SUMMER 2019 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world
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www.Laser.org
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SUMMER 2019
Official publication of the International Laser Class Association North American Region US Postal Service: Please return undeliverables to: ILCA-NA 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 USA Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #40612608 Please return undeliverables to: Bleuchip International PO Box 25542 London, ON N6C 6BC
Editors
Sherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl ILCA-NA
Officers Andy Roy Chairman 15 Claudette Court Peterborough, ON K9J 7Y7 Canada 705-750-0189 aroy187740@gmail.com Meka Taulbee Vice Chairman Dunedin, FL USA 727-631-7005 meka@sailfit.com
SUMMER 2019
District Contacts .....................................................................................................6 President’s Report....................................................................................................8 Bruce Kirby: reprinted with permission of Sailing World and Dave Powlison....................................................................................10 Regatta Reports Canadian Championship..........................................................................18 Girl Power..................................................................................................20 Camilla Cup...............................................................................................21 Regatta Previews North Americans.......................................................................................22 Gulf Coast Championship.......................................................................23 2019 Event Schedule .............................................................................................19 District Reports.......................................................................................................24 Why Join the Laser Class?....................................................................................30 Membership Applications.....................................................................................31
Eric Reitinger Treasurer 7908 Normandy Drive Mt Laurel, NJ 08054 609-206-2973 er4599@gmail.com John Long Secretary 4707 Sierra Madre Road Santa Barbara, CA 93110 805-705-1435 jlonginsb@yahoo.com Al Clark Member at Large 337 E 6th North Vancouver, BC V7L1P7 604-988-4799 al.clark@shaw.ca Sherri Campbell Executive Secretary 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 USA phone: 619-222-0252 fax: 619-222-0528 sherri@odmsail.com
www.Laser.org
SUMMER 2019 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world
Cover photo: Florida Masters Great Grand Masters gather: L-R: Jim Irwin, Lindsey Hewitt, Newt Wattis, Jorge Abreu, Peter Seidenberg, Mark Bethwaite, Amnon Gitelson, Steven Cofer, Don Hahl, Finn Hassing, David Hartman, Mike Hicks
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District 1
Claire Sears 506-650-8821 clairesears1@gmail.com
District 2
Philippe Dormoy, 385 Place Desmarest, Ile Bizard, Quebec, H9C 2G8 514-808-0753 Pdormoy62@gmail.com
District 3
District 9
Peter Bushnell Cazenovia, NY 13035 315-655-4671- peter.bushnell@carrier.utc.com
District 10
Eric Reitinger 7908 Normandy Dr Mt. Laurel NJ 08054 Er4599@gmail.com http://d10.laserforum.org
District 11
Nigel Heath 416-417-0193; nigel_heath@manulife.com D3 website: www.d3laser.com
Jon Deutsch 3422 Blithewood Dr, Richmond VA 23225 804-305-1244, jon@laserdistrict11.org http://www.laserdistrict11.org
District 4
District 12
Shelby Williams Sail Manitoba; 409-145 Pacific Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R3B 2Z6 204-925-5647 sailing-admin@sportmanitoba.ca www.sailmanitoba.com
District 5
Mark Lammens 510 Cynthia St. Saskatoon, SK S7K 7K7 306-975-0833, sasksail@sasktel.net www.sasksail.com
District 6
Dale Stranaghan West Vancouver BC 604-921-7575 x 231 sailingdirector@wvyc.ca www.district6x.ca
District 7
Rob Bowden rbowden707@gmail.com www.d12laserforum.org
District 13
James Liebl gamedayparking@yahoo.com www.laser.org/m/_general/d13.asp
District 14 District 15
Griffin Orr Griffin.orr@me.com https://groups.google.com/ forum/?fromgroups#!forum/txLaser/
District 16
Christine Neville Laserd7@gmail.com
Tim Fitzgerald, 2322 Bromfield Circle Wichita KS 67226, 316-650-3636 TIMFITZ875@gmail.com
District 8
District 18
Wyz Mooney geewyz@gmail.com 516-287-0305 www.LaserD8.org
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John Shockey 216-386-1920 johnrshockey@gmail.com
District 19
Ken Swetka 27022 Koerber St., St Claire Shores, MI 48081 248-635-5363 www.d19laser.org
District 20
Sean Lennon 920-573-1922 spatricklennon11@gmail.com Facebook: Laserd20
District 21
Matthew Thompson D21.sec@gmail.com D21.laserforum.org
District 22
Kurt Hoehne, 524 N 67th St Seattle, WA 98103 206-335-8776 kurthoehne@gmail.com
District 23
Geoff Hurwitch Geoffh437@yahoo.com
District 24
Stephen Aguilar 1809 Brier Way, Carmichael, CA sailsteve55@gmail.com 916-968-3554
District 25
Jorge Suarez, 5 Covina Ave Long Beach, CA 90803 562-260-8116. jorgesuarez0@yahoo.com Groups.yahoo.com/group/nalaserdistrict25
District 26
Guy Fleming, 44-392 Olina St. #6 Kaneohe, HI 96744-2617 808-955-4405, guynsyd@hawaii.rr.com
SUMMER 2019
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President’s Report BY ANDY ROY I just arrived back home from a great trip to the Laser Masters European Championships in Roses, Spain. I first visited Roses back in 2007 for my first Laser Masters Worlds, so when I heard about this year’s event I did not want to miss it. Roses is undoubtedly a fantastic Laser regatta venue. There were about 265 entries and we sailed nine races over 5 days, racing in 10-20 knot warm weather conditions throughout the week on two courses (Standard and Radial). North American sailors performed well, highlighted by Canadians Alan Clark and Ray Davies winning their respective gold medals in the Radial Grand Masters and Standard Masters fleets. I started the regatta in good shape, but ultimately had to count a bad race. Congrats also to Peter Seidenberg for taking home the bronze medal in the Legends fleet and to Ari Barshi (DOM) for grabbing the bronze in the highly competitive Standard Grand Masters fleet. The summer racing season is now in full swing and many young North American sailors are getting cranked up for the Youth Radial Worlds and the 4.7 Youth Worlds at CORK (Kingston, Ontario). There are 206 entries from 31 countries ready to go at the Radial Worlds in July and 167 sailors from 33 countries entered for the 4.7 Youth Worlds in August. This will be a great opportunity for North American youth sailors to experience some strong international competition. I’m sure we’ll see some great results from NA sailors. Also coming up in a couple weeks (and from a local perspective in Ontario, Canada), I’m looking forward to the Great Lakes Masters Championships in beautiful Thornbury, Ontario on Georgian Bay; an enormous body of clear water that is part of Lake Huron. They’re up to about 50 entries at this point, which is pretty darn good for a first time venue. A unique experiment we’re going to try at this regatta is to have a “Corinthian Fleet” start where a shorter course will be used. Sailors in this fleet do not require class legal equipment or do need to be class members. This is intended for people who haven’t had much (or any) real experience in a regatta before, but who just want to get out there and bash around the buoys. The goal is that if they have a good time perhaps they’ll join the class, get their boat class legal and enjoy Laser racing!
