The Laser Sailor Winter 2019 by Jerelyn Biehl

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

WINTER 2019

ÂŽ

The World Leader in Outfitting Laser Sailors www.APSltd.com Laser Cunningham/ Outhaul & Vang Kits by Harken

Dynamic Dollies Laser Dolly $495.00

$285.00

$325.00

APS Pro Clew Inhauler $46.07

APS Pro Outhaul Primary $30.95 APS Pro Cunningham $50.33

APS Pro Spliced Outhaul Mast Blocks Single-Berry $42.06

Double-Berry $59.31

APS Pro Daggerboard Downhaul Kit $36.87

APS Pro Outhaul Set Up $109.51

Laser Traveler and Boom Blocks

APS Pro Spliced Traveler $30.16

APS Pro EPIC Traveler $49.95

APS Clew Straps $15.95

WINTER 2019

Your resource for new boats, sails, hardware, apparel and more.

ORDERS OVER $50

Class legal compasses for Lasers Stay current on the latest class upgrades with a new electronic compass. Velocitek Prism

Tacktick

Nautalytics

Plus, the new Deck Compass Bracket

*Fits all 3 compass models! Already have a compass? Just grab a Laser deck bracket and youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re ready to sail!

Nautalytics Deck Compass Bracket

Frostbite Essentials

$49.95

NEW Gill Pro Drysuit APS Logo Beanie

$599.00

$17.95

Zhik Superwarm Gloves $56.00

Ronstan Clear Start 40mm Watch $79.95

www.Laser.org

Visit

104 Severn Avenue Annapolis, MD 21403

Connect

APSltd.com 800.729.9767

Great Lakes Open Laser Regatta July 12, 13, 14 2019 Thornbury, Ontario

Great Lakes Youth Laser Radial Championship Great Lakes Masters Laser Championship Laser Corinthian Regatta

The race course is a 5 minute sail from the harbour

Georgian Bay has great sailing, with crystal clear fresh water.

Contact by email: mbeaton@thermor-ins.com

Laser Regatta Ad.indd 1

2018-12-03 8:28 AM

WINTER 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

WINTER 2019

District Contacts .....................................................................................................6 President’s Report....................................................................................................8 Prototype Lower Radial Section..........................................................................9 Duck Pond Sailor at World Masters....................................................................12 Regatta Reports Gulf Coast Masters Championship........................................................14 Master ACC Championship....................................................................16 Master Great Lakes Championship.......................................................18 Masters Wrap-Up and 2019 Schedule..................................................23 Master World De-Brief with Bill Symes...........................................................20 2019 Event Schedule .............................................................................................19 District Reports.......................................................................................................24 Saving the Sport of Sailing .................................................................................29 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

Cover photo: Swimming Laser sailor in Lansing... Photo credit: Lansing Sailing Club

® WINTER 2019 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world

HAWAII

District 1

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

District 2

District 9

District 18

District 10

District 19

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

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

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

District 20

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 21

District 4

District 12

Philippe Dormoy, 385 Place Desmarest, Ile Bizard, Quebec, H9C 2G8 514-808-0753 Pdormoy62@gmail.com

District 3

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 Stanaghan West Vancouver BC 604-921-7575 x 231 sailingdirector@wvyc.ca www.district6x.ca

District 7

District 11

Stanley Hassinger stanley.hassinger@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 17

Marguerite Koehler info@dinghyshop.com - 631-264-0005 www.LaserD8.org

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

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

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

District 22

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

District 23

Geoff Hurwitch Geoffh437@yahoo.com

District 24

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

District 25

Jorge Suarez, 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

WINTER 2019

www.Laser.org

President’s Report Our congratulations goes out to Pavlos Kontides, selected in October as the 2018 Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Pavlos is a two-time Laser World Champion and Olympian, and to win the Rolex title he had to beat out several big named global sailors. The name Pavlos Kontides became etched into the history books in his home nation of Cyprus, when he became the country’s first Olympic medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games. His success inspired the nation and since then he has continued to inspire nationally and globally with his achievements. The selection of a Laser sailor for the Rolex award demonstrates the high regard the international sailing community places on the winner of the Laser World Championships as perhaps the toughest sailing competition to win on the planet. The ILCA World Council held its annual meetings in November, and it was a constructive three days. The Technical Committee meeting was held on Friday, with the Chief Technical Officer, Clive Humphris, presenting his 2018 report. There are no major issues to report, with builders producing consistent and in tolerance hulls and equipment. The new composite Radial bottom section development is progressing well, with target for introduction being 2020 (although, like the introduction of the MKII Standard sail a few years ago, the new section will not be approved for use in lead up events to, nor at the 2020 Olympics). Like the new top section, the new lower will provide similar performance, but will be significantly more robust with the overriding objective of reducing costs. Photos on the next page. Considerable discussion at the WCM

took place around the Olympic equipment selection for 2024. World Sailing has decided to run a “Sea Trials” in the first quarter of 2019 in southern Europe, with four classes being evaluated for the Singlehanded Men’s and Women’s events. The Laser and Radial will be part of the evaluation. At this point in time we still don’t know the details of these “Sea Trials”, but we hope to receive more information very soon. The ILCA will need to select both a female and male to sail in the trials. We continue to do whatever we can to cover all the bases and convey to the selection committee the many advantages of maintaining the Laser and Radial for the 2024 Games. The topic of use of personal electronic devices while racing was discussed, as new data monitoring, collection and display technology continues to be introduced that can be applicable to sailing. We are working to develop a coherent policy in this regard, with the objective that any technology that is potentially performance enhancing (beyond digital compasses) will not be approved for use while racing (note that heart monitoring devices, for example, would not be considered as performance enhancing). The NA Laser regatta calendar is now filled in and there are some interesting venues. From a Canadian perspective, we have several unique regatta sites that are a bit different to the traditional. Glad to see the folks at Beaconsfield Yacht Club (just outside Montreal) have stepped up to host the Canadian Championships, and I’m sure they will put on a great regatta. The waters of the St. Lawrence River off the Club is the area where the Laser was born back in the early 70’s.

The Great Lakes Masters and Great Lakes Youth Championships will be held at Thornbury, Ontario, also known as the Blue Mountains, with the race course out on the beautiful and open waters of Georgian Bay. The folks there are super keen, with a local Laser ﬂeet going from 0-to-20 boats in about one year! The Canadian Masters will at Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club in Kenora, Ontario (close to Manitoba). From what I’ve heard it’s an amazing location and the locals will no doubt put on tremendous hospitality and racing. In the U.S. we have larger events happening in the states of CA, WA, IL, MS, MA and FL. From a Masters perspective the US Championships in Monterey California and the NAs in Marblehead Mass will be outstanding venues. Check-out the Major Regatta Grid at www.Laser.org. For youth Laser sailors, the big events will be at CORK, Kingston, Ontario, with the Laser Radial Youth Worlds in July and the 4.7 Worlds in August. A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all North American Laser sailors!

WINTER 2019

Prototype Lower Radial Section photos courtesy of PSA

www.Laser.org

~Flashback~

1980 Laser Worlds - Kingston, Ontario, Canada

WINTER 2019

Just approved for the Laser Class!

Finally â&#x20AC;&#x201C; sailing technology made simple!

The Nautalytics Simple Compass was designed by racing sailors No Rainbows and includes features that sailors are looking for: - Large numbers with a wide viewing angle. - Anti-glare All Weather Technology that eliminates black out zones and rainbows while wearing polarized sunglasses.

No Blackout Zone

Wide Angle 120o

- Countdown timer and back light. - Light and easy to use.

No Glare

Visit the Nautalytics Store at www.nautalytics.com

www.Laser.org

Duck Pond Sailor at World Masters By RICHARD QUINLAN The Canuck in the orange helmet The 2018 Laser Masters Worlds in Ireland was the culmination of my summer of fitness and sailing. I’d been swimming, running, doing core strength exercises, and driving 400km each week from my home in Lethbridge to the Calgary Yacht Club for on-water coaching. Why? Because I like racing in the small mobile Laser, and with my usual lack of crew availability, the one-person Laser works for me. I also like how the strict “one design” causes all the boats to be identical, removing go-fasts and design changes that dominate other sailboat classes. It puts competing sailors on an even playing field. In this event we choose whether to participate with a “Standard Rig”, which I’m in, or the smaller “Radial Rig” which lighter men and women sail in. I like how we compete in races with sailors of our own age, organized into “Apprentice” (age 35-44), “Master” (age 45-54), “Grand Master” (my fleet, aged 5564), “Great Grand Master” (age 65-74), and “Legends” (age 75+). The home community for the Masters event was the pretty town of Dun Laoghaire, just south of Dublin. Our group of inland sailors from Alberta, Canada, had rented a house two kilometres from the sailing venue (good for a lacticacid draining walk each evening). One of our group, Leslie Reichenfeld, had just finished a course at the world-class cooking school in Ballycotton, and this led to “oos and awws” throughout the week as we sampled her culinary products! Our first sailing was in the practice race, provided to learn local weather and currents. The general consensus was that we had arrived in a very windy place! That evening was the opening party, where friendly Aussies regaled me with tales of 18 foot skiffs, and invited me to their 2020 worlds. Each day there were two races, held on the outer part of Dublin Bay using a “quad” course. This entailed sailing upwind, downwind, upwind again, then crossing to the left with a beam reach, then another downwind, another reach, and a short upwind leg to the finish line. The races were about 8 km long and took about 90 minutes to complete. There were over 300 sailors from 25 countries, with separate courses provided for the standard rig and radial rig fleets. Some excellent sailors attended, including past Olympians and national champions. We had a contingent of keen Alberta sailors including Bill Mulloy, Steve and Leslie Reichenfeld, Mike Hooper, John Dawson-Edwards, David Elliott, and me.

