series Schedule will begin a little

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earlier than usual at the end of March at BYSC in Beaufort, SC. This will be a combination event where we’ll share the course with the new EVO’s. That should be pretty interesting to see! Then we’ll take a break until the first of June when we’ll go back to SYC in Savannah, GA for the 2nd regatta. From there we’ll have a new stop at JIYC in Charleston, SC over Father’s Day weekend, (little plug for my home club here..this is always a super fun event!). Then we’ll head to CYC-NC the first weekend in August and we’ll take another break until the season finale at CSC in Columbia, SC around the first of November. We at D12 wish everyone a very happy holiday season!

District Circuit Champion: Grifﬁn Orr Iron Man: John Oliver and Grifﬁn Orr We are looking forward to a busy 2018 season starting with the Rock the Ice Regatta held at the Corinthian Sailing Club the last weekend of January. CSC is also pleased to announce the 2018 No-Coast Regatta May 16/17 and Houston Yacht Club will be hosting 2018 Laser Nationals in late June! See y’all on the water next year!

District 15 Grifﬁn Orr Texas District 15 has closed out their season strong with two district events and over 50 individuals participating. We ended the season with our District Championship, Wurstfest, at Lake Canyon Yacht Club. Competitors were treated to two days of picture perfect sailing on Lake Canyon in the Texas Hill Country. The following trophies were awarded: District Champion Full Rig: Carson Shields District Champion Radial Rig: Ricky Welch

D19 Championship trophies made by Jim Sunstrum in a Maker Shop. Laser emblems were cut out of a solid block of aluminum District 19 Ken Swetka Michigan At this time of year some of us are still trying to don our drysuits and sail. Others are sharpening their

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iceboat runner. At Crescent Sail Yacht Club a few hearty folks sailed into December! Myself included but I can’t wait until February when I am sailing in Florida! Master’s Circuit here I come! D19 Championships / No Sweat Regatta Our District Championships were hosted at Portage Yacht Club (Sep 23-24) in conjunction with their annual No Sweat Regatta. Normally their regatta is a one-day event but they were able to make it a two day even for the Championships! The wind forecast was for light winds and the forecast stayed pretty true over the weekend. But somehow RC Chair Clark Chapin and his team managed to get in 9 races! Regatta Chairman Steve Wiseman did a great job pulling this all together with what he called “a village” effort. Results 1 Ken Swetka 15.25 2 Rick Lyons * 26.50 3 Tom LaBelle 32.00 4 Craig Pearson 42.75 5 Carey Jones 44.75 6 Ovidiu Adam * 45.00 7 John McNeill 45.50 8 Steve Wiseman 64.00 9 Benjamin Sinder * 65.00 10 Liam Walz 66.00 11 Matt Heywood 76.00 12 Jerry Best * 77.00 13 Jim Sunstrum 80.00 14 Kevin Varga 105.00 15 Jane Tucker * 109.00 16 Ryan Bennett 121.00 17 Bob Harvey 129.00 That’s all for now from D19 (Michigan)! As always check www.D19Laser.org or www.facebook.com/ D19Laser for even more schedules, reports, and photos!

District 20 Sean Lennon-183847 WI, IL District 20 had a great year this year. We had many accomplishments and have seen growth in our fleets. Many of our sailors received high honors at the regional and national level. Roman Plutenko traveled to Canada and returned with bragging rights. Malcolm Lamphere (Lake Geneva Yacht Club) finished in the gold fleet at the 2017 Laser World Championship in Croatia. He will be training and competing in regattas in Florida during the winter. Also, our sailors are on the cutting edge of Laser sailing. Susie Pegel (Delavan Lake Yacht Club) now has a composite top section to go along with her MKII sail. She looks forward to doing some Masters regattas in 2018. Frostbiting is epic on Lake Michigan! Lake Michigan is a fantastic place to get some practice in the bigger waves and the Chicagoans of District 20 know that firsthand. Chicago Yacht Club ended their annual frostbiting season in November with strong season and and turnout. Andrew Aronson reports that the series drew in as many as fifteen boats on the line. The series results of the top 5 finishers were: Paul Wurtzebach Adam Aronson William Fox Jr. Roman Plutenko Mitch Polgar It was a tough start to the year at Carlyle again with high water until June. An acceptable lake level was reached just in time for the annual Junior Sail Camp. We had seven Laser sailors with the younger kids

