Laser Sailor Spring 2016

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

SPRING 2016

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WINNING

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SPRING 2016

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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

SPRING 2016

District Contacts .....................................................................................................6 President’s Report....................................................................................................8 Notes on the new MkII Sail.................................................................................10 D’amy Steward: Jr Sailor, Champion for Ocean Health.................................12 Welcome to Laser Sailor Heaven.........................................................................14 Downwind Sailing I...............................................................................................16 Regatta Reports

Sherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl ILCA-NA

Frazier Repeats..........................................................................................17

Officers

Laser Masters Week.................................................................................18

Andy Roy Chairman 15 Claudette Court Peterborough, ON K9J 7Y7 Canada 705-750-0189 aroy187740@gmail.com

From the Coach RIB to a Master Sailor.............................................22 2016 Event Schedule..............................................................................................23 Regatta Previews ACCs - June 10-12...................................................................................25

Meka Taulbee Vice Chairman Dunedin, FL USA 727-631-7005 meka@sailfit.com 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

US Nationals - July 7-10.........................................................................26 Canadian Nationals - July 16-17............................................................26 NAs - July 21-24........................................................................................27 District Reports......................................................................................................28 CA Masters..............................................................................................................35 2015 Laser Grand Prix Final Standings.............................................................36 Why Join the Laser Class?...................................................................................40 Membership Applications....................................................................................41

Al Clark Member at Large 337 E 6th North Vancouver, BC V7L1P7 604-988-4799 al.clark@shaw.ca 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

Peter Seidenberg sailing in Laser Sailor Heaven -the Caribbean.

Photo by Robert J. Alvarez.

® SPRING 2016 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world

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HAWAII

District 1

District 9

District 18

District 2

District 10

District 19

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

Brigitte 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

Judith Krimski Laserd7@gmail.com

District 8

Frank Seckler laserd8@gmail.com www.LaserD8.org

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Peter Bushnell Cazenovia, NY 13035 315-655-4671- peter.bushnell@carrier.utc.com Eric Reitinger 7908 Normandy Dr Mt. Laurel NJ 08054 Er4599@gmail.com http://d10.laserforum.org

District 11

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

Troy Tolan Springfield, IL Carlyle Sailing Assn.

312-971-0420, ttroytolan@comcast.net Facebook: Laserd20

Finn Hassing likwidhsd@embarqmail.com www.d12laserforum.org

Matthew Thompson D21.sec@gmail.com D21.laserforum.org

District 12

District 13

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

District 14

Britt Drake 850-252-3829 cbdrakelll@yahoo.com

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 21

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

SPRING 2016

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President’s Report

BY ANDY ROY Spring is in the air and it’s time to get the boat and gear organized for another Laser season. There’s some great venues on the 2016 Laser calendar. For this issue of TLS I have a couple things that popped into my noggin that I thought I’d write about.

Time to think about Gate (Rabbit) Starts?

With turnouts for some regattas shrinking in size, often to due difficulties in finding volunteers who know how to properly run races for local events, I think it might be time to revisit the concept of using gate starts at regattas. Of course we all enjoy using gate (also known as rabbit) starts for training races, and it’s difficult to argue that they’re quick and easy to get going, they’re fair, they eliminate the problem of biased start lines and frequent general recalls. In 2009 during the lead up to the Men’s Open Worlds in Nova Scotia, I took the opportunity to join in with the young dudes for some 90-boat practice races (I was getting ready for the follow on Masters Worlds). It was really fun and challenging for me (being aged 51 at the time) to be trying to duke it out with the likes of Slingsby, Goodison and the other gunners, and my take away was how quickly and informally (no signals or support boats involved, only a windward and leeward mark) the pack could get 90 boats started in a fair and organized fashion. I think the fleet reeled off at least five 2-leg races in one afternoon. The Laser Class once used them at the World Championships (1977 and 1979), and I recall when I competed in the ’79 Worlds in Australia that gate starts were used in about half the races. A powerboat (to protect the rabbit’s boat) followed closely behind the port tack rabbit, and the 10th place finisher in the previous race was the appointed rabbit (first race randomly selected). The 5o5 class continues to use gate starts (they call the rabbit the “Pathfinder”) for all of their events, and from what I understand they would never go to the traditional system. If your local fleet is interested in trying this out for a regatta, just Google (and YouTube) search something like “rabbit starts sailing” and “5o5 sailing instructions”, and there are several descriptions on how to set it up and include it in the SI’s.

Another good story on sportsmanship In a recent issue of TLS I mentioned an incident where a competitor showed good sportsmanship (with me being the beneficiary) on the racecourse at the fall Masters Atlantic Coasts; and, having recently sailed at the Masters Midwinters East and Midweek Madness regattas in Florida, I saw more examples of competitors doing the right thing on the course. Here’s an incredible example of what I’m talking about. It involves a very good and keenly competitive Masters sailor (I don’t want to single him out by name, but since this incident occurred at a mark, for simplicity I’ll just call him Mark). I’ve had some great battles with him at numerous regattas over the years. Mark was approaching the windward mark on the port layline in windy conditions. It’s an understatement to say that I didn’t make my smoothest of tacks when I flipped onto the starboard layline about 5 lengths out from the mark; and, I’m sure Mark had calculated before my crappy tack that I would round well before

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his arrival. But because I lost a BL or so during my tack, at the last minute he realized it was too late to try to duck my transom, so he tried to throw in a tack right in front of me. I had to head up to try to avoid but we ended up rubbing rails and I think he also hit the mark. We bore off on the run and he gybed to I assume do his penalty turns. I ripped down the run and I had a good leg so was a little surprised to see him right behind me as we gybed to sail the final reach and then the short beat to the finish. I was thinking that he must have executed an amazing 720 in the 20 knot conditions to a have rounded behind me, but I wasn’t going to bother asking him if he did his two turns or pursue the issue.

Fast forward to the next day’s sail out to the course and Mark approached me and said something like, “Hey Andy, I woke up in the middle of the night as it came to me that I only did one turn (for hitting the mark) and I should have done a full 720. So I went to the race office this morning and had myself DSQ’d from the race”. I replied, “What!?” You didn’t need to do that!”

That, however, is just the way this guy operates. What an honest competitor (not to mention that he’s a professor of neuroscience at MIT). Think about that for a minute. Without any protest or discussion at all, his M.O. is that he just would not want to sail the next day without correcting his error. Now how many sailors would do that?

So it’s important to be reminded of these types of sportsmanship displays. To quote the “patron saint of sailing”, Paul Elvstrom (4 Olympic gold medals, 19 world championship medals): “You haven’t won the race, if in winning the race you have lost the respect of your competitors.”

Upcoming Laser Worlds For quite a few keen Laser sailors, training is now in full beast mode in preparation for the upcoming four Laser World Championship events in Puerto Vallarta. For the girls and guys competing in the two Open events, the Worlds will most likely serve as a final selection event for a Rio Olympics berth.

Unfortunately I have a conflict and can’t make it to the Masters Worlds, but I know I’m going to be having a serious case of envy blues when I see the reports and pictures of fantastic racing and shore side fun from the event. Good luck to all NA competitors!

SPRING 2016

h Brett Davis tune-up wit Pre-regatta ance Clinic

r Perform Gorge Lase 6-19, 2016 Â Ju1y 1

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www.Laser.org

SAIL GORGE!

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A Few Random Thoughts on the New Mk II Sail

BY AL CLARK AND ANDY ROY (AR): The 2016 Florida Masters week (3 regattas held over 9 days) was once again a success and, interestingly, I believe it was the first large fleet Laser racing in North America where the new Standard Mk II sail has been used by a significant number of sailors and against competitors using the old x-cut sail. I used a fresh out of the bag Mk II sail in the first regatta and then switched to a decent condition x-cut sail for the second event, so this gave me the opportunity to make a comparison. In the first event, the Midwinters, most top sailors elected to go with the new sail, although Ernesto Rodriguez, a very fast and skilled sailor, went with the conventional sail. Ernesto was right in the hunt just about every race and didn’t seem to be hurting for speed.

Here’s a few of my take-aways. I think the Mk II designers did a great job in meeting their objective of developing a sail that certainly looks to be very close in overall performance to the old sail on all points of sail and in a wide range of wind strengths.

Clearly it is constructed to last much longer and this is going to save money for competitive Laser sailors. One suggestion I have for sailors using the new sail is to increase your cunningham purchase if you’ve been using the fairly typical 6:1 setup. This is because the tack area of the new sail has significantly more reinforcement making it quite difficult to pull down cloth to move the draft forward and open up the leech for depowering. I didn’t increase my purchase system for the regatta as I did not have the additional line and right blocks needed (although in hindsight I should just gone to the marine store, as it was a breezy event and it would have been easy and better for me to have made the change). The new sail certainly looks and “feels” nice. There seems to be less leech flutter and it just has a firmer feel due to its stiffer cloth. The larger window is a definite improvement and the Al Clark (CAN) at the MMWE (new sail), Ernesto Rodriguez to windward (x-cut sail)

only time the sail didn’t look good to me was when dead running out to the start line one morning in light air. The luff had a little reverse bubble about 1/4 of the way up near the mast and it didn’t seem like there was a way to eliminate it. Perhaps it’s because the sail was so new and not yet “broken in” that this bubble appeared (?).

You might want to check out Australian Brett Beyer’s article on the mew Mk II sail in Doug Peckover’s “Improper Course” blog (www.impropercourse.com). For anyone who hasn’t heard of Brett, he’s won numerous (I think 10+) Masters Worlds in his age division, many of them quite easily, and he’s also a top Laser coach. He wrote the article following this past February’s Australian Masters Championships (which he won) and where he used the new sail against some good sailors who went with the old x-cut. In making his decision on which sail to use for the upcoming Masters Worlds in Mexico, Brett sums up his article as follows (interestingly it sounds like Brett plans to use the old sail at the Worlds): From Brett’s article: So, what sail for the Worlds?

• Answer 1: Old sail if you can’t get enough training time with the new sail.

• Answer 2: Old sail if you are already comfortable with your speed/height/versatility upwind and wave catching downwind.

• Answer 3. New sail if you think wind will be lighter, water flatter and you have good sheet tension skills.

• Answer 4. New sail if you can get to use it in training for more than 1 week.

• Answer 5. New sail if you expect good winds (14kts+) and have good upwind technical skills and fitness.

Here’s Al Clark’s take on the new sail. Note that Al won the Masters Midwinters and then, to really rub it in, he switched to a radial rig for the second

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SPRING 2016

and I assume that effectiveness is reduced at this stage, I don’t think this will happen any where near as quickly with the new sail. The Mk II’s foot seemed a little shorter in comparison, but once I had my marks where I wanted them it seemed to be the same (i.e., 3” off boom in breeze and 5” off in moderate and light).

Generally I just liked looking up at this sail more than the old style and saw no loss in speed forward and possibly, just possibly a little more height. I noticed that it is quite possible to over tension the luff and have the draft too far forward. All in all I’m sold on the new sail and will use at the Masters Worlds.

regatta of Masters Week and won that event as well!

(AC): I used the new sail a few days prior to the event against a solid young sailor who is quite fast in a straight line, and I found the new sail was indeed quite similar in speed to the old sail. I decided to go with it for the Masters Midwinters. I practiced with the sail 7 or 8 times in the lead-up to the regatta and became comfortable with it. It did seem clear to me that the cunningham plays a bigger role in this sail. As Andy points out, more cunningham purchase is needed and I initially in practice went with a 12:1 purchase, but then went to an 8:1 as an upgrade from my 6:1 (that I still use with the Radial rig). In the old sail the bottoming out of the luff at the tack happened very quickly

happen.

(AR): In summary, there’s little doubt that this the new sail is welcome progress for the class, and it’s quickly being adopted by NA Masters. It will be interesting to see the younger competitive sailor’s reaction to the new sail once they’ve had the chance to really test it out in practice and competition. Some of them may end up keeping a (new) old sail in their quiver if they think there’s a certain condition where it has may have a slight advantage; however, I personally don’t think this will

Andy Roy with a MK II at the MMWE

Photo above: New and old sails in blast reaching conditions at the MMWE

Letter to the Editor.....

We think you’ll all agree that we’ve had awesome contributions from our writers: James Herrera and Judith Krimski. Both James & Judith are taking a break this issue, but look for their return!

Below is a fan letter to Judith Krimski....and we couldn’t help but “share the love” From: Jack Pearce Subject: Laser Sailor article Date: January 18, 2016 Ahoy You (Judith Krimski) did an excellent article. It is the best written article that I have come across. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I have been sailing Laser for a long time. Even though I am at the upper end of the Great Grand Master age class, I get fired up about going out and working on the ideas in your article to improve my sailing. In two weeks, I will be at the Masters Midwinters in Florida. I have set a goal that in each race, I will look for each of the situations you detailed as they develop and be aware of adjusting my sailing to best handle each situation. In other words, I plan to be proactive rather than reactive throughout each race.

Thank you again for your time, effort and sharing.

Jack Pearce

www.Laser.org

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D’amy Steward: Junior Sailor, Outstanding Champion for Ocean Health BY: HILARY KOTOUN, SOCIAL IMPACT DIRECTOR, SAILORS FOR THE SEA At the age of 15, D’amy Steward set out on the adventure of a lifetime. She sailed from Sausalito, California, aboard the research vessel SSV Robert C. Seamans with the Sea Education Association (SEA). For seventeen days and nights, D’amy and the crew conducted net tows over the side and with every tow they found plastic debris. When she got back to shore, she continued her studies at the University of Southern California Wrigley Marine Science Center on Catalina Island, California.