On day 1, and throughout most of the regatta, we had really strong winds in the 18 to 30 Knot range. Racing was physically demanding and required hard hiking on upwinds and constant maneuvering to balance the boat and maximize speed on the down winds. The Europeans excelled in these strong winds. My skills were wanting, but improved throughout the event. After 3 race days there was a lay day. At that point I was placed well back in the Grand Masters, a big fleet of 68 boats. My individual race results had varied widely, from 9th to the mid 50s. I felt my “proper place” was in the 30s, but I kept making little mistakes, causing me to slip back. I had capsized several times in the strong winds of the first three days, and had given the safety boats at least one nice backflip display. By the lay-day I had a cold and spent the afternoon and evening in bed with a fever, missing our house party in the process! But I felt better the next day, and was ready to take on the last 3 days of sailing. There were two more days of strong winds. My control and maneuvering was improving, and I was having great fun on the water crossing tacks with a group of guys from USA, IRL, GBR, and SWE. I stayed out of trouble but narrowly avoided a nasty incident at a busy leeward mark, when the boat in front of me gybed and capsized. I thought I might have just enough room to cut between the capsized boat and the buoy, but instead opted to keep clear by sailing around him. Another boat slipped into that gap, but he also gybed and capsized, and was immediately crashed into by a boat on his tail. Further bedlam ensued as a large cluster of following boats capsized and crashed, in the worst chain reaction accident I’ve seen on the water! Meanwhile I refocused and sailed away to a leisurely finish with a large space of no boats behind me! The final day arrived with a different feel. Winds were light and variable, barely exceeding the 5-knot minimum for racing, and currents were strong. Races were started and abandoned. Then, just 5 minutes before our 3pm cutoff, a solid wind blew in from the Irish Sea and a race was started. I finished mid-fleet in a large group of sailors from Ireland, UK, and USA. That left me 49th overall of 68 Grand Master in the regatta. Brits, Spaniards, Dutch, Aussies and Swedes placed at the top of my group. I was 3rd of 5 Canadians, but had wanted to do better, even though I was ahead of some good sailors from several nations. I learned that small mistakes are costly and my accumulated errors caused me to slip well back in some

WINTER 2019

races. I’ll need to improve my flexibility and do more maneuvering drills to become more fluid in my boat handling. My physical training in the lead-up to this regatta made me stronger and I had dropped off 10 flabby pounds. But I wasn’t strong enough and quick enough to sail with the best. I’m still overweight for the Laser, at 195 lbs, and I need to work longer and harder at pre-race conditioning. My downwind capsizes in big gusts had called upon upper body strength and anaerobic bursts to recover. That exhausted me and caused me to waste valuable time getting underway again. I need to arrive at future events lighter, stronger, and more fit, and I also need to study heavy wind sailing more, to avoid those capsizes in the first place! Organization by National Yacht Club and Royal St. George Yacht Club and the class and national associations was superb. Race management was excellent, on-water safety was the best I’ve seen, and there was great assistance launching and retrieving the boats of tired sailors. The social life was fun, with venues and events styled to allow sailors to rub shoulders. One of the best times each day was when we’d come off the water and gather for replenishment with pasta and sometimes a Guinness, and share our sailing stories.

Arrive at your next regatta in style with a Dynamic Dolly-Trailer Combo System!

See you at the 2019 Laser Masters Worlds!

www.dynamicdollies.com

www.Laser.org

2018 LASER MASTER GULF COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS

Regatta Reports THE FLORIDA YACHT CLUB JACKSONVILLE, FL

The 2018 Laser Master Gulf Coast Championships, sponsored by the Suddath Companies, Bagel Love and Atlantic Beach Brewery, brought together sailors from across Florida and South Carolina to Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville, FL. Skills and experienced varied from those who hadn’t sailed Lasers in 20 years to those who are actively sailing. The common theme of camaraderie linked to competition led to a great weekend. Saturday morning dawned sunny and breezy with a breakfast provided by the best bagel shop in Jacksonville, Bagel Love. After PRO Dustin Dormer outlined the sailing, the fleet set forth out on the St Johns River. A Northeast breeze of 10-12 knots greeted the fleet at the start of the first race. The breeze lightened and shifted East during the day. The race committee proved adept at shifting the course to complete four highly competitive races. At the conclusion of racing on Saturday Dave Chapin and Dave Hiebert proved to be the pride of the fleet battling it out at the top of the fleet. Jeff Olson, from Sarasota, sailing in his first Masters event in years followed closely in third.

complete with dessert. The fleet dined upstairs in the FYC clubhouse overlooking a beautiful evening on the St Johns. After dinner the fleet retired to the FYC bar to watch college football. Sunday dawned with a slight overcast and light breeze out of the Northeast. Dustin and the RC crew set up the course to account for the current and ran three light air races. Monica Wilson proved highly adept at finding the pressure in the first race and ran away from the fleet to win in a walk. The second race was similar except Dave Chapin was able to chase Monica down to win the second race. Hal Gilreath sailed consistently to overtake Jeff Olson and capture third overall. The fleet retired back to the sailing center where a hearty Brunswick stew, vegetables, cornbread and Atlantic Brewing libations waited. Fleet enjoyed lunch during the awards ceremony. Hats off to everyone who sailed and enjoyed a great weekend. FYC looks forward to hosting future Laser events and extending local Jacksonville hospitality to sailors. Results below: Pictures courtesy of FYC Rear Commodore Tim Monahan https://photos.app.goo.gl/E8CPzJw8oeejodSB8

After sailing the ﬂeet regrouped back on shore and enjoyed after sailing beverages provided by Atlantic Beach Brewing. They provided outstanding local craft beer for the ﬂeet. A tremendous dinner followed of grilled Mahi Mahi Pos

6 1

Total 9

David Hiebert

[6]

Florida

[8]

Sarasota sailing squadron usscmc

[9]

[14/OCS]

Coconut Grove Sailing Club Florida Yacht Club

[14/OCS]

[6]

NOMAD

[14/OCS]

Charleston, SC

[9]

St Augustine Yacht Club

[12]

[11]

[14/DNF]

14/DNS

[14/DNS]

14/DNS

Sail

Skipper Yacht Club

212872

212867

185158

164204

206154

170673

192329

199916

194254

Dave Chapin David Hiebert Hal Gilreath Jeffrey Olson monica wilson James Liebl Andy Culver David Hartman Christopher Stang Ben Kuykendall

10 11

W/ Masters Handica p 14

162171

152939

148989

192093

LESC

Bill the Florida Yacht Club Weinbecker Quinn Cedarhurst Yacht Club Barton Brian NOMAD Gilcher

[2]

WINTER 2019

Regatta winner Dave Chapin sailing upwind on Saturday Chris Stang sailing downwind

Sailing downwind with Jacksonville skyline in the background

James Liebl leading Dave Chapin and Jeﬀ Olson in Race 1

Laser

RC Laser® Complete Ready to Sail Radio Controlled Sail Boat What‘s Included:

Hal Gilreath and Chris Stang sailing upwind

• Hull • Standard Mast • Standard Boom • B Sail • Radio Equipment • Keel • Rudder • Electronics

AY! T TOD

GET I

9 $(R2E9G.935.09.00)

For more information, or to order, please go to: www.intensitysails.com www.Laser.org

Laser Master ACCs

Hallawell, Hewett, Jacob & Williamson take titles By Jon Deutsch Fifty-One Lasers were in Deltaville at Fishing Bay Yacht Club for the Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship this weekend where Rob Hallawell (USSCMC) won the overall title. Thursday night the remnants of Hurricane Michael roared through eastern Virginia knocking boats down in the dry sail area and leaving the club without power until Sunday morning. With some ingenuity, creativity and resourcefulness from Brian Akram, Eric, Mayo Tabb and Bob Fleck – generators were wired into the critical systems to inflate marks, lower boat lifts, refrigerate food, power kitchen appliances, light the bathrooms and power the water system. The sailors were undeterred by the lack of lights, cold showers, no running water in residences they were staying at and not a single sailor missed the event. The volunteers too were committed to make this a great weekend and many delayed cleaning up their own storm messes to be here this weekend and all of the competitors were very grateful they could be here. The fleet was greeted on the race course by more wind than was forecast which made for some spirited sailing – especially for those who opted for a bigger rig than they may have preferred for the conditions. 5 races were sailed and Rob Hallawell rose to the top of the leaderboard with first and seconds in 4 of the races. Races were also won by Fishing Bay Yacht Club’s Charlie Brewer, Severn Sailing Association’s Scott Williamson and Paul Clifford from Toronto, Ontario. Saturday night Alain Vincey and his team of chefs put on a magnificent dinner of filet filet mignon, salmon, potatoes and green beans with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Making it an even greater feat was not having full use of the kitchen while only 1/3 of the clubhouse was able to be powered by generator. All 93 sailors, volunteers and dinner guest left satisfied. Some sailors also left dinner with some great prizes from Dynamic Dollies and Annapolis Performance Sailing. Sunday’s wind played out almost as forecast – starting light and getting lighter. Racing was started on time after shifting the course a few time as the wind settled in. The shifts, current and more shifts made for a challenging and trying race. David Waiting from Severn Sailing Association prevailed, and the last 4 boats missed the time limit. With a fickle breeze and some long trips home ahead – racing was done for the day.