and challenging period, with a key objective of ensuring the Laser and Radial are retained as Olympic classes in 2024 and beyond. Although the good news is that the Laser has been selected by World Sailing as the Men’s and Women’s one person dinghy, final confirmation is contingent on the relevant parties agreeing to the terms of the Olympic Classes Contract by August 1, 2019. This Contract will implement World Sailing’s Olympic Equipment Strategy, now a World Sailing policy that requires that any interested party who meets the necessary technical qualifications will be able to manufacture and sell Olympic equipment. If the boat or equipment is protected by patents, trademarks or other intellectual property, the owner of the IP rights is required to grant a license to any qualified new manufacturer on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms (known as ‘FRAND’). As of this writing it remains uncertain as to what will happen; however, we have received positive indications recently that LP is getting closer to reaching agreement with World Sailing. There are still more negotiations anticipated, but it does remain uncertain if the parties will reach agreement and that the Laser will remain in the Olympics. No matter what ultimately happens, I’m confident Tracy Usher (Class President) and Eric Faust (Exec. Secretary) have done everything possible from the ILCA perspective to ensure the Class remains in the Olympics. Have a great summer season sailing your Laser!
North American class members may be following (to various degrees) the issues and negotiations between ILCA, the class builders (most prominently Laser Performance) and World Sailing. It has been a complex
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Regatta Reports
Canadian Championship
Beaconsfield Yacht Club hosted the Canadian Laser 2019 May 31st, June 1st and 2nd. The club delivered its usual great organization and welcoming attitude. There was numbers of volunteers to help racers for parking, launching and out hauling, making sure everyone had what they needed and helping when required. The fleet sizes was close to 60 sailors, 23 standards, 28 radials and 4 4.7 with a good participation from masters in the standard fleet mainly. Well, the main ingredient, WIND, made it difficult for the race committee and all of us. We had a nasty Spring up North (hopefully we have Basketball to cheer about!) with record water level, lot of rain and cold. On the regatta week-end, even if the forecast was looking promising, the weather didn’t deliver the expected: • Friday started with vert light and then no wind. One race was completed for the standard fell and the radial race was cancelled. The RC sent everyone on shore up to 3 pm were the wind came back from North, 8 -12 knots, chilly, and one race was completed for both fleets. • Saturday was the best day in light wind (5 knots) and the Race committee was able to pull 4 races for both fleets. • Sunday was rainy, cold and no wind. The day was called off at 14hr and the prize ceremony was done shortly after. Despite the weather racers said the regatta has been a success not only for the number of participants but also for the following reasons: • The mix of young sailors and masters is showing to be very interesting and the results are showing that. The competition was intense and races very disputed. There was a great camaraderie spirit between young and older sailors • A keg of cold beer, every day, being served at the sailboat parking lot while derigging and talking about the race • The committee was very efficient and did the right calls at many occasion (course changes 18
and races delayed). They managed to pull the best from the weather • Saturday night dinner was very good and the club feed the racers for the 3 days • The yacht club hospitality is 1st class. • Dynamic dollies and rack provided very nice gift to the participants Results are posted on this site: https://yachtscoring. com/emenu.cfm?eID=6151 The Ian Bruce Perpetual Trophy was presented the the best master of each fleet: Ray Davies in the standard fleet and Duncan Whitrow in the radial fleet Future looks very promising for District 2, there is a good spirit and energy about sailing Laser1. I want to thanks everyone for that. Good and hard sailing. Philip Dormay
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2019 Schedule Regatta World Championship
NA Championship
Standard
Radial
Sakaiminato, JPN July 2-9 U21: Split, CRO Oct 26-Nov 2
Women & Men: Sakaiminato, JPN July 17-24 Youth: Kingston, ON July 24-31
Brant Beach YC
Brant Beach YC
Laser 4.7
Masters
Kingston, ON, CAN Aug 16-23
Port Zelende, NED September 5-15
Brant Beach YC
Eastern YC Marblehead, MA Oct 4-6
Brant Beach, NJ July 18-21
Brant Beach, NJ July 18-21
Brant Beach, NJ July 18-21
Beaconsfield YC Beaconsfield, QC May 31-June 2
Beaconsfield YC Beaconsfield, QC May 31-June 2
Beaconsfield YC Beaconsfield, QC May 31-June 2
US Championships
Lauderdale YC Ft Lauderdale, FL Jan 11-14
Lauderdale YC Ft Lauderdale, FL Jan 11-14
Lauderdale YC Ft Lauderdale, FL Jan 11-14
Monterey Peninsula YC Monterey, CA July 19-21
CORK
Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 16-21
Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 16-21
Kingston, ON www.cork.org August 11-15
na
Midwinters East
Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 21-24
Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 21-24
Clearwater, FL www.clwyc.org Feb 21-24
USSCMC Jensen Beach, FL Mar 12-15
Midwinters West
California YC Marina del Rey, CA March 22-24
California YC Marina del Rey, CA March 22-24
na
na
Miami World Cup
Miami, FL (men only) www.ussailing.org January 27-Feb 3
Miami, FL (women only) www.ussailing.org January 27-Feb 3
na
na
Atlantic Coast Championships
Monmouth BC/Sandy Hook Bay CC Atlantic Highlands, NJ May 18-19
Monmouth BC/Sandy Hook Bay CC Atlantic Highlands, NJ May 18-19
Monmouth BC/Sandy Hook Bay CC Atlantic Highlands, NJ May 18-19
Severn Sailing Assn Annapolis, MD May 11-12
Pacific Coast Championships
Bellingham YC Bellingham, WA Sept 21-22
Bellingham YC Bellingham, WA Sept 21-22
Bellingham YC Bellingham, WA Sept 21-22
CGRA Cascade Locks,OR Aug 2-4
Gulf Coast Championships
Pass Christian YC Pass Christian, MS Sept 14-15
Pass Christian YC Pass Christian, MS Sept 15-15
Pass Christian YC Pass Christian, MS Sept 14-15
No Coast Championships
CORK Kingston, ON Sept 21-22
CORK Kingston, ON Sept 21-22
CORK Kingston, ON Sept 21-22
Great Lakes Championships
Chicago Corinthian YC Chicago, IL June 29-30
Chicago Corinthian YC Chicago, IL June 29-30
Chicago Corinthian YC Chicago, IL June 29-30
40 GP points
Canadian Championships 30 GP points
30 GP points
30 GP points
30 GP points
30 GP points
25 GP points
25 GP points
25 GP points
25 GP points
25 GP points
www.Laser.org
Royal Lake of the Woods Kenore, ON August 16-18
Thornbury YC Georgian Bay, ON July 13-14
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Go the extra mile.... BY MARTINE ZURINSKAS When looking at the most recent JO event at Atlanta Yacht Club I was shocked to see 5 of the registered 11 Laser Radial sailors girls. Growing up in Columbia SC, South Carolina in the late 80’s I was usually the only girl in a laser at most all events. I stuck with it and participated in 3 US JR Women’s Singlehanded Championships as a junior. All 3 times it was a great learning experience and the opportunity to sail with females and be coaches by females extremely rewarding. One of my roommates from the 1989 event is still my best friend! Today these girls have 4.7 or Radial or Full rigs to choose from and lots of Laser Female role models like Anna, Paige and Erika just to name a few! Providing opportunities for young females to test drive and learn the laser is key. Host a clinic, demo day or just swap boats between races at the next event. Give that Opti or C420 a chance to go fast, learn and captain her own vessel! They will love it like these girls do! This past weekend I made some fun shirts, embarrassed them more than a little but most of all encouraging them to continue sailing the laser. Skills learned in this boat will always apply to other boats in the future, this investment in time is worth it! Cost of shirts less than $25, giving these girls the chance to bond off the course and mentor them... priceless for our sport. I challenge every sailor to try it. Sailing needs more young ladies to jump in a laser - local laser sailors and youth programs - make the opportunities available. They will come! US Jr Women’s Singlehanded Championship for the Leiter Trophy July 8-13 Richmond YC, California 4.7 or Radial Fleet **4.7 fleet is NEW this year** https://www.ussailing.org/competition/championships/2019-u-s-junior-womens-singlehanded-championship/ JO Atlanta YC Sailors April 13-14 Abbie Binzer 18-Louisville Sailing Club Emma Friedauer 14 - Hoover Sailing Club Sophia Woodbury 13 - Lake Lanier SC Kate Zurinskas 14 - Lake Lanier SC Amaya Escudero -14 Atlanta YC 1st overall These girls were great positive and supportive competitors - this is a great example of what the future of our sport holds! Lets all work to foster more of it!