D’amy was furious about the amount of plastic she found in the ocean and decided to do something about it. When she found out about Sailors for the Sea — she contacted us D’amy poses at the St. Francis Yacht Club with her laser and the banner with a bold vision of how she could become an ambassador she created to help promote the Sailors for the Sea Clean Regattas program. for the organization.

“The experience aboard the research vessel crystallized my future. I want to help solve the issues related to our oceans and educate people about the importance of taking care of our oceans.” – D’amy Steward Roll Tacks & Research D’amy recognized that her travel as a junior sailor to over twenty regattas a year made her the perfect person to share the mission of Sailors for the Sea. Armed with her handson experience with plastic pollution, D’amy went to work asking every regatta organizer if she could speak at their events about marine debris in the ocean and how sailors can work together to stop this problem.

D’amy takes her mission to the next generation of ocean stewards during Lunch with a Scientist at Coronado Middle School, Coronado, California.

Standing up in front of peers can be unnerving, let alone facing the people one competes against on the racecourse, but D’amy knew it was necessary to do so for ocean health.

In her time as our West Coast ambassador, D’amy has spoken at multiple national championships, worked with dozens of yacht clubs to run their events as Clean Regattas, and taught middle school students about what plastic pollution is and how they can help stop the problem.

In one of her ever-optimistic reports back to Sailors for the Sea, D’amy noted, “Never under estimate the difference one sailor can make. Please help spread the word!” We may not be able to count the pieces of plastic D’amy has prevented from entering the ocean, but we can feel the boundless energy she brings to the race to restore ocean health.

Passing the Torch With her senior year of high school upon her, college tours and applications are taking up much of her spare time. However, D’amy is not about to retire her post as West Coast Ambassador. Instead, she’s created a way for others to get involved by developing a manual detailing her efforts as an ambassador, along with sharing her presentations and lessons learned so that other junior sailors can replicate what she has done.

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“D’amy literally wrote the book on how junior sailors around the world can help protect the ocean. She is a positive force in the world of ocean conservation and I can’t wait until the sailing world is filled with ambassadors like D’amy!” – Tyson Bottenus, Sailors for the Sea Sustainability Director

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In 2014, while competing in the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship at the Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego, CA, D’amy spoke to her peers about plastic pollution and the steps they could take to reduce their environmental impact.

www.Laser.org

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Welcome to Laser Sailor Heaven

BY JOE BERKELEY You don’t have to die to get to Laser sailor heaven. You just need to find your way to Laser Training Cabarete.

Here, big waves, big wind, warm temperatures and warm people greet you.

The host of the Caribbean Laser Midwinter regatta, Cabarete is a mecca for water sport enthusiasts. As 30 Lasers rig, 100 kite boarders fly by to leeward while 50 sailboarders continue their endless quest for the perfect reach.

Big waves, unimaginable to those who normally sail in small, protected harbors beckon. To launch, you approach the surf with your boat on the dolly. Wilson, a long-time employee of Laser Training Cabarete who wears a Los Angeles Dodgers hat but claims to be a fan of the Red Sox, helps you launch. He muscles your boat through the shore break until you can hop in and sail out to deeper water.

Two reefs surround the beach. It is easy to see the deep water on the way out. On the way in, it is good to have a line site, or to follow a more experienced sailor.

This is the first international regatta in the world where the new Mark 2 sail is welcome to compete and there are sailors from more than a dozen countries, including Canada, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Norway, Argentina, Zimbabwe, and the UK. All are struck by the beauty of Cabarete, even those who live in other parts of the DR. Ari Barshi is the owner of Laser Training Cabarete and he has put in a huge effort to pull off this regatta. The Admiral of the DR Navy greets competitors at the skipper’s meeting. After the group is asked if anyone has questions, 11-time World Champion Peter Seidenberg has one. “Would it make more sense to round the last mark in course B to starboard, rather than to port, as it would prevent collisions?”

Ari opens the question to discussion. One competitor brings up the “string rule” such that a piece of string pulled around the course would not cross itself. Ari replies with a smile, “But this is a different culture and we put the thread any way we want.”

But after the discussion, the 11-time world champion who has been coming to Cabarete for more than a dozen years gets the nod and the course is changed.

Amped up city folks are given an unofficial seminar on “tranquilo” or peaceful, calm. Jorge Abreu is from the DR and he says traquilo is “the quiet place.”

sound as he rolls by lesser creatures. His skills are rewarded with finishes of 1, 3, 1. Between races he says, “these are the conditions we should always sail in!”

Many of the competitors have been here participating in a seminar that has taught them how to sail in big waves and hone their skills. As is so often the case, the Laser class creates some unique father/son bonding time. Atley and Nicholas Lohrmann are here from Oslo, Norway for the seminar and the regatta.

Nicholas, a student at University of Trondheim, learned how to S turn downwind in Cabarete as the waves are long enough and consistent enough to experiment. Nicholas is tall and strong and looks like he was born to sail Lasers.

Head Coach Angelo Tabernero is a perfect specimen of a Laser sailor and if he were to rig up for the regatta, the results would no doubt be different. His assistant coach Streett Silvestri, a Seattle native, said, “A long clinic allows sailors to work out bad habits and improve good habits.”

Other competitors here have attended clinics in the past at Laser Training Cabarete with Dr. Rulo Borojovich, a physician in Sports Medicine and a PhD in Laser boat speed, tactics, and boat handling. They speak his name, “Rulo” in hushed tones, as he is the master coach of many champions.

One of them is the man of iron, eleven-time world champion Peter Seidenberg who proved himself to be human when he cut

The biggest state-side disciple of the way of life is Big Mike Matan who lives in the stress capital of the world, New York City. He comes to this regatta to relax and between races he almost falls asleep in his boat, with his back to his mast, his massive frame draped across the boat, his feet on the aft deck, hove to with no effort at all.

On day one, the breeze is up to 20 knots, the waves at the break are as tall as a lower Laser mast section and Big Mike is in his element. He gets good starts, hikes like a demon and his boat makes a “ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk”

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SPRING 2016

himself on the gunwale of his Laser while righting it after a capsize.

Seidenberg said, “Cabarete is everything that a sailor wishes for: dependable wind, huge waves, warm water, and sunshine.” In fact, Seidenberg is so fond of Cabarete, he purchased his own Laser from Ari which is always ready for him when he makes his threetimes-per-year visits to train.

Lutz Hirsch has made the pilgrimage from Germany.

The weather is far better here than it is in Hamburg this time of year. This is his second trip to Cabarete, and his girlfriend, Alexandra Weihrauch who is sailing in the radial division, has made three.

After a windy day one, the fleet received some light air on day two. Ari Barshi was on fire in the Standard division posting scores of 1, 2, 1. In the radials, Joachim Staremo gave Peter Seidenberg a scare by finishing with a 1, 4, 2.

But light air is not the stuff that the Cabarete legend is made of so all competitors rejoiced when day three provided good wind and moderate waves. Seidenberg sewed up his victory with a 2, 4, 1, 2 and Ari Barshi completed his work with a DNF, 3, 3, 2.

The DNF was his throw out.

At the awards ceremony, the name of every participant, shore member and race committee member was read aloud and Ari made little comments about each. In the standard division Ari Barshi was first, Nicholas Lohrmann was second, Big Mike Matan was third, Lutz Hirsch was fourth, Fritz Bus of St. Maarten was fifth, Jorge Abreu nursed his sore knee to 6th, your correspondent was 7th, Asher Drijgers was 8, Tim Desmond was 9th, Mike Couture was 10th, Hector David was 11th, Omar Bros was 12th, James Stanley was 13th, Atle Lohrmann Nick’s father was 14, Sean Nee of Zimbabwe was 15th, Tim Davis was 16th and Michael Goldfarb was 17th.

In the radial group, the man of iron Peter Seidenberg was first, Paul Clifford was second, Joachim Staremo was third, Francesco Martin was fourth, Liana Giovando was fifth, Michael Williamson was sixth, Julie Stewart was seventh, John Beare was eighth, Tamio Meguro was ninth, Vanessa Ampelas was 10th, Alexandra Weihrauch was 11th, Mika Teshirogi was 12th, and Andrea Verdeja was 13th.

After organizing the regatta with his wife MJ and wrangling the sponsors, the meals, and the logistics, Ari was ebullient at the award ceremony and did a crab-like dance across the stage. His celebration wasn’t so much a statement of his victory, it was more like the exclamation point on his love for the Laser.

Ari and his wife MJ started Laser Training Cabarete in 2003 and since then they have had four World Champions, 25 Olympians, and 15 National Champions from around the world come to train.

They’ve also hosted beginners, youth sailors, master sailors, and everyone else who loves the Laser.

While Laser Training Cabarete is a business it is not how Ari and MJ make their livelihood. They have other businesses that allow them to do well while Laser Training Cabarete enables them to

www.Laser.org

do good. Quite simply, this is their passion project, it is what they give back to the sport.

At the end of the regatta, the scores indicated a gap in the skill levels of the winners and those who finished in lesser positions, but there was very little difference in the joy. For all competitors, the opportunity to sail in big waves and big breeze beneath a sunny sky in warm water was big fun. And all non-sailing spouses enjoyed the many charms of Cabarete.

One day, all of us will go to the big regatta in the sky where we will round the Big Dipper to port, the North Star to port, start and finish in the middle. But before that day comes, you owe it to yourself to experience Laser sailor’s heaven on earth, the place they call Cabarete, a word you cannot say aloud without smiling. To learn more, visit caribwind. com.

Joe Berkeley is an amateur sailor and a professional writer. His work is at joeberkeley.com Photos by Roberto J/ Alvarez

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Downwind Sailing

BY PETER SHOPE Fleet 413, sailing out of Sail Newport, RI, rotates RC responsibilities among its members. Recently I was on the signal boat and had a chance to watch the fleet sail by on the downwind leg. Here are some notes on how you should set up for sailing a Laser downwind.

1. You have to release the vang prior to rounding the weather mark! The boat doesn’t want to head off with vang on and you can stress the mast possibly leading to failure. If approaching the windward mark on the port lay line then release the vang and throw the handle to leeward before tacking.

2. The standard control order when approaching the windward mark is to ease main sheet a couple of feet, release vang, bear away to course (by the lee or broad reach), release cunny and outhaul, reach forward and free cunny and push up sail (especially the MKII!), raise board 6-8 inches, fine tune vang. Get body in position. If it’s not too windy you can release cunny prior to rounding, and if you’re really good you can knock off all of your controls just before you bear off!

3. Cunny is ALWAYS completely loose on the run.

Many people sail downwind on windy days with their cunnys and out haul strapped which can make the rig a little unstable and definitely slow. When it’s very windy (25-30 knots?) releasing the cunny and not outhaul may be all that is needed. Otherwise release outhaul to the bowline handle that you’ve preset before racing for loosest setting, then fine tune it. Vang should have at least two marks, one being an average run setting that you go to initially and then fine tune (The second vang mark is an upwind mainsheet-two-blocked setting).

4. The Laser sails fastest on the run with a loose vang.

The boom should always be up in the air slightly with the middle batten at around 90 degrees to the center line. This usually means that the boom is going to be in around the 70-80 degree mark (especially when it’s a little windy) to compensate for the loose leach. A 90 degree mark on your main sheet (at the boom block) is a good idea to know where you are. You can sheet farther out to gain speed at sharper by the lee angles, especially in light air. Again you should have a run mark on your vang for relative positioning purposes as you get used to what to look for at the leech. Better people than I have said that they want the leech to “pump” as you sail downwind. Can’t do that with a tight vang. You can play the vang through a small range on the run tightening slightly when a puff hits and then easing in the lulls. Always sail by the lee or on a broad reach. Sailing on a dead run in a Laser is slow and unstable! By the way having your vang too tight when it’s windy is very unstable. It’s better to ease the vang (boom about 90 degrees to the mast?) and sail by the lee. Having the boom up in the air also helps prevent capsizing from the boom hitting the water.

16

5. Many people sit too far back.

In light air a great position is to have your windward knee folded alongside the dagger board and your leeward knee on the other side of the dagger board. With your body over the dagger board you can steer with your weight by leaning to leeward and pressing on your leeward knee or leaning to windward and putting weight on your windward leg and bottom.

Sheet from the boom in light air. As it gets windier move back slightly and start sheeting from the block but keep the squatting position. Some like to put the leeward knee down on the cockpit floor for stability when it’s windy. When it’s really, really windy you’ll have to actually sit on the aft deck with the tiller next to you!

Photo above by Joe Berkeley

SPRING 2016

Frazier Repeats David Frazier won the Peter Seidenberg Perpetual Trophy for the second consecutive year. The genesis of this award started with Jack Pearce donating the trophy with the idea it would go to the GGM who had best results in North America. We quickly realized that Seidenberg would dominate and therefore in the interests of social justice modified the original purpose. The enscription on the trophy reads: “In recognition of his outstanding sailing superiority and overall contribution to Laser Masters Sailing, the Perpetual Peter Seidenberg Trophy is established. It is to be awarded to the North American Great Grand Master sailor, other than Peter Seidenberg, with best overall finishes in 3 of 6 designated major Masters regattas.”

Dave and Alden Shattuck actually tied for best performance in the regattas but it was decided that since possession is nine-tenths of the law (or something like that) and Alden did not show up for Masters Week 2016, the award was presented to Frazier.

