Fall 2009 Laser Sailor

Page 1

FALL 2009

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


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SERVICES AVAILABLE U *À Û>Ìi E Ìi> V >V } U >V } >Ì V> ] >Ì > > ` ÌiÀ >Ì > iÛi Ìà U Và > ` ÌÀ> } V> «Ã U >Ì Ã«ii` `iÛi « i Ì V> «Ã U -ÌÀi }Ì > ` V ` Ì } ÌÀ> } U *À }À> `iÛi « i Ì

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PRE-ORA PRE-ORANGE ANGE BOWL L REGA REGATTA TT TA & CLINIC SCHEDULE E REGATTA

December Decembe er 5-6: District 13 Grand Prix P Regatta Host: US USSC-MC, SSC-MC, Jensen Beach, FL “Sail this rregatta egatta with us to pr prepare reparre yo you ou for Orange Bowl”

CLINIC No.1

December Performance Decembe er 12-13: High Performan nce Open Clinic

CLINIC No.2

December Decembe er 19-20: High Performance Performanc ce Open Clinic

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ISTE T R O SPA DA CE L IMIT Y ED

Host: Lakewood Lak kewood YC, Houston TX Host: USSC-MC, US SSC-MC, Jensen Beach, FL REGATTA

December December 26-30: 26-30: Orange Orange B Bowl owl Regatta Regattta ww// Team Team Tune-Up Tune-Up Day Day Host: US USSC, SSC, Miami FL your Team Tune-Up “Bring you ur A-game to our T eam T une une-Up e-Up Day on the 26th”

Primary Primarry Coaching Staff: Stafff: R Ryan yan Minth, Brendan Casey, Ca Casey asey y, Zach Railey There will be special charte charter er and hotel rates available. Details Deta ails to be announced soon. Ryan@C-vane.com Contact Ryan@C-vane.co om for the latest information and d request placement on the preliminary Team Members. preliminar ry list of Clinic Attendees Atte endees and/or Regatta T eam Me embers.

Photo: courtesy of PhotoBoat.com

Full information and d rregistration egistration through through C C-vane Sailing Ó Ó - ÀÞ> JV Û> i°V or ³£ ­Ó£Ó® Ó Ó -

FALL 2009


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, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2

Editors

Sherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl ILCA-NA

Officers

Tracy Usher Chairman PO Box 370701 Montara, CA 94037 Phone: (650) 340-1129 usher@slac.stanford.edu Eric Faust Vice Chairman 821 East 53rd Street Austin, TX 78751 Phone: (512) 791-8218 ehfaust@gmail.com

Clay Johnson Treasurer 26 River Bend Dr. Toms River, NJ 08753 Phone: 732-330-7281 clayton.e.johnson@gmail.com

Lauralee Symes Secretary 3576 SW Mt. Adams Drive Portland, OR 97239 Phone: (503) 274-2818 llsymes@comcast.net

Tommy Wharton At Large 705 King Street West, Unit 1514 Toronto, ON M5V 2W8 Canada Phone: 647-296-6544 twharton@sailing.ca Sherri Campbell Executive Secretary 2812 Canon Street San Diego, CA 92106 Phone: (619) 222-0252

www.Laser.org

Fax: (619) 222-0528 admin@Laser.org

FA L L

2 0 09

District Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

President’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Membership Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Ian Bruce Honored . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Remembering Tony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Thanks Sally! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 2010 Event Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

2010 Qualification System for Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Laser World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .center LaserPerformance Grand Prix Results . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Masters Sailing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

NA Sailors Dominate at World Masters . . . . . . . . . . . .24 Regatta Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Backus Cup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 ISAF Youth Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Women’s Radial Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Gulf Coast Champs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Whitefish Lake Invitational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

District Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Membership Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Sailing Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

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

Cover photo: Boys Radial sailors in Buzios, Brazil at the ISAF Youth World Champs Photo by Robert Dunkley

5


N

BRITISH COLUMBIA

5

ALBERTA

6

SASKATCHEWAN

WASHINGTON

OREGON

26

HAWAII

NEVADA

24

CALIFORNIA

25

22

IDAHO

MONTANA WYOMING

4

MANITOBA

NORTH DAKOTA

21

WISCONSIN

SOUTH DAKOTA

ARIZONA

23

COLORADO

NEW MEXICO

KANSAS

ILLINOIS

16

OKLAHOMA TEXAS

20

IOWA

MISSOURI ARKANSAS

15

LOUISIANA

18

INDIANA

OHIO

KENTUCKY TENNESSEE

14 ALABAMA MISSISSIPPI

10

PENNSYLVANIA WEST VIRGINIA

7 7

VERMONT

NEW 9 YORK

19

1

MAINE

MICHIGAN

17

NEW BRUNSWICK

2

3

MINNESOTA

NEBRASKA UTAH

QUEBEC

ONTARIO

11

8

NOVA SCOTIA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

MASSACHUSETTS

RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT

NEW JERSEY

DELAWARE

MARYLAND

VIRGINIA

NORTH CAROLINA

12

SOUTH CAROLINA

GEORGIA

13

PUERTO RICO AND THE CARIBBEAN

29

FLORIDA

District 1

District 9

District 2

District 10

Brian Mills, 71 Bristol Street, Fredricton, NB E3B 4W2 506-457-1580, bnmills@nb.sympatico.ca Denys Deschambeault, 5120 Du Havre, Trois Rivieres, PQ G8Y 5Y9 819-372-0842 denys.deschambeault@tr.cgocable.ca

District 3

District 18

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

John Shockey 614-256-2254 jshockna06@yahoo.com

Eric Reitinger er4599@gmail.com New Jersey

Ken Swetka 27022 Koerber St., St. Claire Shores, MI 48081 248-635-5363 www.d29laser.org

District 11

District 19 District 20

Robert Koci, 804 Sammon Ave. Toronto, ON M4C 2E8 647-407-0754. robert.koci@rci.rogers.com D3 website: www.d3laser.ca

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

Brigitte Smutney, 224-200 Main St Winnipeg, MB R3C 4M2 sailingesport.mb.ca

Christian Koppernaes Doug Sherwood: LaserDistrict12@gmail.com Wrightsville Beach, NC www.d12.laserforum.org

Mike Elson 2235 West 21st Street Minneapolis, MN 55405 621-377-8903 melson@visi.com d21@laserforum.org

Meka Taulbee & Michelle Davis Dunedin, FL 34968 727-631-7005, meka@sailfit.com www.laser.org/m/_general/d13.asp

Mike Gilbert, 1620 Gerald Ave. Missoula, MT 59801 406-327-7855, mike@gilbertarch.com

District 4 District 5

Mark Lammens 510 Cynthia St. Saskatoon, SK S7K 7K7 306-975-0833. sasksail@shaw.com www.jdecm.com/laser

District 6

Andy Hunt, #5 1060 W 15th Ave Vancouver BC, V6H 1R6 604-733-9663. Hotline: 206-525-5788. athunt@vcn.bc.ca www.cycseattle.org/slf

District 7

Kim Ferguson, 12 Florida Ave Jamestown, RI 02835 kimferg@cox.net D7 Newsletter Chris Morin abcmorin@maine.rr.com 207.775.5485 www.d7laserforum.org

District 8

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

6

District 12 District 13 District 14

Cal Herman, 7038 Catina St New Orleans, LA 70124, 504-282-1770 callender.herman@wfadvisors.com

District 15

James Freedman, 8324 Horse Whisperer Ln. Ft. Worth, TX 76131 james.freedman@aa.com; 214-864-6024 www.cerebus.winsite.com/Laser/districts/d15/

District 16

Tim Fitzgerald, 2322 Bromfield Circle Wichita, KS, 67226, 316-650-3636 timfitz@cox.net

District 17

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

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

District 21 District 22 District 23

Fletcher Avery 23 South Pearl St, Denver, CO 80209 favery@gtri.com www.usdiscovery.com/laser

District 24

David Lapier 408-525-6396, dlapier@cisco.com www.technicalwizardry.com/d24laser/d24

District 25

Nils Andersson, 6929 Wyoming Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 619-463-6001. nilssail@cox.net 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

FALL 2009


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7


President’s Notes TRACY USHER

Hard to believe, but here we are with the 2009 season drawing to a close. This has been another big year for Laser sailing in North America with large turnouts at almost all of the major events, including 228 boats at the North Americans at the Buffalo Canoe Club and a whopping 276 boats at the US Championship in Brant Beach!

In keeping with recent tradition, the Radial continues to draw the biggest fleets and consists of an impressive mix of age, from youth to master, and gender with many fleets nearly equally balance between male and female. And in what sport can you compete where the guys and girls are competing on an equal basis and where the top ten is often equally split between the two? This is not solely a North American trend either as the Radial is growing wildly throughout the world. Tell your friends! Let’s continue to see the Radial grow!

In 2011 the North American Region is set to host the Laser 4.7 World Championship (and, as well, the Masters’ World Championship). At its Halifax meeting, the ILCA World Council selected San Francisco as the venue, with the event to be sailed in early August and raced in an area commonly referred to as the Berkeley Circle, a patch of water that has hosted numerous world championships in count-

less classes – from Olympic classes to keelboats – but has yet to host a Laser World Championship! San Francisco is world famous for its sailing and this event is expected to draw a large number of competitors from all corners of the Laser sailing world.

While the Laser 4.7 has been slowly catching on in North America and some other parts of the world, it has taken Europe by storm and major championships there frequently see in excess of 300 boats! That’s in excess of 300 4.7s! With the relative ease of travel to San Francisco from Europe, South America, Asia and Australia, it is expected that the 2011 4.7 World Championship will see a big demand and foreign attendance should easily surpass, if not double, that at Barrington in 2005. As such, it represents the perfect goal for the youth sailing programs in North America aiming to get their sailors into a 4.7, up to speed and then into a major World Championship that should see participants from more than 40 countries. So… start your planning now! I should also note, for those a bit over the Laser 4.7 age limit (or maybe a lot over), that the 4.7 Worlds will be followed by the Masters’ Worlds. Contrary to whatever some writer may have said over 100 years ago about summers and winters and San Francisco, the locals predict warm sunshine in the boat park (no jackets required) and

good racing in fresh breeze (under 20 knots) and refreshingly cool water (contrary to popular opinion, penguins are not native to San Francisco Bay and are only found in the zoo). Of course, the real way to look at this event is that it will be good training for the 2012 Master Worlds in Perth, in February, where it really will be windy. Ok, time to start planning my winter sailing program! See you on the water!

photo above: Tracy Usher “goes Canadian” during the World Masters.

Vintage Laser 20705

10705 was purchaed new in 1973 by Harry Hecht of Mission Bay Yacht Club in San Diego. Harry sailed it for someyears until his son Jim took it over and raced it to 2005 when the third generation, Jim’s son Matt Hecht started to sail the old boat. Harry doesn’t live in San Diego anymore but he inisists on racing the “old green machine” when he comes for a visit. Here’s a photo of Harry and Jim with “Green Machine.” 8

FALL 2009


ILCA-NA Membership As of August 31, 2009

District 1

Members 8/31/09

8/31/08

8/31/07

8/31/06

54

41

27

32

44

2

53

34

38

3

179

131

176

175

5

50

40

41

43

4

7

7

8

13

6

145

129

122

132

8

112

116

98

132

7

235

9

49

288 35

10

146

150

12

91

88

11

150

319 41

298 40

119

141

86

75

158

160

166

13

155

168

158

131

15

79

69

71

74

14

30

16

9

17

24

19

49

18

48

20

80

21

31

22

3

23

22

25

148

29

16

24

90

26

3

20

23

18

19

14

18

49

71

58

64

82

88

31

40

3

27

1

21 19 15 80 76 92 62 2

27

29

168

144

178

25

23

23

113 4

114 6

97 8

Family, 1

172

161

150

140

Family, 3

3

2

2

6

Family, 2

25

TOTAL

2249

26

2272

30

2280

56

2394

Calling All Owners of Vintage Lasers

The Laser Executive Committee thought this might be an opportunity for the class to profile those who still have truly old Lasers which we’ll define as the earliest 5% of hulls made, or the first 10,000 out of roughly 200,000. Please send Jerelyn your story about extant Lasers that qualify, and hopefully a picture of it still in use and we’ll publish them. Send to: jerelyn@odmsail.com

www.Laser.org

9


Ian Bruce Honored Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada, announced on Canada Day the newest appointees to the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest Honour. Amongst the appointees is the Father of the Laser, Ian Bruce, an Industrial Designer by profession and a boat builder by occupation.

With a concept in mind and a set of lines drawings from friend and fellow Canadian Bruce Kirby, he created in 1970 a boat, rig and manufacturing process that has essentially remained unchanged to this day and still represents the epitome of one-design sailing. By 1974, he had opened 9 majorityowned plants worldwide building the Laser and the rest is history.

has either designed or assisted in the design, developed and built all the following International or Recognized Classes: Finn, Fourteen, Contender, Laser, Optimist, Fireball, 470, Laser II, Tasar, Laser Radial, Byte and 29er. In the last instance he was part of a team assisting Julian Bethwaite in the development of the 29er, providing the design team with both his product design knowledge and his sailing experience. His own design, the Byte, is the male and female singlehander to be used in the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

At 76 he is still sailing his Star and his company PS2000 in Montreal, in which he is fully active, builds the Optimist, the Club 420, the Megabyte, the Byte and the 29er.”

He is also a passionate sailor having twice won the prestigious Prince of Wales Trophy in International Fourteens and twice represented his country in the Olympics in the Finn (Naples) and the Star (Keel).

The award is in recognition of his service to sailing, both in Canada and Internationally, and in particular for his involvement in the design and development of high-performance boats for young sailors. During 40 years in the business he

ANNOUNCING COCONUT GROVE SAILING CLUB 47TH ANNUAL

OPEN ORANGE BOWL REGATTA

Co-Sponsored by The Orange Bowl Committee

Biscayne Bay, Coconut Grove (Miami), FL USA Sunday, December 27 Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Lightnings, Lasers, Laser Masters and Laser Radials

Some lodging available at homes or on boats of CGSC Members (first come-first served). Priority parking for CGSC Open Orange Bowl Regatta competitors. See Notice of Race!

We want you at our regatta! 10

FALL 2009


1RZ ERRN L Q J I RU W KH V HDV RQ $O O L Q F O X V L Y H H Y H Q W V ERD W F KD U W H U V D Q G 7 H D P W U D L Q L Q J &O L Q L F V I RU /D V H U ) X O O 5L J /D V H U 5D GL D O 2SW L

7+( %2$7 63((' (;3(576 ZZZ L QW HUQDW L RQDO VDL O L QJDFDGHP\ FRP (PDL O Y D XJ KQ#L QW HU QD W L RQD O V D L O L QJ D F D GHP\ F RP

www.Laser.org

11


Remembering Tony

It’s the beginning of the Laser season in Tahoe and I’m getting emails from our Google group. One of our younger sailors is actually trying to organize a practice before the season starts. This is almost unheard of in these parts where so many sports seem to compete for our attention. Tony is one of three people to attend as he is most keen to get back in the water sooner than later. The next night there is no wind for our races. The only person fully rigged is Tony. He sees me coming across the parking lot and greets me with an ear to ear smile and a huge hug. We immediately start talking about our favorite topics: sailing, family, sailing, family, sailing...... Wind or no wind, his enthusiasm is contagious and our fleet is excited for our season.

Even though he has only been in our fleet for a few years, Tony has become a key member of our group. He started off in our “B” fleet, for the novice sailors and quickly worked his way up to the “A” fleet. I knew that all hope of consistently beating him was done when he told me that his wife was giving him a present of going to Ari’s place in Cabarete to train for his 60th birthday. So off he went, and then spent the winter racing along the West Coast doing the Midwinters and whatever else he could find. Sure enough, when we all started to sail in Tahoe again, Tony had made a quantum leap in his boat handling and racing skills and we all found ourselves sparring with him on a regular basis. Competing against Tony was a joy. There are some people who you really don’t mind beating you because they just do it so graciously. Tony certainly had put his practice in and did it by sailing well and learning the sport in the most ethical of ways. Last

Monday we were sailing downwind and he was doing circles. “I need to practice this more!” I told him that I thought he looked pretty good. “You know I mean practicing spinning faster, not hitting people!” he said with that wry smile. A few minutes later I’m rounding the leeward mark. Tony is not far behind. Jim Granger tosses in a tack and I find myself tacking to starboard and hearing Tony calmly saying “you’re fouling me.....you’re fouling me.” as he ducks my stern and continues along. I sail off to the left and spin. After the race I suggest that he use the word “protest” just to practice for more formal situations. “Maybe, but I knew you would spin.” And that is the way Tony played, always expecting the best from everyone and it usually worked out that way.

Tony was also a great supporter of youth sailors. When David Adolphs, who worked and sailed in Tahoe for a few years before going to school and sailing at UCSB, put his boat up for sale, Tony immediately offered him full price plus another $500 if he made the Dean’s list. Little did he know how studious David was, and he kept his word helping fund a new boat for David who he frequently saw racing during the winter months.

