SPRING 2009 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world
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SPRING 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
S P R I N G
2 0 0 9
District Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
President’s Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Membership Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
From the Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Technical - Laser Tuning Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 2009 Event Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
2010 Qualification System for Worlds . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Laser World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .center High Intensity Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Regatta Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-25
Laser Midwinters East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Caribbean Laser Midwinters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Laser Masters - SoCal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
US Youth World Qualifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 US & Canadian Sailing Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Master Midwinters East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
Membership Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 District Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
District Schedules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Sailing Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
SPRING 2009 6 continents, 122 countries - the biggest adult and youth racing class in the world
Cover photo: Tip Clifton enjoys a frostbite sail at Severn Sailing Assn. Photo by Eric Johnson.
5
N
BRITISH COLUMBIA
5
ALBERTA
6
SASKATCHEWAN
WASHINGTON
OREGON
26
HAWAII
24
CALIFORNIA
NEVADA
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
Kyle Ross, 106 River Pointe Dr. Winnipeg, MB 2RM 5N6 204-803-3834, wkpr1990@hotmail.com
Glenn Walker 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.ca www.jdecm.com/laser
District 6
Andy Hunt, 111-2260 W 8st Ave, Vancouver BC, V6K 2A7 604-733-9663. Hotline: 206-525-5788. athunt@vcn.bc.ca www.cycseattle.org/slf
District 7
Sally Sharp, 39 Caleb Dyer Lane Enfield, NH 03748 603-632-4192. sally.sharp@dartmouth.edu 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@wachoviasec.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
Larry Arbuthnot PO Box 132, Nederland, CO 80466 www.sailtherockies.com
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
SPRING 2009
www.Laser.org
7
President’s Notes TRACY USHER
The 2009 sailing season has started with already several major events under our belts - including the Rolex Miami OCR, the Women’s Radial North American Championships, the Masters’ Midwinters East and the Laser Midwinters East. For an economy in the dumps, post Olympic year, you-name-your-excuse, the turnouts at all have been great . In particular, the ISAF Grade 1 Laser Midwinters East saw 183 entries from 14 countries! With this start, we are going to have a great year of sailing in North America!
With the arrival of Spring no doubt everyone is starting to think about the sailing they want to do this year. Your District Secretaries have been hard at work extracting regatta schedules from their fleets and clubs and, as I write this, we have well over 500 events in the online calendar at www.laser.org. In this issue you will find a listing of events broken down by District and on the website you will find much more detailed information for each event, including contact information, links to host websites, maps to pinpoint the exact event location, etc. The website also has a nice map to show you events near where you live. Start your planning now - there have to be several great events near you! The qualification systems for the 2010
World Championships are now posted. 2010 you say? Isn’t it only 2009? Yes, but remember that under the new ILCA policy, sailors will need to begin the entry process as much nine months before the event, so we need a lot of lead time! For sailors looking to go to the Senior or Radial Worlds, the systems should be familiar. For the Master sailors, this is only the second year of needing a qualification system and the one from last year, while only tweaked slightly, has had lots of wording added to, hopefully, make the intent more clear. Please don’t hesitate to contact the Laser Class Office if you have any questions on these qualification schemes!
Speaking of qualifying for the worlds, it is worth mentioning here that ILCA, being driven by ISAF, is proposing to change how berths to world championships are allocated for North America. In a nutshell, berths to Canada and the US have always been given to the North American Region as a whole and ILCA-NA allocates them, assuring that both Canada and the US receive a minimum number of berths according to their class membership. It is done this way for historical reasons, and generally works very much to our benefit in terms of sending our best sailors, Canadian or US, to the world championships. ILCA, again, pressured by ISAF, are proposing to handle our region in the same manner as the other regions - giving out berths to each District according to its membership. Ah,
you say, but we gain! No, in the rest of the world each District is a Country and the proposal is to give Canada berths based on their membership and the US based on its membership. We have formed a subcommittee, headed up by Tommy Wharton and Clay Johnson to further study this and make a counter proposal back to ILCA. If you have concerns over this potential change, please contact one or both of them and let them know what you think!