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SUMMER 2019
Laser Skipper Wins Game of Thrones to Capture the Camellia Cup Regatta EL DORADO HILLS, CALIF. (April 28, 2019) – An epic 53-year quest to capture a throne ended when Emilio Castelli became the first Laser sailor to win the Camellia Cup Regatta on Folsom Lake. Not in the 53-year history of the oldest and largest sailboat race in the Sacramento Valley had a Laser won the Cup. Lasers, a 13-foot racing dinghy, had competed repeatedly in the venerable regatta since the boat was created in 1969, but they were often bested by larger fleets of local Banshees, Santana 20s and Catalina 22s that benefitted from skippers with local lake knowledge and large numbers. The Laser is one of the world’s most popular classes of sailboat with 200,000 made. It also holds the distinction of being selected in 1993 to be the singlehanded dinghy sailed in the Olympic Games. So, it has both a large fleet and an avid following of active and competitive sailors. Though, on Folsom Lake where winds are notoriously light and fickle, the singlehanded dinghy of choice has been the Banshee, due to its larger sail area. Few Banshees are sailed competitively elsewhere in large numbers, as new Banshees have not been made since the 1980s. So, it was endlessly frustrating to local Laser sailors that, though more numerous and newer Lasers were racing in Northern California, a Laser had never captured this throne. For the past decade, Sacramento Laser competitor, Stephen Aguilar, encouraged the Lasers to leave the briskly lashed waters of San Francisco Bay and venture inland to compete on
Folsom Lake for the Camellia Cup. At times, while the Lasers outnumbered other classes of boats, they lost by being too competitive with no Laser sailor dominating the class. That ended Apr. 27-28 when Sebastopol’s Emilio Castelli, representing the Richmond Yacht Club on his boat “Leaky Lena,” topped the Laser Class to be named 2019 Camellia Cup Champion.
www.Laser.org
Castelli locked up the Laser class to score three first place finishes and a second, losing only to overall Laser class secondplace finisher, Julian Soto. But, to win CamCup, he also had to post a better overall score than the top sailors in other classes. FLYC determines the Camellia Cup Champion through a formula that weighs both the number of boats registered in a class and number of wins by individual boats. This year, the Laser skippers were determined to win it all. The difference came down to one less point and one more boat (Castelli had 5 points, the leading Banshee skipper had 6 points, and the Lasers sailed 12 boats, the Banshees 11). At the awards ceremony, the Laser skippers cheered exuberantly when Castelli was announced as the regatta’s champion. For his reward, a Laser will be featured on next year’s CamCup commemorative shirt, Castelli’s name and boat class will be engraved on the regatta’s perpetual silver bowl and on its perpetual Open Centerboard trophy (made out of a classic mahogany Banshee centerboard – richly appreciated by the Laser skippers who’d lost the Cup to Banshees previously). Castelli was also presented with victor’s battle pennants for class and overall champion victories and bottles of Captain Morgan rum in recognition of Castelli’s good-natured sportsmanship, all of which were raised triumphantly by a celebratory group of Laser sailors, following the awards ceremony. The win was particularly sweet for the Laser skippers who’d
sought to add Camellia Cup to Laser District 24’s standard series of regattas within the West Coast Sailing Grand Prix. Aguilar was praised for his tireless advocacy that Camellia Cup be included in the West Coast Sailing Grand Prix; he left the ceremonies wearing a smile almost as big as Castelli’s
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Laser Masters North Americans Eastern Yacht Club, Marblehead, MA October 4-6, 2019
Housing-There are great places to stay in historical Marblehead, including the Eastern, Boston and Corinthian Yacht Clubs. Contact the Clubs directly to inquire on rooms. They are fi rst come and will fi ll up by summer! Some housing will be in our fl eet’s member’s homes. TomDailey15@gmail.com
On the heals vastly successful of the 2016 Laser Masters Nati onals and the 2018 J/70 Worlds, the Eastern Yacht Club will be hosti ng the 2019 Laser Masters North American To Do-Historical Spooky Salem (25 min bike), Glouster, Championships. The Eastern has a long history of one Boston, Race Commi� ee design racing and has been a strong supporter of the Laser Class. NOR/Registration-Stay tuned to ILCA.org Regatta-Follows ILCA Masters Guidelines in regards to fl eets. Beach and ramp launching Racing Area-The Atlanti c Ocean off of Marblehead, MA
Questions-Patrick Andreasen andreasensail@gmail.com or Kathyandreasen@gmail.com
Tune Up Races at EYC -NOOD/MA State Champs, Eastern YC July 27-28. Sailingworld.com -Ponce de Leon. Eastern YC Sept 15 -Sunday Spring/Fall Frostbite. Tomdailey15@gmail.com, -Tuesday Summer Series. Patrick andreasensail@gmail. com
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Gulf Coast Championship September 14-15 Pass Christian Yacht Club
Pass Christian Yacht Club, “the birthplace of yachting in the South” is excited to host the 2019 Laser Gulf Coast Championship on Sept.14-15. PCYC is located on the Mississippi Sound in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This regatta will be a great warm-up event for high school and college sailors around the country gearing up for their respective Cressy Qualifiers. The closest airport is in Gulfport, MS approximately 20 minutes from the club, while the New Orleans airport is about 1 hour and 10 minutes away. There are plenty of VRBOs in the Pass Christian area. We have several cute little shops and restaurants as well as two hotels all within walking distance to the club - Hotel Pass Christian, 116 W Scenic Dr. & Hotel Whiskey, 115 Davis Ave. This particular weekend is also “Second Saturday in the Bay”. Bay St. Louis is located across the St. Louis Bay bridge about 10 minutes from PCYC. The downtown shops stay open late while serving wine and hors d’oeuvres with plenty of restaurant choices. There are also several barrier islands off the coast of Mississippi, most notable is Ship Island. Family members can take the Ship Island Ferry and tour Ft. Massachusetts, built after the war of 1812. Y’all come on down to PCYC for some great sailing and Southern Hospitality! Pass Christian Yacht Club 120 Market St. Pass Christian, MS 39571 (228) 452-2571 Regatta Co-Chairs Laura Burns Patrick Burns 504-723-6249 504-237-1918
www.Laser.org
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District Reports District 3 Nigel Heath Toronto, Ontario The sailing season started with a shudder here in District 3 given the winter that wouldn’t end and water that wouldn’t warm up. They local racing scene didn’t get going in April as it typically does, but anyhow the season is now in full swing with regattas almost every weekend somewhere in the province. The full district 3 schedule is available at www.facebook.com > d3laser The Heinz Gebauer Water Rats Spring War was held recently and top Laser sailors were: 1) Gord Welsh 2) Pat Wachholz 3) Ray Davies. Top Radial results were 1) Andrew Mahoney 2) Julie Stewart 3) Pamela Shinkoda. Thanks to Randy McMeekin and all the volunteers who helped make the regatta possible.
