Lasersailorwinter2014

速 WINTER 2014 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world

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FALL 2013

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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

WINTER 2014

District Contacts .....................................................................................................6 President’s Report ..................................................................................................8 Jumpstart Your Laser Sailing ..........................................................................10 Light Air Jibes .......................................................................................................13 Coaches Corner: up/down drills ........................................................................18 2014 Event Schedule..............................................................................................21 Hiking Strap Adjustment Systems.....................................................................22

Sherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl ILCA-NA

Laser World insert .........................................................................................center

Officers

Regatta Reports District 11 Champs..................................................................................12

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

North American Masters.......................................................................24 Women’s Radial Worlds.........................................................................26 ACC 4.7 Championships........................................................................27 ABYC Olympic Classes Regatta..........................................................32 Grand Prix Standings...........................................................................................28

Eric Reitinger Treasurer 7908 Normandy Drive Mt Laurel, NJ 08054 609-206-2973 er4599@gmail.com

District Reports......................................................................................................33

Lauralee Symes Secretary 6901 SE Oaks Park Way, Slip 27 Portland, OR 97202 503-274-2818 llsymes@comcast.net

Membership Applications....................................................................................41

Cardiovascular Fitness.........................................................................................38 Why Join the Laser Class?...................................................................................40

® WINTER 2014 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world

Cover: Nathan Fields, ocean practice day off Ft. Lauderdale. Photo

by John Fields.

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

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District 1

Danielle Dube, 8 Sunnydale Dr Glen Haven, NS B3Z 2T8 902-823-2802, danielle_dube947@hotmail.com

District 2

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

District 3

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

District 4

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

District 9

Chas Williamson, 9 Lagrand Court Ithaca, NY 14850 607-272-0630 cw26@cornell.edu

District 18

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

District 19

District 10

District 20

District 12

District 21

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

District 5

District 6

Antolin Rivera, PO Box 26674 Tampa, FL 33623 813-837-3013, shipajoyo@yahoo.com www.laser.org/m/_general/d13.asp

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

Derek Snow 28 Starlit Road Tiverton RI 02878 401-625-5973 Laserd7@gmail.com

District 8

Ted Cremer, 7 MapleStreet Blue Point, NY 11715 631-363-8830, tcremer@optonline.net www.laserd8.tripod.com

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

District 11

Glenn Walker 6255 Turtle Hall Dr, Wilmington, NC 28409 910-612-5618 gwalker@mindspring.com www.d12laserforum.org

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

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

District 13

Steve Dolan 21140 Chancery Ct. Brookfield, WI 53045 262-506-8879, dolan@mcw.edu http://d20.laserforum.org/ Erik Ahlquist D21.sec@gmail.com D21.laserforum.org

District 22

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

District 23

District 14

Geoff Hurwitch Geoffh437@yahoo.com

District 15

Nick Burke nburke@skysail.com http://skysail.com/sailing/d24/

Cal Herman, 7038 Catina St New Orleans, LA 70124 504-282-1770 Forest Atkins 157833@gmail.com 214-686-7035 https://groups.google.com/ forum/?fromgroups#!forum/txLaser/

District 24

District 25

District 16

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

District 17

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

Tim Fitzgerald, 2322 Bromfield Circle Wichita KS 67226, 316-650-3636 TIMFITZ875@gmail.com John E. Coolidge, Jr., 1113 Hanover St Chattanooga, TN 37405 423-309-1926 jc@chattprint.com

District 26

WINTER 2014

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President’s Notes ANDY ROY Happy New Year to all North American Laser sailors.

As of this writing the Laser Standard and Masters Worlds Championships both just wrapped up to close out the 2013 Laser schedule. Oman looked to be an intriguing sailing site, and by all reports the Omani hosts put on two superb events. What an incredible story unfolded in the Laser Standard Men’s Worlds, with Brazil’s Robert Scheidt, aged 40, winning the final race and cementing his 9th Laser Worlds title. How good is that!? It sounded like the venue was a challenging place to sail, with generally lighter breezes and shifts that were difficult to read and predict.

Reports indicated that normally it paid to commit to one side of the upwind leg, and with so many of the top sailors all going the same speed (i.e., fast!) getting off the line in good shape was absolutely critical.

The top NA sailor at the Worlds was Canada’s Lee Parkhill, finishing a very strong 19th overall. Lee is also our 2013 North American Champion. Top American at the Worlds was Charlie Buckingham also with a great result finishing in 23rd overall.

In the Masters Worlds, North American sailors distinguished themselves very well. A big congrats goes out to Peter Seidenberg, who in a way is “too old” for his age group (he’s 76 and sailed in the GGM radial fleet). Peter bested his old nemesis from the UK, Keith Wilkins, and ended up winning by an impressive margin to take his 8th World Masters title.

Canada’s Al Clark hung on the last day for a one-point victory in the Standard Masters division. One of the interesting stories from the event was Australia’s Vanessa Dudley beating out the guys to take the Radial Grand Masters division without having to sail the last race.

Second on the podium behind Vanessa, and winner of the final two races, was Bruce Martinson from the U.S. The Masters NA’s was held in October in Newport, RI, and which was superbly

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hosted by the New York Yacht Club.

The turnout was fantastic with 98 boats starting on one line in the standard rig fleet, and 37 competitors battling it out in the radials. Congrats to Marc Jacobi for taking the standard rig title and to well known British Laser sailor, Steve Cockerill, who came across the pond to win the Radials. Steve commented that he thinks our Masters age handicap system, which isn’t used outside North American, works really well to level the playing field. I think most sailors in the standard rigs enjoyed the challenge of starting and racing in the big fleet, and its something that we don’t see as much as we did in the “old days” of Laser sailing due to the normal split fleet format.

I came across an interesting year end report on U.S. high school sailing by Tim Hogan, President of the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA). Tim remarked about the strong growth in high school sailing, which of course is ultimately good for the Laser Class. There are about 2790 high school sailors on 373 teams across the U.S., and in the last 3 months of the season ISSA held over 130 regattas, providing opportunities for thousands of young sailors to get on the water. ISSA is seeing many first time schools and students participating all the time. This past fall 250 singled handed sailors competed in 7 different district championships with 38 of the top sailors advancing to the singled handed national championships (called Cressy) which was held in Newport, Rhode Island in November. In his report Tim thanked Laser Performance for providing 38 new Lasers for the Cressy regatta, saying that without their support the level of the sailing would not be the same.

Worlds (Standard Men’s and Masters) on the horizon, I think 2014 will be another very good of Laser regatta participation in North America. I’d like to thank the companies that advertised in The Laser Sailor in 2013, and remind members to support these advertisers whenever they can.

The Laser World Council held its annual meeting in Oman between the two World Championships, and a summary report from that meeting will be coming up in the next Laser World issue.

The winter events are next up on the schedule, with plenty of great regattas in warm weather locales for youth, open and masters sailors. I hope you can make it out one – I’m going to try.

To provide a brief year end report on the NA Laser Class, our finances are in decent shape, although we continue to seek sponsors of the Class that would help contribute to the 2014 picture. North American class membership is up an impressive 29% over 2012. This is great news, and I think a result of increased participation in local district events that in turn tends to encourage sailors to attend larger regattas. With the 2015 Kingston

WINTER 2014

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Jumpstart Your Laser Sailing, and Your Life, With … Lentils!

Jean-Pierre Kiekens Yep. You read well. Lentils! Lentils to jumpstart your Laser sailing, and your life!

After years of wishful thinking about reaching a more suitable weight for Laser sailing, I discovered a diet where lentils played a key role. And I shed those extra pounds. More importantly, I discovered how nutrition is so critical for a healthy life, and how I could from now on optimize it, to remain fit and sail the Laser for many years to come.

Let me tell you briefly about my story. In 2007 I decided to purchase a Laser. This was not my first one. I started sailing in the 70s back in my native country of Belgium, and turned to Laser sailing while at university in the early 80s. At the time, I was about 185 lbs and was considered a heavy air sailor. This is typically considered around the upper limit for competitive full rig Laser sailing. Yet, this is not at all incompatible with racing at the highest level. Tom Slingsby, Robert Scheidt and others have successfully sailed the Laser around that weight.

With a professional career bringing me to Africa, Central America and other places, and my focus elsewhere, I gave up sailing for about 20 years and resumed in 2003 on a 25-footer, and then a Laser 28, mostly for family sailing here in the Province of Quebec. And then my interest in racing came back. Yet I was not impressed by the level of physical effort, nor the racing opportunities available with the Laser 28, and decided to get a full rig Laser. I did well at local races, but when it came national or international events, I was really struggling.

And looking back, even though my technique was pretty far from optimal, it was really the weight issue that kept me from progressing.

When I started back, I was 240 lbs. My excuse: a sympathetic pregnancy! I am the proud father of two wonderful children, both avid sailors now! My real excuse: none. I was simply ignorant of the adverse health effects of being overweight and ran at typical sedentary lifestyle with no particular attention to the food I was eating.

Anyway, my experience with Laser sailing at 240 lbs was as follows. Great upwind on flat waters with 20 knots or higher. But apart from that, not a great weight to sail the Laser. When it is choppy, the weight advantage upwind disappears in 20+ knots. From my experience, weight is also affecting negatively how much you can point upwind, which is particularly damaging at starts. And of course, downwind is always at a disadvantage. Imagine 50 lbs of

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water in your boat going downwind … It does not help at all!

Around 2010, I brought my weight back to approximately 210 lbs, and did it the hard way. I ate less, and exercised more. I kept that weight for a while, but then I was up again to approx. 220 lbs. Now as I am 6’ 2”, I may not look overweight when at 220 lbs., even though my body mass index clearly indicates I am overweight. Typical comments from fellow sailors: “you should sail a Finn.” Yet Finn sailing is not very much of an option for me as so few people sail it in North America, especially at the masters level. And the budget is also much higher than for Laser sailing.

I could not keep the 210 lbs weight, mostly by lack of being regular enough at the gym, and not paying particular attention to my nutrition. My Laser sailing did not improve and, even though I learned most skills to get the boat moving though coaching in Cabarete, Puerto Vallarta and here in Quebec, I was kind of hitting a wall. Not able to improve my performances, mostly because of speed both up and downwind.

I knew I needed to get this weight down, but never got seriously into it, in partly because I knew it had been so hard for me to lose those 30 lbs and I had not succeeded in keeping my weight at 210 lb. Hence how on earth could I reach a much lower weight? That was my thinking until I read by chance Tim Ferris’ book “The 4 Hour Body.”

Essentially, through a simple and fun diet, without any supplements, and including cheat days, he claims that one can lose 20 lbs in 30 days, eating as much as you want, and without even counting calories. I was intrigued! Tim Ferris argues that the diet is very effective, and fits with the Pareto principle, i.e. 20% of efforts for 80% of results (does someone know how to apply this to hiking?). I was actually more than intrigued. As a newly trained Human Potential Coach, I decided to go for a “30 day experiment” -- which is an effective means to test lifestyle changes to figure out if they are right for you.

So I went for this 4HB diet, which is based on the concept of slow carbs. It is a very simple diet, and for the details, just get the 4 Hour Body book or do some search over the web. I decided to set myself a goal of reaching 195 lbs, which was a targeted weight loss of 22 lbs. Still a bit on the heavy side for Laser sailing, yet it was a real stretch goal for me, as I had not been under 200 lbs for the past 30 years. I emptied my fridge, got what it took to nourish myself with this new diet, and lentils, as a legume delivering both slow carbs

and proteins, became a central ingredient in my meals, along with spinach, kale, beans, tomatoes, avocados, etc.

I went for it, and I lost the pounds amazingly fast. I did this in September, and could already see a difference after two weeks of diet, during which I had lost about 10 lbs. I had painfully sailed the Canadian Masters in Beaconsfield, QC at 217 lbs but was already much smoother and faster at 207 lbs while at the New England masters in Newport, RI. Yes, the Laser is very sensitive to weight and 10 lbs make a big difference. Even if it is not obvious at all to have 2 days of regattas in medium to strong winds while in the middle of a pretty radical diet… After 6 weeks, I reached a plateau at 200 lbs, yet continued with the diet, even if I reintroduced progressively some carbs, finally reached the goal of 195 lbs after 10 weeks. To be noted that, apart from the sailing, I did not exercise much during the diet. A few runs and visits to the gym, that’s all.

During this diet, I started reading about nutrition, and was amazed at what I read.

Essentially, the scientific evidence is now very strong that nutrition is the number one factor affecting our health. In other words, bad nutrition is the number one killer in Western societies. Our general food environment is toxic - I know the word is strong, but it is a reality -, as mostly unhealthy, processed foods, are available in most grocery stores. Indeed, the standard American diet is neither conducive of health nor of successful aging, i.e. living a long and healthy life, with minimal health problems.

Today, the scientific evidence shows that healthy nutrition is critical to successful aging, along with other key factors such as regular exercise, absence of smoking, limited alcohol consumption and stress control. Several authoritative experts argue that some 80% of chronic diseases can be prevented through these lifestyle choices. Yes 80%! This is huge.

Life expectancy, and in particular, expectancy of quality life, is substantially increased by abiding to these simple lifestyle habits.

And we are in control of our lifestyle choices.

WINTER 2014

We can, through our lifestyle choices, avoid 80% of chronic diseases. We can dramatically reduce our probability to face cancer, diabetes, arteriosclerosis, strokes, heart attacks, etc.

And as my own human potential coach and mentor, Jack Canfield, maintains in his book “The Success Principles,” if you want to live the life of your dreams, you better take responsibility at 100% for your life.

What I discovered in my own journey towards healthy nutrition is that it is not a very hard shift to make. It is actually a pleasant shift, even though it requires deprogramming ourselves from our previous habits and doing new things like learning how to cook healthy.

What I was also amazed at is this growing number of athletes, including those doing triathlons and ultra-marathons, such as Scott Jurek and Rich Roll, having opted for plant-based diets as the optimal way to feed themselves for such extraordinary efforts.

The books by Scott Jurek and Rich Roll are both worth reading. Yes you can be a high performance athlete and feed yourself only with plants!

have embarked on this journey, as I am now much better at feeding my kids, who are 9 and 15. For example, breakfasts mostly consist now of kale, berries, flax and chia smoothies.

I was also amazed by documentary movies such as “Forks over Knives,” and “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, “ as well as books by leading nutritionists or medical doctors such as “Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth about What Makes Us Well” by David Katz, M.D. and “Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition” by T. Colin Campbell, PhD.

Today, there is no definitive answer or complete consensus as to what constitutes the best nutrition, but applying the recommendations of books such as those by David Katz or T. Colin Campbell will bring you a long way both for athletic performance and successful aging. If you need to shed some pounds, I can assure you that it is not hard at all for any determined people - and Laser sailors are determined people! The benefits for your sailing and your health will be amazing. And with this, you will be able to sail competitively for many years to come.

Now I knew the weight loss program I had embarked on was going to be more than an experiment. I t was going to be a life changing event. I did shed the pounds, but I also realized how important it was to optimize my nutrition over the long run. My life will never be the same now that I much better understand what is right and what is not right for me from a nutritional viewpoint. I also am so grateful to

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District 11 Championship Jon Deutsch It was consistency that paid off for Mike Russom (GWYC) and Jessica Bennett(DCYC) in winning the Standard and Radial District 11 Championships at Severn Sailing Association. The light winds and often lumpy seas challenged the competitors and made it anyone’s race. 34 Standard rigs and 9 Radials completed 6 races out in the Chesapeake Bay. Saturday’s weather started out with cool temperatures, and overcast skies with a 12-14 knot breeze. After numerous recalls and restarts by the standard fleet – the first race was finally started having been started under black flag. The Radial fleet started their first race with 6 of the 9 boats OCS in what would become the drop race for many. By the 2nd upwind leg the wind was under 10 knots the left over seas were tough to get through.