Congratulations to Rob Hallawell on winning the overall Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship and the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters Championship – the latter of which Rob also won last year. A big thanks to all of the staﬀ and volunteers who got the club back in shape Friday for the regatta. Thanks to our PRO Rick Klein and his race committee team of Alex Alvis, Brad Miller, David Clark, Debbie Cycotte, Donna Alvis, Joe Nelson, John Wake, John Kalinowski, Paul Almany, Ruthanna Jenkins, Sharon Bauer and Mosby West. Thanks to our sponsors: Dynamic Dollies and APS. And ﬁnally thanks to all of the sailors who come back year after year and make this regatta a fall tradition. Winners: Overall Winner: Rob Hallawell, US Sailing Center Martin County 1st Woman: Dorian Haldeman, Severn Sailing Association 1st Great Grand Master: Lindsay Hewett, Cold Spring Harbor Boat Club 2nd Great Grand Master: Jacques Kerrest, Potomac River Sailing Association 1st Grand Master: James Jacob, Severn Sailing Association 2nd Grand Master: Charlie Brewer, Fishing Bay Yacht Club 1st Master: Rob Hallawell, US Sailing Center Martin County 2nd Master: Gavin O’Hare, Eastport Yacht Club 1st Apprentice Master: Scott Williamson, Severn Sailing Association 2nd Apprentice Master: David Waiting, Severn Sailing Association

WINTER 2019

Marine Equipment

Get the Laser Dolly Built to Last! www.tech4designs.com Designed by Junior Sailors

Tech 4 Designs, Inc. Atlanta, GA 30345 404-990-3181

Our Replacement Wheels & Stainless Bearings are Awesome!

CANADAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LARGEST LASER DEALER

416 251 0384 or 1 800 342 3644

www.Laser.org

Order Parts Online

foghmarine.com 17

2018 Laser Masters Great Lakes Championship Sept. 29-30 Delavan Lake, Wisconsin Thirteen of the Midwest’s ﬁnest Laser Masters sailors converged on Delavan Lake, Wisconsin to compete for the title of Great Lakes Masters champion. Unfortunately Mother Nature didn’t cooperate on Saturday. With the exception of a couple of zephyrs, the lake remained mostly calm forcing PRO Tim O’Keefe to abandon racing for the day. The sailors enjoyed fellowship inside the Delavan Lake Yacht Club clubhouse. Steve Dolan was sharing his experiences in Ireland at the Laser Masters Worlds.

Sunday dawned cold and drizzly, but the sailors were undaunted. With a 9:30 a.m. start time, the race committee set out to have as many races as possible before the 12:30 p.m. cut-off time. Delavan Lake provided its usual shifty and unpredictable winds making for challenging sailing both upwind and downwind. Positions in the races changed with every puff and shift. When the smoke cleared, three races were held and there was a three-way tie for first (after handicap points were applied) with the 4th place boat just one point behind and the fifth place boat just two points behind that. Photos by Larry Kmiecik: @2018 Kmiecik Imagery

WINTER 2019

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 Men: TBD

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

Beaconsfield YC Beaconsfield, QC May 31-June 2

US Championships

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 11-15

Midwinters East

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

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

Atlantic Coast Championships

Monmouth BC/Sandy Hook Bay CC Atlantic Highlands, NJ May 18-19

Pacific Coast Championships

Bellingham YC Bellingham, WA Sept 21-22

Gulf Coast Championships

Pass Christian YC Pass Christian, MS Sept 21-22

No Coast Championships

CORK Kingston, ON Sept 21-22

Great Lakes Championships

Chicago Corinthian YC Chicago, IL June 29-30

40 GP points

Canadian Championships 30 GP points

30 GP points

25 GP points

www.Laser.org

Royal Lake of the Woods Kenore, ON August 16-18

CGRA Cascade Locks,OR Aug 2-4

Thornbury YC Georgian Bay, ON July 13-14

Masters Worlds De-Brief with Bill Symes Following the 2019 Laser Masters Worlds in Ireland, Colin Gowland of the International Sailing Academy caught up with Bill Symes to discuss Bill’s successful eﬀort to defend his title in the Radial Great Grandmasters division. Their interview has been edited for brevity (you can read the full interview at https:// internationalsailingacademy.com/laser-resources/).

Photo credit: David Branigan/Oceansport Colin: Was it a challenge to keep the body holding together during all that sailing? Bill:

Amazingly enough, I felt pretty good throughout the whole week. It was a really windy regatta. The first three days averaged around 20 with puffs to 30. Very shifty, puffy, challenging conditions. But my energy level was high and my strength held up. I put it down to 20+ days training in the Gorge this summer, a lot of it with Andrew Holdsworth, who’s younger, very fit, and very fast in a breeze (Andrew won the 2018 Laser Masters NAs and finished 4th in the Radial Masters division at Worlds). We were sailing two or three days a week in pretty much the exact conditions that we had in Dublin. I think by the end of August we both had a pretty good comfort level in those conditions.

Colin: What was your game plan? Judging from your scorecard, it looks like you had a big advantage in boat speed. Or did you have the strategy wired? Or did you just sail consistently? What was the secret, or was it a mix of everything? Bill:

I did have bit of a boat speed advantage. You know what they say about how boat speed makes you look smart? It made it easy for me to execute everything I needed to do. I was able to get off the line clear. I was usually able to get on to the lifted tack right away. That was my game plan: get clear starts, get onto the right tack, and then just cover the fleet. In most races that’s what happened. I was able to kind of jump out, if not into the lead, at least into the first group, and stay there to the weather mark. I had a pretty significant speed advantage downwind in the big breeze, so if I wasn’t leading at the weather mark I was usually leading at the leeward mark. I think that, especially in the Great Grandmasters fleet, the top guys are pretty fast but a lot of guys are just in survival mode. It was blowing hard and the downwinds were pretty crazy, but I was used to that from my training in the Gorge. I think that made a lot of difference.

Colin: When I look at successful sailors in big breeze, they are typically either the biggest or the ﬁttest or both. You don’t do much traditional ﬁtness outside of sailing, right? You just go sail in big breeze and that’s sort of your formula? Bill:

Pretty much. I’m not real big on going to the gym or doing much fitness specific exercise. I try to ride the bike as much as I can and work on some aerobic fitness. But mostly I just sail.

Colin: Do you put together some sort of annual plan to prepare for Worlds, or is it just something you start about thinking about a few months before? Bill:

I have a kind of rough game plan which, as you know, is to spend two or three weeks at ISA in Mexico in the spring to jump-start the training program. Then, I have a goal of doing 80 days on the water, which I reached, just barely, this year (sailed my 80th the day before ﬁrst race of Worlds!).

Colin

80 days? How did you come up with that number?

Bill:

It’s just a rule of thumb I’ve developed over the years that if I can sail that much, especially in challenging conditions, I will generally have reached the level of hiking ﬁtness and sailing conﬁdence that I need going into Worlds. It’s worked for me over the last few years and so that’s kind of the recipe I follow.

Colin: I think since you were young you’ve probably been getting good results in sailing, but my observation over the last few years is that you’re still getting better. I don’t know if you feel like you are or not, but you mentioned in a past interview that the

WINTER 2019

learning is something that keeps you coming back and keeps it fun for you. Can you speak to that and if you feel like you’re still making progress at 71 years old, knowing all that you know already? Bill:

Definitely. I think I’m probably sailing better now than I have in my life. Of course, the problem you have as you get older is that it’s like going up the down escalator. You have to run faster and faster just to stay even. I just wish I had known what I know now back when I had the body of a 20-yearold. Aside from just being competitive, I find it enjoyable again because I’m making gains in my sailing speed, especially downwind. The training I’ve done the last couple of years with ISA coaches has just made a huge difference in the way I sail downwind, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the Gorge practicing those techniques. It has definitely made a difference. Plus it’s fun. I’m more comfortable in the boat in more conditions and I just really enjoy sailing that way.

Colin: You’ve been around the master’s ﬂeets at your home club and internationally and seen a lot of guys train down here. If you were their coach and they were the average master sailor, what advice would you give them in terms of should they do to be successful? Bill:

I don’t really know any other way to do it than the way I do it, and so I would recommend that. The base of my program is lots of sailing. Not just sailing, but training in good breeze and focusing on areas that need improvement. I don’t race that much. I used to try and hit all the big regattas; I don’t do that anymore. This year I just did a couple of winter regattas down in California, I did the Master’s North Americans in San Francisco, and I did the Laser PCCs in the Gorge, plus a couple of local regattas in the Northwest. This is not to say that it isn’t important to sail in big competitions, because it is. But I don’t think that has helped me as much as just the training I do with fast training partners like Andrew. My main focus the last few years has just been on boat speed. I ﬁgure if I’m conﬁdent in my boat speed, that pretty much takes care of all the other issues.

Colin: Right, yeah. It is a race after all. So when you talk about working on boat speed with fast training partners, what does that mean? What do you guys do out there? Bill:

We do focused drills, kind of like you do at ISA. We will do upwind lineups, short races, and lots of

www.Laser.org

long downwinds. We do like five-mile downwinds going through the different wave conditions in the Gorge, where you’ve got mostly flat water at the top of the run, and then as you get down – actually upriver, but downwind – you get into much bigger, almost oceanic waves. We had a range of conditions, a range of wind speeds. The training went up and down, and up and down. Colin: Yeah, that deliberate practice is something we really believe in. What else? Bill:

We pretty much try to practice all the fundamentals. We did a little bit of starting practice, focusing on acceleration and holding a lane. This summer, we did a lot of reaching because Andrew and I both felt that was an area we needed to strengthen. We worked on trim and sail controls. We practiced different vang tensions, different downhaul and outhaul tensions, different trims, different ways of steering through the waves. We’d reach across the river, stop, regroup, and reach back again. We’d do this nine or ten times in a practice. We just banged away at it, and I definitely improved in that area as a result.