Ok, time to get into serious practice mode! The Master North Americans are at Wrightsville Beach in just under two months and I’m a bit rusty! Great sailing in the ocean, warm hospitality, yacht club on the beach, rocking chairs on the veranda… no Laser sailor over the age of 35 would miss this event, I better get out and shake off the rust! See you on the water! Tracy
“The Adventures of Dave and Joe”, sailing cartoons by Dave Foster, is available for purchase at www.davef.net. Dave has generously loaned some strips for TLS to give you a taste.... Look for more strips (page 24) in this and other issues of TLS.
8
SPRING 2009
ILCA-NA Membership As of February 28, 2009
District 1
Members 2/28/09
2/29/08
2/28/07
2/28/06
30
17
11
10
23
2 3
110
5
15
14
15
97
77
33
26
20
27
7
157
185
174
175
9
31
26
26
28
4
3
6
91
8
77
10
83
6
87 79
4
78 65
86
72 3
82 82
91
102
64
54
11
102
104
111
13
135
140
122
116
15
48
43
55
56
11
14
14
12
66
14
12
16
6
17
19
19
36
18 20 21
15
34
61
62
1
11
13
30 26
22
70
10 47
41
52 68
25
29
2
1
126 11
14 54 54 76 51 1
23
12
22
20
21
25
102
98
95
109
29
12
16
16
22
32
24
70
26
2
83 3
17
Family, 1
118
104
Family, 3
1
22
Family, 2
14
TOTAL
1511
75
21
1534
5
110
1487
66 6
91 3
1567
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
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SPRING 2009
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www.sailequipment.com.au www.sailequipment.com.au 11
11
From the Builder What a wild ride the past year has been as the global economic storm rages on! Although the marine industry is not immune to such economic pressure, strong companies can come out the other side a far leaner and more disciplined organization. Rest assured that LaserPerformance is more committed than ever to the growth of the Laser Class and sailing in general. In fact, the company has launched five new, very successful products during this economic downturn. The global strength of the Laser Class has never been greater. For example, we will supply close to 400 charter boats for various Laser events this year. Including the Laser Worlds in Halifax, the 4.7 Worlds in Brazil, a myriad of US Sailing sponsored events and the college and high school singlehanded national championships. There could be over 400 boats alone at the Masters Worlds this year! No one can point to any other sailboat class that comes anywhere close. Could this economic downturn affect your laser sailing? Maybe but we remain very optimistic. Boat shows this winter have seen, on average, 20% less foot traffic and some show participants have pulled out of shows where they have historically displayed. However, looking at small boats, the story is mixed. Some of the shows have been more productive than ever including the London Boat Show, Strictly Sail Chicago, Seattle and Vancouver. Regatta attendance, another indicator, is also a mixed story. The Orange Bowl this year had record participation. At certain other events like Laser Midwinters East participation has been down from last year but regatta organizers have been generally happy with the numbers attending considering the current situation and the dip in attendees is a manageable one. So the bottom line is to plan on doing your part to make the 2009 season a success – sail your boat!
As we move into the spring season and unpack our boats from winter storage we will start to look hard to find that great deal on new and used class legal equipment. LaserPerformance is no different. Because of the company’s size, we are able to work creatively with vendors to control costs. Many of you will notice that the price of a 2009 Laser has gone up a mere 3% from a 2007 despite the fact that the raw materials and freight has increased as much as 35%. This ability to control costs allows us to continue, and in fact grow, our support for the Laser class at the international and
12
national level. This support will trickle down to all levels in our class. Additionally, LaserPerformances commitment to the class includes participation in class governance, event scheduling and all technical matters. Again this demonstrates the company’s commitment to the class. It’s a commitment that does not come from companies that are supplying knock off Laser parts.
In addition to aggressively managing costs, we have focused heavily on product quality. By dramatically simplifying our manufacturing operations, we have facilitated a much higher degree of focus on core products and the consistency and quality of the Lasers has never been better. The combination of Performance Sailcraft Europe and Vanguard Sailboats, now going into its 2nd summer season, has allowed us to work closely to enhance the consistency of the Laser offering between the Asia, Europe, North America and South American markets. We currently run two state of the art manufacturing plants, one on each side of the Atlantic Ocean with open lines of communication and employees dedicated to building the best and most consistent boats on the market. One small example is that all of the mast extrusion is coming from one supplier- the supplier of
choice. The urban myth that one mast section is better than another goes away!