Recently he had taken over my position of writing articles for our local newspaper. At first he was tentative, but with the help of his son Nick taking pictures, he quickly got into the swing of things. I told him that with the deadlines he just had to get a story out and that we knew everyone well enough and certainly had enough bar banter that he could use my technique of going into creative writing mode when in a bind. A few weeks later he proclaimed: “Wow, I had no idea how much fun it would be to make up quotes!” (a true one by the way)

Our fleet found ourselves back at the boat ramp minus one last night. Although there was no wind, we rigged up, because that is what Tony would have done, and went out and had a little ceremony with 20 plus Lasers and Picos dropping yellow roses in the lake in Tony’s memory. As Justin Casey said before our moment of silence, Tony was always someone who gave more to the fleet than he ever took. He was so enthusiastic and always had a smile on his face, as well as a cheering section with his tight knit family. His wife Maria came to almost every event and was a fantastic laser

12

supporter. Tony’s son and daughter also spent much time out on the water either competing with their dad or taking photos when they were in town. The entire Dahlman family has been such a great addition to our fleet.

Back at the ramp, my trailer has the popular Master’s bumper sticker on it: “Cheat the nursing home, die on your laser.” Tony may be the first person to do that. The reality is that we feel cheated, as we all needed to spend more time with this man who lived with passion for family and sailing and with an ease and grace that made everyone love him. So many people in our fleet didn’t even realize that he was a surgeon as he never referred to himself as doctor or really talked much about work. In spite of being so humble, we did have a lot of fun nicknaming him the “Dahlmanator” on the race course, which he graciously accepted as he moved up the A fleet.

Since Tony was our traveling ambassador, our fleet has organized a fund to help our junior sailors and our grand masters with entry fees to bigger events outside of Tahoe. If you are interested in donating to this fund, please contact Darren Kramer at gm@tahoeyc.com. Tony was an advocate of sailing locally and also seeing the world on his laser. Hopefully we can follow his example. We miss him greatly. Buff Wendt

Tahoe Laser Fleet Grand Master Tony Dahlman #185526 passed away during the Masters US Nationls in August.

FALL 2009


Celebrating 10 Years! Sea-HP011 Men Wetsuit Convertible Sizes – XS, S, M, L, XL

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www.sailequipment.com.au ww ww.sailequipment.com m.au www.Laser.org

13


Thanks Sally! PETER SEIDENBERG

Sally Sharp stepping down

After 11 years as secretary of District 7, Sally Sharp is stepping down. It requires complete dedication to run an organization such as a Laser District, a district that is spread out over 6 states and, with 303 members, the biggest by far in North America; and to do it on ones free time and without monetary compensation! It takes endless hours to set up and administer the District regatta schedule and to write quarterly reports for “The Laser Sailor”. Sally did it all with amazing competence.

She tried to keep the regatta interest up by, for instance, changing the championship format from the best 3 of 5 designated regattas one year, to a single designated regatta the next. For the last 2 years, Sally introduced a “Super Series” of the best 3 of 5 designated regattas for the Standards, and the best 2 of 3 for the Radials, with the winners being awarded a sail by the Vanguard Sailing Center in Rhode Island – a fine example of sport/commerce cooperation.

14

Besides running District 7, Sally has been active for years in helping establish and run a grassroots community sailing club on Lake Mascoma, NH, with adult sailing instruction and regular handicap club races in various types of boats. It is to her credit that the annual Mascoma Spring and Fall Laser regattas are a popular fixture on the District 7 regatta calendar.

We Laser sailors in District 7 owe Sally a tremendous amount of gratitude for her dedication to our sport and our organization. We wish her well for the future, and for ourselves many more Lake Mascoma Spring and Fall regattas.

our District to the benefit of us all. Her address is: 12 Florida Ave., Jamestown, RI 028351548. Her cell. phone # is: 401-862-0564. Her e-mail address is: kimferg@cox.net

The new District 7 secretary will be Kim Ferguson, an accomplished Radial sailor and wife of the 2009 Laser Masters World champion, Scott Ferguson. May we all pledge to give her our support in running

FALL 2009


6HH \RX DW &25.

Want to win in 2009 You have a competitive boat You have good sails You are physically in top shape How is your mental game??? Sailing Mind Skills volume 1 by Michael Blackburn An audio CD designed to improve your inner sailing Suggested Price $ 34.95 US $ 36.95 CDN Available at APS LTD and other Laser Shops SailCoach Consultants North America Inc 170 Kehoe Street Ottawa, ON, Canada K2B 6A5 Tel/Fax 613-820-7618

e-mail pwood@magma.ca www.Laser.org

15


Seasonal Transitions: The Benefit of the Off-Season

EVAN LEWIS H.B.KIN., CSCS

As part of every athlete’s year there are natural transition periods. As the weather cools, the days get shorter and the major regatta season ends; many athletes are beginning to transition into their off-season.

An athlete’s off-season typically follows the most important or the last major regatta of the season and lasts until base training begins. This period of the sailing year is designed to promote recovery and give a break from sailing to prevent burnout and becoming stale. During this period it is a good idea to remain moderately active so as to not lose the training gains that have been made over the season; however, try sports other than sailing. Competing on a school team, trying out a new sport or being active with friends are great options during this time.

The off-season is an ideal time to reflect on your season by reviewing your goals to see which ones you achieved and where you came up short. You should congratulate yourself on goals achieved but do not feel discouraged by unachieved goals. Reviewing both your season and goals is critical in helping you determine areas of your sailing that have improved and others that need more attention. This is also an ideal time to start thinking about your goals for the upcoming season, whether they are regatta goals or personal goals. A good example of each would be setting a challenging but realistic performance goal for a major regatta next season (e.g. the North Americans in Texas) and setting a measurable fitness goal such as improving your aerobic condition (e.g. running 10km in a new personal best time).

Physically, this is a time to let your body recover from the stress of training, competition and traveling by reducing your activity levels. Throughout the racing season, the demands of all three of these activities continually take a toll on your body’s systems. Specifically your muscles, energy stores and your immune system have all been heavily used, leaving you tired, at an increased risk of injury and illness. Therefore, the off-season is a logical time to check in with your health care providers. A Physician or Naturopath will be able to assess your overall health, which may

16

How long is adequate for an effective offseason? The length of your off-season may be as short as two weeks or as long as two months. The length will vary depending the include blood work to check for nutritional length of your season, the number of regattas you have competed in and how you feel deficiencies (e.g. iron). Visiting a Chiropractor or Physiotherapist will help to about sailing right now. The longer your season and the greater the volume of trainrehabilitate injuries that have developed over the season and identify muscle imbal- ing and racing you have done, you will require more rest to let your body fully ances or weaknesses that could lead to future injuries. Finally, consulting a fitness recover and adapt to the stresses you have professional to have your physical fitness placed on it. If your season was disappointing or ended on a bad note, you may need tested is a terrific way to determine how to take a longer off-season to mentally your body has changed over the season. Fitness testing will give you an indication recover. This will allow you to start base of your physical strengths and weaknesses, training fresh and re-energized about sailsuch as muscular strength and endurance, ing. Ultimately, the duration of your offflexibility, body composition and aerobic season is something only you can decide. A and anaerobic capacity. This information good indicator is once you feel relaxed, combined with advice from a Chiropractor rejuvenated and excited about Laser sailing you are ready to transition to base training or Physiotherapist regarding injuries or muscle imbalances and your personal goals and begin to prepare for next season. will provide plenty of information for your fitness professional to build you a personalized training program to help you achieve Please send questions and comment to sailstronger@evanlewis.ca. your sailing goals. Evan is an MSc candidate at the University Mental recovery during the off-season is of Toronto where he is studying muscle equally as important as physical recovery. health and aging and is a NSCA Certified This is a time where you can let go of sail- Strength Conditioning Specialist.

ing for a while, and focus on other aspects of your life. This should include spending time with family and friends. Many of these people provide you with a great deal of support through the ups and downs of your season and with travel and regattas you may have not seen them since the beginning of summer. The off-season is a great time to reconnect with these people and thank them for their support.

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FALL 2009


Regatta

Laser

2010 Schedule

Radial

Laser 4.7

Masters

World Championship

www.laserinternational.org

Largs, GBR Women & Men: July 6-14 Youth: July 17-24

Pattaya. Thailand

NA Championship

Texas Corinthinan YC

Texas Corinthinan YC

Texas Corinthinan YC

AlamitosBayYC

Ft. Lauderdale, FL www.lyc.org February 5-7

na

na

ISAF Grade 1

40 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

North American

Women’s Radial Champs 30 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

Canadian Championships

30 GP pts. ISAF Grade 2

US Championships 30 GP pts, ISAF Grade 2

CORK

30 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

Hayling Island, GBR

August 27-Sept 5 www.tcyc.org June 23-27 na Quebec

www.laserinternational.org

www.tcyc.org June 23-27

Quebec

Club de Voile des Laurentides

Club de Voile des Laurentides

Milwaukee YC

Milwaukee YC

July 15-18

July 15-18

March 31-April 8

www.tcyc.org June 23-27

Quebec

Carolina Yacht Club Charleston, SC May 14-16

July 15-18

Milwaukee YC

www.milwaukeeyc.com

Kingston, ON

Kingston, ON

Kingston, ON

www.cork.org

August 21-25

www.cork.org

August 21-25

August 12-15 www.cork.org

August 21-25

Midwinters East

Clearwater, FL

Clearwater, FL

Clearwater, FL

Midwinters West

Richmond, CA

Richmond, CA

Richmond, CA

30 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

30 GP pts., ISAF Grade 2

Rolex Miami OCR ISAF Grade 1

Atlantic Coast Championships

25 GP pts. ISAF Grade 2

Pacific Coast Championships

25 GP pts., ISAF Grade 2

www.clwyc.org

Feb 18-21

www.richmondyc.org

March 26-28 Miami, FL

www.clwyc.org

Feb 18-21

www.richmondyc.org

March 26-28 Miami, FL

www.clwyc.org

Feb 18-21

www.ussailing.org (women only)

na

na

D8

D8

D8

D7, D8, D10, D11, D12

D24

D24

D24

D6, D24, D25

Seabrook SC,TX

Seabrook SC,TX

Seabrook SC,TX

Jan 24-30

Jan 24-30

www.dillonyachtclub.com

www.dillonyachtclub.com

www.dillonyachtclub.com

Great Lakes Championships

D18

D18

D18

www.Laser.org

Feb 6-8

www.ussailing.org (men only)

No Coast Championships

25 GP pts

USSCMC Jensen Beach, FL NA

March 26-28

www.seabrook-sailing.org

25 GP pts

na

www.richmondyc.org

Gulf Coast Championships 25 GP pts

abyc..org

August 13-15

D1-D6

www.milwaukeeyc.com

August 12-15

Sept 11-19

Club de Voile des Laurentides

www.milwaukeeyc.com

August 12-15

Hayling Island,GBR

June 19-20

Lake Dillon, CO July 31-Aug 1

www.seabrook-sailing.org

June 19-20

Lake Dillon, CO July 31-Aug 1

www.seabrook-sailing.org

June 19-20

Lake Dillon, CO July 31-Aug 1

D13, D14, D15

D23 D19, D20

17


Senior Worlds

2010 Qualification System for ILCA World Championships

Basic Assumption: The North American Region will be allocated at least 9 berths to the 2010 Laser World Championship. The Canadian Yachting Association and US Sailing will each be permitted to allocate one berth by March 1, 2010. Overriding Rules: 1) Competitors qualify for the 2010 Laser World Championship through the first berth for which they are eligible. For example, a competitor who wins the Laser Mid-winters East and is first in the Laser Grand Prix rankings qualifies through the Mid-winters East berth. 2) In order to qualify for a berth at one of the ILCA-NA regattas listed below in Opportunity #1, the competitor must finish among the top-six ILCA-NA members, except that this rule will be relaxed to the top-nine for the North American Championship. Qualification Opportunities: Berths will be awarded at the following ILCA-NA major regattas subject to overriding Rule #2 with the following ranking: 1. Two berths at the 2009 Laser North American Championship. 2. One berth at the 2009 Laser U.S. National Championship. 4. One berth at the 2009 Laser Canadian National Championship 5. One berth at the 2010 Miami OCR 6. Two berths at the 2010 Laser Mid-winters East.

Any additional berths awarded to the North American Region beyond the nine mentioned in the Basic Assumption above, will be allocated using the 2009 Laser Grand Prix rankings as of December 31, 2009. If necessary, these berths may be allocated to ensure that the ILCA-determined country quotas are satisfied.

Womens Radial Worlds

Basic Assumption: The North American Region will be allocated at least 6 berths to the 2010 Radial World Championship. The Canadian Yachting Association will allocate one berth and US SAILING will allocate one berth by March 1, 2010. Overriding Rules: 1) Competitors qualify for the 2010 Women’s Radial World Championship through the first berth for which they are eligible. 2) In order to qualify for a berth at one of the ILCA-NA regattas listed below, the competitor must finish among the top-five female ILCA-NA members.

Qualification Opportunities: 1) Berths will be awarded at the following ILCA-NA major regattas subject to Overriding Rule #2 with the following ranking: Two berths at the 2010 Women’s Radial North American Championship Two berths at the 2010 Miami OCR.

2) Any berths beyond the six mentioned in the Basic Assumption above, not allocated through the Qualification Opportunities above, will be allocated using the 2009 Laser Grand Prix ranking as of December 31, 2009. If necessary, these berths may be allocated to ensure that the ILCA-determined country quotas are satisfied.

Mens Radial Worlds

Basic Assumption: The North American Region will be allocated at least 6 berths to the 2010 Radial World Championship. Overriding Rules: 1) Competitors qualify for the 2010 Men’s Radial World Championship through the first berth for which they are eligible.

2) In order to qualify for a berth at one of the ILCA-NA regattas listed below, the competitor must finish among the top-five male ILCA-NA members. Qualification Opportunities: Berths will be awarded at the following ILCA-NA major regatta subject to Overriding Rule #2 with the following ranking: Three berths at the 2009 Radial North American Championship

2) Any berths beyond the six mentioned in the Basic Assumption above, not allocated through the Qualification Opportunities above, will be allocated using the 2009 Laser Grand Prix ranking as of December 31, 2009. If necessary, these berths may be allocated to ensure that the ILCA-determined country quotas are satisfied.

18

FALL 2009


2010 Qualification System for ILCA World Championships

Youth Radial Worlds

Basic Assumption: The North American Region will be allocated at least 9 berths for males and 5 berths for females to the 2010 Radial World Championship. Overriding Rules: 1) Competitors qualify for the 2010 Youth Radial World Championship through the first berth for which they are eligible.

2) In order to qualify for a berth at one of the ILCA-NA regattas listed below, the competitor must finish among the top-ten gender and age eligible ILCA-NA members. Qualification Opportunities: 1) Berths will be awarded at the following ILCA-NA major regatta subject to Overriding Rule #2 Three berths for males at the 2009 Radial North American Championship Three berths for females at the 2009 Radial North American Championship

with the following ranking:

Any berths beyond the six mentioned in the Basic Assumption above, not allocated through the Qualification Opportunities above, will be allocated using the 2009 Laser Grand Prix ranking as of December 31, 2009. If necessary, these berths may be allocated to ensure that the ILCA-determined country quotas are satisfied.

Masters Worlds

Basic Assumption: (this section will be updated as more information becomes available from the ILCA, in particular the dates) Approximately nine months before the start of the 2010 Master’s Worlds, to be held September 11-19, 2010 at Hayling Island, GBR, the ILCA will open an “application for entry” period for entry to the event. This period will run approximately 2 months during which time all sailors who wish to participate in the event MUST sign up. At the end of the application for entry period, the list of all North American sailors who have applied for entry will be returned to the ILCA-NA office for the purposes of verifying membership and ranking them to determine the order for offering a berth to the event. The ILCA-NA office will place all current ILCA-NA Class Members (who MUST be current no later than the date the application entry period closes) into one of the five groups listed below. The overall ranking will be by group and, within any group, by order of application for entry. Note: to qualify for entry in Groups 1, 2, 3, or 4, sailors MUST submit to the ILCA-NA office, via email to sherri@odmsail.com , evidence of the event and finish position for the group to which they belong. Sailors failing to send this information to the ILCA-NA Office by the end of the application for entry process will be placed into Group 5. NOTE: Amendment as of 5-6-2009: Sailors who will achieve their 35th birthday in time to be eligible for a Masters’ World Championship, but too late to qualify through any of the major North American Masters’ events may substitute their finishes in any of the equivalent major North American events.

Group 1: Sailors who, within the past 5 years, were the champions in their division at a Masters Worlds, a Masters North American Championship, a Masters US Championship, a Masters Canadian Championship, the Masters Midwinters East or were the overall champions in their division of the Florida Masters Week. Group 2: Sailors who have attended a Masters World Championship within the past five years.

Group 3: Sailors who have competed, and finished in the top 80% of their division, in the most recent Masters North American Championship, Masters US Championship, Masters Canadian Championship, Masters Midwinters East, Florida Masters Week, California Masters, Masters Pacific Coast Championship, Masters Great Lakes Championship, Masters Atlantic Coast Championship, Masters Gulf Coast Championship, Masters No Coast Championship or Masters New England Championship.

Group 4: Sailors who have competed in an ILCA-NA Grand Prix event (Laser or Radial) within the past year and finished in the top 80% of their fleet. Group 5: Any current ILCA-NA Master sailor who wishes to attend the event.