Colin: Sounds like pretty productive session. I think what a lot of guys tend to do is just go out once every few weeks when the weather’s nice, do a couple of club races on Sunday, and then wonder why they’re not moving up in the ﬂeet. They continue sailing the exact same way they always have, focusing on strategy or tactics, when there is still so much potential for boat speed improvement. Bill:

Yeah, I think you nailed it with that analysis. There’s a lot more horsepower than you think under the hood of a Laser. You just need to discover it.

Colin: What do you think is the value in the training clinics that you’ve attended at ISA? Bill:

It has pushed me to think about Laser sailing in new ways. You know, it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, and I’ve been doing this oﬀ and on for more than 40 years. But working with coaches like you and Vaughn (Harrison) and Brett (Beyer) has really opened my eyes to all the factors that you need to be thinking about to make the boat go faster. I’ve developed a much deeper understanding of apparent wind, resistance, the various forces on the rig and blades, and how to turn these into acceleration using sail trim, angle, and heel. These techniques have really changed my whole sailing

style, and in many ways forced me to break the old mold and learn a new one.

Bill:

Colin: What about the social side of it, the camaraderie? Do you enjoy that part, or are you more just down to put your nose to the grindstone and get your training in? Bill:

Deﬁnitely I value the friendships that I get through Laser sailing. Really, what keeps me coming back to Laser Masters Worlds, more than anything, is that I’ve gotten to be close to this group of sailors and I would hate to miss it. These are people, most of whom have been sailing all their lives in one boat or another, and many of whom have achieved a high level of success in international or Olympic sailing. The level of competition is still very high, but competition is not the only reason we’re there. We hang out together after racing. We can have a beer and enjoy ourselves, which is a little more relaxed than it was when we were sailing in the open ﬂeet. It’s like a big annual party with great friends that I only get to see once a year.

Funny-tragic maybe. I don’t see very well, especially in blustery conditions like we had in Dublin. In both the 4th and 10th races, I had a pretty good lead coming up the second weather leg, couldn’t find the mark, and just sailed off into oblivion. By the time I figured it out, I’d put a whole bunch of points on my scorecard. Not once, but twice! With only one discard allowed, I thought I’d snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Turns out, all the boat speed in the world can’t fix stupid.

Colin: Sounds like masters sailors know how to do it right! It’s a great community. Thanks for taking the time Bill. I think we covered some good ground. I look forward to seeing you soon down in Mexico for some training and relaxing in the near future! Bill:

Yeah, thanks Colin. We’ll see you soon.

Colin: Any funny anecdotes from Worlds? Anything notable that you care to share?

NORTH AMERICA’S

NO. 1

HIKING

PANTS

HP004

3/4 AIRPRENE HIKING PANTS WITH BRACES

w w w. sa i l e q ui p m ent.com .a u

HP006

3/4 AIRPRENE WAISTLOCK HIKING PANTS

HP005

AIRPRENE WAISTLOCK HIKING SHORTS

HP007

FULL LENGTH WAISTLOCK HIKING PANTS

AVAILABLE ONLINE OR INSTORE FROM LEADING STOCKISTS

WINTER 2019

Laser Masters Report

Wrap-up of 2018 and Looking Forward to 2019 North American Laser Masters sailors returned home from a blustery 2018 Worlds on Dublin Bay with a boatload of championship silver . . . er, plexiglass. NA sailors recorded an impressive nine podium finishes across the nine masters divisions, including wins in the Radial Great Grand Master fleet for Bill Symes and in the Radial 75+ fleet for the ageless Peter Seidenberg, who by the way led a clean NA sweep of the “Legends,” with Lindsay Hewitt, David Wylie, Steve Avery, and Jay Winberg rounding out the top five. Other NA masters sharing the podium were Canada’s Gord Welsh (2nd Standard Apprentice), Tim Woodford (3rd Radial Grand Master), and Bob Britten (5th Radial Grand Master), and US sailors Peter Hurley (5th Standard Master), Rob Hallawell (3rd Radial Master), and Andrew Holdsworth (4th Radial Master). The Where-Have-You-Been-All-These-Years award goes to Seattle’s Mark Brink, who came out of a long hibernation to nab 7th in the 66-boat Standard Grand Master fleet (welcome back Mark!). Onward to 2019: the winter circuit kicks off on the west coast with Masters Midwinters West at Alamitos Bay YC Feb. 16-17, followed the next weekend by the California Laser Masters Championship, hosted by Mission Bay YC Feb. 2324. Back east, geezers will be flying south to Florida for the venerable Florida Masters Champs at Palm Beach Sailing Club March 8-10, which leads right into the Masters Midwinters East, just up the coast at the US Sailing Center in Jensen Beach, March 12-15. The big news is that the 2019 Masters US National Championship is now confirmed for July 19-21 on beautiful Monterey Bay in California, hosted by the Monterey Peninsula YC. If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to take that summer vacation in Cali, this is it! Heck, make it a trifecta and head north to the Columbia River Gorge, where the International Sailing Academy and rock-star coach Brett Beyer will be leading two Laser training clinics, July 22-25 and July 29-Aug. 1, climaxing with the Laser Masters Pacific Coast Champs Aug. 2-4, hosted by CGRA. The championship action continues into late summer, moving to Ontario’s Royal Lake of the Woods YC on Aug. 16-18 for the Canadian Masters Nationals, which should be an excellent tune-up for 2019 Masters Worlds, Sept. 5-15 in Port Zelande, Netherlands. If you’ve got any legs left, plan to cap your season in Marblehead, MA, with the grand finale, 2019 Laser Masters North Americans, hosted by the Eastern YC Oct. 4-6. Got all that? If you need a reminder, you can find details on all these events (and more) online at laser.org. Looking forward to seeing you all on the water in 2019!

2019 NA Masters Regatta Schedule MWE Masters Great Lake Masters US Masters PCC Masters CAN Masters World Masters NA Masters

www.Laser.org

March 12-15 July 13-14 July 19-21 Aug 2-4 Aug 16-18 Sept 5-15 Oct 4-6

USSCMC Thornbury YC Monterey Peninsula YC CGRA Royal Lake of the Woods Eastern YC

Jensen Beach, FL Georgian Bay, ON Monterey, CA Cascade Locks, OR Kenore, Ontario Port Zelende, NED Marblehead, MA

District Reports District 2 Philippe Dormoy Quebec Winter has started, skis are out and Lasers stored: We had a good season with new sailors in the district, Our main regatta the Ian Bruce Memorial has been picked-up Event of the year by Quebec sailing federation. Next year we are going to host The Canadian Laser open at the Beaconsﬁeld Yacht club and we expect over 100 sailors and we are very excited about that. Have a good Winter

District 3 Nigel Heath Ontario The Fogh Gold Cup series wrapped up this summer with Liam Bruce winning the Laser category, James Juhasz in second and Dale Whitmore in third. In the Radial fleet Harrison Bruce was the winner, Aethan Cubitt took second and Oliver van Rossem was third overall. The top junior sailor in the Radial fleet was Aethan Cubitt. Each of the winners takes home a $500 gift certificate and the 2nd and 3rd place finishers win $100 gift certificates to Fogh Marine. These prizes are courtesy of Fogh Marine and District 3, so be sure to continue to support the Fogh Marine team. Congrats to all the series winners for doing well over the summer and a special congrats to Team Bruce for winning both categories!! That is the first time we have had multiple winners from the same family winning the Fogh Gold Cup series. For clarification, there are three major prize winners going to first place in the Laser fleet and Radial fleet, while the third prize rotates each year between the top junior, top master and top female sailor. In 2018 it went to top junior sailor in the Radial fleet and in 2019 it will be awarded to the top master sailor in the Laser fleet. So to give yourself the best chance of winning the series do the following: sail fast (no kidding!), attend as many regattas as possible (best 4 results count) and sail in same fleet for all regattas i.e. don’t do 3 Radial events then 3 Laser events. The results are posted on facebook.com/d3laser. The winners are to pick up their prizes (or relevant gear) from Fogh Marine ASAP. We will be putting together the 2019 regatta schedule in the coming months so let us know of any regattas your club would like to host.

District 5 Mark Lammens Saskatchewan SK Championships had a 3 way tie for first, 18 points each, LP Gagnon had 4 firsts, Ilia Rudnitskiy had 3 and long-time Laser sailor, “Tarzan”, actor/model, 2 time Canadian Windsurfing champion Stephen Huszar had 2 wins. You have seen him in cereal commercials, TV series like Corner Gas, Letter Kenny and others. Over the years the only sailing he does is the annual regatta at Redberry Lake but he is always manages to keep his skills and fitness up and be in the mix. He does forget how to rig a laser but is always fast.

and fun for a very young child. Phil has been ﬁghting the good battle with his cancer prognosis. He is racing very well and has strategic clarity on the race course.

Exploring the Brain. No doubt he will cherish that book as if it were a Rolex Yacht-Master special edition watch. Pimental also received the beloved tome. Find yours on eBay.com

The Dick Degner District 5 scoring has Lee Nagy, 31pts, Kate Easton, 23 pts and Ewa Stroemich, 22 pts in the Radial, In the Laser class it is Isaac, 38 pts, Evan Mah, 25pts and DC Cormack, 24 pts. In the Masters it is Barry Tee 33 pts, Eugene Dombrovskiy, 31 pts and Phil Paxton 29 pts. Lee, Issac and Barry will have their names on the perpetual trophy.

Brown’s Gabriel Hannon put on a clinic on how to roll tack and roll gybe in light air. He had a 16, 1, 1. He attributed the 16 to a lack of local knowledge. Gabriel loves sailing for Coach Mollicone and we hope to see him on the ﬂeet 413 line again.

District 6 Vancouver, BC Some very sad news about long time Laser sailor and District 6 secretary Andy Hunt. Andy recently passed away. He was a strong supporter of the class and loved everything about sailing. He was very happy on the water. He will be missed.