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17

Laser Masters Week - Florida - Laser Masters Week - Florida Laser Masters Midwinters draws close to 100 competitors The Laser Masters Midwinters concluded Monday at USSCMC, Jensen Beach, FL with 97 entrants. Nine races were conducted in the Indian River Lagoon that saw conditions ranging from 5 to 8 mph on Saturday, 15 to 20, gusting into low 20’s Sunday and 8 to 12 with gusts to 16 on Monday. The westerly to northwesterly wind direction gave the sailors challenging shifty and puffy conditions. This was the first year of separate Standard and Radial rig fleets, with 59 registered for Standard and 38 for Radial. The Standard fleet had eight different race winners, with Mark Jacoby the only winner of two races. Overall consistency paid off for Al Clark, Vancouver, BC, who did not win a race but was the only competitor with

all single digit finishes to earn the championship. In the Radial fleet, there were five different race winners, but Christine Neville, Middletown, RI, showed why she is an Olympic hopeful by winning four races and all single digit results to earn the Radial fleet championship. Complete results at: http://www.regattanetwork.com/html/results.php Masters Week continues Wednesday with two additional days of competition at USSCMC in Midweek Madness before moving to Palm Beach Sailing Club for two days of ocean sailing for the coveted Dirty Old Man of the Sea trophy and Green Jacket at the Florida Masters, the oldest Laser Masters Regatta in the US.

If you haven’t already you need to put the week of February 11-19th of 2017 on your calendar. Those are the dates of the next Florida Masters week and I am already planning to go. Although I don’t normally like giving away 3 points per race, the last 9 days of this year’s Masters week was one of the most enjoyable sailing experiences I have had.

enormous trailer. It is a really welcoming sociable group, and hands down the easiest regatta I’ve ever attended to meet new people. All that aside, there’s also nothing quite as satisfying as competing against and occasionally beating that same group of friends.

Wine With Friends: A Florida Masters Week Report

Many, if not all of us, have partaken excessively of sailing at some point and burned ourselves out or had some life events intervene that made sailing impracticable. A year of excess and a subsequent remodel had all but nixed laser sailing from my life.

Fortunately this fall I started back doing the occasional laser practice session with Emilio Castelli, one of my favorite sailing partners who long ago disabused me of the notion that there is anything easy about beating a man with white hair. As much as I enjoyed the sailing, it was the community around our midwinter sessions that drew me back in.

If you aren’t familiar with it, Florida Masters week is a combination of 3 regattas with a lay day between each. The total event stretches 9 days with 7 days of racing and 2 lay days. The starting line in the standard fleet ranged from the high 40s to low 60s and the conditions varied from ultra shifty light air with flat water to surfing down ocean swell in the high teens.

We had 3 superb race committees and Palm Beach Sailing Club served the best regatta fare I have ever had.

It is a great formula for having a lot of fun and not killing yourself in the process.

Thus, going a step further to meet up with old friends in Florida during the middle of winter was an easy sell to me. I was convinced as soon as Emilio told me that Peter Shope and Christine Neville would be coming down from Newport. As I soon found, friends, old and new are really the heart and soul of Masters week.

Some of the participants have been sailing against each other for as much as 40 or 50 years, and many regions arrive with 5 or more boats stacked on an

Events like this are really what makes sailing worthwhile. In fact, it was so enjoyable that I am adding Marblehead to my calendar this fall.

Although there is a fundamental pleasure to sailing and competing, it is the post race glass of wine with friends that keeps me in it and Florida had plenty of that.

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SPRING 2016

- Laser Masters Week - Florida -Laser Masters Week - Florida Shope, Clark master tricky conditions at Midweek Madness Laser Masters Week continued Wednesday and Thursday at USSCMC, Jensen Beach with 47 Standard Rig and 37 Radial Rig sailors from six countries and eighteen states completing seven trapezoid course races in challenging conditions in an unstable westerly wind ranging from 3 to 15 mph. While warm compared to most of the country, the temperature was not ideal for a Florida outing. Peter Shope, a World Champion in Kingston last year, was victorious in the Standard Fleet, followed by David Hiebert and Andy Roy. Al Clark moved to the Radial Fleet after

dominating the Standard Fleet this past weekend and showed his World Championship form in his win with Christine Neville second and Martin Willard third. The sun shown on the competitors and their entourages as they packed up and headed to Palm Beach Sailing Club for the Florida Masters this coming weekend.

Complete results are at: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/regatta_ uploads/11483/midweekstandardandradialrigfinalscores.pdf

Shope, Fillion Share Green Jacket at Florida Masters Seventy sailors, 47 in Standard and 23 in Radial Fleets, enjoyed two fantastic days of ocean sailing off Lake Worth inlet to wrap up Laser Masters Week at the Florida Masters. Palm Beach Sailing Club was a great host for the event, including finally giving the competitors and guests a hint of Florida weather. Saturday provided challenging conditions in a Northwesterly to Northerly 10 to 15mph breeze with lots of holes, shifts and current. The fleet quickly figured out that going left was a good thing. Saturday evening PBSC continued their white tablecloth gourmet dinner tradition as the group including race management hoped the Sunday 25 knot forecast would tone down a little to ensure good sailing conditions.

Sunday’s easterly in the mid-teens range gave the

sailors another day of fun sailing in good waves, even accompanied by dolphins giving surfing instructions on the runs!

Peter Shope led the Standard Fleet and Jean-Yves Fillion captured the Radial Fleet title. They both shared the coveted Green Jacket presented annually to the regatta winner. All four age groups enjoyed friendly and close competition with the top three finishers getting a good bottle of Castelli wine. During Masters Week, over 100 sailors participated in one or more of the three events.

Complete Results http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/ applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_ id=11625&show_laser_masters=1

www.Laser.org

19

Laser Masters Week - Florida - Laser Masters Week - Florida Not a Bad Week OK, OK, so the temps weren’t in the 80’s Overall Standard Radial and the sun didn’t always shine. But the wind blew and over 100 competitors from Master Midwinters Allan Clark Christine Neville six countries and eighteen states were Midweek Madness Peter Shope Allan Clark presented with northerly and easterly winds Florida Masters Peter Shope Jean-Yves Fillion mostly in the mid-teens as they sailed 25 races in the Indian River Lagoon and weather got somewhat like Florida. Saturday presented Atlantic Ocean. The Masters Midwinters and Midweek challenging racing in shifty Northwesterly winds with Madness were hosted by United States Sailing Center, lots of current. After five races in the ocean we returned Martin County, located in Jensen Beach, FL. This venue to shore to enjoy some good warm soup followed by a offers lots of space for boat storage and launching, always gourmet meal. Sunday was predicted as a heavy weather has really good race management and after race socializing. day but fortunately easterly winds stayed in the low to midOur own vintner, Emilio Castelli, donated a case of his fine teens range providing the fleet good surfing opportunities in wine for our enjoyment at Saturday dinner. With nearby the swells. Several competitors reported racing downwind accommodations, a short drive to the ocean and local town with dolphins! No doubt about it, we had two fantastic centers, it offers something for everyone. It is a favorite days of ocean sailing. We returned to shore to pack up, of many of the Masters competitors. (So why are we not swap tales, recognize place winners, say our goodbyes and going to sail there next year???). head for the hills.

After the Midweek, we packed up and headed to Palm First Overall winners in each Fleet in each event were Beach Sailing Club, about an hour south, for the Florida awarded a Magnum of Castelli wine, compliments of Masters. The Calgary fleet – yes, they came back with their Emilio Castelli. (It is really good wine). traveling rig –treated us to breakfast Saturday morning.

They were seriously promoting the Calgary Stampede (Jul 8-17) and a regatta they will host at that time. Finally,

20

SPRING 2016

- Laser Masters Week - Florida -Laser Masters Week - Florida Masters Midwinters Apprentice 1 2 3

Midweek Madness Standard Fleet

Florida Masters

Pete Trachy David Hillmyer Scott Pakenham

David Hillmyer Pete Trachy

David Hillmyer Scott Pakenham

Scott Pakenham

Pete Trachy

Ernesto Rodriguez Mike Matan Ari Barshi

David Hiebert Michael Hooper Robert Hallowell

Mike Matan Patrick Wachholz Marc Jacobi

Al Clark Peter Shope Peter Vessella

Peter Shope Andy Roy James Jacob

Peter Shope Tim Law

Doug Peckover Donald Hahl Paul Wurtzebach

Tim Milhiser Donald Hahl

Master 1 2 3 Grand Master 1 2 3

John MacCausland

Great Grand Master 1 2 3

Doug Peckover

Don Hahl David Frazier Paul Wurtzebach

Radial Fleet Apprentice 1 2 3

Master 1 2 3

Grand Master 1 2 3

Great Grand Master 1 2 3

www.Laser.org

Christine Neville Ryosuke Sakai Natalya Gontcharova

Christine Neville Ryosuke Sakai

Christine Neville Christina Persson

Rachel Gruzen

Rachel Gruzen

Todd Hudgins Bob Tan Ted Morgan

Bob Tan Ted Morgan

Bob Tan Steve O'Reilly

Monica Wilson

Monica Wilson

Paul Clifford Jean-Yves Fillion Stephen Reichenfeld

Allan Clark Martin Fillmore Jean-Yves Fillion

Jean-Yves Fillion Paul Clifford

Peter Seidenberg David Hartman Doug Seeman

Doug Seeman Lindsay Hewitt David Hartman

David Hartman Doug Bell Doug Seeman

Rob Hodson

21

From the Coach RIB to a Master Sailor

BY ROB HALLAWELL Some of you may know me. For the past ten years I have been coaching both full rig and radial Lasers and have worked with some of America’s top young sailors. Mitchell Kiss, Malcolm Lamphere and Annie Haegar are just three names on a long list of sailors who I am proud to have helped on their path to sailing (and life!) success. Though you may see me back in a RIB every now and then, for the most part I have made my retirement from coaching official. So it’s funny to see confused faces as I show up at events these days.

Just over a year ago I found a slightly used Laser for super cheap, and decided to become a sailor again. Not just any type of sailor, but a Laser Masters sailor. I have competed in five Masters events in the past year (highlighted by last year’s Italian Masters Nationals!) and have found three things stand out. First, the sailors are very fun.

The camaraderie in the fleet is second to none. Before during and after racing, the group is inclusive, helpful and outgoing. But don’t be misled... The second aspect to Laser Master sailing that becomes obvious very quickly is that the competition is fierce. These are men and women who are very skilled sailors and either come from the top of other fleets or know the Laser as well as anyone could ever hope to. Some have been sailing it since day one of the boat’s existence. The final lesson that stands out? I have to get in much better shape!

People ask me what it’s like making the transitions I have done... From sailor to coach to sailor again. What have I learned? Is sailing the boat now making me better able to coach again? Did coaching make me a better sailor? Why don’t I just stick to golf? (Ok I’m the only one who is asking that last question... But it seems relevant every time I flip!) A few answers and thoughts...

First, I’m not really “getting back into the boat”. The truth is I was never a Laser sailor in the first place. When I was growing up in the 70s (wow that sounds like a long time ago doesn’t it???) there was no Laser radial or 4.7. At my fighting weight of 120 pounds, the thought of sailing a full rig Laser was a little overwhelming. I was a 420 sailor and tried the Olympic thing in a 470. Now that I’m learning to get a Laser around the course, I see what I missed. I’ve always struggled with heavy air boat handling. Had I sailed a Laser more I believe I would have learned better how to control a boat in the breeze and been more comfortable in any other class. Instead I find myself now looking for a soft place to crash anytime the wind gets over 15 knots. But, yes, I am getting back into racing. My former college sailing (and an ex US Olympic Team) coach, Gary

22

Bodie once talked about the issue of trying to race again after coaching. He called it paralysis by over analysis. Ex coaches think too much! Think too much? No thank you.

When coaching I talked about how sometimes Laser sailors need to “turn off the brain and just hike”. Sailing a Laser can be a battle of who can push themselves physically harder than their competitors. My answer while sailing has always been to never turn my brain on. Just sail. So Gary’s paralysis was not an issue for me.

What is a problem, is my desire to coach the rest of the fleet. I catch myself literally coaching other boats while we are racing. I find myself staring at everyone else’s sails downwind. Critiquing. And I have “internal conversations” with other sailors. Here’s a recent example. “Wow, Ryan is way out in the left corner again...

I wonder what he sees? Too risky though. He should know that. And why is Al sailing so heeled up there? He knows better! Wait.. Why is my leeward rail in the water? Crap, Robert! Look at how heeled over you are! Sail YOUR boat you moron! And why do I call myself Robert when I’m mad at myself? No one calls me Robert. Not even my Mom when she was mad at me. And why is someone yelling starboard right now? Oh no!!!” There was a second internal conversation about reading the Sailing Instructions as diligently as I made my sailors read them due to the nagging thought that I only need to spin one circle, not two, for a foul, but you get the picture. The fight to just sail and not coach is a constant one for me.

But the opportunity to watch ten years of sailboat racing did have its advantages. Did I learn? Yes. Absolutely. A ton. I could write a book about lessons learned but let me share some pictures and videos that are stuck in my brain.