In the 2nd race the wind dropped a little more and so did the waves. By now all starts were under black flag. Mike Russom would go on to put up a 4-1-2 to lead day 1 followed by Eric Reitinger (BBYC) just behind him with 2-2-5. Margaret Podlich (SSA) stayed out of trouble and led the Radial fleet with 1-4-7.

regatta sponsors APS, Fawcett Boat Supplies, BoatUS and Sandy Westphal.

Photo above by JR Futcher

Following racing the sailors enjoyed a crab feast – what else would they have at the ‘Crab Claw’ regatta?

Sunday’s racing saw smoother waters and slightly less wind. Jon Deutsch (FBYC), Bill Lawson(SSA) and Brady White (SSA) each took wins in the 3 races for the day in what would lead to a shuffling of the leader board for the Standard fleet. Black flags further shuffled the fleet and keeping others off the podium.

In the Radial fleet Kim Couranz (SSA), Phillip Schofield (AYC) and Jessica Bennett all won races.

Jesscia’s final race win along with her 2-4 in the earlier races cemented her as the Radial Champion.

Jessica got the triple win as not only the overall champion, but the top female and the top junior.

Aaron Helmly finished 2nd while Kim Couranz took 3rd.

With Mike Russom’s win – District 10 sailors have won 3 out of the last 4 District 11 Championships.

(Seriously D11 sailors – we need to do something about that!). Brady White followed in 2nd and Jon Deutsch(FBYC) won a tie breaker for 3rd. Karen Long (SSA) was top female and Matthew Menzi top junior in the Standard fleet.

On behalf of District 11 we’d like to thank all of the competitors for coming and making this a great event. And we’d like to thank Steven Cofer and all of the folks a SSA for everything they did for the regatta. And finally, thanks again to the

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Roll With It! The Art of the Light Wind Roll Jibe Judith Krimski Contributor: Jon Emmett

Several years ago during our annual summer vacation to Sebago Lake, Maine I was out sailing on a light wind day practicing roll jibes.

My practice focused on getting the biggest roll possible, burying the windward rail, enjoying the whoosh of the sail as it came across the boat, and finally the hard very satisfying flatten. As I sailed down the lake doing successive jibes, rolling harder and harder, I spied an elderly couple paddling a canoe in my direction, looks of concern on their faces. Getting close enough the woman called out, “Are you alright Honey?” What I pictured as a beautiful athletic dance with my laser, less knowledgeable characters saw as the violent action of someone who was either crazy or totally out of control. Happily for them, after a patiently explaining the maneuver the couple paddled away probably relieved they didn’t have to save me.

It’s true. Roll jibing the laser is definitely a radical maneuver but also one of the most fun to perform. Put in a good roll to initiate the jibe and flatten—you’ll look like a rock star (or crazy to some!).

Laser Boat handling Truths 1. Because the laser’s rudder is small it shouldn’t be relied on to turn the boat, especially as the wind picks up.

Excessive rudder usage also slows you down so when sailing in light winds focus on locking down the rudder.

Upwind: Hold the tiller on the deck next to your back hip.

Downwind: Lock the tiller down on you thigh or under your arm.

2. Focus on using sail trim and weight placement to maneuver the laser.

Light Wind Jibe Similar to a light wind tack you will want to use the curve of the boat and sail trim to turn the boat and sail at max speed into and out of the jibe. Rudder action should be minimal. As you read about the steps in a light wind jibe you might also want to review Jon Emmett’s video on tacks and jibes: tinyurl.com/le9m5gd. I’ve looked at a number of instruction videos and Jon’s are—hands down—the best. To be extra helpful I have also put the time stamp that coincides with each of the video captures.

Performing the roll jibe: 1. Set-up [1:25] Start out sailing on a run. Your sail is out 90 degrees. You are nudged up against the front of the cockpit.

Centerboard is up approximately six inches and your back leg is wrapped around the hiking strap. Hold your tiller in a microphone grip in front of your body.

1. Sitting forward in boat.

2. Sail trimmed 90 degrees.

3. Holding tiller in microphone grip.

2.

Pre-trim [1:26]: The pre-trim allows you to turn through a smaller radius AND facilitate that all-important pump of the sail at the end of the jibe. Trim by using a rapid hand-to-hand motion until your sail is trimmed to 45 degrees.

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1:25 1. Anchor back leg around hiking strap.

2. Use quick hand-to-hand trim motion.

3. Trim sail to 45 degrees.

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1:26 WINTER 2014

3.

4.

Initiating the roll [1:27]: Holding the cockpit grab rail or centerboard with your front hand throw your upper body backwards to initiate the roll. A good roll will put your windward rail in the water. NOTE: There should be very little tiller action. Instead you’re using the curve of the boat to change direction. Notice how Jon barely moves his tiller (doesn’t go past the cockpit) – it’s more part of a natural tiller action that comes with initiating the roll.

1. Front hand holds cockpit grab rail or centerboard.

2. Tiller movement is small.

3. Lean back to roll boat to windward.

4. Main sheet slackens as sail falls to windward.

Cross the boat [1:28]: A good roll will send the sail across the boat. As it starts to cross reach up to grab the leeward rail with your tiller hand while simultaneously pushing off the cockpit with your back foot. You should have the feeling of stepping up to the leeward rail. Remember to duck AND rotate your body forward in preparation for flattening. As you rotate it’s important to hook your new front foot under the hiking strap so you can flatten against it.

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2

1

3

1:27

2

5. Flatten [1:29]: Your goal is to exit the jibe with speed so the boat effectively “squirts” out, much like a bar of soap squeezed between two hands. Prior to flattening allow the sail to fill on the new side, THEN flatten. You should feel some resistance. If you don’t you have flattened too early.

1. A good roll propels sail to new leeward side.

2. Tiller hand grabs new windward rail. Tiller should be straight.

3. Cross boat. Duck under sail and rotate torso towards bow.

1. Sit and give a hard flatten when sail at 45 degrees.

2. Do not switch hands until boat is flat and on new tack.

3

1:28 6.

4

1 2

Finish: Once the boat is set on its new course you can switch hands and ease the sail to go back to a run.

1:29 1. Switch hands, ease sail and bear off.

Common questions/problems: Q: What height should the centerboard be set at?

A: It depends. I put my centerboard down all the way before jibing. That way I have a bigger surface to flatten against – hence more speed out of the jibe. In the video Jon has his centerboard up about 6 inches through the maneuver and never moves it.

Experimentation is key but remember; less centerboard may mean less drag but it also makes the boat less stable, especially as the wind increases.

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1:35

Q: Why does the mainsheet catch on the transom?

A: A loose mainsheet will sag and catch the transom as the sail crosses the boat. Be sure to trim in prior to the jibe (45 degrees is good) so the mainsheet doesn’t catch. If that fails another technique that works is to grab the mainsheet below the boom block. A quick tug as you cross the boat will clear the sheet.

Continued on page 16 www.Laser.org

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Q. I’m turning too much.

A. You are most likely relying too much on your tiller to turn the boat. Focus instead on using the roll to slightly turn the boat but more importantly get that sail to “fall” across to the new side.

Q: I’m having trouble crossing.

A. Make sure your back leg is properly positioned so you can spring off of the side of the cockpit to the new side. Initiate the cross when you see the leeward rail come up to eye level. And remember a strong core and leg muscles are a laser sailor’s best friend.

Q: I’m falling out of the boat when I try to flatten.

A. Falling out of the boat is slow. As you rotate to flatten make sure to anchor yourself in the boat by hooking your front foot under the hiking strap.

Q. My boom is hitting the water.

A. Splashes are so messy! Avoid them by making sure to trim in enough and watching the sail carefully as it crosses. Flatten slightly so the sail stays clear of the water. Most of the time just sitting down on the rail is enough to keep the boom out of the water. But if it does hit, don’t fret too much. It’s more important to let the sail fill on the new side THEN get a good flatten.

Q. The boat capsizes before I can flatten.

A. Cheers for a good roll! There are a couple of things that may be causing you to capsize: 1. Crossing too late. Note at 1:28 in Jon’s video he is already on the new windward side and the sail has just started to cross.

2. Pulling the boat over on top of you as you cross. Rather than reaching and pulling yourself up, engage your legs and core to step up to the new side.

Review 1. Sit forward close to the centerboard.

2. Quick trim to approximately 45 degrees.

3. Roll the boat hard so the windward rail is in the water.

4. Minimize tiller movement. It’s SLOW. 5. Cross and flatten in one fluid motion.

6. Switch hands and ease the sail after flattening.

YES! Light wind roll jibes are fun so get out there and practice, practice, practice. And if you encounter some concerned citizens out on the water don’t fret! Share the fun and maybe you’ll have some new friends to go lasering with.

Thanks to Jon Emmett, author of “Be Your Own Sail Coach” and “Be Your Own Tactics Coach,” for allowing me to share his instructional video. His most recent accomplishment was coaching Chinese sailor Lijia Xu to an Olympic gold medal in 2012. Be sure to visit Jon’s website at www.jonemmettsailing.co.uk About me: I started my sailing career in the 80’s as a competitive windsurfer and Fanatic team rider. After a few years hiatus to raise my son I went back to big boat sailing but found yelling skippers too much to bare. In 2007 I took up the laser and quickly developed a passion for the boat.

Currently I enjoy life as a sailing writer/coach and Master Laser sailor competing all around the East Coast. Want to read more lasering posts?

You’ll find lots of great tips as well as racing strategy and tactics at www.centeroreffort01.blogspot.com. Enjoy!

Sail Consecutive Weekend Masters Events in Southern California this February 2014.

February 15-16, SCYA Masters Mid-Winters, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach, CA. www.abyc.org/fleetracing/event.cfm?id=671&fleet_id=15

February 22-23, California Laser Masters Championship Regatta, Mission Bay Yacht Club, San Diego, CA. www.mbyc.org/index.php/laser-mbyc-fleets-63/1489-2014-california-laser-masters-regatta-feb-22-23-nor The events are scored separately. You can enter one or both. For those Masters sailing in both there will be an “Iron Tiller” award for the best combined score.

Special Clinic on Friday, February 21st at Mission Bay Yacht Club.

16

WINTER 2014

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17

Coaches Corner

We’ve asked a few of our top North American coaches to share some of their favorite drills with us. If you have a drill to share, send it to the ILCA-NA office for publication.

Up/Down drill No marks are required. Start off in a group or solo going upwind (you can use a rabbit start) and when the coach blows a single whistle everyone tacks. If two whistles are blown you tack and immediately prepare to round an imaginary mark a couple boat lengths in front of you by easing the control lines, particularly the vang. Practice the transition to the bear away and go downwind. If one whistle is blown while running you jibe. If two whistles are blown you jibe and then prepare to round an imaginary mark two lengths away by putting the control lines on and sheeting in rapidly. Many boat lengths are gained and lost in the top/bottom mark rounding and since this game is often decided by inches at the finish it’s imperative to master these maneuvers for success in Laser racing. One thing to experiment with is the order of the control line (cunningham, outhaul, and vang) release process.

Brett Davis

Downwind Drill – tumbling mark The challenge with long downwind sessions (starting upwind and sailing downwind for 3 hours to a different destination) is that you can loose the ability to round the windward mark together and race to a moderate length leeward mark.

The format I prefer is to use a large round “West Marine” mark (4’ x 6’).

There is no ground tackle attached, so the mrk is free to slowly blow or tumble straight downwind.

I’ll assemble the fleet for a rabbit start, and shortly before the rabbit crosses I’ll release the mark to leeward of the fleet. Then power quickly around the fleet to act as their weather mark. It doesn’t need to be a long distance at all, just enough for a fair beat where the fleet rounds together.

By the time the fleet is rounding you, the mark haas tumbled downwind a decent way, and will continue to mace as the fleet chases it. Eventually the fleet catches, rounds, and stops. Coach gathers the mark for a short break, then repeats the process.

The result yields plenty of square and competitive downwind legs, and gives the coach perfect positioning to observe and shoot video.

Luther Carpenter

18

WINTER 2014

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WINTER 2014

2014 Schedule Regatta World Championship ISAF Grade 1

Laser SR: Santander, ESP Sept 8-Sept 21 JR: Douernenez, FRA Aug 16-23

Radial

Laser 4.7

Masters

Karatsu, JPN Aug 8-15

Hyeres, FRA Oct 3-12

Women’s: Douernenez, FRA Aug 21-23

Mens: Gdynia, POL July 19-25

Youth:Gdynia, POL July 26-Aug 3

CGRA Cascade Locks, OR July 11-13

NA Championship

40 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

Alamitos Bay YC June 12-15 www.abyc.org

Alamitos Bay YC June 12-15 www.abyc.org

Alamitos Bay YC June 12-15 www.abyc.org

Canadian Championships

Royal Vancouver YC Vancouver, BC July 25-27

Royal Vancouver YC Vancouver, BC July 25-27

Royal Vancouver YC Vancouver, BC July 25-27

US Championships

St Francis YC San Francisco, CA July 31-Aug 3

St Francis YC San Francisco, CA July 31-Aug 3

St Francis YC San Francisco, CA July 31-Aug 3

Rochester YC Rochester, NY Sept 11-14

CORK

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 16-20

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 16-20

Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 11-14

na

Midwinters East

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 20-23

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 20-23

Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 20-22

Sarasota SS Sarasota, FL Feb 14-16

Midwinters West

Richmond YC Richmond, CA March 28-30

Richmond YC Richmond, CA March 28-30

Richmond YC Richmond, CA March 28-30

na

Rolex Miami OCR

Miami, FL (men only) www.ussailing.org January 25-Feb 1

Miami, FL (women only) www.ussailing.org January 25-Feb 1

na

na

Atlantic Coast Championships

Sail Maine Portland, ME Aug 30-31

Sail Maine Portland, ME Aug 30-31

TBD

25 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 2

Sail Maine Portland, ME Aug 30-31

Pacific Coast Championships

Santa Barbara YC Santa Barbara, CA June 27-29

Santa Barbara YC Santa Barbara, CA June 27-29

Santa Barbara YC Santa Barbara, CA June 27-29

Gulf Coast Championships

Ft Walton YC Ft Walton Beach, FL June 21-22

Ft Walton YC Ft Walton Beach, FL June 21-22

Ft Walton YC Ft Walton Beach, FL June 21-22

Ft. Walton YC Ft. Walton Beach, FL May 17-18

No Coast Championships

Dillon Yacht Club Dillon, CO Aug 2-3

Dillon Yacht Club Dillon, CO Aug 2-3

Dillon Yacht Club Dillon, CO Aug 2-3

na

Great Lakes Championships

Vermillion, BC Vermillion, OH July 19-20

Vermillion, BC Vermillion, OH July 19-20

Vermillion, BC Vermillion, OH July 19-20

Thunder Bay YC Thunder Bay, ON July 12-13

30 GP pts. ISAF Grade 2 30 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 2

30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 1

30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 1

30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 1

ISAF Grade 1

25 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 2

25 GP Pts

25 GP Pts

25 GP Pts

www.Laser.org

TBD

Jericho Sailing Centre Vancouver, BC July 18-20

21

How to Set Up Your Hiking Strap To Increase Efficiency CLAY JOHNSON One of the great things about the Laser hiking strap set up is that it can be adjusted while sailing. In fact, if your hiking strap adjustment system is set up well, you can make changes in just a second.

A lot of sailors don’t understand why you need a perfectly tuned hiking strap. In light air it’s easy because you can just sail with a tight strap the whole time. But when the breeze comes up and you are hiking hard, having your strap set at just the right length will increase your efficiency while hiking. In breeze, a strap that is set too tightly will limit how far out of the boat you can get and which part of your body you’re using to hike. For example, when your strap is to tight, you tend to hike more off of your calves than your quads. Conversely, if your strap is too loose, you are not connected at all to the boat, and your hiking becomes inefficient. A common mistake that sailors make in breezy conditions is to loosen their hiking strap so much that their feet are actually higher than their head.

This is inefficient and uneffective. That is, with a loose strap, you spend energy trying to “hold yourself in” instead of locking in and hiking hard. You want your strap to be at just the right length so that there is an even workload spread out across your lower body, you can get far enough out to maximize your leverage, and your movements are translated best into the boat. i.e. when you torque, your boat reacts.