Unused berths after the entry period expires: If, after the regular entry process has begun, the ILCA indicates there are more berths available, and there are no ILCA-NA sailors remaining in the five groups above, then further entries will be considered on a first come, first serve basis.

www.Laser.org

19


2009

Standings through October 1, 2009

Radial 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

20

First Name

Last Name

# Events

Kiss Mitchell 7 Martinez Greg 8 Crain Carson 8 Shaw Chase 5 Bove Domenic 5 Bussin Issac 5 Merry Claire 6 Swikart Jack 6 Rees Dodge 5 Rossi Annie 5 Reineke Erika 3 Lopez Max 4 Finneran Dylan 5 Mollerus Matthew 5 Stocke Chris 3 Chung Kieran 3 Paine Olin 3 Prokop Joanne 4 Tunnicliffe Anna 2 Tulip Chris 3 HeinzemannAlexander 2 Baldridge Reed 4 Larsen Joshua 3 Ross Lisa 3 DeLisser Arielle 3 OConnell OJ 3 Lihan Marissa 3 Cannon Mike 3 Power Rebecca 3 Schmitz Ryan 3 Dube Danielle 2 Abels Fred 3 Lihan Sarah 2 Laube Kevin 2 Wettergren Viktor 3 Snow Nevin 2 Bowskill Brenda 3 Archibald Matthew 2 Vargas Mateo 2 Schoene Matt 4 Zacher Timothy 2 spalding jen 1 Dennis Claire 2 Adams Sky 3 Bougie-BastienG. 2 Schalka Michael 2 Fritz Dominic 3 Bertola Isabella 1 Wallace John 2 Addison Brandon 2 Koubrak Olga 2 Goethe Eric 2 Alfonso David 1 Jackson Molly 3 Hern Ian 2 Toole Oliver 1 Railey Paige 1 MontemayorNatalia 2 ChristopherJim 3 Hartman Trey 2 SeidenbergPeter 2 SchuurmansLeonie 2 Vranizan Erika 2 Samson-DoMyriam 2 ZonnenbergMike 1 Hartman Colleen 1 Jorgensen Jack 2

Total 125 124 117 116 112 109 103 101 99 87 86 85 79 78 75 72 71 70 69 68 67 66 65 64 59 58 58 56 52 52 52 52 52 49 49 48 45 45 43 41 39 39 39 39 38 38 37 37 35 34 32 32 31 31 31 30 30 29 29 28 28 27 27 27 27 27 26

68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138

First Last Name Name Barnard Chris Hodson Rob Crain Philip Heausler Ian Padnos Sam Cannon Reid HECHT MATT Spector Ben RAFUSE ERIN Koster Aidan Lyon Brooke Babb Kaitlyn Sturman John Scott John Mori David Guild Bret Billing Emily Heager Annie Smith Colin Hoffmann Evan Allen Elisha BOOKER MICHAEL Racine Dominique Buechler Mallory O’Mara EJ Rea Samantha Stewart Paul Roehrl Thomas Easton Kate Coudert Alexis Stubbs Sarah Koci Rob Soto Julian Post Alex Cummings Katie Shea Drew Powers Austin Faria Brendan Moore Joanna Hughes Emma Deardorff Scott Pokras Adam Clement Corrie Atterbury Tucker Brady Connor CloutierBeaudionC. Malarkey Burgess Barry Daniel Kuehn Stefan Runci Zach McGlynn Kelly Thompson Daniel Meers Hannah Hoffmann Scott Wright Audrey Beres Jamie Cobb Ariana Jacobs Alex Maher Lawrence Siegal Eric Kennedy Colin Sorbo Marc Merry INngrid Cremer Andrew Wright Peter Dagenais Eric Roberts Richard Morris Matthew Bone Jamie Tulk Eric Listwan Blair

# Events 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 1 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Total 26 26 26 25 25 25 25 24 24 24 24 24 24 23 23 23 23 22 22 22 22 21 21 21 21 21 21 20 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15

139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211

First Last Name Name Pereira Adrian Leland Richard Soriano Danielle StellmacherGlen Dewey Maura Dragon Josh Olsson Kia Kenny Alexa Duler John-B. Servais Eric Magley Dillon Neville Christine Richards Catherine Herman Benjamin Akers Connor Halman Mark Stein Connor Schofield Matthew Prior Danielle ZonnenbergMichael Belfrage Ryan Skinner Charlotte Burke Matthew Bell Doug Jellison Parker Gibson Kayla Kerrest Jacques Donovin Megan Dahl Michael SeichsayndreJacob Nemsdale Tyler Malcolm Ian Ninow Alex Ranney Sarah Vincent Hanna Braly Bruce Amos Eric Boake Stephen Gurdal Karoline Mills Brian KoppernaesLeif Winberg Jay Adams Luke Nickbarg Max Blomquist Robert Whitesides Arland Mckinney Molly LongerstaeyOriane Muldoon Paul Needham Connor Richnow Cody Ho Cameron Maloney Jake Bernet Reece Madigan Michael Frame Gabriel MergenthalerGraham Claflin Jessie Kroitzsch Alexander Guirola Fernando Swenson Kyle Searle Emily McClatchy Bo Urbina Rebekka Macdonald Tyler Chen Gina Schmidt Mike Bonneau-Charland L. Long Stephen Kendrick Marten Hartmann Emma Kennedy Maggie Dallaire-LagaceV.

# Events 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Total 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6

FALL 2009


2009 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247

First Last Name Name Zupon Matthew Cormack David Maher Lawrence Naughton Callie Vilcich Chris Weaver Teddy Oland Macaskill Graef RJ Thompson Kate Adams Edgar Ryan Mason Delbello Daniel Gebauer Heinz Henderson Tony King Andrew Matthews Margan Cutcliffe Newt Burke Alexander Leon Collin Elliot David Largess Pete Lawrence Eric Deardorff Briggs Hamel Nicolas Macrae Hugh Meyrick Tyler Miller Chanel Brown Brandon Shepard Alex Robitaille Simon Bignell Jack LongerstaeyAnoush Rice Cole Carolus Patrick HeinzemannMatthias Han Anna

# Events 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Total 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Gibson Kayla Shaw Bradley Naughton Sophie Reuss Wendy LaForce Gabrielle Finneran Liam Ellis Kayla Bryer Rachel corbeil virginie LongerstaeyAnoush rudnicki donna Gardner Rory Ruiz-RamonAlejandro Hall Mary Prieto Gary Hall Mary Richnow Cody SchuurmansSipke Romeo William Widmeier Maddies Frost Christina Fanning Avery Shanahan John Donahue Allyson Schofield Matt King Andrew Goethe Hanna Shanahan Brendan Tryhane Katie Lamphere Malcolm Pepin-DelhaesF. Boehringer Gillian Gagne Nicole

4 3 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

110 88 50 45 45 42 39 38 36 35 32 31 30 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 21 20 20 19 19 18 18 17 16 14 8 7 5

4.7

www.Laser.org

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75

First Name

Standard Last Name

# Events

Vranizian Derick 5 Davis Robert 6 Lewis Evan 5 McLaughlinEvert 5 MontemayorRicardo 5 Clunies Gregory 6 Shockey Kevin 6 Crane Rob 4 Johnson Clay 3 Lamphere Gordon 6 Shockey John 6 Ramsay Luke 3 Ryder Matthew 6 Ramshaw Tom 5 Yamamoto Haramitsu 6 Harrison Vaughn 4 Abel Geoff 3 Norwood Carlisle 4 Parkhill Lee 2 Reitinger Eric 5 Bourdow Stephen 3 Dold Chris 2 Luttmer Bernard 2 Hurley Peter 3 Brikis Paul 4 Usher Tracy 3 Martin Kyle 4 HeinzemannAlexander 3 BuckinghamCharlie 2 Shope Peter 2 Peckover Doug 2 Swetka Ken 2 Freedman James 2 Alexander Chris 2 Round Phillip 4 Jensen Drake 3 Leuck Dave 2 Morgan David 2 Wong Andrew 2 Wright David 1 Nelson Stephen 2 Jesberg Peter 3 Symes Bill 3 Shaw Roy 3 Kelly Sean 2 Wilton Brendan 2 Martinson Bruce 2 Hecky Mike 2 Cottrell Brian 2 Leon Collin 2 Bowers Erik 2 Roy Andy 2 Summers Cameron 2 Hackett Ward 2 Clark Allan 1 Phillips Andrew 2 Donahue Ian 2 Barrows Thomas 1 Toole Pat 2 Barnard Chris 1 Palmeter Alexander 2 Place Nicholas 2 Vessella Peter 2 Andrews Tyler 2 Omara EJ 2 Dakin Kyle 2 Raab Chris 1 BROSKY TOM 2 Johansson Oskar 1 Leibowitz Ben 2 Funk Brad 1 Torchinsky Abe 1 Drake Elliot 2 Wulff Ray 2 Lozier Philip 2

Total 124 116 114 109 108 105 103 101 97 94 93 92 81 78 76 73 73 68 64 63 63 63 63 58 57 56 56 51 49 44 42 41 40 40 39 38 38 37 37 37 36 36 36 35 35 35 35 35 35 34 34 34 34 33 32 32 32 31 31 30 30 30 29 29 29 28 28 28 27 27 27 27 26 26 26

76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156

Fox Andrew Aguayo Raul Hoeven Ryan Rhodes Jason Aguayo Raul Lawrence Luke Winslett Bradley Plutenko Roman Robitaille Jean-Luc Norton Justin RogachenkoKyle Fulmer Charles Paine Caleb Rogers Timothy Eldred Mark Mace Mac Wilson Iain Robitaille Martin Ryan Patrick Sharp Sally Young Scott Matan Mike Grulke Stuart Toole Oliver Hartman Trey Hill Ian Robitaille Dominique Sutherland Ian Hiller Todd Potter John Weber Royce Van RossemJoe Ferguson Scott Smith Colin Miller John Tan Bob Holmes Lucas BEAR Mark Dolhert Leonard Garrison Rob Dickson Glen Willard Martin Phelan Peter Horowitz Zeke Knoll Matthew Collins Michael Jasmin Pierre Dykstra Than Maher Lawrence Usher Charles Marshall Tim Schmidt Mike Minth Ryan Campbell Kevin Breder Dave Nickerson Dan Schmid Mike Miles Jay Stamper Tim Cremer Christian Brick Had Wynne Brian Kierkens Jean-Pierre Follansbee Peter Walker Glenn Wall Peter Moran Jamie ShingledeckerLuke Carlson Doug Schmitt Simon Robinson Ken Odell Dave Jacob Mac Hansen Lars Swenson Kyle Gallagher Trey Davies Ray Bishop Mike Russom Mike Miller Curt Olsson Spencer

2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1

26 25 25 25 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 23 23 23 22 22 22 21 21 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 18 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 17 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16

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2009 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 11 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231

First Name

Last Name

# Events

Biskaborn Brad 2 Tulk Eric 1 CruickshankTyler 1 Bowden Rob 1 Orkney Gary 1 Cremer Ted 1 Williamson Charles 1 BuckinghamJim 1 Morgan Ted 1 Dubois Doug 1 Kastel Mark 1 Schalka Michael 1 Hurwitch Geoff 1 ShoemakerAndrew 1 Hardage Max 1 Vallette Norman 1 Neville Christine 1 Ahlquist Erik 1 Boome Chris 1 Watts David 1 Byrnes Michael 1 Meyer Jim 1 Mazin Rodion 2 Honey Doug 1 Holtze Kurt 1 Strilky Rick 1 Bell Doug 1 Horrocks Carl 1 Auperin Mike 1 Atkins Forest 1 Kanyuka Andriy 1 MacMillan Dan 1 Barry Daniel 2 Phelps Clark 1 Martin Billy 1 Wait Richard 1 Hewitt Lindsay 1 Martin Tony 2 Bay RJ 1 Brown Russell 1 Throop Paul 1 Hecht Jim 1 Vrolyk John 2 Graef Richard 1 Plaxton Bill 1 Pelling Lisa 1 SeidenbergPeter 1 Holmes John 1 Weiss John 2 Avery Fletch 1 Costakis James 1 Brooks Ward 1 Currie Jason 1 Orosz Stephen 1 Tillman Dick 1 Smith Matthew 1 Stang Christopher 1 Rafuse Ben 1 Baker David 1 Mineev Alexandre 2 Martinez Robert 1 Dethorn JR 1 Tulip Christopher Witter George 1 BeauregardPhilippe 1 Sullivan Matthew 1 Burke Nick 1 Wiseman Steve 1 Bonsager Martin 1 Freeman Aaron 1 Reynolds Mie 1 Smutny Sascha 2 Hemming Rob 1 Tee Barry 1 Harris Bo 1

Total 16 16 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 11 11 11 11 11 11 1 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 10 10 10

232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311

Newton Pam Long Karen Forton Jon Laube Tom Poor Tex Miller Howard Frazier David Sears Holly Pegel Susie Bell Simon White Charles Wells Fraser Schroeder Kurt Peet George Lindeman Danielle Zurinskas Martine Dahlman Tony Flato John Sisson Steve DeWOLF Henry BeaureguardLouis Paxton Phil Kavanagh Kieron Purdy John Gardner Landon Hallenberg Scott Vallo Nick LaPier David Astie Phillippe Ruais Renee Heffernan Mike Swikart Jack Moulthrop John Stubbs Robin Barnes Justin May Chris Rudinsky Chuck Bowne Chris Olsson Jim Giffin Gerry Mumma Butch Berry David SchuurmansSipke palmer Duncan Fuller Sam Shevitz Cody Doyle Scott Burant Brian LaLancette Marc Page Raymond Pike Buster Patel Sumeet Roberts Neil Larson Jon Williams Liam Jones Barry Bradley Michael Cave Nick Bentley John Stanger Derek Balta Nick Elliott David Halman Mark Keckler Steve Hahl Don Marks Zack Sherwood Doug Savage Brady Woodworth Matthew Drasnin Peter Duler John-B. Jassin Ben Menninger Tyler Gagnon Maxime Hayes Bartlett Winberg Jay Lazzaro Michael Fisher Christian Taylor Pat Miller Luke

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1

10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 4 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387

Vermerris Scott 1 Hassing Finn 1 Axelson Jim 1 Kim Nick 1 Schroth Fred 1 Nowell Eddie 1 Prior Trevor 1 Spevak Walt 1 Cook Duncan 1 Wells David 2 Biskaborn Jens 1 Schwab Andreas 1 Miller Joe 1 Kohli Sanjai 1 Dobbs Samuel 1 Sebald Dave 1 Eillott Ian 1 Wood Bryant 1 Hebard matt 1 Mitchell Bill 1 Suski Jacek 1 Drake Britt 1 Kluge Jeff 1 Harris John 1 McAndrewsBrendan 1 Green Ted 1 Love M. Ashley 1 Gibson Pat 1 HumphreysChristopher Collidge John 1 PrapavessisJacob 1 Thomas Charles 1 Elson Mike 1 NowakowskiMark 1 Quinlan Liam 1 Ford Anthony 1 Patriquin Louis 1 Joumas Will 1 Tobin Quinn 1 Shattuck Brendan 1 Callahan Jerry 1 Link Roger 1 Gagnon Vincent 1 Berry Brian 1 Thomas Chuck 1 Adamski Steve 1 Stroppel Dave 1 Frost Lawrence 1 Vallo Matt 1 Davis Blair 1 Long John 1 HutchensonMax 1 Hughes J.T. 1 Moran Merritt 1 Burcar Joe 1 Mori David 1 Jackson Greg 1 Kalaman Tom 1 Ross Kyle 1 Palmer Marty 1 Caffee Hollis 1 Watson Douglas 1 Kiss Michael 1 Deutsch Jon 1 Bonn Hans 1 Bushnell Peter 1 Neilson Terry 1 Hernandez Leonardo 1 Rusconi Bill 1 Ehlers Steve 1 Willsie Todd 1 Stubbs Thom 1 Raney Brian 1 Crinion Bob 1 Nelson Andrew 1 Watson Gabriel 1

6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 1 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

FALL 2009


(and won) every major masters regatta in Europe this year. He arrived in Halifax three weeks before the championships and trained with the elite young sailors who were there for the senior worlds. When the first warning gun went off, Wolfgang was ready. I don’t know too many masters who can equal that level of commitment.

Champions BILL SYMES

Champions are not like you and me (or, at least, not like me). We may be good sailors, and may even win some races. But they win the championships. I had occasion to reflect on this again last week on the long flight home from Halifax, my sixth Laser Master World Championships. I came in fifth in my division (Grand Masters), a good result for me and one I’m content with. But after four top five finishes at the Masters Worlds, I’ve come to realize that there is a big physical and psychological gap between fifth and first, or, for that matter, between fourth or third or even second and first. Nobody will remember the runners-up in five years, or maybe even five days. But the champions’ names go down in history.