I will go through these in the order that they occur during a typical race day.

continued on page 24 SPRING 2016

2016 Schedule Regatta

Standard

World Championship

Vallarta, Mexico May 10-18

NA Championship

Colombia Gorge RA Cascade Locks, OR July 21-24

Laser 4.7

Masters

Kiel Germany July 30-Aug 7

Vallarta, Mexico Radial: April 22-30 Standard: May 20-28

Colombia Gorge RA Cascade Locks, OR July 21-24

Colombia Gorge RA Cascade Locks, OR July 21-24

Richmond YC Point Richmond, CA Aug 5-7

Gimli YC Gimli, MB July 16-17

Gimli YC Gimli, MB July 16-17

Gimli YC Gimli, MB July 16-17

US Championships

Mentor Harbor YC Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH July 7-10

Mentor Harbor YC Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH July 7-10

Mentor Harbor YC Mentor-on-the-Lake, OH July 7-10

Eastern YC Marblehead, MA Sept 30-Oct 2

CORK

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 20-24

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 20-24

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 15-18

na

Midwinters East

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 18-21

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 18-21

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 18-21

USSC Martin County Jensen Beach, FL Feb 6-8

Midwinters West

Alamitos Bay YC Long Beach, CA March 18-20

Alamitos Bay YC Long Beach, CA March 18-20

Alamitos Bay YC Long Beach, CA March 18-20

na

Miami OCR

Miami, FL (men only) www.ussailing.org January 23-30

Miami, FL (women only) www.ussailing.org January 23-30

na

na

25 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

Bellport Bay YC Bellport, NY June 10-12

Bellport Bay YC Bellport, NY June 10-12

Bellport Bay YC Bellport, NY June 10-12

Sayville YC Sayville, NY July 16-17

Pacific Coast Championships

District 24

District 24

District 24

Gold County YC Grass Valley, CA June 4-5

Gulf Coast Championships

District 14

District 14

District 14

Sarasota SS Sarasota, FL October 8-9

Ithaca YC Ithaca, NY August 6-7

Ithaca YC Ithaca, NY August 6-7

na

25 GP Pts

Ithaca YC Ithaca, NY August 6-7

Great Lakes Championships

District 20

District 20

District 20

25 GP Pts

Buffalo Canoe Club Ridgeway, ON August 27-28

www.Laser.org

23

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

30 GP Pts. ISAF 100 points

30 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

ISAF 200 points

Atlantic Coast Championships

Radial Women: Vallarta, MEX April 12-20 Youth:Dun Laoghaire, IRL July 23-30

25 GP Pts. ISAF 50 points

25 GP Pts

No Coast Championships

Beaconsfield YC Beaconsfield, QC June 17-19

From the Coach RIB to a Master Sailor - continued from page 22 1. Mitchell Kiss showing up at the venue absolutely prepared to race. By the time he was competing in World Championships Mitchell impressed me with his professionalism despite his young age. He wanted things to be perfect. He showed up at a specific time, had his boat absolutely pristine, and was in race mode at all times. He often was among the first boats to launch and by the time the warning signal went off he had a plan of attack. The racing part became easy for him!

2. Thousands of starts. Being able to watch so many starts while sighting down the line was amazing. I learned there are two basic types of starts. General recalls and starts with a line sag. I still go for the rock star start some myself, but I learned the value of starting in the middle and doing what I call “jumping the sag”. Find a line sight and don’t be afraid to start a few boat lengths ahead of your nearby competitors.

3. Countless visual “gifs” (is that the term? Remember, I was alive in the 70s... the 1970s for those who don’t understand) of the fastest boats upwind being the ones who stay rock solid flat. Brendan Casey in heavy air and Anna Tunnecliff in light are my two favorite examples. The boat doesn’t rock. The blades do their jobs and the boat goes better than anyone else’s. The key seems to not be how flat you can get the boat, especially in wind and or waves, but rather how SOLID you can keep the boat. The heel angle never changes. Ever.

4. Countless races where the leaders came out of the middle left, the middle right, or both. Rarely did either corner pay.

As a recovering corner addict (I know I will never be fully healed!) this was shocking. As a proud liberal I find even sailing conservative to be repulsive. But it wins races. Who knew?

5. Countless of reaches where the fastest boats took the low road and just sailed the boat better than the fleet. If you’re sailing as fast as the boats around you on a reach you aren’t sailing correctly. There is another gear available. Find it.

Catch a wave and surf low. Learn when to cut up and keep the boat planing. Repeat throughout the reaches. Passing a boat to leeward on a reach is one of the most fun things you can do on a laser. Go for it.

6. Countless runs where the speed difference between the best few boats and the fleet was unbelievable. When there are waves out on the course there are almost always a select few sailors who surf them better than the fleet. The speed difference is unreal. Much more than you think. These sailors usually cut bigger angles, catch a wave or two and then are FLYING. Once the boat gets going fast it’s easier

24

to keep catching waves and keep that speed up. The rest of us? We never get going that fast, so we can’t catch the waves they are surfing. Much like reaching, no matter how much you are gaining there is another gear out there. Find it.

7. The last visual I have is Mitchell Kiss sailing up to my RIB and yelling “water and a bar. No words.”. I obliged with a water bottle and a cliff bar. He sailed away and went through his post race and then pre race routine. No socializing. No wasted energy. He knew what he needed to do. Total focus. Just like how I am in between races now... except the total opposite. But watching him get himself ready to win the next race (and he did!) let me know I had done my job as a coach. I always wanted to coach so well that my sailor didn’t need a coach any more. With Mitchell I felt like I had done my job. And now I can work on my next goal. Beating Peter Shope in a heavy air race. Wish me luck!

If you see me on the race course I have two requests for you. One, in anything over 15 knots please stay clear of me.

No matter who has right of way. Trust me. And second, yell starboard early and loud. REALLY trust me!

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SPRING 2016

June 10-12

2016 Regatta Preview Section

Bellport Bay Yacht Club hosts Atlantic Coast Championship

BY MARYANN DEERING Sailors marvel at Bellport Bay’s signature, southwest sea breeze and shifty northerlies.

Shallow water chop is characteristic of the bay. The front porch of the club house and a waterfront gazebo provide shaded views of the racing, and the dock front benches provide sunny views. Bring the whole family to enjoy the small town atmosphere, historic Victorian and Greek Revival homes, a waterfront park, multiple restaurants, deli, supermarket, pharmacy, the Gateway Playhouse, and many small shops within easy walking distance.

Bellport is a rare municipality with its own golf course and tennis complex, an ocean beach with ferry, and a bay beach. The club and village work together to support racing.

Don’t be fooled by the small club house located on the village dock or the quiet and quaint village itself! Therein a rich and colorful racing heritage on Great South Bay dates back to 1906 when the club was founded and “sandbaggers” captained by local bay men and powerful P Class sloops, owned by wealthy Manhattanites and Brooklynites with summer cottages in the village first competed. The grit of the club’s members has always sustained the club. It is a family friendly racing and social club with a Sailing Foundation that supports sailing and racing instruction in Mercuries, Optimists, 420s and Flying Scots. Monday and Thursday evening PHRF and One-design races and Sunday club PHRF races are held for adults, while Wednesday evening races are held for youngsters. The club hosts an annual Labor Day Regatta, and the annual Queen of the Bay Race for the Great South Bay Yacht Racing Association. And yes, the little 1922, Sears and Roebuck catalogue building has withstood its share of catastrophes: the infamous hurricane of 1938, Hurricanes Belle, Gloria, Irene and Sandy, and an arson fire. Most of the building is still original, and even with improvements added over the years, the building retains the charm of an old cottage. Best of all, sailing whether it be on the water or on the ice still remains a main activity of the area today.

Racing began with “P” Class sloops, 34 to 44 feet long on deck, with gaff-headed main sails, balloon jibs, and spinnakers, all trimmed with manila line, and designed by local boat builders. The first club race in 1906, in which a dozen yachts competed, was memorable for the many spectators who lined the shore or watched from visiting

www.Laser.org

boats. All boats carried full sail at the start in a fresh southwest sea breeze that created a dismasting, several capsizes and a disputed first place finish by Elvira, the boat that was eventually disqualified for having taken aboard one additional crew. Elvira, designed and built by Gil Smith, now almost completely restored and named a National Historic Monument in 2012, can be seen at the Carmen’s River Maritime Center, located at the boatyard on Newey Lane in next door Brookhaven, a 5 minute drive. More local sailing history can be viewed at the Long Island Maritime Museum located in nearby Sayville, a 20 minute drive.

In 1927, Commodore Paul Bigelow brought the first Star Class boat to the club and shortly afterward procured the charter for the Great South Bay Star Fleet which stretched from Smith Point to Amityville. For four decades huge Star fleets competed in Bellport. The fleet traveled extensively and became well known. Bellport held the 1947 Star Atlantic Coast Championship. In 1955 Commodore Harold Halstead competed in Havana, Cuba at the World Championship and Star Fleets from Maryland, both shores of Long Island Sound, the East River, and Massachusetts, raced in Bellport, including Robert F. Kennedy. Unfortunately as the bay became shallower, the Star met its demise at the club by 1970.

Over the decades many classes thrived in Bellport.

The Thistle, Blue Jay, Sunfish, Windmill, Hobie, Tornado, 420, and Optimist Classes all have held multiple, large Championship ranging from New York States, Districts, Atlantic Coast Champs, North Americans, and Nationals.

Now Bellport Bay Yacht Club welcomes the Laser Class to the Atlantic Coast Championship!

25

2016 Regatta Preview Section

July 7-10

2016 US Nationals - Mentor Harbor Yacht Club

BY JOHN SHOCKEY JohnRShockey@gmail.com Join us July 7-10 for four days of racing in the pinnacle event of the Laser Class summer schedule, the US Nationals! Mentor Harbor Yachting Club is 30 minutes east of Cleveland, Ohio. Racing along the southern shore of central Lake Erie makes for an incredible open water venue on the great lakes that often brings big wind and waves. Our hope is the event will be comfortable for your friends, family, and guests, and for you the event will be fondly rememberd. Amenities include club facilities, pool, restaurant, hotel, camping, dormitory housing, social and live entertainment, Laser charters, spectator boats, and much more! Be on the lookout for additional information posted on our Facebook page “US Nationals 2016 Laser Class” hosted by District 18.

We look forward to seeing you in July at Mentor, Ohio!

Laser Canadians at Gimli Yacht Club in Manitoba

July 16-17

Gimli Yacht Club is indeed pleased to host the Laser Canadian Championships in conjunction with the Sailwest Regatta July 16-17, 2016 on the shores of beautiful Lake Winnipeg.

Gimli Yacht Club is no stranger to hosting big events. Hosting major events for almost 50 years, this regatta was chosen as the test event for 2017 Canada Summer Games. This test event is an opportunity for athletes to get to know and familiarize themselves with the Gimli Yacht Club and the challenges of Lake Winnipeg, and for volunteers to get certified in race management.

Special Guest Coach Over the three days of training and two days of competition, world class coach Angelo Tabernero from Spain is coaching 10 athletes. Angelo is dedicated to empowering individuals to achieve their personal potential and significantly increase their performance. The fee for this specialized training is $200 per athlete, registration is on a first come first serve basis.

Everyone is invited to attend, and if you are interested in joining this elite group, please sign up at manitobasailtraining.checklick.com. The NOR is published on regatta network. Welcome Angelo!

About the Club Located on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, right in the heart of Gimli, the Gimli Yacht Club is home to a large flotilla of keelboats and a number of dinghies. The club offers CANSail lessons for children and adults and club racing every Wednesday evening for keelboaters.

The clubhouse features a huge deck, a kitchen and dining room, showers, washrooms, a classroom and lockers. There is a lawn and sandy beach, a boat launch ramp and crane, plus designated docking for keelboats and dinghies. Join the socializing on the deck, and cook your favourite meal on the barbecues.

GYC owes its beginning to a unique set of circumstances. In 1967 Winnipeg was the site for the Pam American Games and the most suitable location for the sailing competition was Gimli. Two years after a very successful Games, GYC became a reality on July 19, 1969. Unlike most sailing clubs, Over the years GYC has been home for major events.

It is always a pleasure to welcome athletes, families, coaches and friends. Enjoy Gimli, and welcome to Gimli Yacht Club.

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SPRING 2016

July 21-24

2016 Regatta Preview Section

Laser North Americans

BY BILL SYMES

Sail the Gorge this summer!

Time to tone up those hiking muscles; the Lasers are returning this summer to the legendary Columbia River Gorge! Cascade Locks, Oregon, site of the 2012 Laser North American Championship, will host the 2016 NAs July 21-24, under the capable direction of the Columbia Gorge Racing Association. CGRA, in cahoots with lead sponsor West Coast Sailing, has scheduled a weeklong Laser extravaganza to accompany the championship regatta, beginning with the popular Gorge Laser Performance Clinic the preceding week, July 16-19. Clinic participants will have an opportunity to polish up their heavy air chops under the experienced eye of head coach Brett Davis, assisted by local hotshot Derick Vranizan. Following the clinic, sailors have the option of taking a rest day before the regatta, or checking off their bucket list the infamous Gorge Laser Blowout, CGRA’s 18-mile thrill ride downwind from Cascade Locks to Hood River (no, you don’t have to sail back).

The four-day North American Championship is open to Laser standard, radial and 4.7 rigs. All competitors must be current members of the International Laser Class Association, North America, or their equivalent national authority. CGRA, famous for laid back hospitality and liberal dispersal of cold beverages, will be hosting a welcome barbecue after the Blowout on Wednesday the 20th as well as a salmon dinner with all the trimmings in beautiful Cascade Locks Marine Park Saturday evening the 23rd.

The sailing venue sits right in the middle of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, a region of breathtaking natural beauty and a worldwide destination for windsurfers and kite boarders. Family members who tire of watching the sailing can choose from an abundance of recreational activities, from mountain biking to wine touring to white water rafting. Cascade Locks and the neighboring communities of Hood River, OR, and Stevenson, WA, offer a wide range of accommodations, from camping to five-star resorts.

And it’s just a 45-minute drive to the hipster/foodie mecca of Portlandia, er, Portland, Oregon.