Laser sailors come in all different shapes and sizes, so there’s no one proper length for everyone; setting your hiking strap line is hard to quantify, but it is something that you need to be able to tweak based on the conditions, breeze strength, and point of sail you are on (looser for upwind and tighter for the downwinds). You need to know your own body and your own hiking tendencies and style.

There are two “proper” ways to hike in a Laser (No, droop hiking is not a “proper” way to hike!). Both are effective and can be applied successfully in different conditions.

First, there is the straight leg approach. This is where your legs are very straight and locked in. When done correctly, your fingers should not be able to fit between the back of your knees and the deck. Most likely, your upper body will be angled slightly up, but you’ll be able to really lock in, flex your quad muscles, and put pressure on the side of the rail to keep the boat flat. This method allows you to push down -- or “press”— on the side of the boat. I prefer this straighter leg method when the water is flatter Paul Goodison, 2008 Olympic Gold medalist, demonstrates a straight-leg technique. Notice how his legs are very straight and his upper body is angled upright.

The second method has more of a slight bend in your legs and then a lower upper body. Your upper body should be as close to parallel to the water for maximum leverage. This method focuses less on pressure on the rail and more on getting your weight out. I prefer this method in choppy conditions because I think you can be more forgiving with the pressure on the rail of the boat. The boat feels more loaded up and active.

Paul Goodison is focusing more on weight out than on straight legs in this photo.

Now that I’ve gone over the general hiking styles, let’s review the most common hiking strap adjustment systems. It’s important to remember that there’s no “right” way to do it, but I will give you my opinions on each of the most common systems.

The Shimmy The first, and most common, hiking strap adjustment system is what I call “The Shimmy.”

The strap in the picture is tight right now. To loosen, grab the bowline and shimmy it towards the back of the cockpit.

The shimmy has been around for ages and was the first adjustment system that I learned. The shimmy allows the strap to go from loose to tight by using two hands to “shimmy” the line and take out slack. When the bowline is closest to the strap, it is tight, and when it is moved to the back

22

WINTER 2014

of the cockpit, the strap loosens. The benefit of the shimmy is that there is little auto-adjusting while sailing; the strap hardly ever loosens by itself which gives confidence that the strap will stay in the right spot the whole time. The downside to the shimmy is that it is time consuming to adjust and requires two hands. It’s not easy to adjust when it’s blowing 25 at the windward mark!

The Goody Popularized by Olympic Gold medalist, Paul Goodison from GBR, I call this hiking strap “The Goody.”

Simply designed, notice on the “Goody” how the tail passes through the bowline and the eyestrap for added friction.

The goody was first introduced to me when I was using a hiking strap that was very long. The strap came very far back in the cockpit, not leaving enough room for small, precise adjustments to the hiking strap with another system. The Goody is a friction-based adjustment system that works best when there is constant pressure on the strap: it’s not that great for medium, in-and-out conditions, but it does work well if you have a long hiking strap and little room for an adjustment system. To loosen, pull the part of the line at the top of the picture. To tighten, just grab the tail and pull tight.

The Mitchell Kiss I need to give credit where credit is due, and I got this hiking strap adjustment system from Yale freshman and standout youth sailor, Mitchell Kiss. I’m not sure if Mitchell invented it, but that’s who’s boat I first saw it on.

Pull the diagonal line to loosen this strap. Pull the tail to tighten it.

What I really like about this system is how easy it is to tighten. For me, the adjustment I need to make most often and fastest is to tighten my strap at the windward mark. With this system, I just grab the handle on the tail and pull it. The handle is on the starboard side so it’s easy at the windward mark. There’s a lot of friction involved so the strap never really loosens by itself. If I want to loosen it, I just pull at the diagonal line and it loosens. What I also do is put a stopper knot in the tale so that when I loosen it, the strap goes out to my max-ease and no further.

As you can see, there is more than one way to hike and more than one way to adjust your hiking strap. I utilize both hiking techniques and switch between the two based on the conditions. All three hiking strap adjustment systems work, and you’ll likely see each method represented at a big Laser regatta. Personally, I really like this last method and think it’s currently the best one out there. The ability to quickly tighten it, and the confidence I have in it to stay in place is what makes it the best.

With that, figure out the best system for you, set your hiking strap up efficiently, and hike hard!

SEA Waist Lock Hiking Pants give you lower back support when you need it most! www.sailequipment.com.au www.Laser.org

23

2013 Master North American Championships Goes Down To The Wire DAN NERI A 100 boat fleet makes for easy math.

Z-flag penalty? 20 pts. OCS? 100 pts. Spend a minute on the headed tack? 10 pts. Bang the wrong corner?

50 pts. At the 2013 Laser Master North Americans most of us who think “big fleet” means 50 boats spent the first day relearning these expensive lessons. In fact, at the Friday night dinner you could count on one hand the sailors who had yet to card their throwout. Peter Shope, with an improbable score of 4,3,2 was the only one to manage all top 10 finishes. Not surprising then, the dinner conversation kept returning to the Oracle Team USA comeback from an 8:1 deficit in the Americas Cup. Anything is possible with 7 races to go, right? Marc Jacobi sat listening to the hopeful talk. His scores for the day were: 1, 100, 12.

“How many throwouts do we get?” he asked. “One? Well that’s enough. I can still win it.” You can’t win if you don’t think you can win.

Narragansett Bay is oriented North/South and offers unobstructed racing in the predominant summertime SSW breeze.

In the westerlies that dominated the first and 3rd days the race course had to be laid out in the short direction which is a tighter fit for 100 boats. Friday was sailed north of the Newport Bridge, with the weather mark close to the Jamestown shore. At the top of the cone there were lefties on the Port layline, coming across Zeke’s Creek, the lowest part of the island. On the Starboard layline there were sustained right puffs rolling down the 4 miles of open water between Jamestown and Gould Island. The middle was a no man’s land. The three races of the first day were won by Jacobi, Star World Champ John MacCausland and Master World Champ Scott Ferguson. But it was Shope who had the speed and awareness to find his way into the first group in every race.

Peter Vessella, the eventual 3rd place finisher had this to say after Friday’s racing; “My ‘wow’ moment came on the

24

second beat of the first race seeing Shope come from 100 yards behind to pass me.

Right then I felt he could win the regatta.

Shope had the upwind speed to overcome tactical miscues, whereas Jacobi almost always seemed to be in the right place… and he is not slow by any means.”

For Jacobi, Saturday was moving day, but it was not as easy as he made it look.

After an on-shore postponement in glassoff conditions, the Race Committee again dragged the fleet 2 miles, north of the bridge to race in a moderate southerly and nicely formed waves under thick cloud cover.

Jacobi had a wire to wire win in the first race of the day. The next race was won by Lynne Shore on her way to an impressive 11th place overall regatta finish. (Note to fellow competitors; when your friends observe that you were soundly whipped by a girl, respond with, “I prefer to say that I was beaten by an Olympic Gold Medalist”.) Jacobi sailed a mortal first beat and found himself midfleet. Using great wave technique on the leeward legs he passed boats in bunches to salvage a 9th. That’s when the drama started.

Halfway through race # 6, while leading by 10 lengths, Jacobi’s gooseneck pin sheared off. Let’s call that very bad luck.

(Anyone who checked their gooseneck pin for wear before the event, please raise your hand. Nobody? That’s what I thought. ) Somehow he managed to get around the rest of the course with the boom jammed against the mast and locked in place by the Cunningham lines, holding off a fast closing Ray Davies and Peter Shope to win the race!

By now it was late in the afternoon, with the breeze and the daylight fading. In the waning light and overcast skies, prescription sunglasses gave way to squinting. The committee set up for Race 7 placing

the weather mark far to the left of the previous races, against the backdrop of

a hazy shoreline and far enough away to render its location a mystery for most of the aging fleet. Meanwhile, Jacobi was scrambling to jury rig a gooseneck using bits of line, bird feathers, seaweed and ultimately a wad of duct tape donated by Peter Shope’s support boat. The dying breeze was good luck for someone with a broken gooseneck and Jacobi managed to pull off a 5th place finish with his crippled rig. Shope sailed his throwout race- an 11th- and the stage was set for a final day showdown.

Sunday morning opened with a strong westerly and clear skys. Succumbing to pressure from some of the tired fleet elders who shall remain nameless, the RC set up shop in the very tight confines between Rose and Goat Islands, just outside of Newport Harbor. To further restrict the race area, a 20 story, 1000’ long cruise ship was anchored just south of the port tack corner of the course. The regatta leaders might not have been too affected by these close quarters, but back in the cheap seats the runs were rendered a cauldron of diagonal wakes on top of current and wind induced waves bouncing off the dirt, rock and steel barriers close at hand on 3 sides of the race course. If it were not for the approximately 5,000 years of collective sea-time represented by the fleet, there might have been some sea sickness out there.

Going into the last three races, Shope and Jacobi, both Masters, were separated

WINTER 2014

by 2 points. Shope won the first race of the day to pull ahead by 6 points. After Race 9 they were back within one point of each other and the lead passed back and forth in race 10 until Jacobi made the final pass on the last half of the last leeward leg to win the regatta.

Fifty points behind the two leaders, Andy Roy, Andrew Pimental and Vessella, all Grand Masters were bunched within 10 points of each other going into the last day. These three would finish in a near tie, with Vessella claiming the GM title by one point. Brian Fisher had what looked like a comfortable lead over Ray Davies for the Apprentice category, but a tough day for Fisher spent mostly in the shadow of the cruise ship reversed their positions.

Dave Frazier used his youth, fitness and local knowledge to best the Great Grand Masters.

The Radial fleet also saw a down-tothe-wire finish between Master Stephen Cockerill and Great Grand Master/Local Legend Peter Seidenberg. Cockerill is

www.Laser.org

famously known as the “Boat Whisperer” while Seidenberg has spent so many thousands of hours in his Laser that he no longer needs to whisper. The communication between Peter and his boat is by now completely telepathic.

Peter has technically moved “beyond category” after (allegedly) celebrating his 75th birthday. If he shows even a hint of slowing down, we should consider adding another bonus point to the scoring, which would have given him the win over Cockerill in this one. But since he is not, in fact, slowing down we should instead demand to see his birth certificate.

Photos by Stu Strueli

25

2013 Laser Radial Women’s World Championships Rizhao, China

CLAIRE DENNIS The 2013 Laser Radial Women’s World Championship was held September 28th- October 7th in Rizhao, China. Rizhao is located on the Yellow Sea in southeast Shandong province about 110miles southwest of Qingdao. Travel to Rizhao was complicated by a typhoon but I was lucky to get out of SFO just as the flight cancellations into Hong Kong were lifted.

The regatta was based out of the Liangyou Grand View Hotel adjacent to the boat park that was built as a National Water Sports training base for China. Our event was officially opened by the most spectacular opening ceremony I have seen at a regatta. Local groups attired in elaborate costumes performed a variety of dances ranging from a choreographed dance to the city’s song to a group of children performing a martial-arts themed dance. The grand finale was smoke fireworks that painted brightly colored clouds in the sky over the crowd.

The sailing venue was unobstructed with the coastline being the only land impact. We saw breeze from just about every direction during the week. There were two predominant breeze directions: sea breeze and about 180 degrees opposite. The breeze was generally in the light to moderate range with the exception of a race or two with a bit stronger winds. Swell was persistent, often with chop as well.

The regatta followed the typical Laser worlds format - two races per day with three days of qualifying racing followed by a lay day, and then three days of finals series racing. The courses were either inner or outer trapezoid as is standard for Laser championships. With 77 boats, we sailed the qualifying races with split fleets and then gold/silver for the finals.

The race committee did a great job getting off quality races in what were

26

at times challenging conditions. All 12 races were completed despite a few on-shore postponements due to lack of wind. At one point the smog/fog was so thick that seeing the weather mark was difficult. In a couple of other races there were swarms of large flies that would cling on to your hat.

This was my first visit to China so it was interesting to experience the Chinese culture in a city that was not geared to Western travelers.

Communication was difficult at times as few locals spoke English or European languages but overall we were able to

Radial Worlds Final Results North American sailors Gold 3rd: Paige Railey - USA 7th: Isabelle Bertold - CAN 27th: Brenda Bowskill - CAN Silver 2nd: Claire Merry - CAN 11th: Claire Dennis - USA 17th: Ingrid Merry - CAN 37th: Christina Persson - USA

get our points across. Local University students who volunteered as liaisons and translators during the regatta were helpful. Outside of sailing, other activities included playing ping pong in the hotel and taking autorickshaws to the local shopping center and market! Paying for rides to the shopping center was often entertaining with the language barrier but after the currency conversion usually only cost about $1-2!

The food in Rizhao was much different than I had expected and was

certainly not your typical Americaninfused Chinese food! We ate the majority of our meals at the hotel restaurant that made a huge effort to provide westernstyle fare for the sailors. Highlights included dragon fruit and the ability to make your own hot-pot every evening.

There were some entertaining translations on the buffet signs and all of the eggs were duck eggs instead of chicken eggs.

Our North American contingent included 3 American and 4 Canadian girls.

Croatia’s Tina Mihelic won the regatta with top North American finishers being Paige Railey and Isabella Bertold coming 3rd and 7th respectively. As I get back into international Radial sailing in earnest, this was a great event with challenging conditions. I was able to focus on areas of my sailing needing the most improvement and came away from the event knowing that my time in China had been very productive and an all-around great experience!

Photo above: Claire Dennis and Paige Railey on the tow out to the course in Rizhao

WINTER 2014

Atlantic Coast Championships 2013 MARGARET MACCORMACK 4.7 #147861 The 2013 ACC’s for me was only my 2nd big laser event since moving out of the Opti class last fall. The venue was Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club, New Jersey. I was not able to get any practice at the venue in prior to the regatta due to my school schedule. I was lucky however, that I had sailed this venue twice competing in the Barclay Cup Team Race as an Opti sailor (it’s the oldest cup in New Jersey).

There were 177 sailors competing in all three fleets with 12 competitors in the 4.7 class. The first day the wind was light and shifty with some chop. Good starts were going to be key if you hoped to do well.

The first race I had a good start and played the shifts and rounded the mark in first. I was able to hold onto my lead and win the first race. The second 4.7 Division race I once again had Sail

Skipper

a good start but wasn’t as lucky with the shifts and finished 5th overall. The third and final race for day one I won the start and read the wind well. This was a very close race all the way around the course; Elizabeth Hansen and I were back and forth battling for first. I was finally able to pull ahead and win the last race of the day.

I felt good about my performance on the first day and was hoping we would have good breeze on day two.

Day two of the event found the wind to be very light from the west. The race committee sent us out to the course where we were under postponement for a long time hoping for a sea breeze to fill in.

This gave us some down time on the water and the ability to get to know each other a little bit. After what seemed like a two hour wait a light wind finally started to fill in. The race committee was able to set a course and we were able to get three races the day in light Results - ACCs for and unpredictable

Yacht Club

1

3

4

5

5

[13/OCS]

2

1

1

3

2

1

4

2

[8]

6

15

2

1

5

1

[13/OCS]

6

4

17T

3

199967 Charlotte leClue

Larchmont Yacht Club St. Petersburg Yacht Club Toms River Yacht Club Stamford YC

[9]

2

6

5

3

1

199772 megan dyer

ihyc

3

4

3

7

2

[9]

200169 Scott Meggitt

Surf City Yacht Club Raritan Yacht Club St Petersburg Yacht Club IHYC

8

6

5

[10]

5

2

17T 19 26

4 5 6

4

7

[11]

6

4

8

29

7

7

8

7

3

7

[10]

32

8

10

3

9

[11]

9

7

11

12

4

11

5

38 9 43 10

9

10

9

[12]

11

45 11

10

8

8

10

[12]

47 12

177998 Elizabeth Hansen 187760 Emily Wright 147861 Margaret MacCormack

194575 Coleen Ross 186591 Grant Boicheff 182772 Thomas Kiesel 4344

Louisa Chafee

190289 Hunter Skinner 172945 Shannon Kearney

Saunderstown [12] yacht club Rochester Yacht 6 Club Toms River YC 11

2

6 Total Pos 12 1

photo above: The author, Margaret MacCormack in her 4.7. Photo by John Fields

conditions once again. The first race I won the start but was not aware that I was over and I got an OCS for that race. The second and third races were tough, with all of us so close in the races. There was no room for mistakes at all in these races as my fellow competitors were good. I finished the day out with a sixth and fourth place finishes. Charlotte LeClue and I finished with a total of 17 points but I won the point tie for third place. Emily Wright, finished second with a score of 15 points and Elizabeth Hansen, won the event with a score of 12 points.