There are a number of exciting new products on the horizon intended to improve your sailing experience and attract new sailors to our class. Products such as the recently introduced clew sleeve, the new GPR blades, Harken ball baring traveler and boom blocks, and newly designed center board brake will all help keep the boat fresh and fun to sail. So stand by for more information as these products get close to product launch.
As I close this report, our office is working hard on the Standard Senior and Master World Championship in Halifax, Canada in late August and early September. LaserPerformance has increased the number of charter boats we will provide to 180. A lot of work has gone into this event at all levels of the company and it’s a huge commitment of resources from the planning side to having boots on the ground. With this level of commitment to the class, we are sure that these Worlds will be the best to date.
THE LASER TRAILER
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SPRING 2009
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Technical Stuff CLAY JOHNSON
Recently I was asked to put down on paper my thoughts on Laser controls in different breezes—a tuning guide, if you will. When writing this article, it became obvious to me just how hard it is to make an absolute statement about sailboat racing. Sailing has so many constantly changing variables that it’s impossible to put down on paper what I do with my controls in every situation. The second thing I thought about is that everyone has his own system, and most can make his system work well. The purpose of this article—and any advice you receive—is to make your boat go faster. That being said, here’s what I tend to do with my controls. Maybe you’ll learn something new that you can use in your own sailing and maybe you’ll say “he’s crazy, that just doesn’t make sense!” Take it for what it is! But I hope this helps.
Sails
There are two options when purchasing sails these days: 1) a “Hyde” (or “British” sail) 2) or a “North” (or “American” sail) While these sails are supposed to be identical, I’ve found that there are subtle differences between the two: HYDE: Hydes are a little more expensive than North sails. They are made of a slightly heavier cloth that ensures durability. I think a Hyde sail can probably last for three big regattas before being turned into a practice sail. I, personally, think that Hyde sails are better upwind in breeze. NORTH: North sails are a little cheaper than Hydes (~ $50). Norths tend to last about two big regattas before being turned into a local regatta sail/practice sail. I think they are a little faster in light air and feel particularly good downwind. All that being said, the differences between the sails are pretty subtle. I’ve sailed with both and like each in different conditions. If I’m buying a new sail for the season and I am only going to sail in a couple big regattas, I’ll save a few bucks and go with a North. If I’m planning to sail at breezy venues and perhaps at a few more regattas, then I’ll probably invest in a Hyde. Tip: At a regatta, I always take my sail off of my spars each day and roll it. A good roll job keeps the sail in better condition and preserves its life. I also can look at my spars to make sure that they aren’t bent. Finally, I can pour all of the water out of my lower section which allows me to
14
Laser Tuning Guide and Other Random Thoughts
start the next day lighter and prevents corrosion.
Control Setup
Initial SetupBefore I go out each day, I always set my controls to their “max-ease” position. That way when I round the windward mark and have to release my controls quickly, I can just take them off easily and know how my sail will look. I have a permanent knot in my vang at this max-ease point. I adjust my cunningham and outhaul knots daily depending on the wind conditions. Also, by having my controls at their max-ease—that is, by not having them longer than necessary—it helps to keep excess line out of the cockpit when my controls are on. My max-ease for my cunningham is usually so that the luff of the sail will be loose, especially for light air downwinds. As it gets windier, or if I’m using an older sail that has stretched a bit, my knots get a little tighter. Tip: If it’s really windy and I know the breeze is going to stay up, I start with the cunningham a little tighter than normal. That way, I have to pull less on while sailing and there is less line in my cockpit. There’s nothing worse than getting the cunningham line wrapped around the hiking strap or sucked into the mainsheet block. My outhaul max-ease is usually a little more than a hands-width from the boom. That is, if I stretch my hand as wide as it will go, the gap is a little bit bigger than the distance between the tip of my thump to the tip of my pinky. The total distance is about 6-8 inches. I usually don’t change this max ease for different breeze conditions. Even when it’s windy, I like a nice “pocket” in the bottom of the sail. My vang max-ease is a little harder to define. I know that when I’m attaching my vang before I go sailing I have to push down a little on my boom. In many cases, vang tension is a feel thing. I don’t want my vang so loose that there isn’t any tension in my leach. At the same time, I don’t want my leach strapped so tightly that there’s no give in it. I want my leach to flick naturally and be active as I go through the chop and pressure changes.