Information and registration for all three events are now posted on the CGRA website (www. cgra.org). Charter boats are available through West Coast Sailing. Deadline for early registration with discounted entry fee is June 20th. We look forward to seeing you in the Gorge this summer! photo by Jan Anderson www.Laser.org

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District Reports District 1 Claire Sears New Brunswick, CAN This will be a brief report as I have only just been appointed as the new District 1 Secretary. Despite the cold weather in the Atlantic Provinces, sailors from D1 have kept themselves busy sailing over the winter months. They’ve raced in the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta, Lauderdale OCR, ISAF Sailing World Cup Miami, and Laser Midwinters East as well participating in numerous training camps throughout Florida.

Just a few of announcements for the upcoming months. The first regatta of the season will be the RNSYS Spring Dinghy Regatta, May 28th to 29th.

The Laser D1 Championships this year will be the Bay Wind Regatta hosted by St. Margaret Sailing Club, July 15th to 17th. Also, if there is anyone in the region that is looking for a particular event with more masters sailors, the Shediac Bay Yacht Club Regatta will be July 30th to 31st (of course it is still open to all ages). Finally, good luck to those competing at the upcoming Laser World Championships in Mexico starting in April! The rest of us are eagerly awaiting warmer weather so we can hit the water again soon. That’s all for now!

District 2 Philippe Dormoy Quebec, Canada Bonjour everyone, Winter is fading out and we may have an early spring time! Our Laser’s are starting to feel the time they

will back to the playing ground!

This year is a big one for District 2 once again: The 2016 Canadian masters will be held at the Beaconsfield Yacht club. The dates are June 17th, 18th and 19th.

We are looking for a lobster/steak night on Saturday.

The Yacht club is 20 minutes from Montreal. Lake St.Louis is a large lake with good wind in spring and NO WEED. There is plenty of accommodation close to the club. There will be onsite lodging on some of boat’s members and also members’ home place.

Check the site regularly for details The Beaconsfield Yacht Club is a very nice place and they are used to organize large events like this one.

The club has a nice sailing tradition double with a very relax atmosphere.

Preparation is ongoing and everything looks good for a very nice regatta.

We also are trying to get a couple of used charter boats. Check the site regularly for details One of Montreal local micro brewery will offer a Keg per day!! Do not check the site for details!

We need two thinks at that time: YOUR PARTICIPATION AND COMMITMENT TO COME AT THE REGATTA We already ordered the wind!

Some great people and sailors should be there: Peter

Seidenberg, Andy Roy, Robert Koci among others.

We hope to see you there.

We will have a good Master fleet based at the BYC this summer. Some sailors from other clubs are showing strong interest in coming to the BYC to join the existing Laser1 fleet to make it bigger and more fun. This is opening the door for exciting racing and training after work during week days.

Stay tune and do not hesitate to contact the BYC or myself if interested in joining the Laser1 fleet. http://www.byc.qc.ca/eng/index.html Have a wonderful Spring and good sailing

Sail West is open to sailors of all ages. We will have a 2.4mR fleet of at least 7 boats, plus Lasers, Radials, 4.7s Masters, Optimists, 29ers and an open class. It will be the test event for the Canada Summer Games in 2017 and the club wants to make sure everything is ready to go.

The sailing event for the Manitoba Games, a multi-sport event held every 4 years, will be taking place at the West Hawk Lake Yacht Club. Most regions qualified their athletes already and we will have one final qualifier on June 5 at the Prairie Wind Regatta at Falcon Yacht Club. Eight male and eight female athletes from all regions in Manitoba will be competing in Laser Radials, Optimists and Windsurfers at the Provincial Championships at the West Hawk Lake Yacht Club from August 4-7.

Our fall training offers lots of training and 12 oneday regattas, including the Laser District 4 and Manitoba Master Championships on September 5 at the Gimli Yacht Club. It will be a busy season and we are all itching to go out on the water.

District 3 Nigel Heath Ontario, CAN The District 3 2016 regatta schedule is now available on the website at d3laser.com, so if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to plan out your summer of Laser and Radial racing. While it will tough to match the level of competition held in Ontario in 2015 given all the world championship events, we nevertheless have a busy spring/summer/fall schedule of events planned. The six Fogh Gold Cup events will be held at TS&CC-Icebreaker, Sarnia Sailfest, Britannia - National Capital, Sturgeon Lake – Mid Ontario, South Port Sailing Club and Fall CORK. Once again we are happy to announce that Fogh Marine will be supporting the Fogh Gold Cup series with its generous prizes of 3 new sails for the winners of the Laser fleet, Radial fleet and the Master fleet. Be sure that your class membership is up to date in order to win. In addition, gift certificates will be provided for the runners up.

In the D3 Geezer division, events that are in the “must attend” category include the Canadian Masters Championships in Montreal (June 17-19) the Great Lakes Championships at the Buffalo Canoe Club and of course the Fogh Gold Cup events.

At this time last year (mid-March) the Toronto harbour was still frozen solid and sailing was still weeks away, but this year we are good to go and sailing has already started at the Water Rats by a few hard core individuals. Looking forward to seeing you on the water.

District 4 Brigitte Smutney Manitoba It looks like spring will be early this year. What a treat for us Prairie sailors, who are stuck with snow

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and ice often until late May. We have a great season waiting for all Laser sailors and offer lots of training opportunities with 10 regattas scheduled at various venues, leading up to the Laser Canadians which will be hosted in conjunction with Sail West from July 13-17. Guest coach Angelo Tabernero from Spain, a very experienced coach and incredible sailor will be coming for a three day training event and will also be coaching the two regatta days.

Laser Canadians The Laser Canadians will be hosted in conjunction with Sail West from July 13-17. The regatta is open to sailors of all ages. Event coach Mark Lammens and the other Provincial coaches are hoping to see a lot of Laser, Radial, 4.7 and Master sailors at the Gimli YC. It will be the test event for the Canada Summer Games in 2017 and the club wants to make sure everything is ready to go.

We will also be offering one of the best coaching opportunities a Laser sailor can dream of. Angelo Tabernero from Spain, a very experienced coach and incredible sailor who coaches at Cabarete in the winter, will be coming for a three day training camp and the two days of Laser Canadians from July 13-17 to the Gimli Yacht Club. He will be coaching a group up to 10 athletes. The fees will be $200 per person and registrations will be taken on a first come first serve basis. Everyone is invited to attend and if you are interested and would like to be part of this group please sign up at manitobasailtraining.checklick. com. The NOR is published on regatta network.

District 5 Mark Lammens Saskatoon

SPRING 2016

For the dedicated Alberta sailors, the season started in Florida with Phil Paxton, Mike Hooper, David Elliott and John Cormack and then continues on to Mexico for World Laser Masters at the end of April (Radial) and May (Full Rig). Back in D-5 the Dick Degner series events are the following, June 3-5 Icebreaker Regatta, Calgary YC, July 2-3 Saskatoon SC, Saskatchewan Laser and Radial Championships, July 9-10 Prairie Wind, Newell, AB, July 14-17 Canadian Laser and Radial Championships, Sail West, Gimli, MB, Aug. 27-28 Saskatoon SC Short Course, District 5 championships, Sept 3-5, Alberta Laser and Western Masters, Glenmore YC. Ian Elliot was hired to coach the Alberta Team so they are in good hands.

While winter in New England has kept many sailors working on off-season projects the balmy weather has allowed the frostbiting fleets to flourish throughout the winter months. Fleets in Winthrop MA, Newport RI, Cedar Point CT, Thomaston ME, and Essex CT have all been active with turnouts as large as 50 boats. Cedar Point Yacht Club held their annual Hangover Bowl on January 1, 2016. Touted as THE OLDEST running New Years Laser regatta on the face of the earth, the Cedar Point fleet enjoyed six races in W NW winds of 15 knots. Racing was close with Bill Dickey taking top honors with 13 points, Tom

District 6 Andy Hunt Vancouver Greetings to all District 6 sailors, volunteers and coaches.

Racing in District 6 during the winter months (mid November through early February) is non-existant.

Some of the District 6 sailors (in both Standard Rigs and Radial Rigs) went to Miami to compete in both the Miami OCR and the Mid-Winters East. There were 3 D6 Standards in both the OCR and the MWE and twq Radials in the OCR and one Radial in the MWE. Despite the lack of racing, training went on throughout the winter. The only regatta that I can report on is the Frozen Assets Regatta. Very few of the 11 sailors (5 Standards and 6 Radials) came from outside the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

The RVYC was the host club for the regatta which was on February 6 and 7. Whether or not the Superbowl (February 7) had anything to do with the low turnout is unknown. Despite the low turnout, competion was good in both fleets. The winds were fairly moderate and the Race Committee ran 7 races on Saturday and 5 races on Sunday which is what they were aiming for (lots of short races). Each race was roughly 25 minutes. Max Gallant won the standard rigs with 14 points. Second place went to John Owen who had 18 points, Third place went to (GM) Robert Britten who had 26 points, Fourth and fifth went to Aiden Koster (34) and Kayden Polachek (48) respectively. In the Radial Fleet, first place went to Connor Weicht with 20 points. Ally Irwin was second with 23 points. Third place went to Anthony Clark who had 28 points. Matthew Stanaghan was in fourth place with 32 points. Fifth place went to Josh Davis who had 43 points. Sixth place went to Molly Ingenmey who had 47 points. By the time people read this report, weekend racing will be happening all over the place. At this time, it does not look like there will be that many non-local regattas in District 6 this year. There will be the usual regattas in April, May, June, etc. I will try my best to put together a local District 6 regatta schedule (along with some of the more important regattas) and get it posted on the Jericho Laser Fleet webpage (www.jericholaserfleet. wordpress.com). In closing, I would like to wish GOOD LUCK to all those District 6 Masters who are going to be competing down in Mexico for the Master Radial World Championships and the Master Standard World Championships (I am para phrasing the titles).

District 7 Judith Krimski VT, NH, MA, RH, CT

www.Laser.org

Lawton in second with 14, and Ched Proctor in third with 17 points. Rabbit Rabbit!

In other news a contingent of brave D-7ers travelled south to Cabarete, DR and made a strong showing at the 14th Annual Caribbean Midwinters regatta.

Conditions varied from light to heavy wind and surf.

Two D7 sailors—Peter Seidenberg in first radials and Mike Matan in third Standards—placed in the top of their fleets. Other notable D7ers who deserve credit: Joe Berkeley finishing 7th and Tim Desmond finishing 9th. In the radials Vanessa Ampelas finished 10th.

Congrats to D7 sailors who are making waves in the world of sailing. We are all very proud of our girl Christine Neville who put it all out there in her Olympic Campaign to compete in Rio. You rock girl!

And Joe Berkeley, another D7 sailor who is writing up a storm for the Laser Sailor and Sailing World magazine, keep those great articles coming Joe! The D7 schedule is shaping up and it looks like we will have a very active season with regattas big and small. For more info on the schedule and links to NOR go to http://www.laserdistrict7.com. The season opens with Fleet 413 hosting the Pete Milnes regatta. Be there or be square.

L>R, Back Row :Bill Banks, Shawn Keating, David Rapelje Greg Hayes, Bob Canavan, Dan Rapelje, Anne Kochendorfer, Mina Scholl.

A call out to all Laser sailors in our area, with the renewed interest in the class demonstrated by the increased size of the fleet racing the past few years, lets take this unique opportunity to further our clubs and Laser racing by encouraging other sailors to re-active their boats. There are too many Lasers collecting dust in garages, left behind on club racks, or lost under a tree in the backyard. Now is the time to re-activate that old boat and come sail with us or lend it to an interested racer.

2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year in our backyard! How often can you say that you sailed in a one-design fleet with over 50 starters at once?

District 8 may have 4 or 5 regattas with 50 plus boats this season, ACCs, Master ACC, D8 Grand Prix, NBIBCLRA 4th of July, and Ward Bell Cup. Plus there are several regattas that draw high numbers, typically over 20 boats like American Yacht Club Fall Regatta, Devon YC, Minisceongo YC Regatta, Shelter Island Regatta, and Nyack Boat Club’s :Lagoon, Firecracker, and Last Chance Events. They are all a short car-top ride away and a lot of fun both on and off the water.

Breakwater’s summer Friday afternoon series spilled seamlessly right into the Fall frostbiting season at Breakwater YC, fabulous temperatures and mostly cooperative conditions made for some great Saturday afternoon sailing in Sag Harbor which started back in November. On 12/26, The Boxing Day Regatta took place and was a wonderful day of warm Laser racing on an easterly breeze there were 7 races. Thanks to videographer Dan Montero who supplied us with some post video recaps. On 2/27, The Ice- Breaker Regatta was sailed with some fantastic racing. Everyone enjoyed the event. We had 10 boats with some fickle breeze and current on the course, but we got all six in and no rescues or anyone retiring early. Thank all those who travelled out to attend, and giant thank you to our stalwart regulars who make it enjoyable to watch and a pleasure to officiate over. Thanks to Dan and Doug for helping out with race prep along with Ron Kank PRO for making this year’s events memorable.

Boxing Day Results 1. Eric Langendahi 2 Mark Weber 3. Bud Rogers

On a sad note District 7 would like to express our condolences to the family of Michael Healy. Michael, an avid Laser sailor and long-time member of the Hyannis Yacht Club passed away on March 6.

4. David Beridge 5. John Neuihous 6. Sara Nightingdale 7. Rachel Gruzen

District 8 Frank Seckler Metro NY

Ice Breaker Results 1. Ryosuke Sakai 2. John Niewenhous 3. Jim Vos 4. Seth Barron 5. Billy Nighingdale 6. Bud Rogers 7. Sara

First, I failed to recognize in the last edition, Anne Kochendorfer and Bill Banks of the Hempstead Harbor Club.

Active with the class since its inception, both have paved the way for the continued active success of Laser D8.