District 7 Scott Pakenham, Chris Bollinger, Christine Neville New England Extra submissions from Joe Berkely and Tom Dailey The hardest Part about writing these is remembering where you left the last issue, as in what room of the house. It is only after rereading the last submission that I can properly compose this edition for submission. I found it and I am ready!!!! Last we left you I was shamelessly plugging the New England regattas and anxiously awaiting Frostbiting. As an aside, how come the Laser is not in the Winter Olympics as well? Someone convince me why we can’t have Frostbiting in the Games? It seems only fitting. Lots of boats on short lines and short courses. I will start my petition. If you have been checking the District 7 website, http:// laserdistrict7.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html, you will see that the Dynamic New England Masters Regatta fell next in the reporting lineup. 2 days of racing were all ready at Wickford Yacht Club in Rhode Island for the 31 registrants from multiple nations. A shifty Northly breeze coupled with both an incoming and outgoing tide kept the competitors on their feet. Saturday saw 4 races of double windward leewards where Rob Halliwell put on a seminar on how to focus through the changes. Unfortunately, the awesome dinner at Wickford Yacht club stole all the wind for Sunday s racing, the AP on shore turned into a cancelation of the days racing and an early awards ceremony. Proving older is wiser (or an advantage in the Masters Scoring program) 7 Grand Masters flooded the top 10 (Peter Shope, Britt Hughes, Scott Ferguson, David Penfield, David Moffet, Dan Neri & Paul Clifford). Master Rob Halliwell took Overall Honors, while fellow Master Scott Pakenham lost 3rd place by 1 point (Cursed you masters handicap) and Apprentice Christine Neville landed in 9th. Dynamic Towels were presented to the below champions. Apprentice- 1-Christine Neville 2-Natalya Gontcharova 3-Chris Sheldon Master- 1-Rob Halliwell (1st OA) 2-Scott Pakenham 3-Brian Fisher 4-Will Donaldson Grand Master- 1-Peter Shope (2nd OA) 2-Britt Hughes (3rd OA) 3-Scott Ferguson Great Grand Master- 1-Peter Seidenberg 2-David Frazier 3-Lindsay Hewitt The Regatta that most signifies the end of summer and entry to Fall sailing to me is the Fat Boys Regatta, hosted by Newport’s Fleet 413 out of Sail Newport. After being blown out with 30 gusting to 45 plus on Saturday the event was held early Sunday to capitalize on the remaining breeze. Here is Joe Berkely’s write up for Fleet 413 to explain it far far better than I ever could. Steve Kirkpatrick’s nest may be empty, but he has a sweet, fat trophy to keep him company. Kirkpatrick won the most prestigious regatta in all of sailing, nay, the most prestigious trophy in all of sport, when he conquered the Fat Boys regatta, yet again. While Professor Mark Bear created the Fat Boys regatta for the Big and Tall and intended for the regatta to be sailed in manly conditions, this year’s event featured light and variable winds. No matter, Past President of Sail Newport Kirkpatrick made the best of it with scores of 6, 2, 2. After three races the breeze died and Moose sent the fleet home.

Sail West was at Wabamun. Fraser Keith was top Radial, Cameron Hay, 2nd and Ewa Stroemich 3rd, top female. In 4.7 it was Connor Crowe-Lummis, John Henderson and Sara Fewster 1st ,2nd ,3rd. John was my team mate at the Pan Am Games when they were in Indianapolis. In Laser it was Isaac Bussin 1st , David Cormack 2nd and Barry “Boat Speed” Tee 3rd. High lights include a race win for Lauren Burns, a 3rd place result in the last race by a young sailor named David Elliot, 3 top 3’s by Phil Paxton and Mark Bugiak taking his young daughter for her ﬁrst sail in a Laser. A true test of sailing ability is keeping it safe

Andy Pimental was sporting a handsome new sailing ensemble. He’s decked out in all the latest gear and it had a positive eﬀect upon the outcome. He was second for the day with a 5, 3 6. Fleet 413’s favorite boat builder, Pimental has been hand crafting Sea Dogs. He has a few slots available this winter to repair your boat. Reach him at jibetech.com Ed Adams was third overall with a 4, 8, 3. He may have been even happier than Steve Kirkpatrick as he received the ultimate trophy, Fat Boys founder Mark Bear’s textbook, Neuroscience,

Fifth overall, Joe Berkeley, won the first race of the day. He had a 1, 10, 8. Moose McClintock and his crack team made the best of the breeze and were able to get three races in the books in conditions that were dodgy at best. Fleet Co-Captains Jack McVicker and Scott Pakenham are thrilled to announce the new season and hope everyone will register, pay their dues, and sign up for RC. Jack has his finger on the pulse of the real estate market in Newport and if you are buying or selling, he is your man. A wise man once said, “Ask and you shall receive…” So in the spirit of enhancing our Sunday celebrations of good sportsmanship, camaraderie, and quality competition, Fleet 413 humbly asks for the following: • Send us handsome, thin, strong Chad Atkins with Judo Grip to go sailing before the DN season starts. DONE!! • Send us gold-medal winner Paul Goodison for one day with fleet 413. Brian Fisher spotted him out riding a bike in Newport and went tearing after him like a 15-year-old girl chasing Taylor Swift. • Send us Peter Hurley for one day with fleet 413. He doesn’t even have to take anyone’s picture. • Send us Ferg for one day. • Send us Big Ben from Marblehead. Once the season up there is over, join us down here for some fun and games. Next up- Marblehead’s fleet just finished up their Fall series here is the news from Fleet Captain- Tom Dailey Marblehead Fall Laser Season For the 10th year in a row, the fall season ended with the famed Turkey Bowl. For this one-day regatta we order up one of those super fancy fresh 24 lbs. turkeys that cost $73. Never frozen. We had 4 crappy light air races so it really was a turkey. The prize was claimed by Ben Richardson, topping Patrick Andreasen by a couple points, and Steve Uhl buy a few more. Sterling Worrell was our Top Corinthian. Attle Lohrman, with his two penalty turns, won the apple pie, awarded each week to the person who does the most 360s. Over the course of the season we had 47 yachtsman, and had over 20 boats on the line each week except for the real light one and the real windy one. Jean Francois Guillou was most improved, winning a bunch of races. We had a lot of new faces, with people simultaneously learning the boat, having fun, and being competitive. Was a real blast. The other noteworthy trend is that most of these new faces are all wrinkled up just like ours! Next stop on our strategy roadmap is to get more younger people into this great game. In the “stranger than fiction” category, all the Lasers had to evacuate the club while we hosted the J 70 World Circus, and so we sailed off the beach for two weeks. Fortunately, it was light; unfortunately, one of our loaner boats was crushed in the surf. But local favorite Jud won the J 70 regattapalooza, so nobody complained. 2019 North American Masters Confirmed at EYC in Marblehead for first weekend in October 2019. This means big fleets again starting April 1. Last time we hosted this event (2016) we had 53 boats at Mhead NOOD regatta in July. Yes we will offer housing for all events again – contact me- Tom Dailey New LP Sail Development Doyle Sails came by with this prototype big-rig / Rooster type thing which a few of us had a chance to test out in a light Westerly. Seems early in development but it pointed really high. https://www.facebook.com/225846664167204/ posts/1952812824803904/ Other photos Here’s what a great club at Eastern is: our former Commodore is our Laser fleet photographer. Here is his link, from which you can download for free or use their print service: philipsmithphotography.smugmug.com Thanks Tom!! While some classes pack up their boats this time of year, you can find the most Lasers out sailing in the frigid temps. Newport, Bristol, Cedar Point, Marblehead get out there and sail. My Facebook memories just popped up last week on the memory of 53 boats on the starting line in Newport, in NOVEMBER! Yeah Baby!!

WINTER 2019

Special Thanks to Tom and Joe See you on the Starting line!!!!

District 9 Peter Bushnell Upstate New York

delayed this year so our beautiful venue did not show itself at its best but we had positive comments from our 5 visitor sailors. With the climate changes we may need to adjust our sailing seasons.

Standards and 6 Radials out for 6 races. James Jacob won the Standard ﬂeet followed by Scott Williamson and Mark Holweger. The Radial ﬂeet was won by Steven Cofer followed by Bill Lawson and Chris Young.

Results: 1st - Chris Henkel, Monmouth Boat Club, 2nd Jim Irwin, Cooper River, 3rd Dave Cliﬀel, MCSC, 4th Chris Houston, MCSC, 5th Pete Madonna, MCSC.

Fishing Bay Yacht Club hosted a 51-boat ﬂeet for the Laser Masters Atlantic Coast Championship won for the 2nd year in a row by Rob Hallawell - see elsewhere in this edition of The Laser Sailor for a complete write-up.

Complete results are here:http://www.mcsailingclub.org/.

We had some excellent and memorable racing in 2018. Thanks to everyone for supporting the regattas and making it so much fun! Here’s the report on the final two races of the season. September 15, OTSEGO SAILING CLUB, Glimmerglass Regatta, Cooperstown, NY. Beautiful sunny day in the 80s, but very still in the morning. After a lot of waiting around, we ended up getting in three races in light north breeze in the afternoon. After racing party with the Thistles and other fleets was a blast. Kurt Ofer played piano for entertainment and we had a fantastic Mexican buffet. See photo of the tent with the crescent moon.