0-4 knots –
In light air it’s all about keeping the boat moving. Upwind I have my cunningham loose. A general rule for cunningham setup, in any wind strength, is to take the diagonal wrinkles out of the sail. In light
air, though, I always err on the side of having my cunningham a little looser than tighter. Sometimes it’s fast to have very small diagonal wrinkles. My outhaul is pretty loose, but I find it pretty dependent on the chop. If it’s really choppy, I have a looser outhaul for some power. As the water gets flatter, I sail with a tighter outhaul for height. My outhaul is never at its max-ease point going upwind; at its loosest, it’s probably about 5-6 inches from the boom. But even when I start to pull some on, it’s always looser than in other conditions. My rule of thumb for my vang is to keep it just a little tighter than snug. This means that I trim my sail to where I will sail with it upwind. Then I take all of the slack out of my vang and then pull on very little more. Often times people sail with too little vang in light air, thinking that since they don’t need it to de-power, then they should have it all off. However, I think having some vang on is important for two reasons. First, it really helps to facilitate tacking and controls speed coming out of a tack. Secondly, in these light conditions I don’t want to disturb the shape of my sail. If I don’t have any vang on, every time I ease the sail to shift gears, the boom is going to rise and my leach will open up. Having some vang on will help. Tip: Try to be really smooth in these conditions. Just like you want to keep your body movements to a minimum, you also want to minimize your sail movements. I like to set my controls and leave them until it’s necessary to change them. Having slightly looser controls than normal is better. If the breeze dies a little, than your controls are correctly set. If the breeze picks up a little, you can afford to move to adjust them. Conversely, if your sail is set up slightly tighter than normal and the breeze dies, you have to you’re your body weight around to loosen them and risk disturbing your sail. (Plus you’ll be going a little slower to begin with!)
5-9 knots-
These are the conditions where I am just starting to lean out a little bit. I approach the cunningham the same way: I first try to take all of the diagonal wrinkles out of my sail, but I err on the side of having it a touch looser than tighter. Having
SPRING 2009
vertical wrinkles up the front of the mast is really slow in these conditions. My outhaul is slightly tighter than in the 0-4 knot range, but the same theory holds true with the chop. If it’s really choppy, I’ll keep it looser to get some power. As the water gets flatter, I tighten my outhaul to help point higher. Vang remains a touch tighter than snug. In puffy conditions, it’s really important to adjust controls around the course. Transitioning in and out of puffs is key to keeping speed up. I adjust my vang and cunningham the most and only touch my outhaul if something big changes. Tip: In conditions where I’m almost hiking, what I really like to do is lock my legs into the boat so that any small movements I make are translated into the hull. I have both feet under the strap, ready to jump out into the hiked position if a puff comes. But I also have my toes locked underneath the toe-rail and as far forward as they can go. With my toes under the rail and my shins under a tight hiking strap, my body is really connected to the boat. Tip: In these “in-between” conditions, sometimes I’ll be hiking and sometimes I’ll be sitting in. When I’m sitting in, I focus on having my hips inside my upper body. My hips are scooched in and I move my upper body slowly out when my boat meets a puff. If the puff is big enough to warrant hiking, I smoothly slide out, trying to keep the pressure on my sail and my boat going forward. Every movement is gentle. I also think being in the hiked position is really fast. So even if I’m not putting a lot of pressure on the rail, or even if I’m hiking off the toe-rail, I’ll be in the “hiked-out” position as soon as I can.
10-14 knots-
In medium air, I still like to have my sail with as few wrinkles as possible. Cunningham is set to minimize both diagonal and vertical wrinkles. It should be pretty easy to find this happy medium. My outhaul begins to get tighter in these conditions. Even if it’s a little choppy, I still have it in to about 3 inches off my boom. In this medium stuff I don’t need to loosen my outhaul to power up since I’m usually hiking. My vang is pulled on a little. The more I’m hiking, the tighter I have my vang tensioned. These are the conditions where the controls should be on pretty tightly and it’s important to sail the boat flat. Obviously how hard you hike depends how big you are, but just like the 5-9 knot range, if you can be in the “hiked-out” position, even if you’re not really hiking hard, it’s still fast. Tip: Sail with your hiking strap a little tighter than normal. This helps you get in the hiked-out position earlier since you won’t be as far out of the boat. It also
www.Laser.org
helps ensure that your body movements are translated into the boat.