Hempstead Harbor Original Laser Fleet – Inaugural Ward Bell Cup

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Nightingdale 8. Natalya Gontcharova 9. Joan Butler 10. Sonya Elmquist Masters Week – a dozen or more D8 racers taking a break from local winter sailing, treck it down to Florida where a total 95 sailors competed in the Laser Masters Mid-winters and Midweek Madness regattas held Feb. 6 - 10 at the US Sailing Center, Fla. Pictured Breakwater members Bud Rogers, Sara Nightingale, Joan Butler, Sonja Elmquist, Cris Brodie ( Rachel Gruzen not pictured) (with Erik Langendal from Shelter Island) participated with Bud Rogers besting the BYC contingent in both events.

In-addition to the Breakwater Club members, Laser District 8 sailors: Lindsay Hewitt, Donald Woodworth, Natatalya Gontcharvoa, and Rysouka Sakai along with frequent D8 sailors, Mike Matan, Paul Clifford, and Jean Yves Fillon of American YC sailed quite well!

38 years of Laser frostbiting @ Seawanhaka Corinthian YC and still going strong! First, a special thanks to Wyz Mooney our outgoing Regatta Chair for the past several years. She is a fierce competitor, and keen organizer these past few seasons. SCYC sailors enjoy close mark rounding’s, tight starts, competitive strategy supported by a friendly atmosphere. Local and sailors NJ, Maine, NYC, NJ, Canada have raced sailed this year. Old Geezers (like me), Young Guns, Fast Women along with everyone in between these are the 2016 frostbite Brave Hearts: H. Doherty, T.Rice, A. Roosevelt, L.Hewitt, J.McCrane, A. Martorella,P. Clifford, S.Linden, K.Symthe E. Liebens,F. Seckler, D. Trinder, W. Mooney, G.Hannon,R.Blanco,J.Vickery J.Kelly ,M.Priebe,J.Denatale M.Vida, E.Berenblum, C.Buffin, T.Kornrich, E.Johnson, G.Lofredo, R.Terry, J.Poole, A.Ellis,D.Kruse,H.Sears, P.Saladino, Scott, W.Archer, B. Kudder, R. Sakai, A.Lessman,D.Ness,B. Linden, R.Williams, A.Frered, Rick Wood, A.Talbot,D. Ness,,Ryan Wood,D R.Terry, and a few unknowns.

Thanks Eric for providing a free rules seminar. In fact each day after sailing there is a discussion on rules & strategy, along with free chilly and a wood-burning fireplace to warm your toes. Awards are reserved for the dinner where Bob Terry releases his new frostbiting video. We await the surprise.

Hempstead Harbor Club, Glen Head NY, grass roots approach to racing and having fun in the Lasers has resulted in great camaraderie within the club, and it’s contagious. This year a rival fleet gave the highly enthusiastic Laser sailors of HHC a start during their frostbite season. In its in-augural season a steady 5-7 Laser sailors sailed.

Big Boats Might Get the Glory, but Small Boats Make the Sailor, the 2016 Hudson River Yacht Racing Association, HRYRA, calendar is set with expectations for great numbers of new Laser sailors from NJ, CT, and upstate that have short travel times for these single day events. The season kicks off with The Lagoon Regatta, Monday, May 30, 2016 at Nyack Boat Club.

New at the District Level: There is a possibility of an Annual Seasonal Championship Award to help encourage cross-town rivals. There will be a District 8 Season Champion Award for all Laser and Radial Classes using the High Point System. Check LaserD8. org for Policies and Procedures regarding the parameters and methodology of this award.

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Sailor Spot light of District 8 ... Bob Terry. Bob has been an avid sailor since he was a youngster, sailing aboard his family’s new Ensenada Sailboat in 1973. He acquired his first Laser while in HS and sailed in District 8 events regularly on Long Island.

While a student at Stony Brook University, he led the creation of the SBSC Sailing Club, which has grown into a varsity sport and is coached by Cornell graduate and D8 sailor, Geoff Laredo. Bob still sails his ‘73 sloop on a regular basis with his wife and daughter on Northport Harbor.

Starting in the 70’s until 1994, the District was putting out a hard copy quarterly newsletter. Rising, costs prompted Ward to ask Bob if he could layout the newsletter electronically, which he did and even printed it for free. In 1996, Bob having done the print work, started a website for Laser District 8, thereby eliminating the hard copy newsletter and updating information in real time as he received the information.

More than 40 years later, Bob remains a Laser communicator, as well as a sailing advocate for all classes. Bob fully self -funds the www.laserd8. org website himself.

According to him, the site gets 1500-2000 hits a month, and he has fun with YouTube, attracting nearly a ½ million hits.

I would like to thank Bob for his perseverance, dedication, and loyalty to Laser Sailing and District 8.

District 8, Looking back 10 years….

2006 East End Laser Series concluded with 29 competitors in 3 regattas and 13 races. R. Ratsep was the champion. ACCs at Sayville YC, 70 Lasers – Champ Michael Kalin, 98 Radials - Champ Dan Nickerson. Grand Prix /O’Day – Apprentice Champ Paul-Jon Patin, Master Champ - David Breder, Grand Master Champ – Lindsay Hewitt Upcoming Laser Activities: keep checking www.

LaserD8.org

Mar 6 –April 9 Mar 5 –April 15 April 16,22,30 April 9 May 1,8,15,22 May 30 May- Aug June 4 June 11-13 June 25-26 July 4th July 4th July 16-17 July 22 July 24 July 16 August 6 August 13 August 13 August 27 Sept 3 Sept. 5 Sept 10 Sept 17-Oct 3

Sunday Frostbiting 1pm @Seawanhaka YC Saturday’s Spring Series 2pm @Breakwater YC South Bay WA Spring Series 1pm @ Dinghy Shop Spring Fling Laser Regatta @ Seawanhaka YC Spring Series 12:30 @ Sebago Sailing Lagoon Laser Regatta @ Nyack Boat Club Tuesday Nights 6pm @ Hempstead Harbor YC Dr Hulls Feast @ Southampton YC ACCs @ Bellport Bay YC D8 GRAND PRIX @Sayville YC FIRECRACKER Regatta/ HYRYA@ Nyack BC NBIBCLRA Regatta @ Breakwater YC MASTERS ACCs@ Sayville YC Shelter Island Laser Clinic @ Shelter Island YC SHELTER ISLAND LASER@Shelter Island YC Joe Naar Regatta/ HYRYA @ Shattamuc YC Westhampton GSBYRA @ Westhampton YS MINISCEONGO LASER regatta/ HRYRA Around Shelter Island@ Southold YC WARD BELL CUP @ Hempstead Harbor Club LASER D8 FALL REGATTA@ American YC LAST CHANCE REGATTA @ Nyack Boat Club RAKE masts not leaves @ South Bay WA Eion Delap Cup Series @ Sebago Sailing

District 9 Peter Bushnell Upstate New York Plans are complete for the upcoming season in district 9. The Grand Prix will be part of Centrals on

Sodus, hosted by Sodus Bay YC and Sodus Bay Jr Sailing Association. The venue will be perfect for both adult and junior sailors. The main event for D9 this year is the No Coast Championship which will be hosted by Ithaca YC. We are very excited about this and hope to have a strong turn-out for some great sailing on Cayuga Lake. Here’s the full regatta plan for district. Check out the ILCA-NA website for details.

LASER DISTRICT 9 – 2016 REGATTA PLANS May 28, Ithaca YC, Wine Keg Regatta June 4, Willow Bank YC, Spring Regatta, Cazenovia June 11, Saratoga YC, Laser Derby June 18, Newport YC, Rochester June 25, Chautauqua Lake YC July 9-10, D9 GRAND PRIX, Centrals on Sodus SBYC and SBJSA July 16, Seneca YC, Geneva July 23, Thousand Islands Park YC July 29-30 USA Junior Olympic Sailing Festival Rochester YC Aug 6-7, NO COAST CHAMPIONSHIP, Ithaca YC Sept 10, Willow Bank YC, Death Roll Regatta, Cazenovia Sept 17, Otsego Sailing Club, Glimmerglass Regatta, Cooperstown Oct 9, Henderson Harbor YC, Henderson Harbor, NY

District 10 Eric Reitinger New Jersey Summer was a busy season here for District 10.

Instead of listing how everyone did, my tradition is to list every event someone from our District sailed: JOs @ IHYC Master’s World Radial Youth Worlds BBYRA Jr events LBIYRA Jr events MAYRA Jr events Nationals North Americans Master’s ACCs The Jr fleets are around and have been staying local while there have been some kids traveling around the country to sail in the various Championships.

CORK was a frequented area by many of the sailors with all the World events.

You can read the Nationals article in this issue.

We concluded or District 10 championships in Cape May April 15 and 16th. Just like Manasquan, the radials and 4.7s spent the time sailing out in the ocean. There was two solid days of racing and 16 radials and 5 4.7s. Nicholas Stefanoni won the radials and Zachary York the 4.7s. A huge thank you to Cape May for hosting this event, as we had full rig champs the year prior. The 4.7 fleet in the area is there and we are slowly trying to get them all together in one place.

Next issue we should have a great article about the Masters ACCs that were hosted by BBYC along with lot of pictures.

As we move into the fall, the calendar has a few events and lead into some frostbite series. Sadly Cooper River is now closed till the spring due to the dredging and overall updating of the entire area so we can expect some great things once complete.

Marsh Creek has their series and Monmouth should still have their series going. Toms River hosts their fall series and Colie Sails always provides some nice

SPRING 2016

goodies for everyone.

There’s still plenty of sailing going on in the fall and into the winter so don’t put the boats away just yet.

We had a few folks make some trips down south for the winter, from just after Christmas to mid-February folks made the trip down to well attended events down in Florida.

Orange Bowl Full Brenden Gilman 23rd Radial Carrson Pearce 2nd Nicholas Stefanoni 21st Carter Pearce 22nd Mike Ehnot 48th Emily Fuller 62nd

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Masters Midwinters East Fulls John MacCausland 14th Mike Hecky 23rd Don Hahl 27th Jerzy Sliwinski 58th Radials Jim Knab 38th Masters Midwiners Madness Fulls Mike Hecky 14th John MacCausland 18th Don Hahl 28th Radials Jim Knab 16th

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Florida Masters Championship Full John MacCausland 6th Mike Hecky 12th Don Hahl 14th Bill Watters 31st Jerzy Sliwinski 41st Radials Jim Knab 13th Midwinter’s East Fulls Peter Hurley 23rd Andy Widmeier 24th Brenden Gilman 37th Radial Gold Carrson Pearce 11th Carter Pearce 20th Nicholas Stefanoni 40th Radial Silver Mike Ehnot 7th Maddie Widmeier 8th Dixon Pearce 23rd Emily Fuller 38th Nicole Moeder 43rd Dylan Hancock 45th While still at home we have had some frostbite series going on. Monmouth has seen at least 18 different boats out there all winter with as many as 10 boats out on a race day. Marsh Creek had also seen some good turnouts in their series. We still await Cooper River to get their lake cleaned up so we could start sailing this year.

This year’s District schedule is practically set through

www.Laser.org

started. Our first regatta the Capital City regatta will have been held before you read this. Our District 11 Championship for Standard and Radial will be at Severn Sailing Association in conjunction with their Sunshine Open April 23-24, Our 2016 spring/summer schedule: 3/19-20 Capital City Regatta PRSA 4/23-24 D11 Champs/Sunshine Open SSA 5/14-15 Spring Series SSA 5/15 Corsica Spring Regatta CRYC 5/21 Spring Regatta FBYC 7/23-24 Annual Regatta CRYC 7/24 Summer Regatta FBYC 8/6-7 VA Governors Cup WRYC 8/13-14 77th One Design FBYC 8/13-14 Annual Oxford Regatta TAYC 8/27-28 Fall Series SSA The junior calendar is compact in a couple week period with sailing on weekends and week days: 6/25-26 VA Commonwealth Cup FBYC 6/28 West River Junior Regatta 7/6 Sandy MacVickar Junior SSA 7/7 AYC Annual Junior Regatta 7/8 MD State Championship Baltimore Co Sc 7/13-14 US Sailing Junior Olympics Lewes YC Several of our fleets recently completed frostbite seasons: Potomac River Sailing Association sailed 55 races over 15 days with 53 sailors taking part in some race.

Top overall was Eric Petersen followed by Jaime Moran and Farley Will.

WindCheck Magazine

the summer so mark your calendars and get out there and sail: April 3, 10, 17, 24 and May 1st Toms River Spring Series April 16 Spring Regatta @ Marsh Creek SC May 7 Spring Regatta @ Shrewsbury Sailing and YC May 14 Spring Regatta @ Monmouth Boat Club May 28 Plank Regatta @ Shore Acres June 4 Orange Coffee Pot @ Surf City June 18-19 D10 Full Rig Championships @ Little Egg Harbor YC June 23-24 JO’s @ Brant Beach YC June 30 Feed the Need @ Pine Beach YC July 7 Iron Man Jr Regatta @ Shore Acres YC July 8 Powder Puff Jr Regatta @ Metedeconk YC July 12-13 Area C Smythe Qualifiers @ Mantoloking YC July 15 Beachwood Blast Jr. Regatta July 16-17 Masters ACCs @ Sayville YC July 18-19 JOs @ Island Heights YC August 5 Summer Sailing Classic @ Ocean Gate YC August 20-21 District 8 Champs @ Sayville YC August 22-23 Radial and 4.7 District 10 Championships @ Surf City YC September 10 Annual Regatta @ Surf City YC September 17 Fall Laser Regatta @ Monmouth Boat Club September 24 Philadelphia Cup @ Philly Seaport Museum October 15 Fall Regatta @ Marsh Creek SC

Severn Sailing Association broke their frostbite up into two sessions - before and after Christmas. They also had separate Standard and Radial fleets. In the first series 35 Standards took part over 6 days. Top 3 were Luke Shingledecker, Chris Brady and Bryan Fishback. Among the 13 Radials top 3 were Leo Boucher, Tyle Mowry and Dorian Haldeman. The 2nd series had 29 Standards with Gavin O’Hare, Scot Williamson and Luke Shingledecker topping the group while the 10-boat Radial fleet was led by Dorian Haldeman, Russ Wesdyk and Christopher Young.