Shore Acres Yacht Club hosted our first Fall Laser regatta on Saturday, October 20th. Morning clouds gave way to temperatures in the low to mid 60’s and westerly winds in the mid to upper teens for a perfect day on the water! Six boats showed up for six races, and competition was tight! Our plans are to make this a yearly event to kick off the frostbite season. Results for the day are: 1) Glen Dickson- BHYC 2) John Surguy - AHYC 3) Philip Angelo- SAYC 4) Marc Gordon-MBC 5) Justing LaBarca-SHBCC 6) Alan Morely Various frostbite series are urgently going on. I’ll have results for Cooper River and Marsh Creek next issue as it is ongoing into December. Monmouth will go on all winter and has been getting great numbers every Sunday with a first start at noon. Head over to their website for more information http://monmouthboatclub. org/

October 7, HENDERSON HARBOR YC, Columbus Day Regatta, Henderson Harbor, NY. Cold, gray day with temperatures in the 45-50F range in the morning. Seven Willow Bank YC sailors made the trek up to HH. For several, this was their first regatta road trip and a great adventure. Out on the water we had solid 15-20kt north breeze with higher gusts and significant waves. Races were short (15-20min) and close. There were quite a few capsizes with a couple of sailors retiring. Thanks to Tom King, Jack Jones and the HHYC team for this late season event and running some really fun races (6 total with a throw out). See photo of Todd Harrington bearing off at the weather mark. Final results: (1) Ray Cudney [10pts], (2) John King [12pts], (3) Tom King [12pts], (4) Peter Bushnell [13pts], (5) Graham Leonard [19pts], (6) Eduardo Solessio, (7) Matt MacDowell, (8) Todd Harrington, (9) Tom Harig, (10) Tom Costello.

District 10 Eric Reitinger New Jersey

So this issue’s D13 dispatch includes various examples of the Laser sailing spectrum, past, present, and future. Yep, I going to cover all that in way less than one magazine page, so read on.

The District 11 Championship was held in conjunction with Severn Sailing Association’s Crab Claw Regatta and had a 27boat Standard fleet and a very strong 16-boat Radial fleet. Day 1 was part cloudy with winds 10-15 and David Grace and Kim Couranz won the day and would go on to win the Standard and Radial fleets. Dorian Haldeman, Bill Lawson, Rober Meek all won races in the Radial fleet while Luke Shingledecker and Mike Russom were the only others to win races in the Standard fleet. The wind was up a bit on Sunday with just enough wave action to make it more interesting. Thanks to Steve Podlich as PRO and the fleet at SSA for hosting. In August Tred Avon Yacht Club had a 27-boat junior Radial fleet at the Annual Oxford Regatta - Benton Amthor from Christchurch won the event followed by David Manley from TAYC and Britt Corina from FBYC. FBYC’s 79th Annual One Design Regatta had a 10-boat fleet with Charlie Brewer (FBYC) beating out Jon Deutsch (FBYC) in 2nd and David Hanna in 3rd. District 11 had a number of sailors travel to Brant Beach Yacht Club for the Laser Masters Nationals. James Jacob (SSA/ PRSA) was the top finisher in 11th and 4th GGM. Jon Deutsch (FBYC) won the Apprentice Division. Len Guenther (FBYC/ PRSA), Scott Williamson (SSA), Charlie Brewer(FBYC), Nabeel

Starting with the past, Key Biscayne Yacht Club in Miami hosted one of the most unique events on the D13 calendar, the Round the Island Race. This race is a fun break from the windwardleeward races common these days. The full race course is about 20 miles and is essentially a race around Key Biscayne. What’s super-cool about this race is not only are you required to do the standard stuff like sailing fast and looking for the shifts, but you have to actually navigate, pick the best way to cross the flats so you minimize distance but don’t run aground, and, if the wind is right, have some amazing ocean surfing from Bear Cut back around Cape Florida. This race will wear you out, almost enough that you’ll think about skipping the killer party after it. Mark you calendars for next year (it’s always November)…you got to do the Round the Island race at least once. Here’s the outcome from this year: Round the Island Race, Full Course: 2. Marcello Correa 3. Roberto Laub Round the Island Race, Youth Course: 1. Alex Gonzalez 2. Marina Geilen 3. Kevin Merten 4. Santiago Dillon 5. Michelle Marie 6. Jonathan Gleason Speaking of unique events, D13 also saw the Halloween Howler Regatta hosted by Coconut Grove Sailing Club in Miami. While this youth event usually sails windward-leewards, it also includes a “Haunted Mooring Field” on Saturday night. The Haunted Mooring Field is literally “trick or treat” on the water, where the sailors dress up in the Halloween Costumes and trick or treat via Club launch around to Halloween decorated boats on the Coconut Grove Mooring Field. It’s hard to tell who enjoys it more, the trick or treaters or the folks giving out the candy. I’m not sure if the if the folks who ended up in the top 10 got there because they avoided the Haunted Mooring Field and associated sugar buzz or because they got and ate as much sugar as they could before Sunday’s racing. Here are the top 10’s by fleet, you can be the judge: Halloween Howler Radial (top 10): 1. Guthrie Braun 2. Javier Garcon 3. Alex Gonzalez 4. Chris Purcell 5. Heather Kerns 6. Trenton Shaw 7. Ethan Homberger 8. Sammy Clark 9. Emily Allen 10. Marina Geilen

1) Glen Dickson 2) Eric Reitinger 3) Chris Henkel 4) Larry Nociolo 5) Marc Gordon

www.Laser.org

District 13 James Liebl GA, NC, SC

It’s winter and that means it’s frostbite season. Severn Sailing Association in Annapolis, Potomac River Sailing Association both have frostbiting with dozens of sailors taking part almost every Sunday mid-November through Mid-March. A couple other ﬂeets have more limited frostbite days planned.

There is a lot of activity going on. On September 29th we held our Fall Laser Regatta at MBC. Dale Barney and Dave Watts did a great job getting off four windward-leeward races in challenging conditions with wind ranging from 1-12mph. We were treated to pizza (thanks Eileen Nociolo), drinks, and classy faux marble awards for the top five finishers (11 boats total):

We had variable winds today ~ 1-3 with gusts of 5-8. 15 boats raced. The sun come out at the right time when we were back at the shore, un-rigging the boats. Overall, this was a great day of sailing, including challenging shifts and pressure changes through the day. This allowed for big losses and recoveries. The water is still very warm (I veriﬁed personally). The fall colors are

As always checked out our website www.laserdistrict11.org or our District 11 Facebook Group for the latest - and please share updates too!

You know it, amigo! Laser sailing is whatever you want to make of it. From elite level Olympic competition to blasting down a broad reach in your bathing suit, Laser sailing, and especially District 13 Laser sailing, oﬀers it all up.

Er4599@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/groups/1384665518239646/

Marsh Creek’s Fall regatta writeup

We have a few new ﬂeet leaders: The Lower Chesapeake Bay Laser Fleet 12 (aka Hampton Roads Laser Fleet) - Britt Drake cbdrake111@yahoo.com West River Sailing Club - Bryan Bay bryanbay@outlook.com

District 11 Jon Deutsch Virginia

Our 2019 calendar is starting to take shape - jump over to www. laserdistrict11.org to check it out and start planning your sailing schedule. Thanks to the fleet leaders for all the work they with their own fleets to plan these events and thanks for working together to keep conflicts to a minimum.

Final results: (1) Peter Bushnell [4 pts], (2) Kurt Oﬀer [7pts], (3) Peter Gould [9pts], (4) David Filiberto, (5) Tom French.

Fishing Bay ended their season with the Frostbite Regatta - James Jacob won the day followed by Charlie Brewer and Mike Moore. In FBYC’s 4-race day series over the course of the season - 24 sailors took part in at least 1 race day 6 sailors qualiﬁed by sailing 1/2 of the season races with Charlie Brewer coming out on top followed by Brad Squires and David Hanna.

Alsalam (PRSA) Rob Emmet, Adam Glass (SSA), JR Futcher (BTYC), Rich Parolski, Alain Vincey also made the trip. FBYC’s Fall Regatta had 11 boats out with David Hanna winning the day followed by Brad Squires (FBYC) and Chad Patton. SSA’s fall series spread over 2 days in mid-September had 14

Halloween Howler 4.7 (top 9): 1. Spencer Dominguez 2. Bruno Wenceblat 3. William Wardlaw 4. Jack Gonzalez 5. Sebastian Lopez 6. Paola Alvare 7. Michelle-Marie Tamer 8. Lucia Gil 9. Eva Gonzalez And since we’re talking about variety, one event that provided incredible variety was the Gulf Coast Masters Championship hosted by Florida Yacht Club in Jacksonville. Not only did we have diﬀerent breezes, but we saw some new faces and a couple of old faces we haven’t seen in a while. Nice to see you

guys back sailing a bit!

The Texas District 15 finished off 2018 strong with two great events! The first was Arlington Yacht Clubs LaserPalooza featuring AeroRama. This was held at the beautiful Lake Arlington at Richard Simpson Park with over 20 boats in attendance. Unfortunately, the wind was light Saturday with puffs of 5-8 coming down a course that was otherwise only about 3 knots. The strategy was to find the dark water and sail to it fast! There was no racing Sunday as there was even less breeze, though there were some fun pirate games under AP. Christopher Breland finished first followed by Griffin Orr and Eric Roman.