15-18 knots-
I think the 15-18 knot range is the toughest condition physically to sail in because I’m still at the point where I can hold the boat flat, and I’m not quite at the point where I should be vang-sheeting yet. With that, I really make sure that my sail is set up well. My cunningham is tight. Having a loose cunningham is slow, and I would probably rather have it a little tighter than looser. My outhaul is tight too, maybe two inches from the boom. And my vang is very tight too. That means I trim my sail so that it’s two-blocked (when the block at the end of the boom and the traveler blocks are touching) and then I pull on the vang pretty hard. It’s not “max-vang,” but it’s pretty tight. I tend to go to my vang a little earlier than other sailors, but I feel comfortable with a tighter vang in these conditions.
19 + knots-
The super windy conditions are the easiest for setting up my boat: I pull everything on as much as possible! My cunningham is cranked, pretty much as tight as I can get it. Having a tight cunningham definitely helps to de-power the sail. I can’t tell you how many times I see kids sailing around without enough cunningham! Often before the start I’ll put both feet against the front of the cockpit and pull with all my might to crank the cunningham on! My outhaul is also tight. It’s usually about an inch or less off of the boom. I try to have it so that my outhaul is never so tight that it’s on the boom. I think this is pretty slow. But I certainly want it tight and almost against the boom. Finally my vang is almost max-on to facilitate vang-sheeting. Vang-sheeting is the process of easing your mainsheet when you get hit by a big puff in order to de-power your boat. When my vang is cranked and I get hit with a big puff, I let my mainsheet out and my boom goes out, spilling wind. If my vang was looser when I eased my mainsheet, the boom would go up first, before going out. This would not be as effective as the sail would actually power up a little when I’m trying to de-power. It’s definitely faster to ease the sail and sail flatter than to keep the main trimmed tightly and heel up. The only time I would have a slightly looser than max-tight vang is when it is absolutely survival conditions and when I’m vangsheeting my boom hits the water and my boat heels up. If it’s that windy, than a pretty tight vang could be better than a max-tight van. Tip: I try to sail with my elbow bent and my mainsheet hand near my chest. First, by doing this I have more weight outside the boat to help keep the boat flat.
Secondly, if I do get hit with a big puff, I can just extend my arm to ease my mainsheet without moving my upper body in. If my arm was straight and I got hit with a big puff, I’d have to sit up to ease. Tip: If it’s so windy that I’m constantly vang-sheeting, I usually ease my mainsheet so the block is about 4-6 inches from the back corner of the boat and make this a new starting point for my mainsheet trim. I’ll ease from there, but I won’t trim in past that point. Tip: I always tie the tail end of my vang to the centerboard bungee so that when I round the leeward mark, my vang is always reachable. The worst is when I round the mark and go in for my vang and it’s in the water on the other side of the boat! Tip: Before a windy day, I take my cockpit plug out and duct tape the bailer stem to the bottom of my cockpit so that the bailer is permanently open. I know I’m going to sail with my bailer open during the race, so this helps me from having to lean in to open it while sailing. Many people do this without the duct tape, but I find that without duct tape, I sometimes still kick the bailer closed. I also bring the plug in my life jacket while I race. That way if the breeze lightens up, I can just peel off the duct tape and push the plug back in.
Downwind
Most of the time, I just take my controls off to their max-ease points on the downwind. If it’s really nuking, I don’t bother reaching forward to make sure my controls are extra loose. But I definitely take them off on the downwind! It’s important not to get so caught up in the fact that it’s windy and forget to take the controls off. If it’s really windy and my boat is tippy on the downwind, I’ll sometimes pull a touch of vang on. This helps to stabilize the boat. Tip: Another way to stabilize the boat downwind when it’s windy is to overtrim the mainsheet. If I start to rock up and feel like I’m going to death-roll, I’ll push the tiller away and trim the mainsheet quickly while jumping to the leeward side of the boat. This helps to regain control. Traveler- My traveler is as tight as it can be all of the time. The only time I consider adjusting it is in super light air if my traveler blocks are struggling to get over the tiller. If that’s the case, then I’ll loosen it a small amount just to facilitate smoothness in the traveler blocks through tacks. But that’s rare.