In the picture Brett Slykermann is showing off his “go fast” technique.....“Oh crap this water is cold”.
District 4 Katja Smutny Manitoba Manitoba’s District 4 Sailors are happy to be back out on the water after a long cold winter. Things are in full swing here and training opportunities are plentiful. Two big Laser events taking place this summer are the Laser District 4 Championships on July 20-21 at the Falcon Yacht Club, and the Canadian Laser Masters on August 16-18 at the Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club. We welcome all Laser sailors from all districts to attend these events! Registration can be found here: Laser District 4 Championships: https://sailcanada.checklick. com/storefronts/218 Canadian Laser Masters: https://rlwyc.ca/2019-laser-masters/ We hope to see you all there!
District 5 Mark Lammens Saskatchewwan
The first Dick Degner scoring events for 2019 are Icebreaker at Calgary YC. The Reichenfeld’s were top 2 and Lee Nagy 3rd. Mike Hooper, Isaac Bussin and Phil Paxton are the top 3 in the Laser. Because Sail West in Kelowna does not allow Masters we will not include this event for the DD scoring. Calgary YC has good participation in their race series and training camps. In SK the Sunset series is off and running, 1 evening it was 32 degrees, the water 8. Because we have had no moisture since February the water level is very low and no mosquitoes.
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District 6 Dale Stranaghan British Colombia It has been a busy spring here in District 6 (British Columbia, Canada). The BC Circuit got underway at RVYC with the Kitten Cup at the end of April, followed the following weekend by Spring Dinghies in Victoria. Over the May long weekend we had the BC Laser Masters Championships in Kelowna and the Andy Hunt Memorial Regatta at Jericho. Andy Hunt Memorial Regatta, Jericho Sailing Centre, May 18-19 The inaugural Andy Hunt Regatta, named for long-time volunteer Race Officer and Program Director Andy Hunt, took place on English Bay in moderate winds, bright sunshine and warm temperatures. Youth and master sailors competed in radials and full rigs. Al Clark schooled the radial fleet with a series of first place finishes on Saturday but didn’t sail Sunday, allowing Bob Ennenberg to win the series just ahead of youth sailor Tim Mendham and master sailor Jacek Suski. Similarly, master sailors earned first and third in full rigs: Tony Martin won with a series of firsts on Sunday, followed by Alex Shepard and Andriy Kanyuka. Saturday dinner was followed by slides and speeches featuring Andy, given by family and Jericho staff. Then moderators passed the mike and many of the 80 attendees shared memories of Andy—some funny, some touching, but as a whole they painted a vivid portrait of a man who was a fixture at Jericho and in the sailing community for more than 25 years. Sunday morning started with an 8 Bells ceremony on the water before the first race. An anchored freighter played an interesting role in strategy on Sunday. It offered the choice to sail inshore past the freighter’s wind shadow and into more favourable current or to short-tack along the ship’s offshore side. In Race 1, a couple of bold skippers found the answer—inshore was the way to go and most boats went there in later races. There’s talk of making the Andy Hunt Regatta an annual event but moving it to another date. Watch for it! submittted by: Bob Ennenberg The 15th Annual BC Laser Masters Championships Were held at Kelowna on Okanagan Lake as part of the Central Okanagan Sailing Association Springtime Regatta on May 18-19, 2019. The winds were light to moderate and the fleet was smaller than normal due to many sailors being committed to other events. 5 races were held on Saturday and the winds on Sunday did not permit any races to be started. After handicapping calculations, the top three sailors were: Peter MacDougal from Kimberley 13 points. Trevor Owen from Kamloops 16 points. Maciej Mamon from Rossland 19 points. Other regattas for 2019 in the Interior of B.C. include NOSA (June 8-9). And SOSA. July 20-21. submitted by: Trevor Owen Most BC Circuit events have a good showing of Lasers. To see the schedule go to the BC Sailing website at www.bcsailing. bc.ca. Some key Laser events this summer in District 6 include Waves at Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, June 29th & 30th. Followed by Sail Canada’s Sailwest Regatta at COSA, July 6th & 7th. Fall Dinghies in Victoria, Sep 28th and 29th. West Vancouver’s Pumpkin Bowl, Oct 19th & 20th. The Bluenose Regatta at Kitsilaino Yacht Club, November 2nd & 3rd. Last year I hosted the District 6 Laser Champs as part of the West Vancouver Yacht Club’s Pumpkin Bowl, which is one of the largest regattas in the Pacific Northwest. I plan on doing the same this year as we had a great turnout from our BC Sailors and friends from South of the border, Alberta and even one from Manitoba. I’ve noticed that District 6 has no website of its own to link to for events, results and pictures. I’ll be creating one in the near future.