District 11 Jon Deutsch Virginia

We’re looking forward to another great year. As always keep me posted with regatta notices and results and we’ll get them posted to our D11 email list, website and facebook page.

Cheers!

jon@laserdistrict11.org Spring is a time when the frostbiters are finishing their season while summer sailors are just getting

The Hampton Roads Laser Fleet also had an active Frostbite series with a half dozen or more sailors sailing out of the Old Dominion University Sailing Center most Sundays this winter. Check out their facebook page for plenty of pictures and videos of their sailing.

A number of D11 sailors were among the nearly 100 sailors in two fleets at Masters Midwinters in Florida.

Top 10 finishes were Standard- 9 James Jacob SSA/ PRSA. Radial - 6 Bob Tan SSA, 9 Ted Morgan SSA. Also representing D11 were Len Guenther FBYC, Eric Petersen PRSA, Nabeel Alsalam PRSA, Adam Glass SSA, James Graham PRSA, Jonathan Phillips SSA, Jacob Dongkersloot PRSA. Many of these sailors went on to sail Midweek Masters and Florida Masters later in the week.

District 12

31

Oc

Finn Hassing Carolinas As the weather is getting warmer and the breezes steady D12 sailors are looking forward to a great season. We have 6 Championship Regattas planned offering great variety, from rivers with tidal currents to lake sailing with shifty winds as well as ocean sailing with a reliable sea breeze and big waves.

We also offer trophies in different categories for the best series score. The dates are; Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club: April 30, May 1. Savannah Yacht Club: June 4,5. Carolina Yacht Club SC: July 30,31.

Carolina Yacht Club NC: August 6,7. Lake Norman Yacht Club:September 24,25. Columbia Sailing Club: November 5,6. In addition, two of our sailors got an early start attending the Florida Masters Week, and are planning to represent the district at the Master Worlds in Mexico.

District 15 Griffin Orr Texas District 15 is gearing up for an exciting year of sailing with our first District Regatta, the 33rd AYC Easter Regatta, held March 26th and 27th at the Austin Yacht Club on Lake Travis. Fred Schroth and team are very excited to host this event and are expecting a very strong showing from across the district.

Plentiful rains have filled the lake for only the third time in the regattas history! You wouldn’t want to miss out!!

After Austin, the fleet heads east to Lake Conroe for their first ever hosting of a Laser District 15 Regatta on April 9th and 10th. The beautiful Lake Conroe is located conveniently one hour north of Houston, three hours east Austin and three hours south of

32

Dallas.

And for the Spring, last and certainly not least is the CSC District Laser Regatta on April 30th and May 1st at the Corinthian Sailing Club in Dallas Texas. They are anticipating a great event with cool breezes and hot competition!

As daylight savings dawns a new Spring, many fleets are gearing up their weekday racing series and sailors are readying their boats as District 15 members can’t wait for another fantastic season of sailing!

See you on the water, _/) _/) _/)

District 18 John Shockey IN, OH, KY JohnRShockey@gmail.com District 18 is poised for an excellent year on the water!

The pinnacle event on the schedule is of course, US Laser Nationals at Mentor Harbor Yacht Club July 7-10! Mentor Harbor is an absolutely stunning venue for open water Laser Sailing and we’re going to be packing the event full of fun; VERY different than US Nationals of year’s past and if you had come to the Laser Great Lakes in Vermilion a couple years ago you know what I’m talking about! Mentor Harbor is about 30 minutes east of Cleveland, OH, and for anyone in the Midwest, East Coast, or Canada, you couldn’t possibly pick a more central location and easy drive for all, so we’re counting on BIG numbers!

Charter boats are available and camping, local

hotels, and possible dorm housing will be provided!

We are trying to accommodate every Laser sailor so please make an effort to attend!

The annual Indy Spring Regatta moved up this year to April 2nd and 3rd, and like every year, Paul Gush and the Indianapolis Sailing Club put on great racing in the tricky conditions we all know and love on Geist Lake. More info and pictures from the event can be found at our District 18 Facebook page.

I’m very happy to announce our District 18 Grand Prix event will be hosted by North Cape Yacht Club!

North Cape Yacht Club is a wonderful sailing club and open water venue on the west basin of Lake Erie. Beautiful beach, facilities, and excellent race management will ensure we have yet another great D18 Grand Prix and lots of fun to be had!

More to come on Laser Nationals but as always please email me with any questions. Looking forward to the 2016 sailing season!

District 19 Ken Swetka Michigan It looks like an early Spring in Michigan and by the time you read this we will be sailing! The schedule is coming together. This year the D19 Championships will be at a new venue. Grand Rapids Yacht Club (Reeds Lake) has offered to be the host. Chad Coberly and his team are looking forward to a big turnout. Grand Rapids is home to some of the best breweries in the country (like Founders plus Bell’s is nearby too!). Participants should consider making it a long weekend and doing a Brew Tour before or after the regatta.

SPRING 2016

2016 Regattas/Events – If there is a “?” next to the date it is not confirmed.

June 12 UofM Spring Regatta - Michigan S C Baseline Lake July 23-24 Leland Laser Regatta - Leland YC Aug 6-7 D19 Grand Prix Champs - Grand Rapids YC, Reeds Lake Aug 20 Lake Lansing Annual - Lansing SC Sept 11 UofM Fall Regatta - Michigan SC Baseline Lake, 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 Troy Tolan Springfield, IL Hi Everyone, FYI, if you are looking for Lasers and Laser equipment for sale, we have new items added to our D20 Sister Site. Check ‘em out at www.facebook.com/laserdist20boatsforsale/ And of course anyone is welcome to join our D2 group at www.facebook.com/groups/laserd20/ Really slow start to this year’s schedule development. The following listed events are based on last year. Please note we have many unconfirmed events and I need you to contact me to get them on the schedule.

May 27-29-Junior Olympic Regatta, Carlyle SA, Carlyle IL June 4-5–IBYC Laser, Island Bay YC, Springfield IL June 18-19-CSA Laser Open, Carlyle SA, Carlyle IL Sept 3-4 -Summer’s End, North Shore YC, Highland Park IL Also, the District 20 Championship / Grand Prix events have not yet been accepted by any club/ clubs. I would like Wisconsin to host since Illinois had the honors last year. Please contact me if you would like more information about hosting these events!

District 22 Kurt Hoehne WA, OR, ID, MT It’s been a pretty quiet winter in the Pacific Northwest, Montana and Idaho. The Seattle Laser Fleet’s frostbite series, sponsored by West Coast Sailing, split time between Puget Sound (Shilshole) and Lake Washington (Sail Sand Point).

As usual, the big event for the year was Seattle’s Frigid Digit Regatta in late January. The regatta saw good wind both days, with six races sailed on day one and four on day two. Temperatures weren’t

www.Laser.org

toasty but far from frigid.

Thirteen full rigs and eight Radials came out to play. Among the full rigs it was long time Laser sailor Joe Burcar who sailed an amazingly consistent regatta to come away with a 3 point victory over Blake Bentzen second.

Abbie Carlson won a tiebreaker over Owen Tims to take the Radial title. Frigid Digit no longer attracts the 50+ Lasers it once did, but the Seattle Laser Fleet has positioned itself at the center of the Seattle small boat scene and welcomes many other classes to this event, including RS Aeros, 29ers and Optis. (Tasars, usually a fixture, were absent this year.)

CGRA Laser Events 2016 2016 will be a big year for Laser sailing in the Gorge.

The marquee event this summer is the 2016 Laser North American Championships, July 21-24. But first the kids will hit town for CGRA’s annual Wind Youth Clinic, July 5-8. Expanded this year to include Optis and 420s, but emphasis is still on Lasers. Head Coach Brendan Casey and a cast of young rock stars will work with the 18-and-under sailors to get them up to speed for big competition. Leads into Wind Youth Regatta, July 9-10.

The action ratchets up the following week with the pre-regatta Gorge Laser Performance Clinic, July 16-19, led by Head Coach Brett Davis with an assist from our own Derick Vranizan. This leads into the notorious Laser Gorge Blowout, July 20, 18 miles of firehose-in-the-face downwind fun from Cascade Locks to Hood River, after which sailors should be totally tuned (or totally wrecked) for the four-day North American Championship regatta.

But wait, there’s more! Lasers with any legs left are invited to stick around for CGRA’s gala multi-class sailing celebration CGOD (Columbia Gorge OneDesign) Regatta, July 29-31.

Should be a fun summer. Hope to see you out on the river!

District 23 Geoff Hurwitch AZ, UT, CO, NM, WY The season starts soon for District 23 but after a snowy winter, we’re still in wait mode for our bodies of water to thaw so we can go sailing. The Park City Sailing Association is due to hold their annual SkiGatta the weekend of March 19/20 but a frozen lake has delayed that event by a couple of weeks. This has not stopped some of our sailors who have traveled to Mexico and So Cal for key events to get warmed up for the 2016 sailing

season. Park City Sailing will be racing on Tuesday nights from June 7th until September 27th. They acquired a fleet of three used Lasers to offer to new or visiting sailors so if you’re in the area, please drop us a line and come join us sailing at over 6,000 feet of elevation. The PCSA Fall Regatta is scheduled for October 1-2, 2016 as well. The Denver Sailing Association will begin their season on Thursday May 5th and will continue through the season until September 15th. The Lake Dillon Open is scheduled for August 5-7, 2016.

District 24 Stephen Aguilar NorCal We have an exciting 2016 planned in District 24.

ADVANCED CLINIC We started the season off this year with a clinic put on by Steven Bourdow. 15 lucky sailors spent the day sailing off treasure Island . The clinic covered boat set up both up wind and downwind drills and some practice starts and races. A fresh breeze and steep and slippery launch ramp greeted everyone. Most if not all came for the downwind training and no one was disappointed. Thank you Steven for helping us mortals out.

SVENDSENS GRAND PRIX Again this year Svendsens boat works Is sponsoring our summer Series. This year we have 12 events piggybacking on existing regattas in the district. It›s a good mix of different conditions with some ocean racing and some lake regattas. A list of events and scores can be found here. http://svendsens-grandprix.myfleet.org/ MASTERS REGATTAS This year we’re going to have two Masters events in district 24. The Masters PCC’s will be held at Scott ’s Flat lake which is up in the Gold country of California outside Nevada city the dates for this event are June 4 and fifth.

The North American Masters Will be held at The newly remodeled Richmond yacht club on August 5-7.

RETURN OF THE HIGH SIERRA REGATTA With the return of El Niño not only did we get some great surf but we also received some much-needed rain and snow. The Sierra reservoirs will be full and some of the regattas that had been canceled due to the drought are back on the calendar. The high Sierra is one of these. The dates for this year’s event are July 9 and 10th. To put a little twist on it this year we’re going to have a district 24 versus District 25 competition. Emilio Castelli and Castelli winery is putting up a magnum of wine to the winning district.

RICHMOND MIDWINTERS December 2015 through March 2016 The first three days were sailed in pretty light wind.

The fourth day in strong gusty winds after a storm front pass through.

LASER STANDARD 1st. Mark Halman 2nd. Hendrick Reidel 3rd. Robbie O’Brien LASER RADIAL 1st. Toshinari Takayanagi 2nd. Hayden Lahr 3rd. Nick Nash SVENDSENS GRAND PRIX #1.

The first event of the Grand Prix was held March 6

33

at Richmond yacht club. The wind was in the 20+ range. This is a High Point Series to qualify you must sail at least five of the 12 events.

LASER RADIAL Toshinari Takayanagi. 3 pts.

Hideki Ido. 2 pts Cynthia Shallit.

1 pt.

LASER STANDARD Emilio Castelli.

6 pts.

David Lapier.

5 pts

That’s all from District 24 I’ll see you on or in the water.

Photo above: Robbie O’Brien, Bob Gunion, Stephen Aguilar and Toshinari “Toshi” Takayanagi at the California masters in San Diego

District 25 Jorge Suarez SoCal

at Alamito Bay Yacht Club I Long Beach, CA. Long Beach has experienced some of the El Nino storms which have brought some wind and waves that were absent this winter. Still we are expecting good hiking conditions and 70 plus degree weather! Report to follow in the next issue!

Check out Tom Laube’s report on the Laser Cal Masters Championship held at Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego, CA. in this issue!

As this report was being submitted, over 90 sailors are getting ready for Laser Midwinters West regatta

Your Mark Halman.

Chris Boome.

Robbie O’Brien.

Hendrik Reidel.

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SPRING 2016

California Laser Masters - February 27-28 Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego hosted the California Laser Masters’ Championship on February 27-28. Twenty Laser Masters from such cold climes as Calgary, Oregon and Utah enjoyed two days of 5-8 knots of breeze in 8 to 10 foot ocean swells and 70 degree weather.

Chris Raab (Grand Master, Newport Harbor Yacht Club) didn’t need any of his handicap points to best the fleet, turning in six first place finishes before using the final race to enjoy a second cigarette, finishing fourth in his throw-out.