I would like to thank all of the volunteers from Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club for running a great event. The race committee, judges and all of the support boats on the water. I also would like to thank Clay Johnson and Colie Sails for doing a great job on the awards.

Combine the Hydrophobic Thermo Skin Fleece with the Neoprene Ultrawarm to be AMAZINGLY WARM! www.sailequipment.com.au www.Laser.org

27

Grand Prix 2013 Laser 4.7 # events 1

MacCormack

Total points

Margaret

4

103

2

Wright

Emily

3

89

3

Leclue

Charlotte

3

87

4

Hansen

Elizabeth

2

57

5

Skinner

Hunter

2

43

6

Meggitt

Scott

2

43

7

McCann

Macey

1

40

8

Hughes

Parker

1

39

9

Carter

Bailey

1

38

10

Lietz

Jessica

1

35

11

Peters

Alannah

1

34

12

Kearney

Shannon

2

32

13

Levine

Lawson

1

31

14

Burns

Andy

1

30

15

Ploch

Megan

1

30

16

Ferrarotto

Noah

1

29

17

Luczynski

Henryk

1

27

18

Taylor

Willow

1

26

19

Wilson

Gage

1

20

20

Nordstrom

Louise

1

19

21

Neuman

Christian

1

19

22

Ross

Coleen

1

19

23

Naughton

Abby

1

18

24

Boichieff

Grant

1

18

25

Wilson

Tanner

1

17

26

Kiesel

Thomas

1

17

27

Freeley

Katie

1

16

28

Chafee

Louisa

1

16

29

O'Connor

Brenda

1

16

30

Murray

Patrick

1

15

31

Bornarth

Kathryn

1

15

Radial

# events

Dennis

Claire

3

70

65

Marshall

He

15

Hughes

Haddon

3

67

66

Chicoine

A

16

Baab

Lindsey

4

66

67

Neal

Pe

17

Shanahan

Patrick

4

65

68

Paine

O

18

Broussard

Clay

3

61

69

Hawkins

Hu

19

Butcher

Lenox Dare

3

61

70

Blair

20

Merry

Claire

2

60

71

McGlynn

M. P

Ke

21

Ruitenberg

Luke

3

59

72

Rhode

Da

22

Pulsford

James

3

59

73

Kendrick

Da

23

Prieto

Gary

2

59

74

Boucher

L

24

Merry

Ingrid

3

58

75

Cameron-Steinke

Dun

25

Hackstaff

Addison

2

58

76

Swikart

Con

26

Lyon

Drake

3

57

77

Dobbins

Ph

27

Butcher

Thomson

4

56

78

Lewin-LaFrance

Ho

28

Weis

Christopher

3

55

79

Hughes

Par

29

Weaver

Hanne

3

53

80

Cullen

Ja

Ger

30

Dana

William

4

53

81

Eastman

31

Mccann

Marshall

3

52

82

Didham

Pa

32

Glosenger

Jeffrey

2

51

83

Bennett

Jes

33

Staff

Simone

2

49

84

Woodford

T

34

Widmeier

Andrew

3

47

85

Abisambra

Ca

35

Larsen

Kyle

4

47

86

Douglas

Sa

36

Kilvert

Graham

2

45

87

Henly

37

Toland

Jack

3

44

88

Koppernaes

38

Marshall

William

2

44

89

Sole

Sop

39

Rasmussen

Scott

3

43

90

Abelson

Reb

40

Reineke

Erika

1

40

91

Coranz

Kim

41

Karim

Fillah

4

40

92

Lockyer

He

42

Marshall

Jack

2

40

93

SchoďŹ eld

Ph

43

Faubel

Carsten

2

39

94

Widmeier

Ma

Aa

Drum

44

Guerriero

Max

2

38

95

Sears

45

Richardson

Bronwyn

2

36

96

Brink

Da

46

Housey

Boyd

2

35

97

Lalonde

Ro

Cla

47

Cloutier

Phenix

2

35

98

Wessels

48

Myerscough

Reece

3

34

99

Norwood

Rae-

49

Cefali

William

4

34

100

Podlich

Mar

Ku

Total points

50

Pereira

John

2

34

101

Jensen

Drake

51

Gordon

Richard

2

33

102

Rhodenizer

Jona

52

Neville

Christine

2

33

103

Rienzi

Da

53

Ramsay

Luke

1

30

104

Powell

Mitc

54

Steward

D'Amy

2

29

105

Gugliemini

Ol

55

Henneberry

Meghan

2

29

106

Bayless

Con

56

Vargas

Mateo

1

29

107

Andreasen

Br

57

Johnson

Wills

2

29

108

Landry

J

Da

1

Lamphere

Malcolm

4

121

2

Weitz

Cooper

5

112

3

McCarthy

Liam

5

107

4

Bowskill

Brenda

4

107

5

McCann

Ford

5

107

6

Harney

Graham

4

96

7

Bushnell

Lola

4

83

8

Stafford

Violet

4

82

9

Baird

Nic

4

81

10

Macrae

Hugh

4

77

11

Puopolo

Andrew

4

76

12

Willard

Lawson

3

74

13

Fritz

Alexander

4

71

28

14

58

Dorr

Roger

2

28

109

Anthes

59

Dunn

Nathan

1

27

110

Cole

60

Beatty

Sandy

1

27

111

Haldeman

Do

61

List

Charlotte

3

26

112

O'Brien

Mic

62

Webster

Skip

2

26

113

Stevens

Rob

63

Peters

Corinne

2

26

114

Pasquin

Phil

64

Jones

William

1

26

115

DeBoiseblanc

Pie

WINTER 2014

Ke

enry

Alec

Grand Prix 2013 1

25

116

Esbensen

Gretchen

1

13

167

Hobbs

Greiner

1

5

1

25

117

Duler

John-Bernard

1

13

168

Baird

Ty

1

4

eter

2

25

118

Murdoch

Ross

1

13

169

MacCormack

Bridget

1

4

Olin

1

24

119

Sullivan

Lauren

1

13

170

Vasilkovs

Liz

1

4

ugh

2

23

120

Wyllie

David

1

12

171

Goldberg

Joshua

1

4

Parks

1

23

121

Streater

Paul

1

12

172

McKinney

Molly

1

4

elly

2

23

122

Seicshnaydre

Jacob

1

12

173

Myrden

Ricard

1

4

ana

2

23

123

Lorenz

Drew

1

11

174

Ronco

Giovanni

1

4

aniel

2

23

124

MacGillivray

Miranda

1

11

175

Frost

Christina

1

4

Leo

2

22

125

Hiew

Jacob

1

11

176

Reguero

Andrew

1

3 3

ncan

1

22

126

McCaffrey

Chris

1

11

177

Tan

Michael

1

nnor

2

22

127

Persson

Christina

1

10

178

Paggi

Alexander

1

3

hilip

1

21

128

Blair

Mott

1

10

179

Rizika

Ben

1

3

olly

1

21

129

McKnight

Jesse

1

10

180

Dittmore

Parker

1

3

rker

1

21

130

Hahl

Donald

1

10

181

Kirby

Brandon

1

3

ake

2

20

131

Hodson

Rob

1

10

182

Jackson

Casey

1

2

rard

2

20

132

Bussin

Isaac

1

10

183

Spevak

Walt

1

2

aul

2

20

133

Collinson

Jared

1

10

184

Kiger

F Gray

1

2

ssica

1

20

134

Dawson

Eliza

2

10

185

Dochoda

Josh

1

2

Tim

1

20

135

Hopkins

Steve

1

9

186

Scheiblauer

Caden

1

2

arlos

1

20

136

Dana

Francesca

1

9

187

Broussard

Carly

1

2

arah

1

20

137

Jenkins

Michael

1

9

188

Streater

Sarah

1

2

aron

1

19

138

Hanna

Alexander

1

9

189

Kremic

Stefan

1

2

mmond

1

19

139

Gower

Jack

1

9

190

Magno

Kyle

1

1

phia

1

19

140

Purcell

Keith

1

9

191

Legault

Riley

1

1

becca

2

18

141

Kendrick

Christine

1

9

192

Strumph

Sumner

1

1

mberly

1

18

142

Munger

Michael

1

8

193

Williams

Emma

1

1

enry

1

18

143

Martin

Tony

1

8

194

Adams

Sky

1

1

hillip

1

17

144

McJones

Jessica

1

8

195

O'Connor

Sean

1

1

addie

1

17

145

Stevens

Gordon

1

8

196

Baum

Braedon

1

1

197

Leuck

Dave

1

1

aire

1

17

146

Crabb

Sean

1

8

avid

1

17

147

Hench

John

1

8

obert

1

17

148

Borjiet

Boyd

1

8

urt

1

17

149

Drejes

Emma

1

8

-Anne

2

17

150

Leuck

Steven

2

8

rgaret

1

16

151

Collins

Kevin

1

7

e Irvin

1

16

152

Guerriero

Reese

1

7

athan

1

16

153

Bache

Emiliano

1

7

ante

1

16

154

Burns

Andy

1

7

chell

1

16

155

Hopps

Ryan

1

7

livia

1

15

156

Slook

Brittney

1

7

nnor

1

15

157

Pottharst

Jonathan

1

6

ryce

1

15

158

Robertson

Cole

1

6

Jill

1

15

159

Fox

Haley

1

6

avid

1

14

160

Smith

Steven

1

6

elly

1

14

161

Christopher

Jim

1

6

orian

1

14

162

Reineke

Sophia

1

5

chael

1

14

163

Rizika

Gabrielle

1

5

berto

1

14

164

Phelps

Dirk

1

5

lippe

2

14

165

Brady

Nicholas

1

5

erce

1

13

166

Lynn

Carter

1

5

www.Laser.org

Full Rig # events

Total points

1

Long

Stephen

5

116

2

Davis

Robert

4

109

3

Wright

David

3

98

4

Long

Matthew

5

95

5

Beatty

Sandy

5

91 91

6

Muller

Luke

4

7

Didham

Richard

5

89

8

Bowers

Erik

4

88

9

Ramshaw

Tom

3

86

10

Vranizan

Frederick

3

83

11

Wood

Bryant

5

80

12

Clunies

Gregory

3

80

13

Wells

Fraser

4

78

14

Johnson

Clay

3

75

15

Ryder

Matthew

3

73

16

Barnard

Chris

3

73

29

Grand P Full Rig - continued

64

Dickson

Glen

2

26

112

Raney Burke

17

McLaughlin

Evert

3

72

65

Wells

David

1

25

113

18

Shope

Peter

4

70

66

Valente

Nick

1

24

114

Karas

67

Woodworth

Matt

1

23

115

Andreasen

19

Parkhill

Lee

2

68

20

Reitinger

Eric

5

62

68

Fanning

Avery

1

23

116

Parshall

59

69

Leuck

Dave

1

23

117

Vienneau Purdy

21

Martinez

Gregory

2

22

Falk

Dan

4

59

70

Martin

Kyle

1

22

118

23

Buckingham

Charlie

3

55

71

Lyons

Drake

1

22

119

Watt

GifďŹ n

Gerry

1

21

120

Heausler

24

Usher

Tracy

3

51

72

25

Zaleski

Marek

3

50

73

Hansen

Lars

1

21

121

Fields

26

Heinzemann

Alexander

2

48

74

O'Brien

Michael

1

20

122

Morris

27

Deutsch

Jon

4

48

75

Omara

Edward

1

20

123

Strilky

28

Didomizio

Adam

4

46

76

Hassinger

Stanley

1

20

124

Hassinger

29

Ikeda

Ian

3

46

77

Gallagher

Terence

2

20

125

Hecky

78

Glover

Rolfe

1

20

126

Cremer

30

Vessella

Peter

3

45

31

Kiss

Mitchell

2

45

79

Mahaffey

Ryan

1

20

127

Dohan

32

Machum

Henry

4

45

80

Guerriero

Max

2

20

128

Hughes

33

Russom

Mike

3

44

81

Seward

Max

1

20

129

Bishop

34

Plutenko

Roman

2

43

82

Russom

Dennis

1

20

130

Chicoine

43

83

Wagner

R. Polk

1

20

131

Doherty

84

Jacob

Mac

1

19

132

Shepard

35

Yamamoto

Harumitsu

3

36

Castelli

Eilio

3

43

37

Symes

Bill

3

40

85

Fisher

Brian

1

19

133

Kirby

Phelan

Peter

1

19

134

Toole

38

Fritz

Dominic

2

40

86

39

Lyons

Matthew

2

39

87

Usher

Charles

1

19

135

Bell

40

Gallagher

Conor

2

38

88

Balk

Thomas

1

19

136

Kerrest

41

Bove

Dominic

2

38

89

MacCausland

John

1

19

137

Boudreau

42

Faubel

Carsten

2

37

90

Schmidt

Mike

2

19

138

Morgan

43

Norton

Justin

2

27

91

Davis

Packy

2

19

139

Chapin

37

92

Cottrell

Brian

1

19

140

Botto

44

Bignell

Jack

3

45

Swetka

Ken

2

37

93

Brink

David

1

18

141

Savage

46

Vlasic

Adrian

3

37

94

McGraw

Dan

1

18

142

Trinder

47

Gallant

Max

2

35

95

Koppernaes

Christian

1

18

143

Stang

48

Crane

Robert

1

34

96

Chung

Keenan

1

18

144

Winberg

49

Weis

Erik

2

33

97

Hewitt

Lindsay

1

17

145

Alexander

50

Raab

Chris

2

33

98

Walker

Glenn

1

17

146

Karcher

51

Luttmer

Bernard

2

33

99

Neri

Daniel

1

17

147

Morris

Leonard

Ian

1

17

148

Sullivan

Gauvreau

Nick

1

17

149

Lawson

52

Schmitz

Ryan

2

32

100

53

Savage

Leigh

2

32

101

54

Mazin

Rodion

3

31

102

Toole

Oliver

1

17

150

Sweet

Butcher

Thomson

1

17

151

Shingledecker

55

Davy

Konrad

3

31

103

56

Barry

Daniel

2

29

104

Robbins

Jeffrey

1

17

152

Fluehr

57

Martin

Billy

2

28

105

Brick

Had

1

17

153

Hansen

58

Bradley

Michael

2

28

106

Shockey

Kevin

1

17

154

Hiebert

59

Palmeter

Alexander

1

28

107

Bottles

Derek

2

17

155

Jackson

60

Burke

Alexander

2

28

108

Hull

J.P.