The best part of the span of breezes here was that it was truly anyone’s regatta. This event opened the door to any body weight and any physical body shape theoretically being able to win. We saw such a variety of breeze, it was all about nailing the right shifts and positioning yourself where the pressure would be. At this event, the folks sailing the fastest AND the smartest won. Here’s how it stacked up… Gulf Coast Masters Champs: 1. David Hiebert 2. Dave Chapin 3. Hal Gilreath 4. Jeff Olson 5. Monica Wilson 6. James 7. Andy Culver 8. Christopher Stang 9. David Hartman 10. Ben Kuykendall 11. Bill Weinbecker 12. Quinn Barton For more weather variety, we had the Melbourne Yacht Club Fall Regatta in, you guessed it, Melbourne. What looked like a glassy river on Saturday turned into a nice racing day and then Sunday got up to 15 or so. I can’t remember the exact results, but I know Hal Gilreath won. The Biscayne Bay Yacht Racing Series (BBYRA) also saw variety…a few more new names, and some race courses that included reaches (it was breezy enough to do them). All right! In fact, the “ALL RIGHT” is almost more about the sail back in after racing that Roberto and I had on the KBYC run race day. We ended up finishing the last race of the day a couple of miles directly upwind of where we launched just as the breeze went from breezy to really, really, really breezy. What else could we do but just send it downwind back to the sailing center! Good times. BBYRA September 8 (more boats but not all registered for series to be scored): 2. Marcello Correa 3. Benjamin Kaminsky 4. Roberto Laub BBYRA and Treasure Coast Series #3 September 29&30 (12 boats but not all registered for series to be scored): 1. David Heibert 2. Dave Chapin 4. Francis Hawley 5. Monica Wilson 6. Roberto Laub 10. Santiago Dillon 11. Lorenzo Gregori BBYRA November 3 (more boats but not all registered for series to be scored): 1. Francis Hawley 2. Marcello Correa 3. Roberto Laub 4. Steve Schwartz If you’re wondering why your results are not showing up in the shout outs above, it’s because, first, I don’t know about your event and second, I might have missed your name when I scanned through. So, moving into the present, here’s how you can fix that… make sure I know about your results by sending them to me (gamedayparking@yahoo.com). In addition, make sure EVERYONE knows about your event by posting it to the calendar on the Laser.org site. If you post your regatta under the “District 13” category on the Laser.org site, every single Laser sailor in the whole wide world will have access to it. If you don’t post it there, how will any Laser sailor know about it? Also, introduce yourself to me when you see me so I know who you are. Yep, I’m getting old so you may have introduce yourself more than once to me…that is unless you portstarboard T-Bone me. I’ll for sure remember you then, but not in a good way. Staying in the present with Laser sailing being whatever you want it to be, check out the variety of travelling options we’re seeing. From just tossing the boat on top of the super-attractive and clearly straight Clubman (it’s not a Mini Cooper, it’s a CLUBMAN) to full on, first class vans with every life amenity, to

cocooning your favorite hull in the modiﬁed race car trailer, there is some transport method that will ﬁt your style. Pivoting to the immediate future, remember we got all sorts of great events happening this “winter.” Dec 26-30 Dec 26-30 Jan 11-14 Jan 13 Feb 21-24 Feb 23 Mar 8-10 Mar 7-9 Mar 9-10 Mar 12-15 Mar 24 April 6 April 14

OPEN Orange Bowl Regatta (ANYONE CAN SAI: not just youth), Miami Youth Orange Bowl, Miami US National Champs, Ft. Lauderdale BBYRA Race Day, Miami Midwinters East, Clearwater BBYRA Race Day, Miami Florida Masters, Palm Beach Sailing Club Miami Sailing Week, OPEN Laser Regatta Miami Sailing Week, Youth Laser Regatta Masters Midwinters East, Jensen Beach BBYRA Race Day, Miami BBYRA Race Day, Miami BBYRA Race Day, Miami

Looking further into the future, here’s a couple of priorities for 2019 (and beyond). It’s a doozy of a list, so here’s hoping everyone considers it and does something. If you rely only on me, very little will get done. •

Anyone Else Want To Be District Secretary If anyone has interest in being D13 Secretary, you got the job. Just let me know. I say that because I love Laser sailing. If you have better ideas that can grow the District, that can create more fun, or that can improve Laser sailing, take the reins and I’ll do what I can to help you.

Rotating the District Champs Around The District The plan (started this past year) is to alternate the District Champs from east coast to west coast on successive years, i.e. 2017 was east coast, 2018 is west coast, 2019 will be east coast, etc. If the Panhandle expresses interest, they’ll be added to and included in the rotation. In addition, let’s get the Florida State Champs resurrected and in a similar rotation format. If you don’t like that idea, well, see bullet point number 1 above! Better Integration of Youth, Masters, and In-Between Events It seems we’re headed down a path of two separate fleets sailing, Youth and Masters. It appears that each group is looking at a separate event calendar. The Youth sailors seem to be attending only Youth events. The Masters folks seem to be doing just the Master events. For 2019, let’s get everyone looking at the same calendar (uh, see my calendar comments several paragraphs above) and attending some events together so the younger generation sees that you can still race a Laser after you graduate, and the older generation can learn why the new generation is going so fast. Growing the Class Like all classes, we simply have to build the fleet size. The Youth group appears to be doing great with participation, right up until they graduate and then that’s it for their participation. Their numbers fall off a cliff. What can we do, or change, to keep them racing? Social Media Presence Will a social media presence grow the fleet? If so, what are the right social media platforms to use and what’s the best way to manage them. Okay, I gotta go and finish up my Xmas wish list. And you gotta go and buy me what’s on my Xmas wish list….so get off the damn couch, go sailing, and then buy me a new lower section See you on the line or in the line up….

District 15 Griﬃn Orr Texas

Next up, we travelled to Wurstfest on Lake Canyon near San Antonio. Here, Sailors were greeted by the most spectacular winds of the season, averaging 25 knots and gusting to 35!! Capsizes were a plenty, but most of the ﬂeets still managed to ﬁnish every race. In all, four races were held Saturday with another 2 in much lighter conditions on Sunday. First in the Full rigs was Bryan Trammell and Lillian Meyers in the Radial Fleet! Next up, we start the year with the Annual a Rock the Ice Regatta out of the Corinthian Sailing Club in Dallas. This will be held the last weekend of January (26/27) Expect a strong group of sailors, warm hospitality and cool temperatures for this one!

District 19 Ken Swetka Michigan I’m writing this a day after Laser sailing in Michigan in December! For us we are done for the year but what a day. After a few weekends of clearing ice we sailed in 50 degree air temps! Although the water was about 40. Personally, I am now looking forward to the Florida Masters Circuit in Feb/Mar 2019. Here are some summer regatta and series reports: D19 Districts October 6-7 by Chad Coberly Oct 6-7, 2018 Grand Rapids Yacht Club hosted the 2018 D19 Laser regatta on Reeds Lake in Grand Rapids MI. The forecast of rain and light air kept the turn out low, but 15 boats beat the weather and sailed 7 races over the two days in mostly dry conditions with light to medium breeze. Ken Swetka and Chad Coberly battled all weekend trading oﬀ ﬁrst and second places in every race and were tied coming into the last race when Ken caught a break and Chad OCSd to win the regatta by 1 point. 3rd and 4th was also a tight race between Curt Miller and KC McGovern with Curt squeaking out the 3rd . Top Junior was Camden Seymour. Results 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

Ken Swetka Chad Coberly Curt Miller KC McGovern Bruce Moore Dillon McCormick Steve Jones Kevin Varga Camden Seymour Jackson MacNaughton Jason Vandergrand Ryan Bennett Bill Coberly Michael Seago Tom Hazelton

6 7 17 18 23 29 30 32 38 40 51 54 70 85 87

Lake Lansing Annual – Aug 25 at Lansing Sailing Club, Haslett, MI by Olav Messerschmidt In spite of the challenging weather forecasts of very strong winds and rain, it was great to see that 25 sailors signed up for the regatta. Fortunately, there was no rain, but it was blustery, at times survival conditions for many sailors. No doubt many interesting tales to be shared. Oﬃcial and Final Results: * By winning 4 of the ﬁrst 5 races, EJ O’Mara won the regatta. * Scott Salter and Ben Finkelstein were tied at 15 points each but the tie breaker gave the edge to Scott. Tom LaBelle and Mike Seago rounded out the top 5. * The top female sailor was Rachel Rantanen. * The top LSC sailors, Dillon McCormick and Lars Peereboom, were tied with 44 points each with the tie breaker going to Dillon. My apologies for by getting myself knocked out in race 3 and not being able to host the after sailing events. But, it sounds like you enjoyed the dinner and after racing activities. Many thanks to Avon Sailboats for their continuous support of events such as these.

WINTER 2019

Results 1 Rick Lyons 2 Jim Sunstrum 3 Steve Wiseman 4 Eric Peterson 5 Paul Oﬀer 6 Jim Meyer 7 Tom Kimble 8 Matt Heywood 9 Ken Hopkins 10 Doug Smith 11 Sam Hawkins 12 Dave Williams 13 Paul Ehman 14 Bob Harvey 15 Eric Nelson 16 Michigan Sailing Club 1 17 Michigan Sailing Club 2 18 Hugh Blaxill 19 Jerry Best

Hope to see you all next year. Results 1 EJ O’Mara 2 Scott Salter 3 Ben Finkelstein 4 Tom Labelle 5 Michael Seago 6 Craig Pearson 7 Doug Carlson 8 Rachel Rantanen 9 Scott Petritz 10 Dillon McCormick 11 Lars Peereboom 12 Steve Vamum 13 Scott Watkins 14 Mike Madden 15 Erik Nelson 16 Ryan Bennett 17 Susanna Tellschow 18 Jack Miller 19 Jason Vandergroond 20 Olav Messerschmidt 21 Jim Sunstrum 22 Becca Meyer 23 Alex Labelle 24 Gary Marx 25 Kyle Clark 25 Mike Moody

6 15 15 17 32 34 36 40 42 44 44 45 61 61 77 79 80 83 88 92 106 113 122 127 135 135

No Sweat Regatta – Sep 22 at Portage Yacht Club, Pinckney, MI 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Ryan Lasaway Edgewater Yacht Club Chad Coberly Grand Rapids Yacht Club Steve Johanson Ovidiu Adam Michigan Sailing Club Craig Pearson NCYC Jim Sunstrum Portage Yacht Club Hugh Blaxill Lansing Sailing Club Paul Oﬀer Portage Yacht Club Peter Johanson Torch Lake Yacht Club Rick Lyons Portage Yacht Club Steve Wiseman Portage Yacht Club Jack Stiefel Lake George Sailing Assn. KC McGovern Grand Rapids Yacht Club Jerry Best Portage Yacht Club Carey Jones Michigan Sailing Club Olav Messerschmidt Lansing Sailing Club Bruce Moore Grand Traverse Yacht Club Matt Heywood NCYC Kevin Varga CreekFleet Yacht Club Ken Hopkins Portage Yacht Club Jim Herold Toledo Ice Yacht 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, Illinois

Next year is looking like a great summer of events. Have a pleasant winter and I will see you on the water next spring.