I’ve tried to identify the qualities that separate the winners from the rest of us and summarized them in the points below. These are merely the result of my own personal reflection; I make no claims to being scientific or comprehensive. I also recognize that this will come as no surprise to the young athletes competing at the world and Olympic level, most of whom are working with professional coaches and training full-time. Still, I think these points are worth bearing in mind for any master planning to make the leap from good sailor to champion:

Champions come to win. They don’t come to get second, or third, or top five, or top 10, or just to “do well.” Their goal and expectation is to win. They won’t be satisfied with anything less. That’s what you call “winners’ psychology.” You can’t win without it. Champions come prepared. When my wife LauraLee asked newly crowned Grand Master World Champion Wolfgang Gerz what his secret was, he replied “many months of very hard training.” He spends three days a week in the gym and sailed in

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Champions adapt and adjust. When things go wrong or the boat slows down, champions don’t get mad; they get even. I had occasion in one race to sail a long port tack next to six-time masters world champion Mark Bethwaite. I held my own for several minutes, bow out and five boat lengths to windward. Then, gradually, Mark began to work forward and to weather until he was directly in front of me. I thought he was just hiking harder, but when I mentioned it to him after the race, he said he used that one-on-one opportunity to fine-tune his controls and technique, searching (as always) for a faster gear. He found one.

Champions avoid costly mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes, but champions’ mistakes are fewer and further between. And when they do mess up, they’re able to recover quickly and contain the damage. They seem to have a perpetual “get out of jail” card that enables them to avert the disasters that befall the rest of us. Of course, a big part of this is avoiding unnecessary risks in the first place; you rarely see them at the crowded end of the starting line or trying to sneak into the weather mark on port tack. They know better. Champions do what needs to be done. They are not afraid to get in your face if you threaten to get between them and the championship. The classic example of this, which many Laser sailors will be familiar with, was the final race of the Sydney Olympics when Ben Ainslie match raced Robert Scheidt deep into the fleet and out of contention for the gold medal. There some very tough competitors at the front of the fleet, but champions are tougher.

Champions never, never, never give up. They just keep coming, whether they are in 1st or 51st. These championship races are long (well over an hour in Halifax) and it’s difficult to maintain 100% physical and mental intensity around the course. I often found myself running out of gas and letting two or three boats slip by in the final stretch. The champions go flat out from start to finish, always in relentless pursuit of one more boat. Take your foot off the pedal for a nanosecond and they blow by. And you never see them again.

Masters Sailing

So there it is, my take-home lesson from 2009 Laser Master Worlds. Not the whole story, by any means, but food for thought. Perhaps you have your own thoughts on the subject. If so, I’d love to hear them (wjsymes@comcast.net). Photo by Matias Cappinzano

Meet the Newest Masters Committee Member

Susie Pegel -- the newest member of the Laser North American Masters Committee. You may have seen me on the race course sailing a white Laser named Baybiscuit, sail number 170757. My home lake is Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where the boat which became the Laser made its debut in the fall of 1970. I began Laser sailing in 1971 and just recently competed in the 2009 Laser Master’s World Championship in Nova Scotia. I am just two years away from becoming a Grand Master. My goal as a member of the committee is to promote Laser Master’s sailing (particularly in the Midwest and Great Lakes areas), disseminate information about Laser Master’s sailing, and organize events in the Midwest and Great Lakes areas (Districts 3, 18, 19, 20 and 21). Such events could include a Midwest Masters, Great Lakes Masters, No Coast Masters, U.S. Masters and North American Masters. If you are in the Midwest or Great Lakes areas, maybe your club would consider hosting such an event. Message for all Laser sailors: this is a MUST for your “bucket list” —compete in a Laser Master’s World Championship at least once in your life. The sight of 300 plus Laser sailors from 15 nations, all between the ages of 35-77, was truly inspiring. A testament to the popularity of the Laser throughout the ages!! Don’t hang up your hiking boots once you turn 21 because there is more fun to be had!! Please contact me with any of your thoughts or ideas at: Susie Pegel sailing19@charter.net.

The NA Masters Committee is comprised of Bill Symes, Peter Seidenberg, David Hartman, Al Clark and Susie Pegel.

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NA Sailors Dominate at World Masters

The 2009 Masters’ Worlds were held in beautiful St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. North America was well represented with 68 Canadian and 86 US entries. Friday night saw the traditional North American Party which was quite well attended as can be seen by the North American Team picture.

We’ve taken the liberty of interweaving some of Kim Ferguson’s blog comments to give some insight in the “Life on the Masters Circuit.” “According to Scott the racing was really hard, it was shifty, puffy an streaky.”

“Another note…Peter Seidenberg whoudl have had two bullets otn eh first day of racing but had to retire after the first race (RAF) as he realized that he had forgotten to round the offset mark. Yes, a “senior moment”…I think that theyshould allow for one free senior moment in the sailing instructions, don’t you!”

“Fleet 413 is still dominating. Peter Seidenberg has been flawless in the GGM fleet. He was able to throw out his “senior moment” which leaves his scoreboard with straight bullets!

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“The regatta so far has been really tough with the shifty conditions, requiring a bit of “brain gym”, along with a lot of in and out hiking conditions.”

“In Scott’s words, yesterday’s racing was “tactically confusing!” he said that Andy Pimental sailed a spectacular two races (2,4) and of course, as he was expecting, Arnoud Hummel from NED was dangerous in a breeze finishing with a 1-1, Scott was 4th at the Worlds’ in ’07 when Arnoud won so there is a little history. Check out the photos of Arnoud and Scott…I think I could write a blue on, “The Anatomy of The Perfect Laser Sailor.” Arnoud stands just shy of 6’3” and weighs in at 180lbs. Scott is around 6’1-6’2” and currently weighting in at 186lbs. When the breeze is up, Arnoud just unfolds into the human lever upwind and seems to go a half knot faster than the rest!”

two from the past.” After 6 days on the water only the apprentice fleets (Radial and Standard) achieved 10 races and were allowed to drop two races. All other fleets sailed only 9 races and counted only one discard, a fact that meant the difference between being on the podium or not for several fleets. North America faired well in the racing. With 85 competitors, the Standard Masters was both the largest and, arguably, the most

“Peter Seidenberg took home his 8th World title yesterday while Scott Ferguson, Andy Pimental and Mark Bear also walked away with a prestigious cube. Each of these guys has worked really hard and each has earned a cube or

FALL 2009


competitive and Scott Ferguson sailed a near perfect last day to easily win. In addition, fellow Newport Fleet 413 members Andy Pimental and Mark Bear made the top five. Sally Sharp won the Women Radial Grandmaster fleet, Deirdre Webster won the Women Great Grandmaster, and, of course, Peter Seidenberg continues his unbeaten streak in the Great Grandmasters, though this year was pressed a bit and, in the end, won on a countback. In the other fleets, Bill Symes finished fifth in the Standard Grandmasters, Kim Couranz took second in the Women Radial Apprentice, Nigel Heath was fifth in Radial Master, Susie Pegel was third Women Radial Master, Alden Shattuck was fourth in the Radial Grandmaster and, finally, Lindsey Hewitt took fifth in the Great Grandmaster fleet.

Congratulations to all North American competitors in the 2009 Master Worlds for great sailing in our home region!

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Backus Cup 2009: The Family of John H. Backus

JOHN SHOCKEY The South shore of Lake Erie has long been a place of rich sailing tradition. The Backus Cup is especially unique because this Laser regatta is for young women only. The Backus Cup has served as the I-lya (Inter-Lake Yachting Association) Women’s Championship for 20 years now. The list of champions for this regatta boasts collegiate All Americans, US Sailing Women’s Championship competitors, and of course the Olympic gold medalist and two time Backus Cup winner Anna Tunnicliff Funk. The perpetual John H. Backus memorial trophy is awarded to the winner of competition which only recently has made the switch to the Laser Radial (previously raced in full-rigs!) There were two things John Backus loved unconditionally, family followed closely by sailing. John H.

Backus passed away unexpectedly from a brain tumor which left the family in mourning, but not defeated. John’s wife Sue and their four daughters have made sure that his passion for sailing continued throughout the generations of the family; this was John’s gift. John and Sue’s four daughters raced Jet 14’s and Thistles in their early careers before growing into the J22 and J24 class. Today you can find them racing their family owned Tartan 10 out of their home club, Vermilion Boat Club. Susan is the first born daughter who’s youngest, Liz Barker, earned Women’s All-American honors for St. Mary’s. The second born daughter, Gretchen Loper a.k.a G-Lo, has one daughter who also races on the family Tartan 10 “Nuts”. The third born Heidi Backus Riddle, has long helmed the girls around the course and was named Rolex

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Yachtswomen of the year in 1985 during their hay days in the J24. Heidi’s daughter, Megan, was named a two time All-American crew for the College of Charleston and played a large role in two collegiate championships for CofC. The youngest of the four, Amy Backus, is the athletic director for Yale University after a career of playing and coaching college basketball. Amy’s love for sailing made traveling to St. Francis a joy to watch both the coed and women’s teams pace the fleet at collegiate nationals this year. This years Backus Cup was held in Vermilion, Ohio at the Vermilion Boat Club. This is the first year the event was moved from Put-In-Bay, Ohio to Vermilion. The venue switch brings the girls to the home waters of John and Sue Backus. This years competition brought in 8 young women. The first two races were under 8 knots however the breeze built throughout the day. The breeze peaked around 15 knots and the young sailors did a terrific job keeping the boats up right around the course. By the end of the day, 5 races were completed in 5-15 knots with 2-3 foot waves. Rachel Austin was able to fend off the competition for the second straight year to win top honors. Kate O’Brien took second followed by Audrey Sheehan in third. Lucy Rini, Mallory Roth, Abby Freeman, Savannah Kuntz, and Chloe Roth made up the rest of the fleet of radial sailors. The top three finishers were awarded designer bags (the better the finish the bigger the bag!) and the additional competitors all received a piece of jewelry. Grandma Sue spoke to the girls about the wonders

and joys sailing has brought to her life. Following her sentimental words Sue presented a piece of Vermilion beach glass to each young sailor, a gesture she gives to all the people special in her life. After everyone thought the gifts and celebrations were over, one last surprise left all the girls showing off their new “Backus Cup” beanies! My interest in this piece comes from the tremendous amount of respect I have for the Backus family. It is of no surprise this is a women’s event in remembrance of John H. Backus and his love for his daughters and sailing. Heidi told me once that everything in her life, everything good, has come through sailing. Now that I’m seeing Grandma Sue’s great grand children come through Vermilion Sail Camp, as each generation has done before, I think I can appreciate what their family is all about: love, sailing, and love for sailing.

FALL 2009


ISAF Youth Worlds, Buzios, Brazil CHRIS BARNARD

After I qualified to represent the United States at the ISAF Youth Worlds by winning the qualifying event in Long Beach this past January, I knew right away this would be a huge opportunity and an experience. The girls singlehanded class representative was Marisa Lihan of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I traveled down to Buzios a week before the event began in order to become familiar with sailing conditions and foreign customs. I spent the first week training out of a nearby club of the regatta venue, but practiced on the same racing waters. During this week I was being hosted and coached by former Radial World Champion and local of Buzios, Eduardo Couto. I was also joined by training partners Max Nickbarg from the US Virgin Islands and Alec Anderson from the British Virgin Islands. During our week of practice we encountered a variety of conditions, all of which were expected to come during the championship. We had a couple days of light and shifty offshore breeze as well as the well known strong sea breeze that brings large swells. That sea breeze I experienced some of the best downwind surfing possible, barreling down and then over 4-6 foot swells in 22 knots of breeze. That week was very beneficial in every phase of preparing for a new venue.

tried to give it a go, but it was evident I wasn’t going to be able to perform my best. My scores suffered that day and I spent the rest of the trip in bed, missing the final day of racing. If I had not gotten sick, what we came to find out was the infamous H1N1 or swine flu, I probably would have finished in the top 5 and not the disappointing 19th place. Marisa finished in 17th place out of 38 girls. Even though the trip and event was negatively influenced by my sickness, it still was an incredible experience. Buzios was a great town in an awesome country that welcomed me as great hosts with great conditions. I cannot wait to go back whether for racing, training, or vacation.

Regatta Reports

photos by Robert Dunkley: above: Chris Barnard, USA middle: Alexander Heinzeman, CAN bottom: fleet upwind

When the event officially began, the excitement continued to grow around the town of Buzios and with myself. The boys singlehanded class was the largest of the championship with 53 countries participating. The event schedule was for six days of racing, including a lay day in the middle. It is a fair statement that we basically got every condition possible during the week. We experienced the typical sea breeze of 10-16 knots on day one. Day two we had 25-40 knots of breeze, which forced racing to be cancelled for the day. Day three brought a light and shifty offshore breeze. On day four, despite several tries to get a start off, racing was abandoned due to lack of wind. Days five and six finished the regatta off with a perfect sea breeze of 12-22 knots. My speed was definitely at the top the entire week, particularly downwind. Unfortunately, the morning of day five, I woke up with a throbbing headache and very achy. I popped some Advil and

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ERIC REITINGER

Women’s Radial Worlds: A Coach’s Perspective

This summer I had what might turn out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to coach at the Women’s Laser Radial Worlds in Karatsu, Japan. I had been asked by a friend of mine, Ashley Love, from NJ who currently resides in Annapolis to be her coach. Fortunately and unfortunately there was a US coach, so I was only allowed on the coach boat for the practice races. My main weakness going in was my lack of knowledge of the Mark VI radial sail. Our adventure began at Newark airport where we boarded a 12 hour direct flight to Narita Airport. We stayed at a local hostel before heading south which offered us a nice rest and a chance to stretch out. We then took a five hour Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Hakata station and a subway to Karatsu. Heavy rains that caused landsides which took out the train rails as well as highways gave us an unexpected stay in the Hiroshima train station. Upon arriving in town, we were quite impressed with the promotion of the event. We could follow a trail of flags that took us from the train station to the boat park. Arriving early allowed us to enjoy the sights and get our bearings. The Karatsu castle, the focal point of the town, offered a great view of the surrounding area as well as a nice place to relax. For all you baseball fans, you could wake up in the morning to a previous day MLB game and then watch a Japanese game that night. Once she was able to get the boat, we were able to set it up and get it measured with little or no problems few issues. There were three days of practice before racing. I shared a boat with the Czech coach Jacob, who was coaching Veronika Fenclova. The two got a chance to sail with each other for the afternoon in conditions that mimicked the regatta on the first day of practice. The other two I was able to join Luther Carpenter and the rest of the US team while Ashley took some time off. It was very informative watching the ladies sail. I was able to pick up a few things like techniques and to tune the sail. I was quite jealous of the conditions; there was a solid 10-18mph of wind and some big waves. The waves were so big that we were surfing them with the inflatable, and when we were in the trough we couldn’t see the other boats around us. Racing started at 11:30am every

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morning with two races and we were back on land by 3:30pm. We were lucky that the wind was pretty much out of the same direction and except for the first day, the velocity was 12-18mph and very choppy. The general strategy for the first windward leg was to be the first one to the right side where there was more velocity, less current and a right shift. There were times where the RC didn’t set the course as close to the shore, changing up the game plan and evening out the course a little. Sharing a coach boat sometimes allowed me to watch Ashley’s entire race or only part of it if she and Veronika were in different fleets. We were both able to watch the starts and finishes, coach our sailor and

see bits and pieces of each race. Our boat allowed us to surf waves downwind, providing us a wet and entertaining ride. After arriving on shore, the sailors were treated to a light snack of pasta or rice with vegetables or meat before they left to relax and get ready for the night’s activities. They a lot to show off the city and culture of Karatsu with many activities including dinners, float pulling, Miss Karatsu pageant, tea ceremonies and sightseeing tours. Overall the regatta was an excellent learning experience not only for Ashley but also for me. Watching the high caliber of sailing, I was able to pick up a lot of little things that I could apply when sailing in the Nationals at Brant Beach days after I returned to the US. This was also the first time I had traveled outside of North America so it was great cultural experience. Karatsu did a top notch job with this regatta.

Women’s Radial Worlds: A Sailor’s Perspective

M. ASHLEY LOVE

6 hours by high speed train outside of civilization, a 60 foot fishing boat that looks like it hasn’t seen a dock in years as a committee boat, brand new charter lasers, 16 knots of North East breeze, ripping current out of the East, 5 foot waves, 87 other competitors including Olympians, National and World Champions on the line with 10 seconds being count down in Japanese till the 5:00 gun. With one more bite of your banana nut granola bar before you stuff one more thing into your life jacket pocket that in it already has a knife, sunscreen, tape, extra line, and a pencil for doodling compass readings and sail numbers on your deck.

What’s the game plan? What did you learn from getting to the course early and trying to communicate with the locals? Sailing in Karatsu Bay means 12 knots of breeze when you show up to the venue to rig in the morning with a prevailing sea breeze that is dependable and therefore predictable everyday out of the same direction. Cascading mountains around and in the middle of the bay mean geographical advantages if scaled right. For this trapezoid course, the only way to get upwind was to take a visit to cornersville hitting the right corner hard and take the ever-increasing lift around the mountains on the eastern shore which means boat start. With a 10 foot 3 ton transom rising 5 feet and falling

6 every swell, suck-you-downwind-intolast-Wednesday current and 87 other boats stacking 6 rows deep to win the boat, you have to have a game plan early. There are no marshmallows to cream, there are no bargers to hose you, there are just 4 minutes left to hold your spot so you can have a lane and instant access to port tack.

From working with Luther Carpenter, a USSailing coach sent to support the American team, I learned what vanging in

FALL 2009


strong breeze can really be. If you can still get under the mast on a tack without practically laying flat on your stomach in the cockpit, you don’t have enough on. This vanging only works for block to block going in a straight line course though, so figuring out your controls prestart and knowing exactly when and how far to pull them on during the sequence and shortly after is crucial. Vang in breeze with current pushing you under the line is an equation for getting stuck in irons and fouling everyone around you. Cunningham kills your slow speed while you play with your gas pedal of a sail and body weight in the boat, so you can’t have too much of that on either. Really the only thing that can be near ready to go is your outhaul.