1

17

156

Chaisson

61

Shanahan

Brendan

2

28

109

Shockey

John

1

16

157

Farrell

62

Dold

Chris

1

27

110

David

Joe

1

16

158

Hahl

63

Bourdow

Stephen

1

26

111

Magno

Dave

1

16

159

Wachholz

30

WINTER 2014

C

A

C

Prix 2013 Brian

1

16

160

Rutledge

Michael

1

11

208

Dixon

Lou

1

6

Nick

1

16

161

Pineo

Justin

1

11

209

Drasnin

Peter

1

6

Michael

1

16

162

Pereira

Adrian

1

11

210

Bosch

Thomas

1

6

Patrick

1

16

163

Rizika

Jake

1

11

211

Wallace

John

1

6

David

1

16

164

Barry

James

1

11

212

Drotning

Henry

1

6

Christian

1

16

165

Schoene

David

1

11

213

Sunstrum

James

1

6

John

2

16

166

Palmieri

Chris

1

11

214

Callahan

Jeremiah

1

6

David

1

16

167

Hoehne

Kurt

1

11

215

Myers

Chris

1

6

William

1

15

168

Evans

Jeffrey

1

11

216

Knape

Charlie

1

6

Nathan

2

15

169

Leuck

Steven

1

11

217

Hartman

David

1

6

Brett

1

15

170

Gulyas

Evan

1

11

218

Wiersma

Kevin

1

6

Rick

1

15

171

Seckler

Frank

1

11

219

Gebhardt

John

1

6 5

Peyton

1

15

172

Wisch

Alex

1

11

220

Pendergast

Thomas

1

Michael

2

15

173

Foley

Paul

2

10

221

Clemett

Nathaniel

1

5

Ted

1

15

174

Pegel

Susie

1

10

222

Fisher

Gregory

1

5

John

1

15

175

Stanley

James

1

10

223

Hendricks

Steven

1

5

Britt

1

15

176

Hopkins

Ken

1

10

224

Birmingham

Daniel

1

5

Mike

1

15

177

Raduziner

Rick

1

10

225

Lounsbury

Ethan

1

5 5

Alec

1

14

178

Parramore

michael

1

10

226

Key

Windy

1

Matthew

1

14

179

Blanco

Robert

1

10

227

Stow

Derek

1

5

Alexander

3

14

180

Wilkinson

Ben

1

9

228

Voehl

Courtney

1

4

Brandon

1

14

181

Harvey

Bob

1

9

229

Wood

Rick

1

4

Patrick

1

14

182

Brooks

Ward

1

9

230

Frissell

Peter

1

4

Simon

1

14

183

Lindsay

Charles

1

9

231

Ratigan

Kevin

1

4

Jacques

2

14

184

Kohli

Sanjai

1

9

232

Nichols

David

1

4

Jeffrey

1

14

185

Jamieson

Nathan

1

9

233

Wattis

Newton

1

4

Ted

1

14

186

Leverich

Ken

1

8

234

Smith

Nick

1

3

Dave

1

14

187

Kennedy

Colin

1

8

235

Hawley

Francis

1

3

Joao

1

14

188

Leiz

Arthur

1

8

236

Tolan

Troy

1

3

Brady

1

13

189

Karaitis

Aras

1

8

237

Tomlinson

Paul

1

3

David

1

13

190

Feo

Ed

1

8

238

Knab

James

1

3

Christopher

1

13

191

Lara

Tristan

1

8

239

Firth

Brian

1

2 2

Jay

1

13

192

Peet

George

1

8

240

Davidson

Dick

1

Aaron

1

13

193

Weaver

Hanne

1

8

241

Thompson

Jack

1

2

Phil

1

13

194

Breder

David

1

8

242

Porter

Roberto

1

2

Wheeler

1

13

195

Turner

Matthew

1

8

243

Warren

Stephen

1

2

Victor

2

13

196

Moran

James

1

8

244

Johnson

Eric

1

2

Bill

1

13

197

Elliott

Ian

1

8

245

SchoďŹ eld

Matthew

1

2

Robby

1

12

198

Davis

Michelle

1

8

246

Key

Robert

1

2

Luke

1

12

199

Pullen

Nick

1

7

247

Russell

Benjamin

1

2

Macklin

1

12

200

Pro

Nicolaus

1

7

248

Scheiblauer

Craig

1

2

Bruce

1

12

201

Evans

Michael

1

7

249

McBriarty

Patrick

1

2

David

1

12

202

Szymanski

Stephen

1

7

250

Robbins

Eric

1

1 1

Gregory

3

12

203

DelBello

Daniel

1

7

251

Glass

Adam

1

Zachary

1

12

204

Sherar

Matthew

1

7

252

Griswold

Ken

1

1

Patrick

1

12

205

Rees

Michael

1

7

253

Schmidt

Steven

1

1

Donald

1

12

206

Sorenson

Adam

1

7

254

Ross

Mark

1

1

Patrick

1

11

207

Axelson

Jim

1

7

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2013 Olympic Classes Regatta – One for the History Books District 25, Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, Long Beach CA For the first time in a very, very long time, the ABYC 2013 Olympic Classes Regatta was not held in the spring! In order to coincide with other Olympic classes events on the West Coast, this year’s OCR was moved to September 14th and 15th. 22 sailors in Finns, Lasers and Radials made up a relatively small fleet compared to other OCR’s. But just like OCR’s of yore, this fleet included its share of fast, high caliber sailors which included a Finn Gold Cup Champion, College Sailor of the Year, US Sailing Development Team members, and a US Sailing National Champion! The Race Committee, members of our Multihull Fleet, included its own Olympic Medalists, National, and North American champions too!

Everyone was ready to go sailing!

Saturday morning rolled in, and so did the fog!!! The locals knew that the fog would burn off by noon, as it did all week long. But by 10:30AM, you could not see the harbor from the second deck. Nevertheless, the PRO gave the call to go sailing! It was simple enough to follow the rocks to starboard and the channel buoys to port, but once the fleet reached the channel entrance, visibility reduced to four or five boat lengths! That’s Laser boat lengths! So, the AP flew on Patience (ABYC’s RC boat) holding everyone at the entrance.

After 20 minutes and reduced visibility, the AP over H flew on Patience. Everyone back to the dock! More signals (and adventures) ashore!

Like Sabots during lunch break, the docks were filled with tied off Lasers and Finns. The sailors took advantage to catch up on the college football scores or relax on the couches on the second deck. The RC took periodic reconnaissance trips up the channel to check on conditions. By 11:30, you could not see across the channel or the water off the beach. Luckily, the fog was lifting in the basin, which was very fortunate because we were able to see two derelict Lasers floating away in basin five; the sailors took their eyes

off the big screen and asked “who’s Lasers are those?” With sail numbers identified as 194180 (Barnard) and 192874 (Wilson), they ran down the gangway thinking: “ I am sure no one see’s me! Really, nobody is looking!”

Well, everyone did! At first, the Finn class was suspected of a practical joke, but they are gentlemen and would never think untying painters. Decorum prevailed and Messrs.

Barnard and Wilson admitted that they need to go back to Knot School!

Time goes by….It is now 12:45, still foggy and no let-up in sight! But the sailor’s enthusiasm for the sport did not wane as the America’s Cup was scheduled to start at 1:15 on the big screen! Did we really want to try sailing in the Bay now? The Cup race starts, not a bad crowd to watch with! Oracle won the first race, more football! By 2:00, our PRO made an announcement: At 2:30, a decision will be made to either race or call it a day. The day was called and the Burger Bash started early!

Now Sunday, more fog! AP flag flew ashore. After a half an hour or so, the PRO presented our options, sail in the bay, sail off Seal Beach, or call it day. We decided to give it a try and go sailing off the Seal Beach Pier. The fleet sailed in five or so knots of breeze, but the skies kept clearing; now we can actually see the oil islands! The course was set and the RC signaled a WL course, the sailors lined up, and racing started! The breeze building to 12 knots by the end of the first race!

Unfortunately, the building breeze brought in more fog! The oil island disappeared, then the weather mark, then the course! (I figured as long as I could see Patience I was safe!) Now the W flag is up! We are going to race in the fog!

The Finns started and disappeared into the fog! “How do you race in the fog” I asked myself. Do you bang a corner? Go up the middle? Or stay with the fleet and sail off the end of the world together? I picked the middle, barely seeing port Lasers on the right

side of the course. A ghostly figure appeared to my left, it was the gate RC boat checking on the fleet! “I must be in the middle” I thought.

The boats to my right tacked on to Starboard a good fifty yards away, and I follow suit. No sight of the weather mark or the weather RC boat! Just as I thought the next thing I would see was the Casino on Catalina, I saw the mark! I was on the layline and everyone else over stood! I guess that is the way to sail in fog! Fortunately (or unfortunately), the PRO decided not to send the Radials on this race.

By the start of the third race, the fog began to lift and the wind increased to 18 knots or so, out of the southwest! We could see the weather mark as well as Palos Verdes! This is what we have been waiting all weekend for: good breeze, the sun, and a square course! All sailors made it back safely and quickly in the strong breeze!

With only three races completed (two for the radials), a series was established; perpetual trophies and medals were ready to be awarded!

Lasers: 1. Chris Barnard – NHYC (3) 2. Vann Wilson – ABYC (7) 3. Richard Didam – SDYC (8) Radials: 1. Cole Baker – MBYC (5) 2. Paul Didham – SDYC (6) 3. Jesse McKnight – SDYC( 6) Many thanks to ABYC’s Race Committee for keeping us informed on land and racing when we could. A very special thanks to the ABYC’s Multihull Fleet who were ready to go at any moment all weekend long and for keeping track of all the sailors in the fog! Finally, a hardy handshake to John Williams as the regatta chairman, executive, and MC, who melded all the elements at hand to make the 2013 OCR Regatta “one for the history books”!

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WINTER 2014

District 3 Nigel Heath Ontario, CAN The boats are now packed away for the winter and all is quiet at the sailing club. Unfortunately the cold weather through the end of October and November did not permit much end-of-season sailing at the Water Rats Sailing Club. I only got into the boat once since the North American Masters Championships in Newport…..too bad!

At the time of writing, we are experiencing an early arrival of winter, with snow and temperatures that are better suited to mid-January than late fall. I say bring it on! I hope we have a “real” winter this year and no more of this “tropical Toronto” crap. (Has Nigel lost his mind, you might be thinking.) Nope, he has found a new winter sport. At the end of last winter we discovered kite-skiing on the ice at the Water Rats… what a blast!! So this year we can’t wait for winter to arrive to get back out on the hard water. Hopefully the outer harbor will freeze over solid and become a kite-skiing (or boarding) paradise, unlike in recent warmer years.

The beauty of the sport is that virtually any ice surface conditions will work, so long as the ice is thick enough of course. You are not restricted to clear ice conditions as is required for ice-boating. In fact, its better if there is some hard packed snow covering the ice as its easier for your edges to bite into. Sharp skis are a must and I recommend getting them sharpened to about 87 degrees for better bite. Straight old skis work better than newer shaped skis, unless there is deep powder. Small foil kites (4m is fine for beginners) can be picked up for about $150 and after a few hours of training on flying the kite, you will be ready for the adrenaline rush. Its a lot easier than kiteboarding on the water, and safer because the kite is considerably smaller and easier to depower.

There no point sitting inside through the winter watching Youtube videos while guys are sailing in warmer climates…..get out there and embrace winter. We should not feel cursed by a cold winter, we should feel fortunate that we have cold enough weather conditions that enable winter sports that sailors in the south can only dream about. Kite-skiing is a great way of getting out there and playing in the wind, and I can guarantee you will go a lot faster than reaching in your laser….and you remember how much fun that was!!

Okay back to District 3 matters. For anyone planning on hosting a regatta, we are taking regatta requests for next summer, so get your dates lined up and contact Paul Muldoon or myself. Just a reminder that our Gold Cup regattas incur a $3/boat fee to the class. Visit d3laser.com for more local laser sailing info and the regatta schedule.

Hope to see you out on the ice this winter.

District 5 Mark Lammens Saskatoon, CAN

Congratulations to Nic Hamel for winning the Bronze Medal at the Canada Games. Laser sailor Joe Gerlinsky won the Silver in the Paralympic 2.4.

2013 District 5 Dick Degner Series final result sfrom the 6 regattas: Overall Open: 1st Nic Hemal, 41 pts., 2nd Dave Cormack, 29 pts., 3rd Ian Elliot, 38 pts., 4th Ilia Rudnitskiy, 37 pts. Overall Radial 1st Stephen Reichenfeld, 24 pts. 2nd Lesley Reichenfeld, 20 pts. 3rd Garrett Taylor 15 pts. 4th Connor Weicht, 15 pts. Overall top Masters: 1st LP Gagnon, 48 pts., 2nd Phil Paxton 39pts., 3rd Mike Hooper, 37 pts. 4th Lewis Oteruelo 36 pts.

District 6 Andy Hunt Vancouver, CAN The 2013 racing and regatta season for District 6 is now over.

Since the last report, there was a regatta a month for the months of September, October and November. The Royal Victoria Yacht Club was the host club for the September regatta. This regatta is called the Spring Dinghy Championships and is part of the BC Sailing Circuit.

It was rainy and very light winds this time and the race committee only managed to get off two races over the two days of the regatta, The dates were September 28 and 29. Most of the sailors came from either Vancouver or Victoria with a few from Comox. Unlike most of the BC Sailing Circuit regattas, the Fall Dinghy Championships had more Laser Full Rigs (27) than Laser Radials (20). There were no Laser 4.7s. The Top five standard sailors were: Ian Elliott (RVICYC), Aiden Koster (RVICYC), Phil Paxton (CYC), Richard Myerscough (RVICYC) and Alexander Sheppard (RVANYC), The top five Radial sailors were: Graham Harney (RVANYC), Alexander Fritz (RVANYC), Aiden Collins (COMOX), Miranda MacGillvray (RVANYC) and John Owen (RVICYC). Light winds were also in attendance at the Pumpkin Bowl regatta. This regatta was the last regatta of the BC Sailing Circuit. The West Vancouver Yacht Club was the host club of the Pumpkin Bowl. There were 4 races over the two days (October 19 and 20). The Laser Radials outnumbered the standard rigs 47 to 21. There were also 5 Laser 4.7s, It seems as though the sailing organizations on the North Shore (WVYC, EHYC, HSC etc) are more interested in the Laser 4.7 than organizations across English Bay (JSCA, RVANYC and KYC). I am not sure why this is happening at the present time.

The top five Radial sailors were: Reece Myerscough (RVICYC), Alexander Fritz (RVANYC), Miranda MacGillvray (RVANYC), Hanne

www.Laser.org

Weaver (RVANYC) and Graham Harney (RVANYC). The top five standard Laser sailors were: Max Gallant (RVICYC), Dominic Fritz (RVANYC), Adrian Vlasic (RVANYC), Ian Elliott (RVICYC) and Chris Wilson (RVANYC). The five Laser 4.7 sailors were (from first to fifth were: Brian Rojkov (WVYC), Musa Fortin (RPSA), Matthew Stranagahan (GSC), Gabriel Santiago (WVYC) and Dale Stanagahan (GSC). In contrast to the previous two regattas, the Bluenose Regatta, hosted by the Kitsilano Yacht Club on November 2 and 3, had a low turnout of Lasers (7) and Laser Radials (9) but higher winds. Winds on November 2 were between 14 and 18 knots while they decreased to 8 - 10 knots on November 3. The race committee ran 4 races each day. The top three Standard Laser sailors were Al Clark (RVANYC), Adrian Vlasic (RVANYC) and Peter Woytkowiak (JSCA). THe top three Radial sailors were: Graham Harney (RVANYC), Boyd Barjet and Jake Ciullen (RVANYC). The BC Sailing Circuit is made up of eight regattas which starts with the Kitten Cup in April and ends, as mentioned, with the Pumpkin Bowl in October. Sailors are scored using a best 6 of 8 format and uses the high point scoring system. All of the regattas had Laser Radials while seven of the regattas had both Laser Radials and Laser full rigs. Only three of the regattas ( Springtime Regatta, Sockeye Cup and Pumpkin Bowl) had all three classes. Speaking of the Sockeye Cup, it is no longer part of the BC Circuit. The Squamish Yacht Club will have an event (BC Sailing Championships) in it’s place in 2014. Full results of the 2013 BC Sailing Circuit can be found on the BC Sailing’s website (www. bcsailing.bc.ca). The top five standard sailors were: Ian Elliott, RVICYC, Open); Max Gallant, RVICYC, Youth; Adrian Vlasic, RVANYC, Open; Matthew Turner, RVICYC, Youth and Nick Smith, RVICYC, Youth. Top five Laser Radial sailors were: Graham Harney, RVANYC, Youth; Alexander Fritz, RVANYC, Youth; Fillah Karim, RVANYC, Open; Miranda MacGellvray, RVANYC, Youth and Reece Myerscough, RVICYC, Youth. The top three Laser 4.7 sailors were: Thish Rajapakshe, COSA, Youth; Joshua Smithman, RPSA, Youth and Brian Rojkov, WVYC, Youth.