Rounding out the top five overall, Chris was followed by Doug Seeman (GGM Mission Bay Yacht Club), Doug Bell (GGM Calgary YC/ Royal Vancouver YC) Dave Leuck (Mst., MBYC) and Ken Wild (GGM, MBYC). David Elliott (Calgary Yacht Club) walked off with the Ancient Mariner’s trophy (Oldest Competitor, age 71).

In the individual masters categories the top three finishers were: GGM: Doug Seeman, Doug Bell, Ken Wild.

GM: Chris Raab, Dave Jursik, Paul Miachika.

Masters: Dave Leuck, Michael Hooper and Jim Hecht.

The California Masters was the third consecutive weekend in February of Southern California sailing for Laser Masters.

The first event was the Masters’ Midwinters on February 13-14 at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (Chris Raab also taking home first place followed by Dave Leuck of MBYC (2nd) and Paul Miachika , Arizona Yacht Club (3rd) ). Next was Mission Bay Yacht Club’s Midwinters (February 20-21, an open event which was won by MBYC’s Max Karmel (junior sailor), with Phil Paxton (Calgary Yacht Club) as the top Master) and then the third of the three events, the California Masers.

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2015 Laser NA Grand Prix Final Standings Laser Standard - top 154 of 254

Congratulations to each of the winners of the 2015 Grand Prix Series.

Full results can be found on www.laser.org

Place

First

Last

Points

1

ROBERT

DAVIS

145

47

BEN

ROHR

36

2

MAX

GALLANT

137

47

LUKE

SHINGLEDECKER

36

3

EVERT

MCLAUGHLIN

114

48

KEVIN

WIERSMA

35

4

JUSTIN

NORTON

110

49

BOB

TAN

34

5

MAREK

ZALESKI

109

50

KYLE

GERRARD

33

6

FORD

MCCANN

107

51

EMILIO

CASTELLI

32

7

HUGH

MACRAE

95

52

DAVID K

MORGAN

31

8

RICHARD

DIDHAM

94

54

PETER

NEAL

30

9

STEVEN

LEUCK

91

54

BRYANT

WOOD

30

10

MAX

GUERRIERO

81

57

JASON

ARTOF

29

12

ERIK

BOWERS

77

57

RICHIE

GORDON

29

12

COOPER

WEITZ

77

57

CLAY

JOHNSON

29

13

MIKE

RUSSOM

73

59

ALEXANDER

HANKINS

28

14

CHRIS

BARNARD

70

59

PAUL

STREATER

28

15

IAN

ELLIOTT

69

60

CHRIS

RAAB

27

16

MARSHALL

MCCANN

67

61

CONNOR

HUGHES

26

17

LEE

PARKHILL

66

65

NATHAN

DUNN

24

18

JORGE L

YANEZ DEL CASTILLO

65

65

MATTHEW

LONG

24

20

ERIC

REITINGER

62

65

ANDREW

ROY

24

20

FORREST

WACHHOLZ

62

65

DENNIS

RUSSOM

24

21

MALCOLM

LAMPHERE

61

68

STEPHEN

BOURDOW

23

23

MATTHEW

RYDER

59

68

PARKER

DITTMORE

23

23

FREDERICK

VRANIZAN

59

68

PETER

HURLEY

23

24

MICHAEL

LEVY

58

72

CHARLES

BREWER

22

25

GREG

MARTINEZ

57

72

SCOTT

COLLINSON

22

26

JONATHAN

DEUTSCH

56

72

PHILIP

CRAIN

22

27

DAVE

LEUCK

55

72

TED

MORGAN

22

28

TOM

RAMSHAW

52

75

LUTHER

CARPENTER

21

30

BRENDAN

AULTHOUSE

50

75

ALEXANDER

HEINZEMANN

21

30

LUKE

RUITENBERG

50

75

JAMES

STANLEY

21

31

MATTHEW

SHERAR

47

84

BRIAN

COTTRELL

20

32

ANDREW

PUOPOLO

46

84

LEN

GUENTHER

20

34

DAVID

BRINK

45

84

ROB

HALLAWELL

20

34

MIKE

MATAN

45

84

COLLIN

LEON

20

36

JOHN

MACCAUSLAND

43

84

ROMAN

PLUTENKO

20

36

HENRY

MACHUM

43

84

BRADY

SAVAGE

20

KEN

SWETKA

20

39

DANIEL

BARRY

41

84

39

SKYLAR

BAYMAN

41

84

TRACY

USHER

20

39

ADAM

DIDOMIZIO

41

84

LAWSON

WILLARD

20

41

MARC

JACOBI

40

92

MARK

BEAR

19

41

JONATHAN

PHILLIPS

40

92

DAVE

CHAPIN

19

42

ERIK

WEIS

39

92

CHAD

COBERLY

19

43

ROSS

MURDOCH

37

92

PAUL

DIDHAM

19

47

DRAKE

LYON

36

92

AUSTIN

NEUMAN

19

47

RODION

MAZIN

36

92

ERNESTO

RODRIGUEZ

19

36

SPRING 2016

2015 Laser NA Grand Prix Final Standings 92

ERIC

ROOS

19

140

T TROY

TOLAN

14

92

LEIGH

SAVAGE

19

154

TY

BAIRD

13

101

CHARLES G.

BUCKINGHAM

18

154

WILL

BENEDICT

13

101

MICHAEL

HECKY

18

154

TED

CREMER

13

101

MAC

JACOB

18

154

JOE

DAVID

13

101

KEITH

KRAEMER

18

154

MIKE

DOELL

13

101

THOMAS

LONDRIGAN

18

154

MICHAEL

EVANS

13

101

JACK

MARSHALL

18

154

NATHAN

FAST

13

101

BRETT

SLYKERMAN

18

154

RHODES

GARNER

13

101

PETER

VESSELLA

18

154

MATTHEW

HOBBS

13

101

GORD

WELSH

18

154

DAVE

JURSIK

13

110

MIKE

BISHOP

17

154

MICHAEL

MADDEN

13

110

JEFFREY

EVANS

17

154

DAVID

SCHOENE

13

110

BRADEN

GARVEY

17

154

ALEX

SCHWINN

13

110

ROBERT

LALONDE

17

154

PETER

SHOPE

13

110

BILL

MCLAUGHLIN

17

110

JAMES

MORAN

17

110

DOUG

PECKOVER

17

110

DAVE

RYDEN

17

Place

First

Last

BRENDA

BOWSKILL

148

Radial - top 105 of 245

110

JACEK

SUSKI

17

1

122

DEREK

BOTTLES

16

2

SCOTT

RASMUSSEN

139

CARROLL

16

3

SARAH

DOUGLAS

126

122

STEVE

122

TIM

DIXON

16

4

CORINNE

PETERS

126

122

JACQUES

GARRIGUES

16

5

MATTI

MURU

114

6

NIC

BAIRD

113

122

MATTHEW

GOETTING

16

122

LINDSAY

HEWITT

16

7

HANNE

WEAVER

100

8

CADEN

SCHEIBLAUER

97

122

KIERAN

HORSBURGH

16

122

ANDRIY

KANYUKA

16

9

GAGE

WILSON

84

10

PAUL

DIDHAM

83

122

DANIEL

NERI

16

122

RYAN

SCHACK

16

11

CARRSON

PEARCE

81

CLAIRE

MERRY

79

122

KEVIN

TAUGHER

16

12

122

R. POLK

WAGNER

16

13

FILLAH

KARIM

77

CHRISTMAN

15

14

JACK

GOWER

76

129

RALEIGH

129

LOUIS

DIXON

15

15

HENRY

MARSHALL

68

129

PETER

FOLLANSBEE

15

16

LUCAS

PIERCE

67

CHARLOTTE

ROSE

65

129

BRENDAN

GILMAN

15

17

129

PETER

JOHANSON

15

18

LAWSON

WILLARD

63

JOSEPH

HOU

61

129

BRANDON

KIRBY

15

19

129

FRANK

SECKLER

15

20

CHASE

CARRAWAY

60

21

WILLIAM

MARSHALL

59

140

BLAKE

BENTZEN

14

140

JEFF

DEJEAN

14

24

REECE

MYERSCOUGH

58

ELLIE SHAW

UNGAR

58

140

JACK

GOWER

14

24

140

BRUCE

HANSEN

14

24

JUSTIN

VITTECOQ

58

CAMERON

FEVES

57

140

JACQUES

KERREST

14

25

140

STEVEN

KIRKPATRICK

14

26

JACK

MARSHALL

55

140

MICHAEL

MORRAN

14

27

LINDSEY

BAAB

54

140

CHRISTINE

NEVILLE

14

28

ANDREW

WIDMEIER

53

140

PHILLIP

SCHOFIELD

14

30

LEO

BOUCHER

52

14

30

JESSICA

MCJONES

52

140

DOUG

www.Laser.org

SEEMAN

37

2015 Laser NA Grand Prix Final Standings 31

TALIA

TOLAND

49

80

BRANDON

32

CHRISTINE

NEVILLE

46

80

35

NIGEL

HEATH

44

88

35

PARKER

HUGHES

44

35

AIDAN

LAWFORD-WICKHAM

44

36

CHRISTINA

SAKELLARIS

37

ALEXANDER

39

MAURA

39

NATHAN

40

JENSEN

KIRBY

21

ALEKSANDER

MAGI

21

JACK

BARTON

20

88

BRANDON

CASSARD

20

88

JC

HERMUS

20

43

88

ROBERT

KOCI

20

HANNA

42

88

CALEB

ROBINSON

20

DEWEY

40

88

SOPHIA

SOLE

20

FIELDS

40

88

RYAN

SQUIRES

20

MCTIGHE

39

88

NICHOLAS

STEFANONI

20

44

AL

CLARK

37

97

JACOB

BELL

19

44

HOLLY ANTONIA

LEWIN-LAFRANCE

37

97

KIMBERLY

COURANZ

19

44

MAX

MAYOL

37

97

ALEX

FASOLO

19

44

SOPHIA

REINEKE

37

97

ANDREW

HOLDSWORTH

19

45

WILLS

JOHNSON

36

97

BRENDAN

LORD

19

50

JACK

HOGAN

35

97

NICHOLAS

O'BRIEN

19

50

MARGARET

MACCORMACK

35

97

RYOSUKE

SAKAI

19

50

JOHN

OWEN

35

97

COOPER

SIEPERT

19

50

PATRICK

SHANAHAN

35

97

SCOTT

TRASK

19

50

CORALIE

VITTECOQ

35

105

SKYLAR

BAYMAN

18

52

CHASE

BURWELL

34

105

DERIN

BILGEN

18

52

CARRTER

PEARCE

34

105

NICK

CHISARI

18

53

MICHAEL

MORRAN

33

105

GREGORY

CORSELLO

18

57

CARLY

BROUSSARD

32

105

SPENCER

DALZELL

18

57

MICHAEL

EHNOT

32

105

ANNIKA

FEDDE

18

57

ALEXANDER

FRITZ

32

105

PHILIPPE

PASQUIN

18

57

BILL

LAWSON

32

105

WALT

SPEVAK

18

59

JACQUES

KERREST

31

59

MARC ANDREW

ROBIN

31

60

ISABELLA

BERTOLD

30

62

ALEXANDER SAMUEL

BROWN

29

62

DORIAN

HALDEMAN

29

66

F GRAY

KIGER III

28

66

SPENCER

LEGRANDE

28

66

MIKE

SCHMIDT

28

66

PETER

WOYTKOWIAK

28

71

FRANKIE

DOYLE

25

71

GRAHAM

HARNEY

25

71

JOHN

KIRKPATRICK

25

71

MARCIA

MACDONALD

25

71

NORMAN

STRUTHERS

25

73

NOAH

FERRAROTTO

24

73

LAUREN

SULLIVAN

24

75

CAROLINE

BAYLESS

23

75

VIOLET

STAFFORD

23

77

GREINER

HOBBS

22

77

HADDON

HUGHES

22

80

REED

BALDRIDGE

21

38

Laser 4.7 Place

First

Last

Points

1

HENRYK

LUCZYNSKI

86

2

SYDNEY

MONAHAN

77

3

PAUL

GRAY

66

4

HANNAH

SHEPPARD

60

5

BLAIRE

MCCARTHY

48

6

JACOB

FISKER-ANDERSEN

39

7

CHRISTOPHE

CHAUMONT

38

8

ALLISON

WEINBECKER

37

9

JACKSON

MONTAGUE

35

10

TANNER

WILSON

29

11

CRISTA

ABBERGER

23

12

AMANDA

LAWSON

22

13

HEATHER

KERNS

17

14

ALEXANDER

TEMKO

12

SPRING 2016

G. TH THIS ISN’T CLOTHIN

IS IS EQUIPMENT.

SPEEDSKIN SYSTEM To perform at your best you need to be versatile. You need a system that works with you. Protects you.

Becomes part of you. Light neoprene layers lock out wind, water and UV rays. While strategically placed flex panels and protection points keep delivering. Speedskin. Mix it, match it, you’ll never beat it.

G IL L NA . COM

www.Laser.org

39

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!



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



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!



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.



$9.72 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.



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



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



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.





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 2400 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!



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!



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



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? 



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.



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.



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

40

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.



To gain the benefits of membership outlined above.



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!

SPRING 2016

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 - $45 for one year or $85 for 2 years • Junior - $40 (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership), or $75 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership) • International - $55 (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

www.Laser.org

41

*

0

5 R$

E

V O S

R DE

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APS Pro Clew Inhauler $46.07

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Single-Berry $42.06

Double-Berry $59.31

APS Pro Outhaul Primary $30.95

APS Pro Spliced Traveler $30.16

APS Pro Daggerboard Downhaul Kit $36.87

APS Pro Outhaul Set Up $109.51

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ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

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San Dimas, CA Permit No. 410