3:30 to go and you need to already be holding your spot on the line because vacancies at this hotel are shrinking like there’s a wedding at the local Holiday Inn. For all starting lines, the assessment begins with sizing up your competition as much as the conditions of the course and what is going to happen right after the start. Safe vs. risky is always playing on loop in your brain for every decision. For the Women’s Laser Radial World Championships, I decided to go big or go home. That kind of attitude is what got me trains, planes, automobiles, subways, bikes and one grocery cart away from home to begin with. I wanted to tack out immediately at the

start. I wanted to be at the boat. I wanted to be first row. In the words of my friend, John, “get it done”.

3:00 and I’m about 17 boat lengths to the right of the boat and about 4 boat lengths to windward. No vang, no Cunningham on.

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Centerboard all the way down, mainsheet workin’ like I’m holding a front row seat on the starting line when I’m actually 17 x 4 boat lengths outside of the line. By the time 2:00 come, the transom of the committee boat is approaching fast and rows are building up behind me to windward. Everyone wants that last 3 boat length slither up the side of the swelling committee boat to the orange flag and no one can hold you off to leeward that in current. Everyone has the same ability at holding their spot, so it comes down to spatial awareness and timing. It doesn’t matter who you wanted to start next to or even if you can create a hole beneath you because everything can change with one odd wave

or pinch into irons trying not to get to the boat too early.

At 1:00 the transom of the committee boat is rising 5 feet in the air and the swell that just past it is sucking you into it. When the transom comes down, anything or any one under it is going to lose an arm or a flotationally-able hull. Spatial awareness. How close can I get to this boat so that no one sneaks in, but also not get sat on by the biggest butt on the water? If you time it right at the right distance, those two swells worth of time that you can hold that spot can hand you a front row ticket up the side of the wind wall that is 8

feet of Japanese fishing boat. 30 seconds left and all you’re doing is riding that current and watching the boat to leeward with eyes of a vulture. Not a hawk, they’re not desperate enough; vulture. Black flag is permanently up. There’s no messing around. If the boat under you goes, you want to go, but you have to know when enough is enough. 15 seconds and it’s game on. You’re controls lines that were laying biting at the bit at your right hand are creeped on for acceleration mode and you’re praying that current is strong than you think it is so that dreaded horn after the horn doesn’t go off, cuz the only thing tellin’ you you were OCS is the score sheet. One more giant swell comes through the fleet and the beeping of watches seems to escalate as the whole fleet rises up into the air. Breeze is on, windshadow from the boat is gone and the 6 rows of boats behind you are yelling at the one boat that had too much vang on and spun out of control. 3…2…1… Nothing in front of you, just the sound of the wind, a timid boat to leeward and the bottom of a wave in front of you, you’re sliding out in your hiking pants, toes just catching the straps and you’re gone… www.t2p.tv. Check it out.

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CAL HERMAN

2009 Laser Gulf Coast Championship Southern Yacht Club New Orleans, LA

The first major regatta at Southern Yacht

Club’s new facility was held August 29th and 30th . 53 Laser and Laser Radials competed for the 2009 Laser Gulf Coast Championships at Southern Yacht Club. Competitors travelled from as far away as California, New York, New Jersey, Annapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, all over Texas and the northern Gulf Coast to compete in this event.

Laser Class: 1st Place Chris Alexander 2nd Place Bradley Winslett

Edison Sailing Center Houston Yacht Club

Corpus Christi, TX Dallas, TX

3rd Place

Timothy Rogers

1st Place 2nd Place

Dodge Rees

Pensacola Yacht Club

Pensacola, FL

Carson Crain

Lakewood Yacht Club

Houston, TX

Radial Class: FL 3rd Place

Erica Reineke

LSYC, Guatemala

New Orleans, LA

Lauderdale Yacht Club Ft. Lauderdale,

Gulf Coast Championships is an International Laser Class Association Sanctioned Event which awards top finishers Grand Prix Points which determines the Ranking of Competitors in the North American Laser Class. This event is ranked just under the North American, U.S. Championship’s and the Midwinter East and West Championship’s as far as Grand Prix Points awarded.

Seven races were held, 4 Saturday in 5 – 8 knot breeze and 3 on Sunday in 8 – 10 knot breeze. Challenging shifts, boat speed and aggressive starts allowed the best of the both fleets to rise to the top.

Chris Alexander - Full rig winner

Dodge Rees - Radial winner

Many thanks to Commodore Jim Wade, Club Manager Tim Fitzpatrick and the SYC Staff who did a fantastic job, PRO Chris Clement, Chief Recorder Laurie Clement with Leslie Higgins, Malinda Crain and Timmy Moe assisting and the race committee markset and pinset Jerry Lemann, Eric Alber, Shawn and Lundi Ryan, Byard Baldridge, and a great thank you to Orr and Meg Adams who housed competitors from Panama City Beach and Philip Schmalz, Anthony Hudson, Edward Levert, Clerc Cooper, Devon Sweeney, Claire Rees, Malinda Crain, Jon Nunn and Cal Herman for loaning their boats to needy competitors mostly from out of town. I am sure I have left someone out, if so please accept my apologies.

As one can see, it takes an army of people to run a great regatta and the Staff and Members of Southern Yacht Club and their friends from neighboring clubs did a fantastic job. Congratulations and thank you all for your hard and excellent work!

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Photo above: Martin Willard during the D12 regattas this past summer. Photo by Hunter Tate.

FALL 2009


Whitefish Lake Invitational The FIRST ANNUAL WHITEFISH LAKE ONE-LAP INVITATIONAL LASER REGATTA (FAWLOLILR) was held August 22 on a beautiful resort lake near the foot of the Big Mountain ski resort. The bigger the title, the more important the event.

No fee, just fun. We bought some inflatable APS buoys, poured some concrete in buckets, borrowed a Whaler for a committee boat, and we were all set. The wind often dies on this pretty lake before 10, hence the one lap. Sometimes it blows all day. The idea was to just get people together to get out and sail until the wind died, then have a party.

It worked out very well. We had 13 boats show up, and most of us had never met. Exsailors, new sailors, current sailors, big boat sailors, people with close

Canada Games

connections to famous sailors. The first start was 8AM with a healthy breeze blowing and hiking conditions. A large triangle course was set due to very deep water in the middle, so we reached for the shorelines and back to the city beach finish line.

Sure enough, by the middle of the second race, we slowed, adopted a drifter strategy, then lost steerage. Scott Galbraith managed to keep moving for his second win of the day, winning the (not yet) coveted “White Fish” creamer trophy. Pirate activity was reported after the wind

died, with unauthorized boarding and capsizing into the emerald clear water. We watched a Hawaiian outrigger canoe club head out in their craft, then spotted rowing shells – a bad sign for those wearing hikers. We hit the beach, de-rigged, and headed a block uphill to the Aronsson’s house which served as Yot Club. Shrimp, lasagna, fresh bread, salads, local microbrew, wine, and good company completed a grand day. Everyone promised to attend the SAWLOLILR to be held early August next year. A big thanks to the Aronssons for their organization and hosting!

Mark Lammens submitted photos from the Canada Games held in Summerside PEI.

Sydney Byrns finished 7th overall in the Radial fleet.

Payton Byrns finished 7th overall in the full rigs.

www.Laser.org

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District Reports

District 1 Brian Mills

The 2009 District 1 Championships and Atlantic Canada Masters Championships here help on July 18-19 as part of the St Margaret Sailing Club’s annual Bay Wind multi-class regatta . This is the same venue as the 2009 World Laser and World Masters regatta....the famous St Margaret’s Bay.

The 23 boat Laser fleet was won by Evan Lewis from RCYC, followed by Gregory Clunters, Robert Davis, and Alexander Palmeter. Alexander hails from RNSYC.

The 28 boat Radial fleet was won by Dannielle Dube from the host club SMSC, followed by Mathew Archibald and Katie Nicholls from RNSYS and Tom Nicholson from RKYC. Unfortunately, there was a very disappionting turnout of Masters sailors. This is something I will be working on to improve for next years Districts.

As one of 70 Canadians, competing in the 297 boat World Masters Laser/Radial Championships in St Margaret’s Bay, I was extremely impressed and proud of every aspect of the regatta......from the super excellent course setting, to the paramedics on the water, to the free after race massages, excellent after race entertainment in the club house, impressive opening and closing cermonies and so on. However, probably the one of the most memorable aspects of the regatta was seeing “old” friends I had made from previous international regattas and making new friends from around the world.

This World Masters regatta with almost 300 boats probably would not be possble in any other class but a Laser.

To all the younger sailors, Keep your Laser,!! Get out on the water and enjoy it!! Attend some local regattas next summer,!!! Make new friends, Encourage your parents to sail your boat,and become a Master Laser or Master Radial sailor...

Have a great winter District 3 Robert Koci

The summer ended with some of the best in District 3 at the Senior Worlds and Masters Worlds in Halifax Nova Scotia. The most impressive of all results for our District came from David Wright and Lee Parkhill, who ended up 6th and 16th in a very competitive fleet of world class sailors at the Senior Worlds, and Nigel Heath’s 5th place in the Radial

Masters division and Andy Roy’s 6th in the Masters Full Rig division of the Masters Worlds.

The conditions for both events were challenging, but both regattas played out to be true tests of sailing at every level and in every wind condition. And the hospitality of St. Margaret’s Bay Sailing Club made all us Canadians proud. The Masters that did not go to St. Margarets went to the Lac Deschenes Sailing Club for the Ottawa

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Valley Masters. Rick Goldt dominated the four races sailed with three firsts and a second place. Peter Blatherwick and Jim Dingle followed in second and third. In the radials, Peggy Lepper was first, with Janet Foster and Alan Goldrosen third.

In the District generally, there were ups and downs. The National Capital Regatta turned into a water fight on a glassy lake, as there was absolutely no wind to play with. Sturgeon Lake hosting the Mid Ontarios, on the other hand, held up as one of the best (again) of the summer, with steady breezes both days. The weather continued cool throughout the summer, and most weekends suffered from either too little breeze or too much rain. The newly minted CORK OCR saw a lighter than usual crop of Laser and Radials. Evert McLaughlin took the full rig flag while a couple of San Diego kids, Kevin Laube and Olin Paine, and the Mexican Jeronimo Cervantes pushed our best D3 Radial on the day, Claire Merry back to 4th.

The Masters Team continued their training through the summer, with two clinics in Kingston and one is Sturgeon Lake. All three suffered from lighter than usual winds, but there could be no faulting the quality of the coaching provided by Ken Walton, Evan Lewis and Chris Cook. Evan’s head, Ken’s heart and Chris’s miles of experience were an incredibly informative combination and all team members expressed their gratitude that, for one season at least, they could be called true athletes, truly coached towards excellence. One other exciting event; Nigel Heath attended the British Radial Nationals in July courtesy of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club (RCYC) and faired extremely well. He was in the fight to the end and only dropped a bit on the last day when he was unable to sail. He said he was never so wet or so cold for so long, but it was a regatta of a life time for him, and we’re proud of his excellent showing. For those of you who are interested in keeping up with D3 events, please go to our new website, www.d3laser.com and check out the sailing diaries of our key competitors. District 5

Mark Lammens

Dick Degner District 5 race series

6 specific scoring regatta’s, 70 races, final results Top 3 Barry Tee, 48 pts. Simon Schmitt, 45 pts.

Lewis Otereulo, 43 pts. Top Radial Kate Easton, 18 pts

Elisha Allan, 17 pts

Dominique Grell, 16 pts Top Youth, Liam Quinlan,

At the Western Canadian’s, Bill Plaxton 1st, Barry Tee, 2nd and Lian Quinlan,3rd. In the Radial Manitoba’s Tanja Smutny 1st, Sydney Byrns 2nd and Austin Ross 3rd.

At the AB Championships, Ian Hern is maximizing boat time and going fast, wins by 9 pts. Mark Bugiak and Robin Stubbs tie with Bugiak getting

the tie breaker. In the Radial, David Cormack wins by 1 over Nicolas Hamel. Dominique gets 3rd and top female. At the SK Short Course, 20 races, Ian Hern continues the AB dominance on the trophy. Sydney Byrns 2nd and brother Payton 3rd.

At the Canada Games in Summerside PEI, Simon Schmitt, AB, finished 6th overall and Payton Byrns, SK, 7th. Simon was winning the “Chestermere race”, but it was flicked, swimming became the activity for the rest of that day, very hot, humid venue, just before hurricane Bill. In the Radial fleet, Sydney Byrns, SK, 7th and Elisha Allen, AB, 8th. PEI did a great job in hosting the event and making the Prairie sailors feel right at home, with the boats being stored indoors in the Curling Rink. Sailors met the Prime Minister, the Governor General and amazing seafood and potatoes. Who would have thought that fresh potatoes would make that much of a difference. District 6 Andy Hunt

The summer of 2009 had lots of regattas in the District 6 region. The regatta schedule started with the Canadian Laser and Laser Radial Championships. These two regattas were part of the annual Royal Vancouver Yacht Club’s WAVES regatta. This event was held on July 3 - 5, 2009. Competitors came from as far away as Ontario, California and Mexico. There were 45 competitors and they raced in 13 races over the three days. One of the starts of the full rigs was picture perfect. All the Lasers were spread down the line from the committee boat to the pin. Winds were typical for Vancouver (westerlies ranging from 5 - 12 knots). Top ten Lasers were: Luke Ramsay, RVYC, 19.00; Frederick Vranizan, SYC, 27.00; Ricardo Montemayor, RVYC, 46.00; Abe Torchinsky, RVYC, 55.00; Robert Davis, Kingston YC, 64.00; Jason Rhodes, RVYC, 71.00; Geoff Abel, RVicYC, 80.00; Pablo Ragagu, CYCH, 80.00; Evert McLaughlin, RCYC, 88.00; Stephen Bourdow, Sequina YC, 97.00. The Radial fleet was composed of 52 boats and they raced in 12 races. They shared the same course as the full rig Lasers. Alexander Heinzemann won the Radials with 21 points, including six first place finishes. He finished with half the points (21/42) of the next competitor, Dominic Bove. Top ten Radial sailors were: Alexander Heinzemann, RVYC, 21.00; Dominic Bove, StFYC, 42.00; Carlos Roberts, ABYC, 67.00; Mike Cannon, RVicYC, 71.00; Joshua Larsen, SYC, 72.00; Domenic Fritz, RVYC, 73.00; Chris Tulip, RVYC, 75.00; Reid Cannon, RVicYC, 110.00; Molly Jackson, PMYC, 119.00; Natalia Montemayor, RVYC, 125.00. Next on the west coast circuit was the District 6 Grand Prix which was held at Cascade Locks on July 11 and 12, 2009. This regatta was to be followed by the infamous Gorge Blowout (20 miles from Cascade Locks to Hood River or reverse depending on which way the wind is blowing on the day of the regatta), Following the Blowout was the 2009 Laser and Laser Radial Pacific Coast Championships, held on the Gorge. ILCA NA President, Tracy Usher, attended both the District 6 Grand Prix and the Pacific Coast Championships and wrote a brief report on both regattas on the ILCA NA website. From what I can gather from the reports, the GORGE treated sailors to windy (25-30 knots) conditions. The Columbia Gorge Racing Association did it’s usual job, excellent, in organiz-