Plans are underway to organize the 3014 District 6 schedule. The big idea is that there is a possibility of having five regattas in a row in the summer starting with WAVES (RVANYC) in late June and ending with the open Laser, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 Canadian Championships (RVANYC) in late July. Just for fun, sailors can also head down to San Francisco for the Laser and Laser Radial US Championships on the first weekend of August.

I hope to have information for the District 6 website (www. district6x,ca) by the end of the year.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or comments.

District 7 Derek Stow Tiverton, RI Another season of successful Laser regattas in district 7 is behind us, with many sailors now enjoying a winter of Laser frostbite racing at several fleets around New England. In 2013 there were 32 Laser regattas in the district including a couple of huge events with around 140 Lasers and Radials at each. Thanks to all the dedicated regatta organizers and race committees for all their work in making this happen for us, and to all the dedicated Laser sailors who support our Class.

The Atlantic Coast Laser Masters Championship was sailed at Barrington on September 14 and 15. The 40 competitors enjoyed light breezes of 5-10 knots from the NW on Saturday and S on Sunday. The overall winners were 1. Joe van Rossem 2. Dan Neri 3. Peter Seidenberg Congratulations also to the age group division winners, Brian Fisher - Apprentice Master, Lynne Shore - Master, Dan Neri - Grand Master and Joe van Rossem - Great Grandmaster.

On the same weekend, the fourth event in the Maine Championship Series, the Loon Cup, was held at Lake Cobbossecontee in Manchester, ME on 15 September. Fourteen Laser sailors enjoyed air temps in the 70s and a refreshingly puffy 6-16 knot south-westerly wind. Five different sailors recorded bullets in the eight total races sailed. In the end it was Stu Nickerson who raced with greatest consistency, boat speed, strategic smarts and patience to win the day head of second place Tom Jamieson, with Gary Orkney in third. A few cold ones, some BBQ and laughs over awards wrapped the day into a completely successful event package.

The Hippo Cup held in Thomaston, Maine on 5 October was the final regatta in the five regatta Maine State Championship series. Sally Sharp of Enfield, New Hampshire needed to win the event and place a competitor between herself and Colin Gowland of Belfast, Maine to become the Maine State Champion. With consistent finishes of 2, 1, 4 in the light and shifty conditions, Sally topped the fleet of 17 boats to secure the Hippo, edging out Hank Thornburn in second by two points and Colin Gowland by 3 points. Sally’s win also allowed her to break the tie with Colin Gowland for first in the overall series and take home the 2013 Maine Championship Trophy. Gary Orkney of Stonington, CT finished 3rd overall in the series, Hank Thorburn 4th and Syd Sewall 5th.

Great Bay YC hosted the New Hampshire Seacoast Regatta on October 6. The winners were…

1. Peter Seidenberg

District Reports 2. Peter Follansbee 3. Stu Nickerson 4. Colin Gowland 5. Hank Thorburn Quannapowitt YC in Wakefield MA hosted their always popular Last Blast Regatta on October 12, attracting 20 sailors who enjoyed 8 races and the usual warm welcome and hospitality from QYC. Peter Seidenberg was on form once again, scoring four bullets. The top 5 were…

1. Peter Seidenberg 2. Colin Gowland 3. Philip Kersten 4. Bill Rothwell 5. Stu Nickerson The highlight of the fall Laser sailing season in New England (at least for those of us over 35) was the North American Laser Masters hosted by the New York Yacht Club at their Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport. 98 Lasers and 36 Radials. 10 races over 3 days in winds ranging from 4-20+ knots. Superb hospitality on shore from NYYC. What more could you ask for?

The racing in the full rig fleet turned into an epic battle between Peter Shope and Marc Jacobi with the outcome in doubt right up to the last run of the final race. Congratulations to Marc Jacobi for a welldeserved win with Peter Shope in second and Peter Vessella in third.

Marc’s win was even more impressive as his gooseneck broke in the middle of the third race on Saturday, but he managed to hold on to win that race, and score a 5th in the fourth race on Saturday with his gooseneck held together by a piece of spectra line and some electrical tape. Other D7 sailors worthy of mention are David Frazier who was first Great Grandmaster, and Lynne Shore who was first Woman and 11th overall. Racing at the top of the Radial fleet was led by two former Masters World Champions. Steve Cockerill from the UK was first with our own Peter Seidenberg in second (and first GGM) and Lindsay Hewitt in third.

The Fat Boys Regatta in Bristol RI on 26 October turned into a war of attrition in winds from the SW reaching 25mph+ with sudden shifts up to 25 degrees. 7 boats left the dock. 5 boats made it to the first start. 4 boats remained for 3 races with only 3 completing the third. 3 boats remained for the the 4th and final race with only 2 completing it. Everyone went swimming at least once. For once, the winner was neither Fat nor a Boy. Congratulations to Christina Persson who won, Scott Vogel who took second, and to Curt Mahlstedt who edged out Jake Paris for third simply by surviving the third race! The bar was opened early and I hear the beer tasted “extra good.”

Cedar Point YC in Westport CT held their fall regatta on 3 November in northerly winds and cool temperatures in the 40s. Congratulations to 2012 Olympian Rob Crane on winning the Standard Rig fleet with 5 straight bullets with Marc Jacobi in 2nd and Andrew Scrivan in 3rd.

Also congratulations to Amnon Gitelson first GGM and Ian Palmer first Junior. Jean Fillion won in the 10 boat Radial fleet with Giovanni Ronco in 2nd and Fred Abels in 3rd.

As we look ahead to planning the 2013 season, you can mark these dates on your calendar now…

April 27 - Peter Milnes Regatta, Sail Newport June 7,8 - Wickford Regatta July 12,13 - Newport Regatta July 25,26,27 - Hyannis Regatta August 1,2,3 - Buzzards Bay Regatta hosted by Beverly YC Please feel free to contact me about any district matters at laserd7@ gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

District 10 Eric Reitinger New Jersey As the summer ends, the fall sailing season starts. Many clubs start their fall series and keep sailors on the water. Toms River, with the help of Clay Johnson was able to get a great turnout for the fall series in its second year back. With at most 21 radials for a turnout for a day, the juniors were excited to keep sailing in the fall. Clay also ran clinics on Saturdays. The final day included Halloween elements, including inflatable animals as marks, and costumes. It also included the appearance by Canadian Olympic hopeful Isabella Bertold. Prizes were given each race day as well as for the series with Zhik being the main sponsor of the event. Thanks again to Clay Johnson for starting up the series again. Keep the spring series in mind for next year.

I also know that Beachwood hosted a fall series as well as Brant Beach and Metedeconk. This keeps showing that there people who still want to sail after the summer is over. We need to see the enthusiasm for spring series to get everyone prepped for the summer.

Marsh Creek hosted their annual fall regatta. Glen Dickson won the event, giving him some great practice for the shifty conditions that Newport provided for the North Americans.

The Philadelphia Cup ran again on the Delaware River. With the Philadelphia skyline in the background on the Pennsylvania side or

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the Battleship NJ and the Camden Waterfront on the NJ side and the Ben Franklin Bridge towering over the fleet, it provided a great backdrop for the event. With light winds and 16 boats, Eric Bennung won handily over the fleet. The event was well sponsored, run out of the Philadelphia Seaport Museum is a must attend event every year.

Next year we are shooting for the largest fleet so the winner can win the largest fleet trophy.

District 11’s were held at Severn Sailing Association. Mike Russom and his dad Dennis, Had Brick, Newt Wattis and Eric Reitinger made the trip. The regatta was mostly light and very shifty but brought a great turnout with an awesome crab dinner Saturday night. Mike had a solid event and became the 3rd person in 5 years from the district to win the event. Eric finished 5th, Had finished 14th, Newt 17th and Dennis finished 16th.

New England Masters were held in Newport the same weekend.

Glen Dickson 19th Overall 4th Apprentice Had Brick 20th Overall 5th Grand Master The Masters kept their training for NAs going with the Hard Rock Masters. D10 made their presence known. The conditions were very light, offering a challenging 5 races for the day.

Had Brick 2nd Overall 1st Grand Master Jim Knab 4th Overall 3rd Grand Master Faye Flam 8th Overall 4th Master Dave Magno 10th Overall 5th Grand Master Dennis Rusom 11th Overall 6th Grand Master Steve Schmidt 13th Overall 6th Master Fred Scheafer 15th Overall 7th Grand Master

District 11 Jon Deutsch Virginia Here are some regatta updates from around District 11 this summer: Severn Sailing Association Started the spring season with their Sunshine Open Regatta. John MacCausland from Cooper River Yacht Club in NJ came down to win the 30-boat Standard Fleet while Janel Zarkowsky from SSYC won the 14-boat Radial Fleet. The Standard fleet was the only fleet to get in one race in the light-air on Saturday. Both fleets sailed 5 races in better wind on Saturday.

Corsica River Yacht couldn’t have asked for better weather for their Spring Laser Regatta. The storms stayed away and there was puffy 8-12 with temperatures in the 70′s and partly sunny skies sailing just off ship point a short sail from the club. 4 races were sailed with a 5th started but abandoned halfway in when a storm started to skirt the area. Carsten Faubel (CRYC) was 1st followed by Jon Deutsch (FBYC) and Nicholas Place (CRYC).

West River’s Dave Irey Regatta had a 13-boat Laser fleet out for 8 races over the two days. Local Roger Link (WRSC) took home first place with 3 bullets on Sunday. Leo Boucher (WRSC/SSA) finished 2nd while Kelsey Averill finished 3rd.

West River Sailing Club held their Annual Junior Regatta on July 1 with 24 Radials in attendance for 4 races. Alexander Hanna (FBYC) was the overall winner followed by Christian Filter (SSA) and Leo Boucher (WRSC/SSA) At the beginning of July Robert Suhay sailed his Laser out of Norfolk all the way up the bay to Annapolis taking him 30-some hours of nonstop unassisted sailing for 130+ miles.

District 11 Championship is being scheduled for 2014. Details in the next Laser Sailor.

And finally - get updates from around the VA, MD, DE, WVa and DC areas by joining our email list by signing up at http://laserdistrict11.org.

P.S. I’ve been a District Secretary 7 years and my District covers West Virginia. This year at our District Championship I finally met in person a WVA Laser Sailor - welcome to the class Ian Smith!

District 12 Glenn Walker S,N Carolina the day followed by Jon Deutsch (FBYC) and Mike Toms (FBYC). In the Radials it was Alexander Hanna (FBYC), Hannah Steadman (FBYC) and Graeme Alderman (FBYC).

West River YC’s Annual Regatta was won by Leo Boucher (WRSC/ SSA). Roger Link (WRSC) was 2nd and Adam Glass (SSA) in 3rd.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club held a 42-boat Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Regatta. Bob Tan (SSA0 became a two-time winner taking home the title in lighter air. Complete write-up and pictures was in the Laser Laser Sailor The Hampton Roads Laser Fleet had a very successful fall series of racing out of the ODU Sailing Center on off weekends when the team wasn’t racing or practicing. A number of newbies and regulars were out for some great Sunday afternoon sailing.

D-12 had another great year of sailing.

Overall we had 63 competitors spread over 6 regattas for the Full rig fleet.

We had 23 competitors spread over 4 regattas for the Radial rig fleet.

We had 9 competitors spread over 2 regattas for the 4.7 rig fleet.

Got a son or daughter aging out of the Opti? Well you are in luck, D-12 is embracing junior sailing for 4.7 and Radial Rigs, they can even race in the ocean at Wrightsville Beach! So parents, who wouldn’t want to soak up some sun at one of our great regattas in Charleston, Beaurfort, Savannah, or Wrightsville Beach? Then take them camping at one of our great fall regattas at Lake Norman and Lake Murray.

District 12 Regatta Report: Carolina Sailing Club-Lake Murray SC Central Championship and Grand Prix Columbia Sailing Club, situated on the shore of Lake Murray, South Carolina, was pleased again to host the last leg of the District 12 2013 circuit. Nineteen sailors turned out to contest the event with very few

District 11 Championship - see elsewhere in this edition of The Laser Sailor for the complete report.

20 Boats made their way to Rock Hall Yacht Club for their annual Hard Rock Laser Masters Regatta. In summer like warm weather with temperatures in the mid 80′s, beautiful blue sky’s and light winds that ranged from 2 – 5 knots provided for easy sailing conditions. All five races on the Windward – Leeward courses kept the fleet of 20 boats finishing within 3 minutes or less of eachother. The light winds and outgoing tide was a challenge on the first race. But during the race the wind filled in from the South and remained steady throughout the rest of the day. Racing in each of the front, middle and back pack was keen.

In 5 races and having not even gotten a single bullet, Susan Taylor was consistent enough with 4 top 3 finishes to take the overall title and first grand master. Had Brick was 2nd overall and Mike Schmidt 3rd and 1st master. 1st GGM was Jacquest Kerrest and first Apprentice was David Mooney.

Tred Avon Yacht Club held a fall regatta in early November. Nicholas Place (CRYC) took line honors in the 3-race series. he was followed

by Jacques Kerrest (PRSA) and Sandy Westphal (SSA).

Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s frostbite regatta was attended by a number of FBYC regulars and a few of the Hampton Roads Laser fleet sailors who made the trip. While it was supposed to have been a ‘frostbite regatta’, the 70-degree weather certainly didn’t make it feel like frostbiting. And that warm weather lead to the light and fickle winds. Jon Deutsch (FBYC) was the most deftly able to navigate the puffs to win the day. Robert Suhay (Hampton Roads LF) was 2nd and FBYC junior Luke Hayes finished 3rd.

For SSA’s Summer Series had a total of 14 Lasers and 6 radials out during the 3 days of the series. Holger Hinsch took the series title in the standards, followed by Steven Cofer and Bob Tan. In the radials it was Christian Filter, Josh Paper & Phillip Schofield.

Our frostbiting season is well underway as you read this. PRSA runs their frostbite season November 17-March 23 skipping a few holidays in between. SSA has Sunday frostbiting on a similar schedule and the Hampton Roads Laser Fleet as a winter 2013 series and another series in early 2014. Look for recaps and reports in the spring edition of The Laser Sailor.

FBYC held their 74th Annual Regatta in August on a weatherchallenged weekend. Saturday was the only day with adequate wind for sailing and two races were run. Light-air maven Brad Squires won

Scheduling under way for 2014. Check out all of the events on the district calendar located at http://laserdistrict11.org If you know of any events or have one to add. Send it to jon@laserdistrict11.org. The

weak links apparent in the registration list. Although local competitors performed well in all three races and CSC sailor Stanley Hassinger prevailed overall, local knowledge played almost no role in the victory.

Rather, light conditions separated sailors that embraced light air tactics from those that simply tolerate them.

Saturday delivered three races with maximum velocity of five knots, which placed a high premium on getting off the line with clear air and then connecting the dots up and down the course. David Parshall, a former outstanding Y Flyer sailor from CSC, tutored the fleet with a first place in Race 1. Peyton Hassinger, yet another CSC member (and rival brother of Stanley) picked his way around the course to take the gun in Race 2. Charlie Usher, although from Savannah, a noted light air expert, prevailed in Race three. The sailors had great camping weather, with the clubhouse serving a superb dinner and beverages, the ball game was on at the bar and the fireplace was nice and toasty; everyone had a good time.

District 15 Forest Atkins Texas D15 culminated a strong year with great round of fall regattas starting with Austin YC Centerboard regatta, D15 champs at Arlington YC and finally good ol’ Wurstfest at Lake Canyon in November. Many thanks to Jack Hattendorf and the Arlington Yacht Club for hosting a great regatta. We had 13 full rigs and 7 radial rigs on the line. Saturday was

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WINTER 2014

breezy 15+ winds. Sunday saw gusts of maybe 10 mph but mostly very light and shifty.