District 7 Scott Pakenham, Chris Bollinger, Christine Neville New England Wow, Summer is finally here!!! What a Spring we had here in New England, rain, rain and some drizzle. With a touch of drama, enough to make your head spin and keep you pegged to social media for the next explosion of information and diversions. Crazy, Right? Maybe one side will just make boats and parts and the other will organize races and the class. Alright off my soapbox I go and down to the business. Results? Ok, showing our youth initiative is working out, it was the 2018 Race to Alaska veteran and Roger Williams University student Grant Gridley that dethroned 413 top dog Pete Shope for the Peter Milnes trophy 2019! 3rd place was new Boston University
transfer Tyler Mowry followed by fleet regulars, Mark Bear, Brian Fisher and showing that life off the water doesn’t make you slower, Scott Milnes. Its incredible the speed he has every year when he shows up and sails his one regatta. 37 boats sailed and every one of the 4 fleet boats were in use! Massapoag had their annual Spring regatta and Newport Sailor Tony Iacono put up a fence with his wins in all 3 races. I guess there was a bit of socializing while the wind filled in, but around 3 PM RC had set up and put out 3 awesome races. The after race BBQ is like none other for regattas of this size!! They do have a Fall regatta that should not be missed. Back in Rhode Island, Wickford Yacht Club hosted their season kickoff event and hosted not just 21 Full rigs but 7 Radials as well. After the 7 races for each class Portsmouth resident and proud Stanford father Steve Kirkpatrick took home top prize in Full rigs while TJ Danilek bested the Radials. The Full rig fleets have lately been a who’s who of Laser talent, Halliwell, Shope, Vessella, Ferguson, Fisher. The struggle for mid fleet just got tougher when everyone decides to show up. The awesome treatment this club give to competitors keeps everyone coming back. Ryosuke Sakai (2nd Radial) and Natalya Gontcharova (5th Radial) drove up from New York to sail this event that brings out the talent like Multi-Champion Peter Seidenberg (3rd Radial). Wickford hosts the Masters in September in The New England Masters Presented by Dynamic Dollies. Upcoming events are looking to start filling up in registrations. Newport regatta looks to host a big fleet to match their huge 15 races from last year. Typically one of the largest fleets of the regatta they also get the most racing in. Super competitive fleets, lots of races and the history of Newport. Whats not to love!! Other Notable events to make sure you hit. With a total of 3 different sets of silver up for grabs the Marblehead NOOD will host the District 7 Championships, Radial and Full Rig, The Massachusetts State Champs and the Marblehead NOOD Laser trophy for talents sailors to fight for on July 26 to 28. Guaranteed excellent RC work and the goal for 100 percent housing for Lasers Tom Dailey and crew are working hard to make Marblehead the Laser base of Massachusetts. They are promoting this as a feeder event for the Masters NA’s in October (4-6) This event also will see the Marblehead hospitality shown with housing provided for all who request it. No wonder they help foster awesome athletes like Tyler Hamilton, Ted Hood, and Jud Smith! Old Sailors, take to the Bay, Buzzards Bay for the 47th BBR regatta, Masters only and hosted by New Bedford Yacht Club. Mark Bears hard work to help get home field advantage pays off with awesome wind, great courses and fantastic RC work. One of the top 3 places to Laser in New England. August 2-4 makes a lot of sailing in a prime location. Definitely a yearly bucket list event, last years edition saw Dave Chapin drive up from Florida and Don Hahl Jeep up from Brant Beach to participate. Good times. For more info and results check out the D-7 Site. http:// laserdistrict7.blogspot.com/ . Christine Neville tirelessly keeps the results up to date, so Fleet captains make sure to mail in after your events. Chris Bollengier keeps the calendar up to date so definitely let him know when your hosting an event. Check out the Fleets page and give them a shout when in their area, you meet the nicest people sailing a Laser. Enjoy your summer, sail your boat and email us if you can beat 13.5 knots on a reach!!! Carry on my wayward sons
District 9 Peter Bushnell Upstate New York We opened with our first three regattas with a packed schedule of three Saturdays in a row. Winds ranged from very light, to moderate, to really blowing - in that order! Great to have new sailors and some returning in the district. Matthew Schofield, former Cornell Sailing team is doing great and out front with two wins. Word from Rochester YC is that they are gearing up with a significant increase in activity in advance of the D9 Grand Prix in August. Thanks much to the regatta organizers and competitors for everything! Here are the results to date: Light winds and sunshine at the Saratoga Lake Sailing Club on Saturday, June 1. Thirteen sailors competed in challenging 2-5mph out of the north, with 3 races. Thanks very much to race officer Barbara Brown, and thanks to all at SSC for making this such a nice event. Top 5 results: 1) Peter Bushnell [7pts], 2) David Filiberto [7pts], 3) Ray Cudney [8pts], 4) Mike Kitner [11pts], 5) Kurt Offer [14pts]. Ithaca YC hosted its annual Wine Keg regatta on Saturday, June 8, with 9 sailors. Five races were held in a beautiful 8-12mph North breeze. Top 5 Results: 1) Matt Schofield [8pts], 2) Ray Cudney [12pts], 3) Brian Neubauer [13pts], 4) Peter Bushnell [13pts], 4) Dan Fien [15pts]. Photo of Wine Keg Champion, Matt Schofield (photo credit Mike Culotta). Newport YC, Rochester on Irondequoit Bay, Saturday, June 15 with 8 Sailors. Heavy South-West with gusty, shifty winds 10-15 (or more) with gusts in the high 20s (or more). Most competitors dropped out after two races, so only two races were held. Top 5: 1) Matthew Schofield [2pts], 2) Mike Wilde [4pts], 3) Bobby Bryant [12pts], 4) Kenny Fourspring [13pts], 5) Landy Atkinson
SUMMER 2019
[14pts]. Eric Reitinger District 10 Er4599@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/1384665518239646/
osculating but mostly worked its way to the east by the last few races. The final race determined the winner and the tiebreaker went all the way to who beat who in that last race. Congrats to Eric Reitinger on winning the fulls, and Patrick Modin on winning the radials. Districts will have been completed by the time of printing but we are sailing out in the ocean off the coast of Cape May. As we move into the summer, we have junior events mostly taking over, but the District is hosting the North American Championship at Brant Beach in July. Plan on making the trip for the biggest Laser event on the east coast! Club series all over the place will be going on keeping the adults happily sailing.
Looking back we had a very solid spring season. The frostbite series at Monmouth got a lot of folks out sailing throughout the winter, Toms River got the spring series off for a month or so and then Sandy Hook Bay and Catamaran Club offered a few weeks of previews of the ACC venue and a new place for us to sail in the area. Spring is always a busy time here in District 10. We were fortunate to host the Atlantic Coasts which is always a good way to get people out on the water early in the year.