FALL 2009


ing both regattas. Both the full rigs (24) and the Radials (30) raced 8 races. Results for the District 6 Grand Prix are as follows: Derick Vranizan, 9.00; Ricardo Montemayor, 22.00; Tracy Usher, 27.00; Andrew Wong, 28.00; Sean Kelly, 36.00; Kyle Martin, 38.00; Philip Round, 46.00; Peter Jesberg, 53.00. Radials: Luis Canuto, 9.00; Chris Tulip, 15.00; Michael Schalka, 20.00; Michael Kiss, 30.00; Rebecca Power, 34.00; Joshua Larsen, 40.00; Glen Stellmacher, 55.00; John Sturman, 56.00; Rob Hodson, 59.00; Bruce Braly, 65.00. Thirty-one (31) Lasers competed in the Blowout, which was held on July 16. Top ten sailors were: Derick Vranizan, Michael Kalin, Greg Martinez, Rob Hodson, Bill Symes, Alex Mineev, Dominic Bove, Michael Kiss, Kyle Martin and Todd Willsie. On July 17 - 19, 2009, the final regatta of the west coast circuit was held on the Gorge. There were 41 Lasers and 42 Laser Radials. Twelve races were sailed in winds that were slightly less (20 - 25 knots) than the previous weekend. Both fleets handled the conditions without any major breakdowns. All in all, a good week at the Gorge. Top ten Lasers: Derick Vranizan, 17.00; Brendan Casey, 19.00; Michael Kalin, 27.00; Stephen Bourdow, 39.00; Ricardo Montemayor, 49.00; Tracy Usher, 58.00; Sean Kelly, 63.00; Marc Jux, 75.00; Philip Lozier, 90.00; Elliot Drake, 103.00. Top ten Radials were: Chris Tulip, 23.00; Joshua Larsen, 31.00; Greg Martinez, 39.00; Michael Kiss, 47.00; Paul Stewart, 50.00; Michael Schalka, 51.00; Dominic Bove, 51.00; Rebecca Power, 68.00; Erica Vranizan, 85.00; Ian Hern, 90.00. As you can see, Derick Vranizan has really picked up his game and placed 2, 1 and 1 in the three west coast regattas. Congratulations to Derick. The Columbian Gorge One-Design Regatta attracted all three classes of Lasers, Full Rigs, Radials and Laser 4.7s. The turnout wasn’t great but it’s good to see that there is interest in all the rigs. The five full rigs were: Bill Symes, 10.00; Alexander Mineev, 13.00; John Sturman, 24.00; Rob Hodson, 24.00; John Purdy, 26.00. There were two 4.7s, Scott Kihara and Siyami Milik. Scott had 7 points while Siyami had 14 points. There were four Laser Radials racing. Teddy Weaver had 8 points, Paul Foley had 13 points, Hanne Weaver had 19 points and Brooke Murphy had 27 points. The Jericho Sailing Centre Association was the host club for the Laser Regatta part of the 2009 World Police and Fire Games. Competitors who were involved in law enforcement and/or fire protection came from all over the world to race in borrowed Lasers. The rules of the games forbade the competitors from bringing their own equipment and as such, some Lasers were better equiped than others. If the boat did not leak too badly, the good sailors managed to compensate sailing an unfamiliar boat. I was pleased to hear that the two competitors who used my Laser, liked it a lot. There were twenty five competitors and they had to switch boats after the end of each day. The only exception was that the person who used my boat on Thursday, finished dead in the middle of the pack and so did not switch boats. The regatta was from Wednesday, August 5 to Friday, August 7. Local favorite, Rob Cullen, from the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club and the Delta Fire Department, won the regatta. Top eight competitors were: Rob Cullen, 17.00; Steven Tait, 28.00; Richard Lentz, 33.00; Ross Nemeroff, 36.00; Leung Kwok-Wai, 49.5; Teemu Tortonen, 52.00; Mike Rodde, 66.00; Gary Morgan, 79.00. The last big regatta of the summer, although it was a restricted regatta, was the 2009 Canadian Youth Championships. This regatta actually started before

www.Laser.org

the World Police and Fire Games and ran from August 1 to 6, 2009. The regatta was hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club and had competitors come from all over Canada. Competitors could not turn 19 in 2009. There were Laser Full Rigs (Male), Laser Radial (Male and Female) and Laser 4.7s (open). I don’t have a report from the regatta but found the results. There were 6 Laser 4.7s, 24 Laser Radial (Female), 27 Laser Radial (Male) and 21 Laser Full Rigs. Results for the 4.7s were: Ellyn Waschuk, Winnipeg Sailing Centre, 16.00; Emily Campbell, Pelican Yacht Club, 29.00; Emma Williams, VBYC, 32.00; Ellyn Burns, BSSSC, 46.00; Mary Clouston, Sea Cadets (Victoria), 62.00 and Robbie Stevens, COSA, 72.00. Laser Radial (Female): Maura Dewey, RVicYC, 39.00; Phenix Cloutier-Beaudoin, Club voile des Memphremagog, 45.00; Brenda Bowskill, RCYC, 58.00; Charlotte Skinner, Kingston Yacht Club, 64.00; Joanna Moore, RVYC, 66.00; Hannah Meers, Calgary Yacht Club, 68.00; Samantha Rea, Kingston Yacht Club, 70.00; Natalia Montemayor, RVYC, 82.00. Laser Radial (Male): Tyler Meyrick, RCYC, 27.00; Dominique Racine, Point Claire Yacht Club, 42.00; Reid Cannon, RVicYC, 46.00; Dominic Fritz, RVYC, 50.00; Aiden Koster, RVicYC, 57.00; Eric Servais, RVYC, 86.00; Tony Henderson, RVYC, 89.00; David Cormack, Newell Sailing Club/Calgary Yacht Club, 102.00; Alexander Kroitzsch, RVYC, 105.00. Full Rig Results: Alexander Heinzemann, RVYC, 44.00; Ben Scott, RVYC, 58.00; David Mori, RCYC, 71.00; Karl Mitchell, LYC, 75.00, Philip Round, RVicYC, 76.00, Ian Hill, Royal Hamilton Yacht Club / Kingston Yacht Club, 85.00; Justin Barnes, RCYC, 86.00. The last regatta for this report is the Al Morris Regatta, held at Yale Lake on August 22 and 23, 2009. There were 6 competitors who raced nine races over the two days. Greg Williams was first with 17 points, followed by Carolyn Slijper with 20 points. Next was Kevin Hayes, with 20 points and then Mike Rees with 24 points. The last two competitors were Tim Mulvaney with 26 points and Adam Braun with 27 points. I would also like to congragulate District 6 Laser sailor, Kevin Grierson, for winning the gold medal (in the Laser Class) at the 2009 Canada Summer Games and District 6 (and world) Laser Radial sailor, Isabella Bertold for winning the gold medal (Laser Radial) at the 2009 Canada Summer Games which were held in New Brunswick this past summer. Please don’t hesitate to phone me (604-733-9663) or email (athunt@vcn.bc.ca) if you have any questions or comments. District 7 Sally Sharp

Just back from the Masters World Championships in Nova Scotia, where we all enjoyed an intense but fabulous week of racing on St. Margaret’s Bay. Our District 7 sailors were incredibly successful, taking many places on the podium. Scott Ferguson dominated the large and very tough Standard Masters fleet, scoring top four finishes all week long. Andy Pimental and Mark Bear tied for third place on points, but Andy’s two bullets gave him the #3 spot. Marc Jacobi also had some great results, he ended up in 11th place. In the 40-boat Standard Grand Master fleet, Dave Frazier finished a strong 12th. Over in Radials, Peter Seidenberg repeated as #1 Great Grand Master after a tough duel with Kerry Waraker of Australia; they tied with 17 points

apiece, but Peter’s four wins trumped Kerry’s three. In the Grand Master fleet Halsey Bullen finished 11th and Sally Sharp 12th (first woman).

Back here at home, the winner of the 3-regatta 2009 District 7 Radial Series and a brand new radial sail is Peter Seidenberg! Peter won the radial division of the Buzzards Bay Regatta and finished third at Hyannis. There are still two regattas left in the standard rig series, it will all be decided at the Fat Boys regatta in late October. A huge thank-you to Bob Adam of Vanguard Sailing Center for generous sponsorship of both D7 championship series again this year!

There are still a few regattas left to finish up the really busy summer season (see below), then the fall frostbite season kicks in. Frostbite fleets can be found in Westport, Stamford and Stonington CT, Newport RI, and in Mass. at Marblehead (EYC), Salem (Winter Island) and Winthrop (Cottage Park YC). You can find the full fleet list on the D7 website http://d7.laserforum.org along with a fall/winter schedule of events - many thanks to Chris Morin for continuing to maintain the D7 website.

Last but certainly not least, we need to thank all the regatta organizers and volunteers who host Laser regattas all around New England. A ton of time and effort goes into planning and running all these events, don’t forget to show your appreciation at your next regatta-!

D7 Fall schedule: Oct 24 - Fat Boys Regatta - Bristol, RI (see details on D7 website!) D7 Super Series #5 Nov 7 - Cedar Point YC Fall Regatta - Westport CT. Lasers & radials. District 8 Ted Cremer

Greetings from District 8! I hope all had a great summer and hit some of the regattas wherever they could. Here are results from the District 8 Championship hosted once again by Sayville YC during a beautiful Fathers Day weekend. PRO George Becza did a fine job on Saturday managing the 100 degree right shift that persisted throughout the day. ODU graduate Michael Collins (Sayville YC) sailed a brilliant first day with three firsts, a second and a fourth. Sunday showed much more wind with Cedar Point’s Mike Matan only getting faster as the breeze built. He won ALL 4 of Sunday’s races. When the scores were broken out separately for the Area B regatta and all races were counted (no drops), Mike Matan and Michael Collins tied for points with Matan winning the tiebreak based on his solid sailing on Sunday. The Radial fleet once again was dominated by Ryan Schmitz who clearly benefited from practicing at Sayville the weekend before. Ryan was the most consistent sailor of the weekend dropping a 3rd. It was good to see Andrew Cremer out once

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again in a radial and also watching older brother Christian sailing his first full rig regatta getting a first and three seconds and finishing 4th and finishing as the top junior at the regatta. Congratulations to Sayville Yacht Club for fielding nine sailors and for hosting a great regatta. EELS Final Results

What is better than racing Lasers in the summertime? The 2009 East End Laser Series blasted off on the 4th of July with a bang! 18 sailors pushed off

the beach in a steady 18 knot westerly. The race committee did a terrific job to get off 6 races while gathering up the pieces of broken gear and broken racers. Congratulations to all the sailors. Ted Cremer was the 1st over-all and 1st Master (45+). Doug

Mercer was the 1st Radial and 1st Great Grand Master (65+). Brett Morgan was the 1st Apprentice Master (35+) and Lynn Sexton was the 1st 4.7 and

the boat as they can to prep for Worlds. It would take too long to mention results of everyone who sailed so I figure I’d list all the venues traveled to this summer: Japan (Women’s Radial Worlds), Denmark (Radial European youths), Michigan (O’Day finals), Louisiana (Gulf Coast champs), Nova Scotia (senior and master full rig worlds), Buffalo Canoe Club (Radial, 4.7 and Full Rig NAs), Connecticut (US Sailing Youth Champs), Long Island (US Sailing Leiter Cup), Marblehead MA (US Sailing Smythe Championships), Hyannis, MA (Hyannis regatta), Baltimore, MD (Junior Olympics), Galesville, MD (District 11 champs), Ithaca ,NY (District 9 champs), Kingston, Ontario (Cork), and Brazil (4.7 Worlds).

first woman. Bud Rogers and the NBIBCLRA throw a terrific Laser party.

Overall, the 2009 East End Laser Series is in the record books. It was big, Big, BIG! The series expanded this year from 5 venues to 7 with the addition of the NBIBCLRA and the Southold YC. Thank you to all the venues for their hospitality and support. A special thanks goes out to organizers Mike Duran and Lynn Sexton whose tireless energy and laser (get it laser??) focus were unparalleled!!!

In all a record 70 sailors competed in 44 races over 7 regattas on 7 Saturday afternoons in the 2009 East End Laser Series. Sailing in 3 or more regattas qualified for overall series standing. 13 racers qualified. Spencer Olsson was 1st overall and 1st Junior

(Radial as well) with a 2nd at Old Cove YC, a 4th at Southold YC and a 1st at Breakwater YC. Mike

Duran was the 1st Master and finished second for the series. Ted Cremer finished 3rd (2nd Master) and Geoff Loffredo was 1st in the Open age group.

Doug Mercer was the 1st Great Grand Master. Peter Vajko was the 1st Apprentice Master. Lynn Sexton

was the 1st female. Congratulations to all the winners. Thank you to PGJSA for sponsoring – a record 21 Juniors came out to race in the EELS this year.

Special thanks goes out once again to our tireless webmaster Robert Terry who continues to keep our website updated with the weekend racing news and some awesome videos! Definitely check out the site! http://laserd8.tripod.com/news.htm

Hope to see everyone on the water and remember, frostbiting at Seawanakha YC or at Sag Harbor’s Breakwater YC is just around the corner! www.seawanhaka.org/

www.breakwateryc.org/ District 10 Eric Reitinger

The summer has been a busy year for juniors, sailing at various local regattas in NJ as well as the traveling around the country. Adults have spent much of their time in their other boats or actively racing around the country. The Masters have been all over the place getting as much time in

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Brant Beach hosted the US Nationals and had a record turnout. Thanks to everyone who participated. District 10 was well represented and even brought some sailors out of the woodwork. BBYC is hosting the NAs in 2011 so add that to your calendar. Now that the fall arrives and school started, the local Laser regattas start back up and run through October. They include Marsh Creek, Monmouth and Cooper River. There are four fall series that run from late September to November. Two frostbite series are also available starting in November. The calendar is up on the class website. If you don’t receive my emails please email me at er4599 at gmail dot com to stay up to date with all the Laser events in District 10. I am really trying to get more of the juniors on the list. With the turnout I’ve been seeing at the local junior regattas, I know there are a lot of sailors that may not know about the Laser class and what goes on around the district. District 12

Glenn Walker

Doug Sherwood The summer in D-12 has been an interesting one. The Bermuda highs have returned for much of the summer which gives us our strong coastal sea breezes. Then as an added plus we have been fortunate to avoid the hurricanes! The North Carolina Masters Championship sponsored by the Oriental Dinghy Club, entertained 20 sailors from D12 and D11. The Race Committee did an amazing job pulling off 7 races over 2 days in challenging 4-6 knots of breeze from the west. MacCauseland a D11 sailor posted several strong races to dominate the “old guys”. I believe that now makes it D11-6wins to D12-3wins (since 2000). The Carolina Yacht Club of Charleston SC hosted our fleet for our 4th championship of the season. They completed 5 races over 2 days with at total of 34 lasers participating (11 Radials, 23 Standard). Once again Jenny Garvis posted strong scores with no race lower than a 3rd to dominate the Radial

fleet. In the Standard rig fleet Eric Oetgen is becoming a household name as he whipped the Beaufort, Charleston, Wrightsville and Atlanta contingencies with the ease of smearing butter across a hot griddle. Eric’s 4 bullets and a second led to a 6 point victory over second place John Potter. Championship #5 was hosted by the Carolina Yacht Club of Wrightsville Beach NC. The sea breeze was on to put it simply. Beginning with Friday at the SAYRA Youth Challenge and the Radial Clinic, winds were in the 15-20knt range. Peter Branning of FL put on a great clinic to help a dozen or so juniors get up to speed in a Radial. Thank you Peter! He then went on to kick butt in the ocean Radial fleet Saturday and Sunday taking line honors in three races. Saturday’s weather didn’t disappoint, winds were piping up into the lower 20’s and several people were wishing they had downsized to a Radial. 28 Standard rigs battled it out to see three people emerge as the ones to beat. Jeremy Pape, Martin Willard, and Paul Whitesides, each with a bullet, were within 3 points of each other at the end of the day. On Sunday the Bermuda high was firmly planted offshore with an approaching low pressure system from the west. This meant that we got pinched in the middle with even greater breeze from the south. Race committee had their hands full as the swell built to 4 feet with large whitecaps. The 1st race winds were in the low 20’s with higher gusts, and several sailors wisely chose to use their Radial rigs in both the Standard fleet and or move down to the Radial fleet. Yes that meant some DNS

or DNC’s for people, but the conditions were so “epic” many didn’t care they just wanted sail in what the locals called “perfect” . The Standard fleet battled it out with Jeremy taking a bullet in the 1st race and Paul taking 2nd This gave Jeremy a 4 point lead going into the 5th and final race. By noon the breeze had built further to the mid 20’s with even higher gusts. Myself in a Radial was glad to be in one as I was now on the edge of really being over powered, but was having a blast surfing the waves and taking spray in the face. In race 2, Paul and Jeremy went neck and neck with Jeremy death rolling but miraculously recovering to finish 5th to Paul’s 1st and so Jeremy won the tie-breaker and the regatta! Congratulations to Jeremy Pape and winning his 1st ever D-12 championship regatta. In the Radial fleet Martine Zurinskas prevailed to take home the big prize. Big shout out to Atlanta! By the time we read this, we will have crowned new District Champions in both the Standard, Radial, and 4.7 fleets. Currently there is a 4 way battle in the Standard fleet and a 6 way battle in the Radials. Columbia Sailing Club at Lake Murray will be hosting our final championship regatta the weekend of

FALL 2009


Sept. 26th and 27th. So please check our website at www.d12.laserforum.org to see who was crowned the champion! A HEARTY THANK YOU GOES OUT TO ALL THE HOST YACHT CLUBS, PARENTS, VOLUNTEERS, AND RACE COMMITTEES FOR MAKING 2009 ANOTHER FANTASTIC YEAR FOR LASER SAILING IN DISTRICT 12!! See you on the water. District 13 Meka Taulbee & Michelle Davis

The Fort Walton Yacht Club hosted yet another fine event with the Laser Masters Gulf Coast Champs on July 11 & 12. This was the same time as the Meigs regatta so we shared the water and boatpark with a bunch of Thistles and Finns, among others. We outnumbered the Finns but, alas, could not party as hard as the Thistle sailors, although David Hartman tried. (There were no weddings at the club whose kegs he could pilfer this time) 17 Masters showed up to race in light and shifty conditions, with Russell Brown of FWB, Jeremy Pape from Atlanta and David Hartman of Vero Beach taking the top three spots overall. Pensacola Yacht Club hosted the young ‘uns in a Junior Olympic Sailing Festival event held over the 4th of July weekend. 14 Radials participated, and

local Dodge Rees smoked the fleet with straight bullets except for one throwout of second place.

Further down the peninsula, the Treasure Coast Series continued as a great excuse to get out on the water with our other Laser buddies during the summer; generally a slow time of year down here. TCS # 4 was hosted by the Melbourne Yacht Club on June 13 and featured light and shifty winds. 14 fullrigs and 4 Radials raced together with Eric Lawrence taking top honors and Ian Heausler and Jeff Olson second and third, respectively. The Melbourne YC has also been hosting the Small Boat Sundays series; fun casual racing every other Sunday with 5 to 10 Lasers on the line. Central East Coast people have no excuse to get rusty during the summer.