42 43 44 46

56 58 58 59 64

In the meantime, the Seattle Laser Fleet is enjoying a surge in its 6-race frostbiting series. All volunteer run, this event welcomes Lasers, RS Aeros and Optimists. Several young sailors are using the series to stay sharp for next year’s Northwest Youth Racing Circuit. In the same vein, the famous Frigid Digit regatta, scheduled for the weekend of January 2627, 2019, is shaping up to be well attended. More great Laser racing coming to the Northwest in 2019 includes the D-22 Champs in the Columbia River Gorge July 27-28, the Masters PCCs in the Gorge August 2-4, and the open Paciﬁc Coast Champs coming to Bellingham in September. As a special bonus, both Gorge regattas will be preceded by training clinics hosted by the renowned International Sailing Academy. Details should be available soon at www.cgra.org. Photos by Brad Greene

District 24 Stephen Aguilar NorCal

Greetings from district 24 I’m sitting on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. El Niño is again at work blessing us with gigantic northwest swells. Northern California what a great place to live. The diversity of recreation activities is just unbelievable. Between sessions I’ve been reflecting on the 2018 sailing season 2018

19.5 37

55.75

Al Clark led a formidable Canadian contingent, and subsequent email threads showed a growing interest in cross-border regattas. Andrew Nelson of the Northwest Youth Sailing organization is doing a great job of coordinating the young sailors and coaches in the D-22 region.

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

18.75

bright sun and chilly winds in the high teens Saturday and low to mid teens on Sunday. Matthew Stranaghan of West Vancouver won in the standard rigs and Kit Stoll won in the Radials. All were agreed that it was a good basis on which to build for 2019, particularly among the youth sailors.

District 20 has had a great season in 2018. We ﬁnished with great regattas in Delavan and Carlyle. Thank you Susie and Troy for planning these events. We have begun our planning for next year. Please see the event list below.

17.75

District 22 Kurt Hoehne Northwest District 22 held a remarkable district championship in Seattle the weekend before Thanksgiving, held in conjunction with CYCSeattle’s Turkey Bowl. Buoyed by the efforts of youth coaches in the region, both the standard and radial rigs saw full competitive fleets, with 12 and 24 boats respectively. A fledgling 3-boat 4.7 fleet formed as well. For a November regatta in 50-degree Puget Sound, the turnout was remarkable. The fleets were treated with

15 Regattas from March to October. We sail in the ocean oﬀ Santa Cruz and Monterey in The San Francisco Bay and then we throw in valley and Alpine Lakes. Every kind a condition that you could imagine. I think at half moon bay we showed up it was blowing 20 and just kept building through the day. I think it ended up hitting 30 by the afternoon. At the Camillia cup it never got above 10. At the Tahoe Laser championships at stampede reservoir it was blowing and super shifting. Through it all Lance and marcel continued to match race each other. Amazing to watch. Those guys were in a dogﬁght for almost the entire season. Probably didn’t get more than two or three boat lengths away from each other all season long.

65 74 82 84 92 96

Summer Series at Portage Yacht Club This year Portage Yacht Club is hosting a Tuesday night invitational Laser series with dates of 6/12-7/17, inclusive, to be conducted in parallel to their usual Tuesday racing.

www.Laser.org

27.5 29.5 30.75 31.5 33.75 42 43 51 51.75 54.5 61 62 69 73 73 75 76 82 90.5

We are like a band of gypsies traveling from Regatta to Regatta. We arrive set up camp and race each other all day. Throughout the day you’ll hear some of the better sailors sharing go fast tips.

Then at the end of the day we share a meal enjoy a drink and tell stories through the night.

Another change in our schedule is that Alameda community sailing has agree to run a one-day regatta of short course racing and the following day the return of the sir Francis Chichester around Alameda Race. This is a great event that requires you to capsize or do whatever is necessary to get under four bridges to navigate your way around Alameda Island. Last year we were unable to do the Delta DinghyDitch run a 30 mile downwind from Rio Vista to Lake Washington sailing club due to a bridge failure. Repairs have been done and its back on the schedule. With these three events that gives us 18 regattas for our 2019 Grand Prix. JB Duler and others have been working to put together a new website for district. The new web address is. laserdistrict24.org check this out for information on regattas and other goings-on in District 24.

This year we had over 100 different competitors sailing in The Svendsens Grand Prix. At the end of the season it was marcel and Lance tied for 1st Pl., Emilio castelli in second Steven Schmidt in third in the standard class. In the Radial class It was Toshi in first JB Duler in second and Bob Gunion in third. Congratulations too all that sailed the last season of the Svendsens Grand Prix. Many thanks to Sean Svendsen and Svendsens marine for their many years of supporting district 24 laser sailors and for gifting the Grand Prix trophies to district 24 2019 Big changes coming up this year. the number one would be we have a new Sponsor and name for the Grand Prix. Laser district 24 Grand Prix sponsored by West Coast sailing. We’re looking forward to having a great relationship with George and the staff at West Coast Sailing .

It’s looking pretty perfect out there with the tide dropping so happy holidays to all and I’ll see you next season.

Various D24 photos by JB Duler, Toshi & Emilio

SAIL WITH INTENSITY

Best prices on Dinghy sails, parts and gear!

Back to basics on price without compromising performance! Laser • Optimist • Bic O’Pen • Sunfish • C420 • CFJ • JY15 • Flying Scott • Vanguard • Rhodes 19 • Pico Zuma • and more

401-738-8000 28

windcheckmagazine.com

WINTER 2019

Saving the Sport of Sailing in the Olympics -ILCA Responds to World Sailing Announcement

The International Laser Class Association is surprised and disappointed by the announcement today that the World Sailing Board has recommended to select new equipment to replace the Laser and Laser Radial Classes for the one-person dinghy events in the 2024 Olympic Games. See the details of the World Sailing announcement on the World Sailing website. The announcement comes as part of the equipment reevaluation process that has been ongoing since May of this year. According to the published reevaluation procedure, the board’s recommendation will now be presented to the World Sailing Council for acceptance or rejection at the upcoming World Sailing Conference later this month in Sarasota, Florida. ILCA is pleased to note that the board’s announcement indicates that the Laser and Laser Radial Classes will be included in the proposed equipment “sea trials” that will be held if the board’s proposal is approved by a vote of the World Sailing Council. The sea trials would take place strength and stability of the class association. among the Laser Classes and the three other shortlisted In advance of the upcoming World Sailing meeting, ILCA will be candidate classes, so the possibility remains that the Laser and reaching out to our members, our district associations, and all Laser Radial will ultimately be conﬁrmed as the equipment for the national sailing federations to help ensure that decisions the 2024 Olympic one-person dinghy events. are made in the best interest of our sport. ILCA is committed to supporting World Sailing to ensure that sailing remains an Olympic sport, and we will continue to comply with all the requirements of the reevaluation process in order to assure that the Laser and Laser Radial Classes remain part of that Olympic program. Because the Laser and Laser Radial Classes represent the majority of all countries participating in Olympic sailing, ILCA believes that replacing them would create a devastating and unnecessary disruption for the sport and could very well jeopardize sailing remaining in the Olympic games. Universality, or the number of countries participating in an Olympic sport, is one of the key metrics used by the International Olympic Committee to evaluate each Olympic sport. The chart below shows the number of countries participating in Olympic qualifying events for the 2016 Games and clearly illustrates the importance of the Laser on sailing universality. In fact, for the last Olympics the Laser and Laser Radial Classes combined represented 89 of the 94 countries participating in qualifying events across all Olympic classes. And ILCA is already on track to beat those numbers for 2020. It has taken over 40 years to grow the reach of the Laser Classes to the point seen on the chart above. It is unclear how another class could duplicate in four years what ILCA UNIVERSAL DOLLY FULLY ADJUSTABLE and the Laser builders worldwide have built over 40. Considering the other pending changes to Olympic equipment on the World Sailing agenda, if the Laser and Laser Radial Classes are replaced, the obvious question is: Can our sport survive this level of upheaval and remain in the Olympics? EXTENDED At this time ILCA believes it is critical to our sport that the Laser and Laser Radial Classes are retained as the foundation of the Olympic sailing program. RETRACTED ILCA is conﬁdent that the Laser and Laser Radial Classes will prevail in any evaluation based on objective criteria Canfield, OH • Toll Free 1-800-282-5042 including performance, price, quality, universality and the

THE ALUMINUM TRAILER

LIKE NO OTHER

www.trailex.com

www.Laser.org

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

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



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



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



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

You get direct beneﬁt by joining the Laser Class!

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

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



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

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



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



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



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



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

Most of the remaining dues go toward all the things it takes to running an organization of 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!



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



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



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

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

What are some of the direct benefits of membership? 



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



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



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

Why should you join the Laser Class? 

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



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!

WINTER 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

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, CA 92106

Summer Winter18 2019

SPRING 18

PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE

PRESORTED PAID STANDARD San Dimas, CA U.S. POSTAGE Permit No. 410

PAID

San Dimas, CA Permit No. 410