We always start off in the middle of April at Marsh Creek for the Philadelphia Laser Championship. Wind was light, first from the North wind tunnel, and then during one of the races it flipped 180 to Southerly from the Dam. As always under these conditions, pressure moves thru the course, this time West shore side was most consistent. We had a tie for the first. Jim Irvin won the tie breaker with 2 bullets. Our Commodore Pete Madonna took 2nd, Jim Knob 3rd and John Surguy visiting from Long Island Sound took 4th. We had guests from NJ, DE, NY and few places in PA. Thank you all for coming. Thanks to the sunfish fleet who ran the RC in challenging conditions and completed 6 races which allowed for one throw out. Thanks to all our volunteers who always make it a successful event. Shrewsbury kicks off May’s sailing. Five W/L races in 3-8 knot breeze. Seven boats. Final Results: 1. Jesse Stevenson 2. Larry Nociolo 3. Newt Wattis 4. Mike Evans 5. Chris Henkel 6. Patrick Modin 7. Phil Arnheiter The following weekend Monmouth hosted their spring regatta at the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club, the venue for the Atlantic Coasts the following weekend. Folks got the chance to sail in the waters the week prior and leave their boats there for the week. Monmouth hosted their annual spring regatta at Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club as a nice prep for the ACCs this weekend. 23 boats arrived for some great wind before it slowly died as we started racing. Four races were completed in some chop and a breeze that went up and down between 5-12mph. The wind died after race 4 and sailors were treated to a great BBQ post-race and an easy place to store their boats for the following weekend. Top 3 Peter Hurley Eric Reitinger Glen Dickson Conditions at ACCs were great and the turnout was solid. Weather cooperated and offered sailors some great sailing through the two days. This is a venue we’d like to keep using if we could (Frostbiting was held there late winter/early spring). Shore Acres hosted their annual Plank Regatta over Memorial Day weekend. The fleet of eighteen arrived to a slowly building southerly which resulted in some great conditions. The chop was building and offered the sailors some challenging upwinds and some fast reaches and surfing conditions. 5 Gold Cup courses were run and then the group was treated to lunch in the newly CO approved SAYC club house. Congratulations to Peter Hurley on winning all but one race in event and Larry Nociolo for winning every Radial race. Top 5 Fulls: Peter Hurley Michael Ehnot Mike Russom Glen Dickson Eric Reitinger Surf City hosted the 48th Annual Jack Elfman Orange Coffee Pot Regatta this past Saturday. Sailors arrived to an 8-10mph North Easterly and a great breakfast to prep them for the day. 7 races were planned in close proximity to the club. The wind was
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June 27 Feed the Need Jr. Regatta @ Pine Beach YC June 11 Iron Man Jr Boys Regatta @ Shore Acres YC June 12 Powder Puff Jr Girls Regatta @ Metedeconk, YC July 18-21 Laser NAs @ Brant Beach YC Remember this event requires country codes on your sails! July 19 BYC Blast Junior Regatta @ Beachwood Yacht Club July 22-23 Jr. Olympics @ Island Heights YC July 29 Laser Team Race @ Lavalette YC August 2 Summer Sailing Class Jr Regatta @ Ocean Gate YC October 4-6 Masters North Americans @ Eastern YC October 12 Fall Laser Regatta @ Marsh Creek SC
District 11 Jon Deutsch Virginia Summer is well underway in D11 and we’ve got a few more late summer regattas coming up including Deep Creek’s Laser Invitational, Annual Regattas at FBYC & TAYC, Summer Series at SSA and West River’s Annual Regatta Labor Day weekend. Our District 11 Championship will be at Severn Sailing Association September 14-15 and FBYC’s Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Regatta will be October 12-13. PRSA started the spring with the Capital City Regatta in Washington DC - 13 boats and James Jacob (SSA/PRSA) was the top overall finisher. SSA’s Sunshine Open had gusts of 40 kts on Saturday keeping the fleet on shore and 2 kts on Sunday offering only one race. Congratulations to Scott Williamson and Bob Tan winning their fleets. FBYC’s Laser Spring Regatta had 5 races in a nice early season sea breeze - Jon Deutsch topped the 6-boat fleet followed by club junior Finn Ciszewsk. The Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship came to Annapolis in May. After 7 races Ari Barshi won the Standard fleet overall while Mike Schmidt won the Radial division. West River Sailing Club held their Annual Dave Irey Regatta Bryan Bay was top overall finisher with straight bullets. Be sure to checked out www.laserdistrict11.org for all of the results and our upcoming event schedule and be sure to join our Facebook Group, Email List and follow us on Twitter @ laserdistrict11 for all the latest on laser sailing in the mid-Atlantic.
District 13 James Liebl Florida This District report is going to be lot like my birthday (yep, I’m writing this about the same time as my birthday). The good news about my birthday is that it’s my birthday. The bad news about my birthday is that apparently NONE of you bought me a present. Ha! Seriously, this report is part good news and part bad news. Here’s the good news-we have a boatload (get that nautical reference?) of cool stuff and events coming up in District 13. And I mean a ton of super cool stuff. Super cool. Check this out: Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Series (BBYRA) That’s right, the BBYRA series kicks off again in the fall (September) and runs for 10 months. Once per month racing, so come on out. Key Biscayne Yacht Club (KBYC) Monthly Series Now that I think about it, “super cool” doesn’t even come close to describing this NEW series. Dig this-KBYC is starting a monthly series of regattas. Each month, they’re going to have a two day “regatta.” Saturday will be 3 races, followed by a social event. Sunday will be 3 races. Youth and adults will race together. Ridiculously cheap entry fees. KBYC is going to run one series in the Fall (4 months), then reset and run another series in the Spring (4 months). Think about ALL the boxes this series checks: • Everyone welcome, young folks, old folks, inbetween folks. All ages sailing together. It used
to be the youth would learn from the older people. But frankly, the youth are so good these days, the adults are probably learning more from the youthespecially about downwind technique. The one thing the adults can still teach the youth is that sailing is a life-long sport. You don’t have to quit sailing when you graduate from college. You can have fun, stay fit, and make worldwide friends by racing. A while back, I was pulling my boat out of the water after a Wednesday night “beer can” race at the same time a former Olympian was. When I asked, “what event are you training for,” she replied, “event? No event, I’m training for life.” See, life-long sport my friends. • Competitive racing. Want to get better? Go out and race with people better than you. • Defined time on the water. 3 races per day. That’s it. Got to mow the lawn or run errands? No worries, 3 races. Bam, you’re in, you’re out. Plenty of time to do other stuff. • Social event. Okay, you whipped everyone? Cool baby, there’s a social event Saturday so you can preach the gospel on why you’re fast. Okay, you got whipped? Cool baby, there’s a social event so you can learn why you got whipped. Okay, don’t really care if you whipped or got whipped, but want to discuss the macroeconomic outlook for emerging economies, best new places to meet super hot people (besides Laser social gatherings), or brain surgery? Cool baby, there’s a social event so you can discuss those, or any other subject, to your heart’s content. Tally up the number of multi-millionaires, certified literal geniuses, and downright interesting folks that sail Lasers, and you’ll realize that socializing with Laser folks will enhance your life and expand your horizons. Seriously. OPEN Orange Bowl Did you know there are TWO Orange Bowl regattas? One Orange Bowl for the youth that caps out registrations faster than a Beyonce concert and one OPEN Orange Bowl with no age restriction. The Youth Orange Bowl and the OPEN Orange Bowl run the same dates, but the OPEN event is at Coconut Grove Sailing Club. So, if you’re over 18 or you got shut out of the youth registration because you didn’t hit “submit entry” fast enough for the Youth Orange Bowl, come race the OPEN Orange Bowl. For those who used to sail the youth event but are now over the age of 21, use the money that grandma gave you for an Xmas present and have the time of your life in Miami. Race in incredible conditions (75 degree temps, turquoise water, trade breezes) during the day and then torch it with the world famous Miami nightlife. I’m not talking nightlife at the Sandbar or the Barracuda, I’m talking blow it out in Wynwood, Brickell, or the underground spots. The pics you’ll post will make you an Instagram hero. Plus, after you share some of your exploits with grandma, she’ll say, “oh my lord! I’m giving you ten times as much cash next year-just tell me more stories.” District 13 Championships No question, the toughest Districts in North America. Arguably the toughest Districts in the World. Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville. You’ve got five months to get ready. Are you ready? Want to know the exact dates of these events? Want to know about other cool events coming up in District 13? Find the exact dates by checking the calendar at the laser.org site (www. laser.org). Remember, we’re trying to have ONE consolidated calendar for all Laser events in District 13 so ANY Laser sailor in the whole, wide world can come. That calendar is the laser.org calendar. Make sure you check the “District 13” box when you do the search. Here’s the link to the calendar: http://www.laser.org/index.php?option=com_ wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=215 Having an event and want to be part of the “cool kids” club? Well, get that event posted on the calendar at laser.org. If you don’t post your event there, nobody will show up and you will definitely NOT be an Instagram hero since you’ll be all alone. Now that we’ve looked into the future, we’ve got to remember the past. So here are some results and a regatta report from the recent past: BBYRA Series Final Results 2018-2019 (Miami, September 2018-June 2019) Series Podium Finishers Listed, But Lots of Other Sailors 1. Francis Hawley 2. Marcello Correa 3. Roberto Laub Clearwater Junior Sailing Open (March) 1. Preston Weaver 2. Mcauley Carter 3. Zachary Waldman 4. Alexander Erwin 5. Brett Putnam 6. Ana Vasta Sarasota Sailfest (April) Radial, Top 10 1. Nicholas Reeser 2. Daniel Escudero 3. Mathieu Dale
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4. Benjamin Smith 5. Robby Meek 6. Matthew King 7. Lucas Sawin 8. Sammy Clark 9. Humberto Porrata 10. Preston Weaver 4.7, Top 10 1. Spencer Dominguez 2. Daniela Dreyfuss 3. Amaya Escudero 4. Kevin Gosselin 5. Conor Kellett 6. William Wardlaw 7. Tommy McCormick 8. Luciana Solorzano 9. Martin Barrera 10. Lucia Gil Venice Youth Boating Venetian Cup (April) 1. Jordan Hand 2. Luke Middaugh 3. Alex Liebel 4. Morgan Smith 5. Devin Wade Melbourne Spring Regatta (Melbourne Yacht Club, April) 1. Dave Chapin 2. Hal Gilreath 3. Brian Gilcher 4. Mike Taylor 5. Ganson Evans 6. Pete Hansen 7. Paul Henderson And talking about “good news,” wait, make that GREAT NEWS, we have a “regatta report” on the Melbourne Spring regatta from Hal Gilreath. Here is Hal’s report: Melbourne YC, in the heart of the Space Coast, hosted a small fleet of Lasers at its annual Spring regatta. A warm and sunny weekend prevailed throughout the weekend for the Lasers sailors to enjoy seven highly competitive races. Pat Lambert set up windward leeward courses in the warm and blue waters of the Indian River. A nice 5-12 knot Easterly prevailed over both days and provided for challenging racing in the shifty breeze. Dave Chapin, from nearby Lake Eustis, won six of seven races to win convincingly. He evidenced consistent speed to stay on top of the shifts. Each race was fairly tight with Hal Gilreath, Mike Taylor and Brian Gilcher giving close chase. We also had Ganson Evans returned to Laser sailing after a 3 year break. Ganson will attest, it’s not easy on the body to sail seven races after a 3 year break even if the breeze is fairly light. Melbourne YC provided a great venue for the regatta. Pat Lambert ran punctual and solid races. More so, the members opened up the club to sailors, provided a great breakfast both days and BBQ and beer on Saturday night. It’s hard to beat their hospitality. Come back in the Fall for their Fall regatta and enjoy sailing on warm and blue waters, and great food and camaraderie. Want to know why your “recent past” regatta/result isn’t listed here? It’s because you didn’t send me any results, or better, a regatta report. Remember the theme of this article? That’s right, the theme is “good news and bad news.” Some straight up bad news is that I don’t follow you on Instagram, or twitter, or facebook, or anything else. So unless you tell me about your regatta results, I’ll never know about them. Make sure I know about your regatta results and regatta reports by sending me your results (gamedayparking@yahoo.com). Or, sail the OPEN Orange Bowl and post some underground Miami nightlife pix so outrageous they’ll make both me and your grandma shake our heads and start to follow you on Instagram. Staying with the bad news, we had two events this spring get cancelled for lack of participation. That’s a huge blow to the Clubs that organized the events, the volunteers that came to run the events, and the sailors who wanted to sail. We simply must get participation numbers up. I’m open to any ideas on how we get more participation. Let’s figure out how we can make Laser sailing a priority for people. Or at least get people off the couch and into their boat. Thinking globally, the Laser’s main selling point to stay in the Olympics for 2024 is the ubiquitous global presence of the Class. Almost anywhere around the World, you used to find Laser racing. If we lose that local action and local fleets, we’ve lost the one big Olympic selling point. Spinning back to the good news, it’s easy to get the participation numbers up. All we have to do is go sail our Lasers! Grab a friend whose boat has been sitting in the boat park or garage for too long and bring them along. Oh yeah, one final piece of good news-it’s not too late to buy me a new sail as a belated birthday present. See you on the line or in the line up-
District 18 John Shockey IN, KY, OH
Laser Fleet Captain - Steve Wiseman swwiseman@hotmail.com Wednesday’s at Lansing Sailing Club The LSC Laser fleet races on Wednesday evenings from the first Wednesday before Memorial Day until the first Wednesday after Labor Day. We have a very active Laser and Sunfish fleet and average between 10 to 15 Lasers on the starting line each Wednesday. We sail 4 races with the first race starting at 6:30PM. After a great time on the water participants of the Laser and Sunfish fleet gather at a local Italian restaurant for all you can eat pasta ($5.99), great conversation and little Rules Quiz from our honorary member Dave Perry. It’s a great night and we welcome your participation. For more information about LSC racing click here: http://www.lansingsailing.org/cms/index. php/racing/2011-08-04-18-20-29 or contact Olav Messerschmidt at omesserschmidt@comcast.net. D19 Regattas June 9 UofM Spring Regatta - Michigan Sailing Club Spring NOR- Baseline Lake, just North of Ann Arbor ?July 21-22 Leland Laser Regatta - Leland Yacht Club August 24 Lake Lansing Annual - Lansing Sailing Club
District 18 Laser sailing is in season! The U18 junior sailors are out and about in large numbers competing in the I-LYA Traveler series preparing for their culminating event, Junior Bay Week, on South Bass Island (Put-In-Bay) in Lake Erie, OH. The Laser as a youth sailboat continue to be a staple in our region; we hope this next generation remains passionate about the opportunity to continue the affordable and high thrill option to Laser sail in their adult lives after Junior sailing! Personally I routinely have a blast ripping in 20+knts every time a big system comes through and the fisherman returning to port while I sail outwards, Go Pro affixed, what’s not to love? Videos are posted on the Laser District 18 Facebook page…
?August 25 Creekfleet Dog Days of Summer - Stony Creek Metropark - Kevin Varga
We are VERY excited to announce a NEW venue for the District 18 Grand Prix event September 28th and 29th at the Historic Coast Guard Station in Cleveland, OH, which boasts inner harbor and open Lake Erie options for racing. This event will focus on quality of sailing and spectators are welcome! For post racing libations and eats we will be organically coming up with offsite options, being a public land space at the Foundry, we are restricted in some capacity to what we can offer onsite. That is okay, come see what Cleveland Ohio has to offer! Cleveland is 5 hours from Chicago and 6 hours from Annapolis/DC, so we hope to pull in numbers from the region and to our friends in Ontario come south of the border and show us Ohio Boys and Girls what you are made of! The Wayne Myers Perpetual Trophy is on the line for top Junior in the largest fleet so come on out!