in the Bics and Optis for the week long activates of sailing, games and camping! The weekly summer Harbor Mice program started after Junior Sail Camp and ran until school started in the fall. Mid July CSA held a Junior Olympics Sailing Festival and had typical weather with light air sailing and lots of swimming. As summer ended we began a ten week Junior Team Racing program which ended the Saturday before our Fall Laser Regatta. All the junior sailors are encouraged to enter and sail in scheduled club regattas. The largest regatta was the Whale-of-a-Sail with more than 70 boats entered. There were concerns about having Optis with sailors as young as 8 on the same race course with E Scows, Nacras, and Cabin Boats. Although setting a separate course at another location on the lake makes sense, it would require additional volunteers and the juniors would feel left out of the overall action. We solved the issue by setting a starboard pin off the committee boat adding another starting line sailing a short course with marks to starboard. Eleven juniors participated and had a great time! Our season ended with the annual Fall Laser Regatta on October 14 – 15. There were 17 entries with three deep trophies for Standard, Radial and 4.7. Five races were completed on Saturday with increasing winds in the afternoon. In 4.7s, Carter Hood (CSA) took first, Jack Hadlock (Eagle Creek) second and Lilly Pope (CSA) finished third. In the Radials, Reagan Lessick (Eagle Creek) had a perfect score, followed by a couple of seasoned veterans from (CSA), Howard Harris and John Folwell. The Laser Standard division was dominated by out-of-town boats. From (IBYC) Jeff Evans was first and Lou Dixon second, followed by Mark Kastel (La Crosse SC). All-in-all it was another successful regatta with an amazing age difference of 70 plus years from the youngest 4.7 sailors to the Salty Dawgs. This year Carlyle Sailing Association made some innovative changes that brought in 150 new members. These changes improved the junior sailor’s participation overall and is driving a large capital improvement program for 2018. New junior docks, crash boat, sails and rigging are all in the works to support our commitment to safety and an ever growing Junior Program! Come sail with us in 2018! The Milwaukee Bay Laser Fleet has had a competitive year. We had a strong showing in local, regional, and national events. We saw some excellent growth in our younger sailors and we will continue to support their growth through our sailing school events. Our season results were very tight and are as follows: Jared Drake Steve Dolan Sean Lennon Willie Rozanski Christian Mitchell Our Laser Radial Champion was Christian Cushman. District 20 has seen growth in the number of younger sailors. This has been very exciting to see. We have a couple of great events in scheduled in District 20 for younger Laser sailors. US Sailing Upper Midwest Junior Olympic Festival Host: Lake Forest Recreation, Lake Forest, IL Optmist - Laser - C420 Friday, June 29, 2018 - Skill Building Clinic Saturday - Sunday, June 30 - July 1, 2018 – Regatta Host Contact: Will Howard - howardw@ cityoflakeforest.com, US Sailing Area K Junior Championships Host: Sail Sheboygan, Sheboygan, WI Sears: Sonars- Provided by host, Bemis: Club 420BYO, Smythe: Laser Radial- BYO

Monday, July 16 – Clinic Tuesday - Thursday, July 17 - July 19, 2018 – Regatta Host Contact: Tom Atkins - atkinsassociates@gmail. com Both of these events have very competitive Laser Radial fleets. I had the opportunity to coach some Laser Radial sailors at last year’s area K event and I was truly impressed with the competitiveness of the fleet. Look for updates with the upcoming sailing season on the Laser North American website. We will also be finalizing our schedule shortly. Take care everyone and remember we will be sailing soon.

District 24 Stephen Aguilar NorCal I’m sitting at Richmond yacht club watching the flags moving with the wind. Yes it’s the first midwinter and I’m trying to decide if I should write this article or go sailing. I’ll get back to you I’m heading to skippers meeting. I’m back, enjoyed a wonderful day Sailing on the Richmond Riviera. Of course all the usual suspects were here and we enjoyed a fabulous time on the water though it was a little light and very shifty. Twenty-five boats showed up for this event. District 24 news. Again we had the Svendsen Grand Prix this year. Events that cover the full spectrum of Sailing. Ocean, Bay and Lake venues. This year we have two first time winners of the series. Marcel Sloane managed to wrestle Emilio Castelli’s stranglehold on Standard class trophy. And Andrew Holdsworth came away with the radial trophy this year. Lots of fun close racing. We added new venue this year Benica Yacht club held its first ever laser regatta. This yacht club is located where the San Joaquin, Sacramento River dump into the San Francisco Bay. So there’s big current steep chop And lots of wind. It was a very challenging venue. Some big news and big events coming to district 24. The Masters North American are going to be held at the St. Francis yacht club and the following weekend the Masters PCC‘s will be at Benica yacht club. Check the master calendar’s for the dates.. and I’ve heard rumors that the St. Francis Yacht Club may be putting on the laser heavy weather slalom the week before the Masters North Americans. More about this to come. I see a crowd gathering around a white Volkswagen bus this can only mean one thing The after Sailing party has begun and fine wine is been poured. Before I head to the party I just like to add one thing. I keep hearing all these rumors about the Laser class dying don’t see any signs of it here at Richmond haven’t seen any signs of it all season long. Today we had juniors and masters sailing together. All season long our events have grown and I see that trend continuing in 2018. Enjoy the holidays.

WINTER 2018

Fall Photos TOP -Fall great Pumpkin Patchogue Fall Laser Series group shot. right: Cooper River Frostbit Series Left: Old Hickory - Anne

www.Laser.org

Why Join the Laser Class? What are some of the benefits of a strong class association? 