We had 23 boats on the line at Wurstfest making the Laser fleet the largest class in the regatta. Strong shifting winds made it a challenge for everyone. Be sure to put this regatta on your schedule next year.

Nothing like racing Lasers in November with temperature topping in the mid 70’s !

Congratulations to all the skippers who participated in the Laser District 15. The final district standings are posted at http://laserd15. org/wp/?p=121 . Doug Peckover won the circuit in full rig while Lenox Butcher won in radial. There were 92 skippers participating this year’s circuit which is the highest in 5 years.

This District Secretary hopes to further improve communication across our vast district and help continue the trend of increase Laser participation at all age levels. Thanks to all who have help bring this together as well as making some great recommendations for further development. If you have any suggestions on how to improve the district racing circuit, contact your district secretary Forest Atkins at secretary@laserd15.org or cell 214 686 7035.

Keep the training up and see y’all in 2014. Happy Holidays

District 19 Ken Swetka Michigan

13 Tom Kimball 14 Susan Peters 15 Jim Sunstrum 16 Jack Stiefel 17 Matt Heywood 18 Tim Nickels 19 Tim Ryan 20 Andrew Hopkins 21 Julia Hopkins 22 Jeffrey Smith 23 Roy Toth 24 Ehren Barr 25 Ryan Bennett 26 Sheri Hartlep 27 Dave Williams That’s all for now from D19 (Michigan)! As always check www.

D19Laser.org for more reports and photos!

D20 Report Steve Dolan Illinois/Wisconson dolan@mcw.edu

Thursday Laser – 1st Place / Polk Wagner (56 points), 2nd Place / Henry Pfeifer (69 points), 3rd Place / Mike Duff (123 points).

Saturday Laser – 1st Place / Mike Duff (68 points), 2nd Place / Polk Wagner (82 points), 3rd Place / Matthew Menzi (101 points).

Late Fall saw a quick conclusion to the D20 regatta circuit. The annual Border Challenge was sailed on the weekend of September 21-22 and hosted by the LaCrosse Sailing Club. Local ace, Mark Kastel provided the following regatta report: The La Crosse Border Challenge lived up to its reputation of serving up great competitive sailing and beautiful conditions. Sailors from Wisconsin and Minnesota enjoyed a northwest wind with the Venturi effect kicking in and delivering a great breeze in bright sunshine for most of the day. Eight races were held and when the dust settled home fleet sailors Mark Kastel and Kurt Schroeder took first and second respectively. David Scbald from Madison rounded out the top three.

Two weeks later Lake Nagawicka Yacht Club hosted their annual Oktoberfest regatta on the weekend of October 12-13. No regatta report as this writing but rumor has it Mark Kastel walked away with the pickle dish.

Fall Frostbiting immediately followed thereafter. Chicago Yacht Club Belmont Station hosted their annual event and saw 22 boats registered and 33 races completed by November 24. Rick Strilky 176078 took top honors after all was said and done. Up in Cheeseland, a few of us diehards sailed on Sundays amidst the Muskie Fisherman on Pewaukee Lake through Thanksgiving weekend. An early season snowfall put an end to the fun and made the season ending pack up challenging.

2013 is a wrap. Stay fit in the off season, hook up with your sailing buddies to plan your next seasons campaigns and good luck to those heading to the Sunshine State for the Orange Bowl, Midwinters and Olympic Classes regattas. Look for the 2014 D20 Regatta schedule in the spring TLS if not before.

We also awarded an overall winner in the Laser Fleet, his name will be engraved on our perpetual IBS/LTS Laser Trophy that hangs in the office at IBS. This year the winner is Polk Wagner with 138 combined points. Congratulations Polk!

District 22 Kurt Hoehne Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho

On the Sunfish side we only had competitors show up for the Thursday Series, these were our top 3 finishers:

As the damp settles in to the west of the Cascades and the cold settles in to the east, the Laser activities in the Pacific Northwest slow a bit but never stop. And the outlook for 2014 gets brighter each day.

Michigan’s Fall regattas are history and by Thanksgiving the lakes in Michigan had ice on them! This made for a shorter frostbite season than we have been used to. Below are some regatta reports.

Irish Boat Shop / Little Travers Sailing Summer Racing Series by Tom Trautman Hello Laser/Sunfish Racers, First off I want to thank everyone who participated in the 2013 IBS/ LTS Summer Racing Series. I also want to thank our race committee and anyone who offered help or volunteered over the course of the summer, primarily Kent Case and Dan Thompson.

We had a great season of racing with 27 registered Lasers and 4 Sunfish. We saw as many as 18 boats on the starting line which sure made for some exciting competition. This year we ran a Thursday Evening Series, a Saturday Afternoon Series and recognized top finishers from each series. Due to some light air conditions, we were only able to run 16 races over the course of the Thursday series and 20 races over the Saturday series. In the end, these were our top 3 finishers:

Thursday Sunfish – 1st Place / Robert Kipp (25 points), 2nd Place / Matt & Jackson Breckenfeld (26 points), 3rd Place / Sarah LaBlance (45 points).

Complete results are attached for your review. Next year we plan to do away with the Saturday Afternoon Series and offer racing on Monday and Thursday evenings. This is due to lower attendance on Saturdays and conflicts with other racing schedules.

LTS is excited to offer a new sailing opportunity for the summer of 2014, the LTS Advanced Racing Team. The ART is a Laser racing program designed to promote and grow the competitive level of junior racing in the Harbor Springs area. The Team is open to youth sailors age 13 to 20, who desire to become stronger sailors, more skilled racers, and participate in more sailing competitions. This should be a big boost to our already popular Laser Fleet here on Little Traverse Bay. We also hope to be using Yacht Scoring next season which will provide live timing and immediate results. Stay tuned for more on next seasons schedule and programs.

No Sweat Regatta Sept 28 - by Steve Wiseman This year the 39th Annual No Sweat Regatta had 27 boats! How can you go wrong with great race management, temp in the mid-70s and wind around 10?

Results: PlCompetitor 1 Rick Lyons 2 Jim Meyer 3 Steve Wiseman 4Aras Karaitis 5 Doug Carlson 6 Mark Keesey 7 Carey Jones 8 Michael Moody 9 Greg Harrison 10 Jerry Best 11 Ken L. Hopkins 12 Jeff Hartlep

www.Laser.org

The youth-only Oktoberfest regatta at Sail Sand Point in Seattle drew about 20 Lasers, with Jonathan Cannard and Talia Toland winning the Standard and Radial classes respectively. Also in Seattle, Corinthian Yacht Club’s annual PSSR regatta drew a modest fleet of 11 boats which was won by Micheal O’Brien. The Willamette Sailing Club’s Lasers turned out for their Fall frostbite series, which was won by John Sturman. A week before Thanksgiving 16 boats came out for CYC’s Turkey bowl. Despite dire predictions of winds gusting to 2 knots turned out to provide two very long and fun days of racing.

A serious change to the Seattle Laser Fleet’s annual frostbite series is changing its complexion. For the first time, frostbite events are altering between sailing out of Sail Sand Point on Lake Washington and Shilshole Bay Marina on Puget Sound. A full 26 boats came out for the first event on the Lake! The Seattle Laser Fleet also has a new website, www.seattlelaserfleet.org.

2014 is shaping up as a big year for Laser sailing in the Pacific Northwest. Frigid Digit will be held February 8-9 in Seattle, and it always draws a great fleet. The action on the Gorge promises to be spectacular with the WIND Youth Clinic and Regatta, Laser Performance Clinic, Blowout and Laser Master NAs all scheduled for the first half of July. Then the scene moves north of the border where for the Master PCCs and Canadian Championships.

District 24 Nick Burke NorCal Short Course Championship at Richmond YC Short course racing is fun. Lots of starts. Lots of quick races.

Richmond YC hosted a short course championship on Oct 13 which brought D24’s summer weeknight short course fleets together for the first time. It wouldn’t have happened without PRO Del Olsen. Thanks Del. This was a one day low-key event in the spirit of the weeknight racing. It was held on the flat water of Potrero Reach. There were 5 races in 5-10 knots, 31 boats and some new faces.

1st place Vaughn Harrison, 2nd Christine Neville, 3rd Peter Shope, 4th Jacob Hiew, 5th Emilio Castelli, 6th Mark Halman. Complete results at richmondyc.org->On the Water->Racing->Events 2013->Oct 13.

In an unofficial high points competition between the summer weeknight fleets, 1st place was Treasure Island Sailing Center, 2nd Santa Cruz, 3rd Lake Washington, 4th Shoreline Lake, 5th Lake Tahoe.

Shoreline and Tahoe had really low representation, so maybe next year they will do better.

2014 Midwinters West and prep-events Mids West will be at Richmond YC March 28-30, racing on Southampton Shoals. The two weekends before Mids West there will be lead up activities. Laserpalooza III will be Saturday March 15. The morning will be a hands-on rigging clinic hosted by Ryan Nelson of Alameda West Marine Rigging. The afternoon will be a light-air clinic (unless there is a late winter storm and it becomes a heavy-air/survival sailing clinic). There will be a pot-luck dinner that evening. The next day, Sunday March 16, you can scrimmage with RYC’s juniors at the Sunday Series. The following weekend, March 22-23, San Francisco YC will host a Lasers only regatta on Southampton Shoals.

Sundays at Richmond YC all “Winter” Pretty much every Sunday all winter long there is Laser racing at Richmond YC. The first Sunday of the month are the Small Boat Midwinters, which include multiple dinghy and keelboat classes. Most of the other Sundays are part of a series scrimmaging with RYC’s advanced juniors. There is a new Sunday Organizer, Pete Trachy. Pete campaigns a Moore 24 and a Vanguard 15, and is sailing a loaner Laser from Ryan Nelson. Pete’s promotion has roughly doubled attendance to 20 boats at these scrimmages. This is “casual” racing so if you have yet to try Laser racing it is a good place to do so. These Sundays are also a great opportunity for less experienced sailors to work up to their fi big Laser regatta, Mids West in March. Details here http://rycsunday.rst myfleet.org Santa Cruz Winter Series Last winter there was racing and training at Santa Cruz YC. It sounds like it could happen again, but someone is needed to facilitate that this winter. Is there anyone that would step up and be a fleet captain in Santa Cruz ? If you’d like to know what’s involved with being a fleet captain, Roger Herbst, long-time Shoreline fleet captain, can offer advice. District 24 needs a place to work on light lump technique so we are more competitive when we head south to race against our friends in District 25. Santa Cruz is currently our only venue with the possibility of light lump. Light air on SF bay is almost always associated with fl at water, as with D24’s lakes and lagoons.

Encinal Small Boat Winter Series Encinal YC also runs a winter series, on the 4th Sunday of the month.

Lasers have not traditionally participated in this series, but if two or more boats show they will get their own start. I think the Finn fleet attends this en masse. http://www.encinal.org Svendsen’s Grand Prix The final results for D24’s Summer Series are here, along with pictures and reports: http://svendsens-grand-prix.myfleet.org/ Fall Dinghy, St Francis YC Oct 26-27, 17 radials had 6 races and 19 standardshad 5 races. Radials sailed on the Cityfront. Standards sailed on the north course, starting north-west of Alcatraz. Top sailors in the radial fleet were Will Dana, Lindsey Baab, Lawson Willard, Will Cefali, Michael Levy. Top sailors in the standard fleet were Peter Shope, Tracy Usher, Christine Neville, Emilio Castelli, Nick Burke. Complete results at stfyc.com->On the Water->Racing in 2013->October 26-27.

The wind forecasts for Fall Dinghy were way off. The common expectation for Fall Dinghy is there will be a fair amount of time postponed on shore due to light air, and it is a schmoozefest. One recent year there was only one race. This time the first warning signal on Saturday was about 2 hours late. Most people left the dock relatively lightly dressed. The wind started picking up by the time we got to the start line. On the north course, the wind ended up touching black diamond level of difficulty (making an analogy with ski run difficulty levels/green circle/blue square/black diamond). It was not the anticipated green circle level of challenge. Being lightly dressed, most people got cold.

On Sunday, the breeze was up from the get go and had been blowing upper teens all night at Pt Blunt. The breeze got stronger as the day progressed. On the north course, conditions were well into black diamond conditions. A wind instrument on Alcatraz recorded puffs in the low and mid 30s. The RC on the north course had a problem getting one of the marks to hold, so the first warning was delayed 35 mins.

Everyone had dressed for warmth, but got cold anyway waiting.

On the north course, there were good waves to ride downwind all the time. That’s a payoff for getting cold & hiking hard. On Sunday the keelboats and big boats of the clockwise and counter-clockwise Gt. Pumpkin pursuit race fleets converged near the standard start line while we were in sequence. That really chopped up the water with two sets of wake directions in addition to the wind waves. That made it quite challenging. A Laser capsized and big boats had to take evasive maneuvers. The sailor righting his boat was concerned about getting hit, as it didn’t appear that all the big boats were keeping a good watch.

On the Cityfront course, a 29er pitch-poled and a sailor fell through the main, punching a hole and forcing them to retire.

Laser sailor Kyle Larsen was driving a 420 and won that fleet. Santa Cruz Laser sailor Evan Diola was crewing on a 5o5 and won a prize.

Laser sailor Drake Jensen was crewing on a 29er and also won a prize.

District 7’s Gain is District 24’s Loss Sad to say that Christine Neville and Peter Shope have returned to D7.

They will be missed for their good company and excellent competition, and always welcome in D24.

Totally Dinghy, Richmond YC Altogether, a pretty classic Totally Dinghy with sunny skies, warm air

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and moderate breeze and a great time on the deck back at RYC. There were 11 standards and 4 radials. Peter Shope and Buff Wendt were first two standard racers and Will Cefali was the top radial. Will sailed really well and beat many standards. Mark Halman was 2nd radial sailing only on Saturday. Complete results at richmondyc.org->On the Water->Racing->Events 2013->Sept 14.

Laser sailors were at the top of some other one design fleets. The 13 boat Byte fleet was won by Dan Ouellet, ex-Laser sailor and current Laser instructor for Oakland Parks & Rec. Dan may offer a “railmeat to midfleet” Laser class next summer, for turning experienced crew into newby Laser racers. If you have dedicated racing crew friends who want to start working on a broader spectrum of racing skills, let them know about this possible option.

The Thistle fleet was won by Mike Gillum, who was 3rd at the Kip LaRieu Tahoe Laser Fleet championship. Jonathan Weston, seen in the Laser fleet a few years ago, won the 7 boat Weta class. If you are crewing for a mid-fleet skipper in another fleet, suggest they get a Laser for some schooling.

The biggest fleets were the open boat classes on both courses, with 15 boats. Times in these fleets are corrected using Portsmouth ratings system. It isn’t one design, but if you sail a wacky boat like a Moth what other choice do you have ? And the reason the open classes are being mentioned is because the Potrero Reach open fleet was won by Laser sailor Packy Davis in a Snipe. The Southampton open class fleet was won by 2014 Mids West PRO Del Olsen in/on an International Canoe.

Redwood Regatta at Big Lagoon, Humboldt YC Big Lagoon is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean north of Humboldt Bay. There were 4 races Aug 31-Sep 1, Labor Day weekend. Racing is around buoys. There are inner and outer courses. The slower boats sail the inner courses. The slower boats start first. All fleets finish before any warning signal for the next start, so many people sail back to the beach and walk around between races as the start/finish line is close by.

This is a laid back event.

The top 4 sailors of 11 Lasers were Bruce Braly, Jim Christopher, Buff Wendt and Mike Eichwald. Complete results here http://www. humboldtyachtclub.org Most races had the pressure die off and fill in again. I don’t think we finished any race without that. The local knowledge seems to be go north along the beach, which was port tack, early and for a while. That didn’t seem to be so good this year as the leaders were often in the middle of the course.