? means they are unconfirmed dates and the date shown was from a prior year.
Special thanks to Paul Gush and the Indianapolis Sailing Club for hosting a great Windy 500 regatta, year after year! As per usual excellent wind, great times, and sailors converged from as far as Wisconsin! Ed Spengemon, Mark Kastell, Roman Plutenko, and Wayne Meyers showed Indy a great a time! Pictures included.
Sept 8 UofM Fall Regatta - Michigan Sailing Club - Baseline Lake, just North of Ann Arbor ?Sept 10 Spring Lake Fall Regatta - Spring Lake Yacht Club ?Sept 22 No Sweat Regatta - Portage Yacht Club ?Oct 6 Pumpkin Head Regatta - Grand Rapids Yacht Club ?October 28 Bonechiller - Michigan Sailing Club
That’s all for now from D19 (Michigan)! As always check www. D19Laser.org, www.Laser.org, or www.facebook.com/D19Laser for even more schedules, reports, and photos!
District 20 Sean Lennon WI, IL As the weather warms up, we are excited for Laser racing in District 20. From Door County to Carlyle, Illinois, there are so many opportunities to see our beautiful midwest as summer goes full swing. Don’t forget to check the schedule to plan your racing this summer! June 8 - 9: Island Bay Yacht Club Laser Regatta: Springfield, Illinois June 29 - 30: Great Lakes Championship: Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club July 13 - 14: Hobelman Regatta: Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club July 20 - 21: Ephraim Yacht Club Laser Regatta August 3 - 4: Milwaukee Bay One-Design, Milwaukee Yacht Club August 24 - 25: Summer’s End Regatta: North Shore Yacht Club September 14-15: Red Flannels Regatta - Chicago Corinthian Yacht Club October 16 - 17: District 20 Championship - Carlyle Laser Regatta
In closing, we look forward to seeing you at the DISTRICT 18 September 28th-29th ! Event details are posted on the D18 Facebook page but feel free to contact me @ JohnRShockey@ gmail.com
District 19 Ken Swetka Michigan
The water temps in Michigan have made for a late start to the season but things are in full swing now! The regatta schedule has a lot of unconfirmed annual events and Districts is still not finalized but keep checking the websites. Weekly Series – also at Laser.org Tuesday’s at Portage Yacht Club Evenings of June 4, 11, 18, 25, and July 2, 9. 6:30 pm warning signal of first race, multiple races will be attempted. Series Coordinator - Rick Lyons rl@chartermi.net or 734-4264155
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SUMMER 2019
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Taisai Hatter holds the SoCal Ullman/Frost trophy for overall series winner
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David Hartmann and Newt Wattis celebrating 78 and 80 years at a Florida Masters regatta
SUMMER 2019
Camilla Cup photos
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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!
A strong class association with lots of racing attracts the world’s best sailors - giving you the best racing possible!
A strong class association means major events scheduled at the best sailing locations and moving all over the North American Region - there will always be a big event near you!
A strong class association means solid class rules making all boats as identical as possible - you are competing against other sailors, not their pocket books!
A strong class association means lots of people looking to buy boats keeping the resale value of your boat high.
A strong class association keeps an eye towards the future and
works with the builders to make improvements where needed while preserving as well as possible the competitiveness of older boats.
To be strong, a class association needs the support of its sailors!
What are some of the direct benefits of membership? You 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. You receive the International Class Association’s quarterly publication “Laser World” which gives a roundup of international events sailed around the world, as well as information from the international office. You receive the North American Association’s quarterly publication “The Laser Sailor” which is loaded with regatta reports, technique articles, fitness and nutrition tips, sailor profiles, reports from each of the North American Region’s 26 Districts and much, much more. In addition, the magazine also contains advertising from Laser dealers selling Laser specific gear and aimed entirely at Laser sailors - if you are looking for something for your boat you will see it advertised here! You will have access to the class website at www.laser. org containing all the latest news as well as the up to date calendar of events, complete with maps to show you how to find the events. And you can also find archived copies of The Laser Sailor as well as useful articles on how to sail your boat faster. Your membership makes you eligible to sail in any of the 50+ major Laser Class regattas scheduled every year throughout the North American Region, including open, masters’, youth and women’s events.
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. $10.11 of your dues goes to the International Class where they use the money to pay their staff to make sure world level events get scheduled, ensuring all the boats are the same by inspecting the builders to make sure they are complying with the Laser Construction Manual, keep track of rules changes proposed by members, interfacing with ISAF on various levels, including keeping both the Laser Standard and Laser Radial as Olympic equipment, etc. A little over $7.00 goes to the quarterly assembling, printing and mailing of The Laser Sailor to you for the year. Around $5.00 goes to support and promotion, ranging from direct support of the districts and regattas to the website. Most of the remaining dues go toward all the things it takes to running an organization of 2000 members, from Executive Secretary travel costs, to federal income taxes all the way to mundane office expenses. Your membership dues are used to keep the Laser Standard, Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 as THE singlehanded dinghy to sail and race in North America and throughout the world!
Why should you join the Laser Class? To enable the Laser Class to remain a strong class association and continue to make the Laser the pre-eminent singlehanded dinghy of our time. To gain the benefits of membership outlined above. To protect your investment in your boat, making sure that if the time comes to sell then you can be certain that the high demand driven by a strong class will enable you to get the best price for your boat. The International Laser Class Association, North American Region is what it is today because of the support of its members. Keep that tradition alive, join or renew your membership TODAY!
Your membership makes you eligible for the ILCA-NA Grand Prix where you earn
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SUMMER 2019
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
Name_______________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________ City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________ Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________ Sail # ______________DOB (month/day/year) _____________Sex ______ Boat usually sailed _____Laser ______Radial _____Laser 4.7 Current Membership Fees All amounts are in US dollars. (Canadian checks must be in US dollars.) • Regular - $50 for one year or $95 for 2 years • Junior - $45 (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership), or $85 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 during term of membership) • International - $60 (any member not living in the US or Canada), one year only
Amount enclosed __________________US$ Please make checks payable to ILCA of NA or provide credit card information as shown below. Thank you for joining the Laser Class. Credit Card payment by Visa, Mastercard or AMEX (Sorry – no Discover)
Name on credit card: ________________________________________________________ Credit card number: ________________________________________________________ Exp. date: _________ Credit card billing zip/postal code _________ Security code____ NOTE: Occasionally we make our mailing list available to our advertisers. If you do not want your name included on these lists, please check here: _________
RETURN THIS FORM TO: ILCA OF NA 2812 CANON STREET SAN DIEGO, CA 92106
www.Laser.org
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CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106
Summer 2019
San Dimas, CA Permit No. 410