Speaking of rusty, this is how Will Glenn described himself the morning before he tore up the 21-boat fleet at TCS # 5 in Jensen Beach on Aug 8. 25 sailors had shown up the weekend before all ready to race, but a huge thunderstorm sprung up right after we all had launched and started out to the race course. Everybody returned safely to the club and watched one of the more spectacular waterspouts anyone had seen in awhile go by, before it became clear that we were not going to be able to race at all that day. The US Sailing Center-Martin County kindly rescheduled the event for the following weekend. This time the weather was as gorgeous a day as you could expect in early August, with a seabreeze cranking up to the high teens by the last race and clear blue skies. Will Glenn won overall, with Steve Carr from Palm Beach SC in second and David Hartman in third. Top kid was Erick Fields (also from PBSC) in 5th and top girly was Michelle Davis in 9th. OK, I was the only girly since Cindy Taylor was out of town.

The next TCS is in WPB on Sept 19; open ocean sailing!! The ubitquitous David Hartman would like the

www.Laser.org

entire universe to note:

The Masters Week 2010 schedule is Feb 6 -8 (Sat, Sun, Mon) Masters Midwinters East, USSCMC, Jensen Beach Feb 10-11 (Wed, Thur) Midweek Madness, PBSC, West Palm Beach Feb 13-14 (Sat, Sun) Florida Masters, PBSC, West Palm Beach

case among Tom and Sean. So close that the two sailors were tied with six points apiece as the final race began. - each having two firsts and two seconds and throwing out their worst result. The winner of the final race and regatta came down a tacking duel between the last mark and the finish line which was won by Sean Fidler giving him his second LSC Laser Regatta win.

District 19 Ken Swetka

By the time this is published the regattas will be over in D19 (Michigan). In the Crescent fleet (Lake St Clair, just North of Detroit) we will be starting our Sunday frostbiting on October 11th. Sailing starts at noon for a bunch of short races to keep everyone moving. The water will be a pretty nice temp in October so no drysuits for a while. Here are some regatta reports from this past Summer.

Grand Traverse Yacht Club (GTYC) Traverse City, Michigan hosted this years Championship event for District 19. The clubhouse is new and looks fantastic! We had a variety of sailing conditions and it NEVER rained on the race course! All of you who stayed home due to the forecast missed a great event and terrific hospitality from GTYC. Leland Laser Regatta

Held August 1 – 2, 2009 on lovely Lake Leelanau which is just Northwest of Traverse City. The Lake Leland Website is www.lelandyachtclub.com. They also hosted a Rick White sailing seminar July 9 to 12. Pl 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Name-Yacht Club-Division Ragains, Jeff-LYC-AM Moody, Mike-LSC-GM. Paine, Tom-LYC-M Grogan, Tom-LYC-GM Randall, Bruce-LYC-M Mead, David-LYC-M Harbottle, John-LYC-AM Northcutt, Allen-LYC-GGM Stauber, Gus-GTYC-Jr Corwin, Ben-GTYC-Jr Jones, Barry-Open Branson, Abby-GTYC-Jr/F Oram, Jon-ELSC-GM Sauer, Michael-MYC-AM Whipple, Gregg-GM Workum, Lee-LYC-GGM Schmid, Walter-LYC-GGM Toth, Roy-PYC-GGM Meyer, Jim-GM

Lansing Sailing Club District 19 Laser Regatta August 22, 2009. Another great day at the Lansing Sailing Club was enjoyed by all that participated in the 2009 LSC Laser Regatta. While the weather and wind conditions changed throughout the day, feedback from the 23 Laser Sailors that participated from both sides of the State proved this to be one of the best LSC regattas ever.

This years fleet included two previous LSC Laser Regatta winners, Tom LaBelle from Rochester Hills (2001 & 2004) and Sean Fidler, from Royal Oak (2005). While the racing was close and competitive throughout the entire fleet this was especially the

Lake Lansing’s Doug Carlson sailed consistently all day registering all 3rd place finishes except for his throw-out and ended up 3rd for the regatta. This year there was also a woman’s class consisting of four competitors. Mary Vorel from Grand Rapids finished 5th in the regatta to top this woman’s

group. Mary was also the only competitor other than

LaBelle or Fidler to get a 1st place finish. Prior to Saturday’s racing there was a special ceremony for LSC’s Ron Marshall and his brand new Laser christening her the “Jane M” before she was put in the water for the very first time. For the second year John Fishbeck led an efficient Race Committee consisting of John LeFevre, Neil Harrison and Stephen Wagner. The team did a great job of keeping the starting line and race course in line with the shifty winds small lakes like Lake Lansing are known for.

Maribeth and Jim Fletcher with assistance from Julie Pierce set up all the fixings for the post racing “cook-it-yourself” BBQ that included steak, chicken, baked potatoes, ice cream and beverages provided by Michigan Brewing Company. After the BBQ trophies provided by Polar Bear Cools where presented to the top finishers and fantastic door prizes provided by Avon Sailboats were awarded to the lucky ticket holders. The regatta was also supported by many fleet members before and during the regatta in getting the facilities ready for hosting this annual event Participants were very appreciative of the contributions made by all our Regatta sponsors including; Avon Sailboats, Michigan Brewing Company, Polar Bear Coolers and Dusty’s Cellers.

Visit the Lansing Sailing Club Website at www.lansingsailing.org for complete race results and to view over 200 pictures of the event taken by Stephen Wagner. *Results also posted at www.d19laser.org If anyone is interested I have been maintaining a blog of Laser regattas on www.d19laser.org. Entries so far are for the Master and Open Midwinter’s, Master’s NA’s, Great Lakes, and Master’s Worlds. District 20 Steve Dolan

Summer is nearly over, kids are back at school and fall sailing is upon us.

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Either too much or too little wind marked summer Laser sailing this year in District 20. The Memorial Day Regatta at Milwaukee Yacht Club was cancelled due to lack of breeze. The 37th edition of

Super Sail drew 12 sailors to the shore of Lake Michigan over the weekend of July 11-12. Maggie Shea 184445 won the light air event which was sailed off the beach at Winnetka Yacht Club with 6 bullets in this 10 race event.

Four D20 members competed at this years North Americans which was sailed out of Buffalo Canoe Club on Lake Erie in Ontario, CN over the weekend of June 25-28. Two hundred and twenty eight sailors competed. Gordon Lamphere 182029 finished 19th and Matt Woodworth 168196 38th in the Gold fleet. Susie Pegel 170757 finished 5th and

Nikita 172932 29th in the Silver Fleet.

The D20 Championship was held on Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin on July 17. Twenty five sailors attended the 2 day event which was shortened to one day when the breeze disappeared on day two. Gordon Lamphere 182029 won the 6 race medium air event by two points over Hyde Perece 182031 who took second.

South Shore Yacht Club hosted its inaugural Laser event on Lake Michigan off the shore of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 1-2. Nineteen sailors competed and were treated to lots of swimming when a shifty heavy air shore breeze arrived for race one and stayed for the duration of the regatta. Lars Hansen 170756 from Wyzata Yacht Club and District 19 ran away with the event winning by a 13 point margin in this 7 race event over his nearest competitor, Bruce Martinson 159089 also from District 19 who took second.

Still plenty of fall events scheduled before we return to frostbiting. The Border Battle in LaCrosse, Wisconsin is slated for Sept 19, the Jimmy Talbot in Chicago on Oct 3, 4 and the Oktoberfest at Pewaukee Yacht Club Oct 10, 11

Planning for 2010 is already underway. The Mothers Day Regatta will return to Lake Geneva. South Shore Yacht Club will host Districts in mid July and Milwaukee Yacht Club will host the Laser US Championship on August 12-15.

That’s the skinny on D20 happenings this summer. Stay in touch. Visit http://d20.laserforum.org and help me keep it up to date.

Keep the shiny side down and see you on the water.

District 21 Mike Elson

The D 21 Grand Prix was hosted by the Okoboji yacht Club at its’ outstanding facilities on Lake Okoboji in downtown Milford, IA. The regatta Chair, Pat Flood, did a supurb job of organizing an event for two fleets, totaling almost 50 boats ( half Lasers, half Snipes ) and finding accommodations for all that needed housing. Pat and the OYC had hosted the D 21 Lasers several years earlier. It was a 25 – 35 mph blow out for both days. A New Zealander with a familiar sounding name, Coutts (but not Russell ) simply walked away with the regatta. This year it was one day of 17 to 25 mph winds with the inevitable high pressure bringing 7 mph to zero on the second day. Even with one light

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day, this year’s event was dominated by one sailor. It was Mark Dunsworth of White Bear Lake. Mark had 4 firsts, sweeping all 4 races. The peripatetic John Miller, of Kansas City, was second overall and Mike Schmid and Matt Thompson, both from Minneapolis, tied for third. Mike’s 2nd place on Sunday was the tiebreaker so Mike went home with the hat and Palmer Co. candy.

D 21’s season is winding down. There may be two more Wednesday evening races on Calhoun but it gets dark earlier and earlier. Wayzata YC will host the aptly named N.U.M.B. regatta on the third Sunday in October. The very last event will be the traditional Thanksgiving Day sail on Calhoun so there are reasons to embrace climate change.

After that, the ice boating and snow kiting begin …. District 22 Mike Gilbert

The 2009 Flathead Lake Laser Championship was held August 28-30 at the North Flathead YC in Somers, MT. Racing took place at the north end of spectacular Flathead Lake, the cleanest big lake in the world and the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Due to some scheduling conflicts we had only 12 entries compared to 17 last year, but all but one were local, which is some progress for us. There is a lot of new interest in Lasers, and used boats are starting to come out of the woodwork. Former Laser racers are expressing interest in returning to dinghy sailing. Several new residents turn out to be Laser sailors, not realizing there was racing here. Our current interested email list is four to five times the attendance, so things are beginning to change.

1:00 and headed back out for the Southerly in the afternoon. Normally the southerly stays steady but it wouldn’t cooperate due to an upper disturbance moving over, and was not consistent enough to set a course. As the marks were pulled and we turned to go in, of course a nice south breeze came up to glide us into the YC cove. Not enough to stay out however.

Sunday early the morning thermal was nice and a bit less strenuous for most of us than Saturday. We ran three good races and re-set the course for a nice southerly. This race was fun because we sailed off towards the horizon to the south, which felt like open water without the swells. Beautiful clear skies, 80 degrees, no humidity, surrounded by mountain ranges. It’s hard sometimes to concentrate on the course, or conversely I sometimes feel guilty focusing on the race and ignoring the scenery. Leads were traded back and forth, with Doug Seeman of the Willamette Sailing Club of Portland OR usually leading, and Tim Sauer of host North Flathead YC always nearby. In the end, Doug was ahead with three firsts and took the trophy, with Tim Sauer second, Mike Gilbert third, and Peter Aronsson fourth.

Many new faces attended, with old, borrowed, and chartered boats. We had a 4-digit sail attend, several in the 20k range, as well as a slippery clean twoweek-old boat. One volunteer headed right out after the last race to look at a couple of used boats nearby. A week later, I attended the University of Montana “Welcomefest” with my boat rigged and brochures ready. I was quite surprised at the interest and the number of sailing students from places like Michigan, Minnesota, the Chesapeake, New England, Florida, the Northwest, and the Bahamas(!). Most had no idea there would be sailing in Montana and many took my contact info hoping to get involved.

Next year we plan regular Saturday racing at Dayton Bay on Flathead Lake, as well as the Montana East vs. West Laser Challenge, to be sailed in May on a neutral lake near Ovando, MT. The winning team chooses the lake for the 2011 Challenge.

The event began Friday evening with a no-score warm-up race as part of a local big boat series. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed this race. Towed to the racecourse in glassy conditions right before sunset. Big boats bobbing in the start area. No sign of any wind. But just after sunset, a thermal rolled down onto the lake from the NW shore and in no time we were hiking out and dodging 30 flying big boats, all jockeying at the starting area. Lasers started last of course, but with a short course we were beating upwind with large bows and huge spinnakers coming down at us - very exiting! We sailed a few laps and headed in after dark with a beautiful moon. Someone flipped off the switch and it was calm again. A giant beach fire in the YC pit followed.

Saturday morning at sunrise the wind was back, a strong thermal coming off the north shore, blowing 15 to 20 at times. We reached out two or three miles from Somers Bay for the start. Three good races were run and the fourth nearly completed when the wind clocked and slowed enough to postpone. We even enjoyed some early surfing conditions on this big lake. We towed in for lunch around

District 23 Fletcher Avery

Laser sailing in the Rocky Mountains has a great diversity of locations and is gathering a head of steam as the attractive lifestyle and strengthening economy is bringing in a steady stream of top notch laser sailors from all parts of the country who now call Colorado home. Our regatta circuit moves from Cherry Creek (Denver) in May to Union Reservoir (North of Denver) in June, to beautiful mountain venues in Aspen in July, and August at Lake Dillon and Grand Lake, CO, before heading back to Denver’s Cherry Creek and the Governor’s Cup in mid September. Late September brings a trip out near Park City for the D23 No Coasts at Lake Jordanelle. A quick look at this summer’s regatta winners shows the competitiveness of this growing fleet as every event is wide open and comes down to the final finishes. Victors include: Hornblower (Fletcher Avery), Aspen and Lake Dillon (Len Dolhert), Grand Lake (Blaine McCloskey), Gov’s Cup (Kurt Robinson). We are very excited to host next summer’s Grand Prix No Coasts regatta at Lake Dillon August 7-8. The Lake Dillon Yacht

FALL 2009


Club has graciously offered to host this event the weekend after their Dillon Open so this will be a Laser only event with the entire lake and course area at our disposal. The Colorado Laser Champs at Grand Lake typically brings in upwards of 30 Lasers, so with a strong Colorado/Utah base our anticipation with interest from the surrounding districts is 40-50 Lasers on the line at Lake Dillon 2010! Put in on your August vacation schedule. District 24 David LaPier

The summer of 2009 will be a sailing season that we remember in Northern California for a long time. Yes, there were memorable events; new friends made, friendships strengthened; lessons learned and forgotten. However, I cannot write about our season without thinking of Tony Dahlman. He always brought a big smile and bright spirit to every event. He was wearing that smile when we launched our boats together off the white sand beach in bright sunshine and sparkling cold blue water for what would be the last time.

High Sierra Regatta Over 200 dinghies competed in the annual classic; held on a beautiful Huntington Lake. Located up in the Sierras not far from Yosemite Park, the long straight lake is bordered by high granite hills that generate nice thermal that gradually dies as you head up the lake. Long races are held around fixed buoys, so local knowledge and good gear-shifting pays. It is a great sailing experience. Tom Burden, who probably has raced at Huntington for 30 years, won the first race. Then Julian Soto must have figured it out, as he went on two win the next two and the event.

Jon Weston adds, “Plenty of wind and sun for all the sailors who made it up to this great venue for mountain lake sailing. It was a So Cal affair at the front as Ryan McNaboe ran away with the win in the Radial fleet, and Julian Soto won the Full division. Both hail from ABYC, and know how to hike flat and sheet out in the puffs. The real dog fight was for second, as after the long distance race (up and down the lake twice), four boats in the Full fleet crossed in a photo finish. Or was the fight for the marshmallows around the campfire that night, where the mixed bag of Laser and V15 sailors wrestled for sticks.” Results: Full Rigs: 1) Julian Soto, 2) Joe Wells, 3) Roger Herbst, 4) Jonathan Weston, 5) Christopher Klen (15 Boats).

Radials: 1) Ryan McNaboe, 2) Lawrence Jau, 3) Chris Vilicich, 4) Jamie McJones, 5) Kealy Haverstock. (14 Boats)

Dinghy Delta Ditch The 30 mile race up the Sacramento River Delta is supposed to be powered by a big sea breeze and favorable current – not this year! One of Laser sailors, John Barrere really likes his Force-5 more – a lot more! Here is his report. “Hard to believe, eh? But it’s TRUE! In the fifth annual Dinghy Delta Ditch Run sponsored by Lake Washington Sailing Club on July 25, a Force 5 sailed by John Barrere corrected out ahead of all thirteen Lasers! And, even though starting 10 minutes after the Lasers, the Force 5 finished boat-forboat ahead of nine of the Lasers!

www.Laser.org

The delta breeze often gusts over thirty knots, but not this year. All fleets started in a light northerly which virtually guaranteed that they would have to eventually deal with very light and confused winds as the southerly sought to establish itself. No Lido 14 broken masts this year!

For the first hour and a half, Barrere successfully short-tacked up the western bank of the channel, thereby gaining a lead over a couple of Banshees and a Megabyte. However, as the delta breeze began to assert itself, the right side was increasingly favored and the lead evaporated. Ice cold liquids in a small Igloo cooler wedged into the cockpit forward of the thwart were consumed with great gusto. The delta breeze maxed out at no more than 10 knots, and usually a lot less. There were a few gusts though, and one nearby Laser deathrolled itself into the drink at around 6:30 or so. All of us monosails were sailing by the lee with the boom WAY out, so the dreaded DR was an ever-present threat. Thank goodness for the JC strap!!