There is light air, and then there is ultra-light air. This is splitting hairs about light air. How about defining ultra-light air as being the very bottom low end ? Conditions when there are periods of time when there is no wind at all. So when it fills in at 2 knots that feels strong.

And steady 5 knots feels like full hike territory. Ultra-light air is often associated with big shifts. When the new light air fills in, it comes from a completely different direction. Is sailing in ultra-light air a fair test

of sailing skill ? When sailors like Bruce Braly keep coming up tops in such challenging conditions, that is more than just chance.

The last two years there has been a lot of ultra-light air at the Whiskeytown Regatta, which will have its 50th anniversary in 2014.

There was some ultra-light air at this year’s Redwood Regatta, but nothing like at Whiskeytown. The day before the Redwood Regatta, the folk that went for the Friday afternoon sail had breeze in the upper teens. It was flat water in the lagoon though. It is a small fetch in every direction. Sunday afternoon after racing, a nice 12 knot breeze filled in from the south-west and a bunch of Lasers went exploring north to the far end of the lagoon.

The lagoon is fed by a river, and fresh. Some lagoons are brackish, or have some salt in the water but less than the ocean. I didn’t notice any salt in the water. Sometimes in the spring, the lagoon will break out into the ocean at its northern end. Sometimes in major ocean storms the ocean will break into the lagoon.

Humboldt Yacht club is the only group allowed to camp on the land adjacent to the race course. The land was donated to the state by a member of Humboldt YC that was from a family that had made their wealth in lumber. Humboldt YC is allowed to open the car barrier once a year for this regatta. The land is public access on foot. It would be a huge effort to transports boats from highway 101 to the beach without the car access granted Humboldt YC. The camping is bare bones. There is no electricity and no water. There are some porta-potties. There is a clearing on a small bluff above the beach, and people camp in tents there. The club sets up tables and chairs for the meals in this clearing. It is also possible to camp on the beach. Most people on the beach had RVs. There were lots of families camping. There were lots of kids running around the beach and playing in the water and messing about in small boats.

If you’re not going to camp, there is a town Trinidad about 5 miles south of Big Lagoon. Trinidad is full of bed and breakfasts. If this is your plan, book early as it is Labor Day. Arcata is about 30 mins south of Big Lagoon and has a variety of hotels and motels.

About an hour south of Big Lagoon is Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the Avenue of the Giants. This is not to be missed if you attend this regatta. Most of Highway 101 between San Francisco and Big Lagoon is an excellent smooth roadbed. My trailer only bounced for a relatively short distance around Healdsburg, and briefly a few times elsewhere.

34th America’s Cup and Lasers Everyone must have heard Larry Ellison say “Laser” 3-4 times during the last press conference of the America’s Cup. If not, that video is still available through the ACup iPad app under Media->Video. It is probably still visible through http://www.americascup.com and YouTube as well. But how many sharp-eyed people saw Laser sails during the racing ? D24 Laser sailors were on the water for about half the ACup races. There are glimpses of Laser sails in the video coverage. Some of us were lucky to have close encounters with AC72s.

The presence of Laser sailors on the winning boat and all the others could be a great marketing tool for the class. Sell it !

Vice Commodore’s Cup at Half Moon Bay YC Half Moon Bay YC is one of the D24 clubs that has a small fleet of Lasers for their club members to use. This is great for Laser fleet growth. HMBYC hosted a regatta on Oct 5th. It was a good day of racing in “green circle” conditions. It was sunny and warm. 10 Lasers, 2 of which were radials. Tracy Usher won all 4 races. Laird Henkel, who normally sails a radial, was sailing very well in a standard rig and kept the pressure on Tracy in at least 2 races. If Laird hadn’t been many minutes late for the first race he would have been much further up the standings. Roger Herbst again showed his strength in lighter conditions. JB Duler didn’t bring a standard rig, and his 6th in the last race is impressive because it got ultra light then and he was in a radial. You might consider such extremely light air “black diamond” conditions because it is very challenging to keep the boat moving.

There were about 30 seconds when we were fully hiked, but most of the time we were sitting in. The last race was get forward out of the cockpit terrain. The pressure was patchy all day. Between the first and second races, the weather mark was moved from a north-eastern direction to an eastern direction relative to the start line. For both those races it seemed going left first on the beat paid, and as straight line as possible to the leeward mark downwind. Pressure was king though.

For the last race, the wind direction turned around so it was from the west. The last race had a very short first leg which was a reach. The first mark could be fetched from anywhere on the start line, so it was a bit like the first mark at the ACup World Series. The middle of the line seemed to be the place to be as those boats got to the mark first.

It did get very light during the last race, reaching the ultra light conditions you can find lake sailing. One difference with D24’s lakes, although not the Great Lakes, was the appearance of flies. Flies are not a problem at Whiskeytown or Big Lagoon. They are on Lake Michigan. I figure forewarned is forearmed. I didn’t try killing them as I figured that was futile. Roger cleared off his boat and that seemed to help, as maybe they can smell that. Maybe a can of insect repellent would also propel a Laser forward in very light air ?

Big Summer on the West Coast In the Fall 2013 Laser Sailor, Andy Hunt District 6 Secretary, talks of plans for a 2014 West Coast Circuit. There are a slew of events out here next summer. Check the 2014 Regatta Grid at laser.org. There are major events in every West Coast district: 25, 24, 22 and 6. These include the North Americans, Masters North Americans, Canadian Championship, US Championship, the Pacific Coast Championship, and Masters Pacific Coast Championship. The first event is June 12-15 and the last July 31-Aug 3. Many of these are on adjacent weekends.

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WINTER 2014

District 25 Jorge Suarez SoCal Laser Sailors living in Southern California really do not participate in one sailing ritual that is done by the majority of North America: the winterizing of your boat! Along with the mental and physical sabbatical sailors endure through the winter months, many frozen sailors take advantage of this time to catch up with family and friends, football, Bridge, exams, and any other indoor activity that will prepare their minds and bodies for the spring and summer sailing season. We on the West Coast have the advantage of actually sailing through these winter months and, even though some of us are actually putting on spray tops and heavier weight hiking pants, we can still catch some “rays” on a good day!

There are many reasons to take this time to get on the water, do your tacking drills, and hike, hike, hike! 2014 is a very special year inn D25 as we will be hosting the Laser North American Championship, which will be held at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, CA, from June 12th – 15th. This is an ISAF grade 1! In addition, the US Single Handed Championship, the O’Day Trophy, will be held in conjunction with the North Americans. In prior years, the O’Day was a ladder event where sailors qualified through local regattas. This year, it is my understanding that the event is open to all sailors meeting US Sailing eligibility (over 18 years of age, member of US Sailing in good standing), so please check the US Sailing website as well as the NOR for the event, soon to be posted on www.abyc.org. A travelling sailor to the West Coast can make quite a trip by attending two other events before and after the NA’s: the Pacific Coast Championships at Santa Barbara YC (www.sbyc.org) , June 27th-29th, and the Laser US Championships at St. Francis Yacht Club (www.stfyc.com) , July 31st- August 3rd, (I guess it may still be a good idea to bring your winter ware!)

Winter regattas leading up to these events include SCYA Mid-Winter regatta February 15th-16th with open Lasers at Mission Bay YC, San Diego, (www.mbyc.org) and Masters at Alamitos Bay YC, Laser Masters California Championship at Mission Bay February 22nd-23rd, and the EE Manning Regatta March 1st-2nd at Alamitos Bay YC. So, no matter where you live, there is always something we can do to prepare for more sailing, just remember to do it!!! Don’t forget to check Steve Smith’s report on ABYC”s Turkey Day Regatta held just last week (November 23-34) with over 51 Lasers and Radials sailed classic Long Beach Fall conditions!

www.Laser.org

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The Role of Cardiovascular Fitness in Laser Sailing CHRIS HERRERA For all the current and past laser sailors reading this article, imagine how your body felt when racing conditions included strong winds and choppy waters. To add to those conditions, regattas can last up to nine or ten races including up to three a day. To sail strong in these conditions the body must have great cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance.

Cardiovascular fitness is the body’s ability to get blood and oxygen to the muscles. This ability to move the oxygenated blood to the muscles is only half of the challenge. The muscles must be efficiently trained to maintain the ability to relax and contract to pump blood and muscle waste back into the system. When both systems are trained to compliment each other the body will have the ability to handle heavy winds and long regattas.

How Much Cardio and What Type of Cardio?

The most frequent question I receive from sailors in all classes I train is, ““What type of cardio?” and “How much cardio should I do?”

The amount of cardio is specific to how many days until the next regatta. If the regatta were 2 or more months away your going to completting cardio less often and at a lesser intensity than if you were 2 weeks away from your race. You must break down these cardio session two ways: 1) Type of cardio a. LSD: Long Slow Distance, with a target heart rate range (example would be a long road bike session) b. HIT: High Intensity Training, usually done by intervals with with a MAX EFFORT interval done for a short period of time with a longer rest period (usually a 1:2 work to rest ratio) c. Intervals: classic interval training where you complete a certain amount of time with a high HR goal (usually between 20 seconds and 2 min while usually resting between 20 seconds and 40 seconds) d. Recovery: These are submaximal intensity sessions with a low HR goal done for a mid range time frame (usually between 15 and 20 minutes)

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Cardio Tip! ** all of these types of cardio can be completed by a variety of modes, such as: biking, rowing, running and even swimming. With Laser sailing being an extremely intense quadricep activity I would recommend going 75% of your cardio on a road bike or spin bike. Laser sailing can be very tough on your knees so I would also recommend if you like to run as your cardio start to taper it back and switch to biking or rowing at least 4 weeks prior to your ragatta.

2) How much cardio a. Your cardio should be broken down into phases based on how far you are from the start of your ragatta. My advice would be to a periodized and structured program (both strength and cardiovascular) 12 weeks prior to the start of your race.

Each phase has its own charactristics (see below): i. Prep Phase: This phase is focused on building a cardiovascular base.

This will be a combination of all types of cardio (LSD, Interval, HIT, and recovery). ii. Strength/Endurance Phase: This phase increases both the amount of cardio and intensity of each type. The LSD will get longer as the HIT will become more intense with longer and more intervals. iii. Strength Phase: This phase will focus on maintaining the gains of the previous two phases while increasing the intensity of the HIT. This will allow the body to peak for the event without over training. iv. Taper Phase: This phase eases off the intensity while preping the body to be in the best shape possible for the event in 1 weeks time. **See 12 week cardio training example Now that you know the two most important factors with cardio (type and how much), the next big question to answer is: “How do I figure out what heart to train at for each type of training”. All of the types of cardio training are based on percentages of your heart rate max.

The most precise measure of this would be to get a VO2max test to get exactly what your maximum heart rate is. If this is not possible the next best way is to use the formula: (220-age). Then you multiply this max heart rate by the percentage that is prescribed in the type of cardio training.

For example a 30-year-old Laser Sailor’s maximum heart rate would be approximately 190 beats per minute.

Example of 30-year-old sailor 60-30 Days until regatta: train between 60-70% of max HR: (220-30) x 65% = 123 bpm 29-0 Days until regatta: train between 7080% of max HR (220-30) x 75% = 142 bpm Muscular endurance in combination with Cardio training Muscular endurance is defined as: the ability of the muscle to sustain a contraction or hold resistance for a given period of time (usually over a minute).

This is commonly seen by a sailor’s ability to maintain a proper hiking position in heavy wind. This is directly connected with sailors cardiovascular ability. When both your muscular endurance and cardiovascular systems improve together, each system exponentially improves as compared to trying to improve one at a time.

Improving musuclar endurance is accomplished by completing resistance exercises over set amount of time or high repetitions causing the muscle to continually work for 45 seconds to1 minute. Exercises such as butterfly pushups, wall sits, plank, and alternating supermans are all exercises that place the muscle being worked into a state of sustained work for 45sec to 1 minute. An additional way to work the entire body with a mix of muscular endurance and cardiovascular training is to complete hiking intervals with core exercises. To complete this exercise hike out as far as possible on a hiking bench for 1 to 3 minutes (stay in this position as long as the sailor is hiking properly) then immediately complete a core exercise for 1 minute. Complete this pattern for 3 sets then break for 2 minutes and repeat for the desired amount of intervals.

Chris Herrera is a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT), he is a leader in the sports training and healthcare field as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). Chris is a member of the US Olympic Sailing Performance Enhancement Team (PET) as the Medical Coordinator acting as head physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach. Chris has been working with US Sailing for over 6 years and was a member of the 2012 US Sailing Team and United States Olympic Committee (USOC) team that traveled to the 2012 London Olympics.

WINTER 2014

For the full 12 week cardio training program, go to www.nalaser.org to download.

You can also attend a clinic in Miami with Chris through www.jaguartherapy.com located in Coconut Grove close to the sailing venue.

Chris can be reached for questions or information at: jaguarpt@gmail.com

Name

Boat: Laser

MHR: 200

Work strictly within your target heart range If your heart rate is too high, slow your pace down until your HR is back within the target range.

Week 1 Mode

Bike Day 1 Day 2 Intervals (75% speed) OFF Target HR 176-186 OFF 15 x 20s Sprint 40s Recovery Description Cycle Target RPE 16-17 Calories Burned

Week 3 Mode

Bike Day 1 Day 2 Intervals (75% speed) OFF Target HR 176-186 OFF 19 x 20s Sprint 40s Recovery Description Cycle Target RPE 16-17 Calories Burned

www.Laser.org

Prep Phase Run Day 3 LSD 155-165

Day 4

Run Day 5

Bike Day 6

OFF OFF

Recovery 150-160

HIT Max Effort

20mins <14

8x12s Max Sprint-60s Recovery 20

Bike Day 6

45minStretch after <14

Prep Phase Run Day 3

Day 4

Run Day 5

LSD 155-165

OFF OFF

Recovery 150-160

HIT Max Effort

20mins <14

10x12s Max Sprint-60s Recovery 20

45minStretch after <14

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Why Join the Laser Class?

What are some of the benefits of a strong class association? 

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

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

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

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

You get direct benefit by joining the Laser Class!

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

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

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Depending on exchange rates, the next $9.00 of your dues goes to the International Class where they use the money to pay their staff to make sure world level events get scheduled, ensuring all the boats are the same by inspecting the builders to make sure they are complying with the Laser Construction Manual, keep track of rules changes proposed by members, interfacing with ISAF on various levels, including keeping both the Laser Standard and Laser Radial as Olympic equipment, etc.

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

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

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

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

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

Most of the remaining $5.00 goes to 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!

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

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

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

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

What are some of the direct benefits of membership? 

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.

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

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To gain the benefits of membership outlined above.

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

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

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!

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

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WINTER 2014

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 - $40 for one year or $75 for 2 years • Junior - $35 (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership), or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership) • Family, one year - $40 for the primary members and $25 for each additional member • Family, two years - $75 for the primary members and $45 for each additional member Please provide family members names, DOB, boat type and sail number on an additional sheet of paper.

• International - $50 (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

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GRP Rudder and Daggerboard $475.00

$485.00

Br1 Dinghy Traveler Blocks $95.00

by Musto

Spray Top: $130.00 Trousers: $125.00

Black Diamond Tiller By Acme $210.00

Deck Covers and Hull$234 Covers .95

by APS

Class Legal Racing Sail

By North

$565.00

Airprene Hikers

by SEA $198.00

SeaHiker GripX3 Boot by Sperry $80.00

The World Leader in Outfitting Performance Sailors.

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WINTER 2014

Speed Shop Pro Outhaul Kit Single $41.52

Excel Fusion

Rooster

Dinghy Sheet

Double $58.11

Pro Cunningham Control Handle $21.73

$29.90

$41.40

$78.20

Pro Mainsheets Pro Cunningham $50.01

Class Legal Pro Daggerboard Downhaul Kit $38.16

www.Laser.org

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PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106

2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106

San Dimas, CA Permit No. 410

PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

San Dimas, CA Permit No. 410