A strong class association means lots of boats to race against, near you and around the world!

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A strong class association with lots of racing attracts the world’s best sailors - giving you the best racing possible!

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A strong class association means major events scheduled at the best sailing locations and moving all over the North American Region - there will always be a big event near you!

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points when sailing in major events, ranking you against your fellow competitors and making you eligible for end of the season prizes, like new sails, carbon tillers, etc.

You get direct beneﬁt by joining the Laser Class!

What does the class association do with your membership dues? 

The ﬁrst $14.00 of your membership dues go to pay the North American staff who work incredibly hard to: make sure our North American events get scheduled every year and that these events follow the high standards of the Laser Class, to publish our quarterly newsletter, etc. Importantly, that money also makes sure that if you ever have a question you can simply pick up the phone, or send an email, and a knowledgeable person will answer you right away.

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$10.11 of your dues goes to the International Class where they use the money to pay their staff to make sure world level events get scheduled, ensuring all the boats are the same by inspecting the builders to make sure they are complying with the Laser Construction Manual, keep track of rules changes proposed by members, interfacing with ISAF on various levels, including keeping both the Laser Standard and Laser Radial as Olympic equipment, etc.

You receive the annual Laser Class Handbook with the current class rules, interpretations of those rules, class constitution, guidelines for events, useful information for keeping your boat in good shape, contact information for your district, etc.

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A little over $7.00 goes to the quarterly assembling, printing and mailing of The Laser Sailor to you for the year.

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Around $5.00 goes to support and promotion, ranging from direct support of the districts and regattas to the website.

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You receive the International Class Association’s quarterly publication “Laser World” which gives a roundup of international events sailed around the world, as well as information from the international ofﬁce.

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You receive the North American Association’s quarterly publication “The Laser Sailor” which is loaded with regatta reports, technique articles, fitness and nutrition tips, sailor profiles, reports from each of the North American Region’s 26 Districts and much, much more. In addition, the magazine also contains advertising from Laser dealers selling Laser specific gear and aimed entirely at Laser sailors - if you are looking for something for your boat you will see it advertised here!

Most of the remaining dues go toward all the things it takes to running an organization of 2000 members, from Executive Secretary travel costs, to federal income taxes all the way to mundane ofﬁce expenses. Your membership dues are used to keep the Laser Standard, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 as THE singlehanded dinghy to sail and race in North America and throughout the world!

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A strong class association means solid class rules making all boats as identical as possible - you are competing against other sailors, not their pocket books!

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A strong class association means lots of people looking to buy boats keeping the resale value of your boat high.

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A strong class association keeps an eye towards the future and works with the builders to make improvements where needed while preserving as well as possible the competitiveness of older boats.

To be strong, a class association needs the support of its sailors!

What are some of the direct benefits of membership? 

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You will have access to the class website at www.laser. org containing all the latest news as well as the up to date calendar of events, complete with maps to show you how to ﬁnd the events. And you can also ﬁnd archived copies of The Laser Sailor as well as useful articles on how to sail your boat faster.

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Your membership makes you eligible to sail in any of the 50+ major Laser Class regattas scheduled every year throughout the North American Region, including open, masters’, youth and women’s events.

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Your membership makes you eligible for the LaserPeformance/ILCA-NA Grand Prix where you earn

Why should you join the Laser Class? 

To enable the Laser Class to remain a strong class association and continue to make the Laser the pre-eminent singlehanded dinghy of our time.

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To gain the beneﬁts of membership outlined above.

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To protect your investment in your boat, making sure that if the time comes to sell then you can be certain that the high demand driven by a strong class will enable you to get the best price for your boat.

The International Laser Class Association, North American Region is what it is today because of the support of its members. Keep that tradition alive, join or renew your membership TODAY!

WINTER 2018

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

Name_______________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________ City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________ Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________ Sail # ______________DOB (month/day/year) _____________Sex ______ Boat usually sailed _____Laser ______Radial _____Laser 4.7 Current Membership Fees All amounts are in US dollars. (Canadian checks must be in US dollars.) • Regular - $50 for one year or $95 for 2 years • Junior - $45 (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership), or $85 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership) • International - $60 (any member not living in the US or Canada), one year only

Amount enclosed __________________US$ Please make checks payable to ILCA of NA or provide credit card information as shown below. Thank you for joining the Laser Class. Credit Card payment by Visa, Mastercard or AMEX (Sorry – no Discover)

Name on credit card: ________________________________________________________ Credit card number: ________________________________________________________ Exp. date: _________ Credit card billing zip/postal code _________ Security code____ NOTE: Occasionally we make our mailing list available to our advertisers. If you do not want your name included on these lists, please check here: _________

RETURN THIS FORM TO: ILCA OF NA 2812 CANON STREET SAN DIEGO, CA 92106

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WINTER 18

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