By 7PM or so, the event had long since ceased to be fun. “Where the %#@* is Sacramento” constantly played in sailors’ heads (or at least in mine). Hey, there are some high-voltage towers a couple of miles ahead! I remember seeing towers from the LWSC home waters. We’re almost there! Hooray!! But, noooooo. Wrong towers. We still have many miles to go before we sleep. AAARRGGHH! I sailed the last hour or so in the dark, finally getting off the water about 9:30. But it was quite sweet to pass a Laser about two miles from the end with him asking, “How are you going so fast?” That was one of the VERY few enjoyable moments of this eighthour (for me) marathon. And the last boat finished at about 10:45! When the results were posted, still-lingering frustration was replaced by sweet satisfaction when I learned that I had beaten those faster boats. I was very glad that I decided to sail my Force 5 instead of my Laser. It is WAY more comfortable for “cruising”.

Results: 1) Mark Halman, 2) Roger Herbst, 3) Dan Ouellet, 4) Jim Margeson, 5) Simon Bell (14 Boats).

Smythe Area G Qualifier Our younger Laser sailors battled it out on the City Front to determine who would get to go to Marblehead. The small fleet racing was very competitive. Results: 1) Peter Jesberg, 2) Drake Jensen, 3) Matt Van Rensselear (5 boats).

National Senior Games Masters led off their two weeks of racing with a Friday-only event prior to the Master’s PCCs. Jonathan Weston reports, “These National Games for the 50 something crowd featured sailing for the first time. Mark Denzer traveled from Hawaii to battle for the age old crown. Moderate winds and flat waters made it an easy walk in the park for David LaPier, who used his cane/hiking stick to caress his way around the course. Rumor is that he depends on his compass to prevent any Mr. Magoo calamity. This did not help Walt Spevak out, whose boat, “No Excuses” sailed the first few races with the drainplug out. Hey Walt, no excuses! Chris Boome put on an impressive downwind clinic, or infirmary, however you want to say it, to place second. Jonathan Weston limped his way backwards from the weather mark to the leeward, enough to

capture third. Beer and Advil were had by all at the wharf side infirmary.”

Masters PCCs The St Francis YC Laser Fleet hosted the Masters PCCs at Treasure Island. We were out in bay just south of the Berkeley Circle. Saturday saw typical extreme bay conditions. As the breeze built, sail numbers were flapping away and falling off. Adverse current pushed boats below the starboard tack layline at the weather mark, creating havoc – circles in 20+ are not that easy! Sunday was more moderate, with great conditions for hiking hard and planeing fast.

Results: Apprentice: Peter Phelan, Mike Bishop, Charlie Buckingham Master: Tracy Usher, Peter Vessella, David LaPier Grand Master: Chris Boome, Walt Spevak, Richard Leland Great Grand Master: Jim Christopher (25 Boats). BAYS Bay Area Youth Sailing coordinates a multi-regatta series at different venues around the San Francisco area. The Redwood City races were held in 20 knots with a massive chop. Sailors enjoyed a perfect breezy day for the finale in Richmond.

Results: 4.7’s: 1) Sterling Dreyer, 2) Oliver Konkel, 3 tie) Jake Zimmer, 3 tie) Nicklas Gardner (6 Boats) Radials: 1) Lauren Cefali, 2) Domenic Bove, 3 tie) Drake Jensen, 3 tie) Laurence Jau, 5) Andrew Godfrey, 6) Megan Hayes, 7) John Olson, 8) Joe Carter.(23 Boats)

Tahoe Race Week Tahoe Yacht Club hosted a new week long series this year for small boat sailors. It was a great opportunity for combining vacation time and sailing on the big lake. Lasers were invited to join the Bytes and El Toro’s, who were having there national championships. Conditions were mixed, with storms sweeping the lake later in the week. Results: 1) Simon Bell, 2) Danny Pavel, 3) Todd Jackson, 4) Tony Dahlman (9 Boats).

Tahoe Monday Nights Results: 1) Stan Erisson, 2) Matt Clark, 3) Jim Granger 4) Dan Hauserman, 5) Todd Jackson (26 Boats)

Treasure Island Thursday Nights Treasure Island Sailing Center hosts Thursday evening. Lasers and V15’s race short courses inside the turning basin, with shared hospitality every week. With one week to go, results are as follows. Results: 1) Marc Jux, 2) Mark Halman, .3) Mike Bishop, 4) Ryan Nelson, 5) Steve Orosz (26 Boats)

Shoreline Lake Tiny Shoreline Lake in Mountainview is strictly fun – no scoring – but as many as 13 boats show up for racing followed by Mexican food in town. Special thanks to Roger Herbst and all the sailors for making it happen each week.

District 25 Nils Andersson

My wife Carol and I are on the road traveling in our RV camper from the Master’s World in Halifax,

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Canada writing this report. At the Worlds I received the following e-mail from the guys in our Laser fleet at Mission Bay Y.C. in San Diego. I think they missed me………or did they?

“Actually, we miss Carol...why did you force her to travel so far from us, and in such a gypsy way?

The link Ken e-mailed us didn’t work for me - just very cool 70’s graphics and music....not what I think he means by “It works!” Think I have some filters....that probably block out that Nordic thing....which is too bad, at the club tonight -TNT- I asked Joe and Jim if they had heard about your well-being/progress, stated that we should work

your e-mail....with the benefit that at least there we would be able to understand what you are saying! (You know I won’t let up on this.....too much fun....and you can take it..., and Carol - God we Miss her - encourages us to press this button....). So, either E-MAIL us how you are doing or (preferably) have Carol call us to give us the update. All our love from MBYC.

The D25 Championship was sailed at ABYC and I missed it this year as I was in Halifax. However, ABYC’s Fleet Captain Steve Smith has a report of the event in this issue.

Broadcasting from Halifax BILL SYMES

One of the great joys of attending a Laser Master Worlds is the

mixing and sharing that goes on after racing. The big difference

this year was that the mixing and sharing was not limited to

those who were actually at the regatta, but included a worldwide

audience, thanks to the instant communications technologies that

We are working on the 2010 Laser Midwinter West. It was the Mission Bay Y.C.’s turn to host the event but they run out of dates in March as they will host the NOOR. Coronado Y.C. had expressed interest in hosting some larger regattas so I gave them the ball. They will run the races in South Bay and use the Navy Y.C.’s facilities and beaches as staging areas. The South Bay is one of the best places for sailing in San Diego. The regatta is only under the planning stages just now. Please stay tuned for final dates and NOR.

www.sailinganarchy.com/article.php?get=4306 and

www.sailinganarchy.com/article.php?get=4316 (the rest has evidently disappeared into the black hole of the Web).

Whatever you do, don’t miss LauraLee’s hot video interviews with some of the key competitors and personalities at the 2009 Laser

Master Worlds, including winners Scott Ferguson, Wolfgang Gerz,

are transforming the way we live. Dozens of people–sailors,

Alison Casey and Peter Seidenberg, plus a host of other Master

some passers-by–were broadcasting minute-by-minute updates

www.youtube.com/user/wjsymes.

wives, husbands, moms, dads, coaches, spectators, and probably

of the regatta, blogging, texting, tweeting, photographing, and

videotaping events on and off the water pretty much around the

clock. In the house we stayed in, there were always three or four

laptops competing for bandwidth every morning and every night.

Laser celebs in various stages of dress. See them all at

If I’ve missed any good ones, let me know at

wjsymes@comcast.net. See you on the water!

It was a wonder we had any time to sail.

For anyone with even the slightest interest in the regatta, the

media blitz was hard to avoid. But in case you suffered a power

blackout in your neighborhood and want to see what you missed,

here are a few (by no means all) first person accounts worth checking out:

Most of the coverage was lavished on the Masters fleet,

deservedly so as it was the biggest with 95 entries. You’ll find

excellent blow-by-blow accounts of the racing by Tracy Usher

(sfbaylaser.blogspot.com), Marc Jacobi (marcjaco-

bi.blogspot.com), and Dave Sliom (dancingbearsail-

ing.blogspot.com). To see the significant other’s point of view,

check out Kim (Mrs. Scott) Ferguson’s very thoughtful and well-

written blog at kimferg.blogspot.com.

Over on the Radial course, a guy going by the name of Dr. J was following the action in the Great Grand Master fleet. Check it

out at favoredend.blogspot.com.

Even I got into the act with a daily report to Sailing Anarchy.

The first two articles are now archived at

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FALL 2009


MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

ILCA of NA, 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, California USA 92106 619-222-0252, Fax 619-222-0528 admin@laser.org, www.laser.org

Name_______________________________________________________ Address_____________________________________________________

City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________ Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________

Sail # ______________DOB (month/day/year) _____________Sex ______ Boat sailed

______Laser

Current 2010 Membership Fees

______Radial

______Laser 4.7

All amounts are in US dollars. Canadian checks must be in US dollars. Regular - $40 for one year or $75 for 2 years Junior - $35 (Member may not turn 18 in 2010), or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 in ‘11) Family, 1 year - $40 for the primary members and $25 for each additional member Family, 2 years - $75 for the primary members and $45 for each additional member Please provide family members names, DOB, boat type and sail number on an additional sheet of paper.

International - $50 (any member not living in the US or Canada), one year only Amount enclosed __________________US$

Want to pay by Credit Card? We accept Visa and MC:

Name on card:

_______________________________ CC #: Visa_____ MC ______

_______________________________ Exp. date:___________________ CC billing zip code: _____________

Please make checks payable to ILCA of NA. Thank you for joining the Laser Class. 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: ____

www.Laser.org

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Sailing Fit

MEKA TAULBEE ACE CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER SAILFIT INC

Keeping warm and warmed up!

When we think about sailing most of us envision crystal blue waters and balmy breezes. Unfortunately we aren’t always so lucky especially now that winter is upon us. Many of the venues may be warm on shore, but once you are on the water the combination of the water temperature and the wind can make things pretty cold. Some venues are just downright cold before, during and after racing. These varying conditions can really take a toll on your body and hence your performance. The good news is there are several ways to help minimize these effects and to keep your body warm. To better prepare to stay warm I think it is important to understand a few of the effects that the cold has on your body. When your body gets cold lower amounts of blood are circulated to your extremities causing a feeling of numbness. I am sure most of you have experienced a time when you couldn’t feel yourself holding the mainsheet or you had to pry your fingers off of the tiller. Your muscles also tend to contract faster and your body starts to shiver in order to create activity to produce heat. When you shiver you are expending your energy reserves and therefore left with less energy to put into your sailing. Also when not as much blood is circulated to your extremities it causes a feeling of sleepiness. This tired feeling affects your reaction time and your awareness level. You are not able to make decisions as quickly and can cost yourself a lot of points by missing out on a crucial opportunity. The best way to conquer the cold is to start before you even leave the dock. The biggest mistake I see is when sailors wander into the boat park, shivering, after eating a big yacht club breakfast. Now all the blood is going to help you digest this big meal instead of circulating to the rest of your body. By the time you are done digesting you are in your sailing gear and heading out onto the water. You’ve given your body no time to warm up and prepare for what you are about to put it through. I would suggest getting in a light jog or a brisk walk to start your day. This will get your muscles warmed up and get your metabolism moving. Once your metabolism

40

is fired up it will help keep your blood circulating and help to keep you warm. Once your muscles are warmed up they are ready to react and respond better to the activities of the day not to mention less prone to injuries. Then I would hit the shower and make it a hot one! For breakfast one of the best suggestions I can give is hot oatmeal or plain scrambled eggs and some fruit. Oatmeal will help you feel warm inside and it digests slowly and easily. These options will give you more sustained energy and your body won’t have to use all of its energy just to digest. The next thing to think about is what to wear. A hat is always important because it helps keep the heat in. One of the biggest places heat escapes our bodies is our head. Think of it in the opposite situation. When it is hot and you start to perspire most times perspiration starts around your face and your head. Try to choose a hat that can either be wrung out easily or that won’t hold much water if it gets wet. You also want to pick clothing that you can layer. This way if you get hot or if something gets too wet you can take off one layer without loosing too much warmth. For example, a rash guard, a hot top and then a spray jacket. One suggestion is to wear your life jacket under your Spray jacket. When it gets wet it just keeps that cold water pressed against your body. Why not use it to give some insulation instead. You may want to consider taking an extra pair of gloves with you. If it’s a long day on the water a dry pair of gloves may make a big difference. Last but not least if you like to sail barefoot now would be a good time to consider boots. A nice pair of Polypropylene socks will help keep your feet warm and dry. Polypropylene will keep the moisture away from your feet if they do get wet and they will dry very quickly. Now that you are ready to rumble on the race course there are some key things you can keep in mind to stay comfortable during the day. If you have a support boat this will be a lot easier, but usually it is not too hard to find someone to help you out. If it is really cold you may think about wearing a foul weather jacket on your way to the race course. Then between races you can put it on and stay nice and warm. Don’t forget that as cold as it may be you will still work up a sweat and as soon as you stop moving it will seem twice as cold. Try to choose clothing that has a “wicking” action or will transport moisture away from your skin, otherwise moisture will freeze and negate the insulating value of the clothing. When you stop moving your body will slow down to try to conserve heat. Try to eat a small snack in

between each race. This will keep your metabolism fired up and will help keep your blood sugar levels from dipping to low causing a sluggish feeling. It will also help your body produce more heat instead of going into conservation mode. Most times you just want to take it easy between races and regain and conserve any energy you can. When it is cold you actually want to do the opposite to achieve the same effect. Nothing too extravagant, something as simple as stretching will do. You can even try alternating between standing and sitting in your boat while you wait. Now that the racing is over and you have successfully made it through with out turning into a human Popsicle there are just a few more tips to end your day on the right note. As soon as you get back to land try to hit the shower first before you completely de-rig and get into some dry clothes. Even if you can’t get a shower in, get into some dry clothes. Being dry will prevent any moisture from freezing or lying against your body. It will make you feel so much warmer and really make de-rigging a lot more pleasant. It’s easier to get the lines untangled when you can feel your fingers! When you can get a shower in, stretch while you are in there. The heat will loosen all of your muscles and really help you get a better nights rest and ultimately a better outlook on the next day. Try to get another small snack after you get off the water to keep that metabolism boosted and producing heat. When you are all done, have a nice dinner, check the results and relax! You made it through the day. These are just a few tips. If you want more information on this topic or have any questions about other fitness/nutrition topics don’t hesitate to ask me. You can visit www.sailfit.com or email me at meka@sailfit.com. Happy Sailing-Meka

FALL 2009


KITTY KITTY HAWK HAWK

The Stainless Stainless Steel Steel Kitty Kitty Hawk Hawk is is truly truly beautiful. beautiful. Always Always staying shiny never rusts or oxidizes as all other materials do. At 98 lbs, it’s the lightest available by far and you will appreciate this when using your Kitty Hawk as a launching dolly. When you get to the regatta you save time and are the the quickest from road to water by simply disattaching from your vehicle and start rigging. When the regatta is over you are the quickest from the water to road. Even quicker by placing your spars on Spar Partners® and securing them with super shock cords.

Photo: John Wallace fights it out at the Radial Youth Worlds in Japan. Photo by Luther Carpenter.

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www.Laser.org

Spar Partners® carry your spars on the Laser® deck. They are the the quickest quickest on/off to get you on the water and on the road fast. Made from durable foam rubber. Spars fasten on with shock shock cords. Your Your deck deck cover cover fits fits over over your your spars. spars.

Now Now the the new new Spar Spar Partners® Partners® are are available available that that fit fit over over the the cam cam cleat cleat system system on on the the forcedeck forcedeck for for the the outstanding outstanding new new cunningham cunningham // outhaul outhaul performance performance upgrade. upgrade. And, And, we we also also have have super super shock shock cords cords available available with with Spar Spar Partners® Partners®

PRICES PRICES Kitty Kitty Hawk Hawk 1, 1, Stainless Stainless Steel Steel

$795 $820

Kitty Kitty Hawk Hawk 1, 1, Galvanized Galvanized

$675 $690

Spar Spar Partners Partners (pair) (pair)

$$ 28 28

Spar Spar Partners Partners®® (pair (pair for for cunn/ohaul cunn/ohaul upgrade) upgrade)

$$ 29 29

® ®

packed with with aa pair pair of of supper supper shock shock cords cords Spar Spar Partners Partners®® packed

add add $6.00 $6.00

Spar Partners (fits Thule Yakima roof rack) (fitsorThule or Yakima roof rack) NEW Spar Partners

29 $$ 29

Two-Boat Adapter Adapter (you (you glue glue together) together) Two-Boat

$180 $180

®

®

(The TWO-BOAT two-boat adapter lets youlets carry Lasers on one® (The ADAPTER youtwo carry two®Lasers trailer. There isThere roomisfor seven spars spars (extra(extra upperupper mast on one trailer. room for seven section) between the two mast section) between theboats.) two boats.) From your your local local dealer dealer or or from From from the the manufacturer manufacturer

Nautical America America Nautical 604C4 Foxcroft Foxcroft Terrace Terrace •• Statesville, NC 28677 28677 604C4 Statesville, NC (704) 878-6823 (704) 878-6823 Spar Partners Partners®® is is aa registered registered trademark trademark of of Kenneth Kenneth N. N. Hopkins. Hopkins. Spar is aa registered registered trademark trademark of of Vanguard Vanguard Sailboats Sailboats Laser®® is Laser

41


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