When to adjust the controls
Start Before the start of the race, I always have my cunningham and outhaul set. Usually at about 2-3 minutes before the
15
start of the race, I sail upwind one last time and set my controls, leaving them until the start. In very light air, I’ll often times have my cunningham a little looser than normal. I’ll start the race and adjust it shortly after the start. Most of the time, I don’t have any vang on before the start. Having a loose vang helps me maneuver cleanly in my pre-start positioning. What I try to do is pull on about 2/3 of my vang intentions (how tight I want my vang that race) before the start. If I’m luffing on the line, I’ll usually do this at about 8-10 seconds. After the start, I get sailing as fast as I can and make sure that I’m ok with the boats near me first before I lean in to adjust my vang. Tip: I try to set the vang right next to me after I pull some on at 8-10 seconds prior to the start. That way after the start, it’s only a few inches away and is easy to pull on.
Windward Mark
As I approach the windward mark, the only control I really worry about is the vang. I try to toss it to the starboard side of the boat so that it will be easy to access as I’m rounding. If I’m going onto a reach, I easy my vang about half way and try to surge away from the mark before I go in for other controls. Next, I grab my centerboard and pull it up before making adjustments to my cunningham and outhaul. The basic rule of thumb is that on a reach I want my controls half-way between totally off and where I was sailing with them upwind. Tip: If it’s super windy, I ease my vang a little and go for my board quickly and pull it up a little higher than normal. I really try to sail as fast as I can away from the mark, hiking the boat flat, before I even think of coming in to adjust my outhaul or cunningham. If I’m turning dead-downwind from the weather mark, I have a different process to adjust my controls. As I round the mark I keep the boat flat and then lean in to take off all of my vang as I turn down. My vang should then ease to the preset maxease knot. In three quick motions I 1) pull my centerboard up about 10 inches, 2) uncleat my outhaul and cunningham, and 3) reach forward and grab the cunningham and outhaul lines along the mast and give them a quick tug towards me. This helps loosen them to their max-ease points. Tip: If I’m approaching on the port tack layline, I’ll uncleat my vang just as I’m about to tack around the mark. This helps to turn the boat down and ensures a smooth transition away from the mark. Tip: If it’s really wavy, I’ll still take my vang off, but I try to jump on the first possible wave before reaching forward for
16
my other controls. The best sailors are the ones who exit the mark roundings the fastest; they have a clearer lane, get some separation, and get into a rhythm quickly. So many times sailors put their heads down and focus on their controls that they slow down through the rounding. Tip: As I’m making my approach to the windward mark, I quickly run through my mainsheet in my hand. It’s frustrating to get a knot in my mainsheet when I’m trying to ease, so I really try to make sure that my mainsheet will run smoothly if I can.
Leeward Mark
Before the leeward mark, I pull my cunningham and outhaul on to where I think they should be. I try to remember how tight they were for the last upwind and judge how much line to pull through the cleat. If I can, I also try to pull on a little vang too. After I round, I trim in quickly and sail for a few seconds. Then I reach in to pull on the right amount of vang and to fine tune my other controls. Tip: Definitely use a small bungee or piece of electrical tape on your boom to
hold the vang key in the slot. I use a small bungee that I can just slide out of the way each day, but electrical tape works too. If you don’t and you trim in tightly around a leeward mark before pulling vang on, your key can fall out of the boom slot!
Leeward Mark to a Reach Leg
Before I gybe around the leeward mark and head off onto a reach (most commonly found on the bottom reach of a trapezoid) I try to set all of my controls. I set my cunningham and outhaul, and then I pull on a little vang right before the gybe. The vang helps me through my gybe and also let’s me get going quickly on the reach without having to lean in to adjust some controls.
**Whenever I’m not racing, I always take off all of my controls, especially my vang. This helps to avoid bending the spars and stretching the sail.
Honey, we shrunk the cleats! New CL268 is 50% lighter than CL211 Mk2.
CL211 Mk2
CL268AN CL270
Latest additions to the Micros range of cleats. Perfect for modern small size control lines.
Fit on flat or curved surfaces.
Alloy CL268 & CL270 Racing Micros are available in a silver or Hard Anodized finish. The nylon Micros, CL263 is available in Black or White. More Information at: www.clamcleat.com Ideal for tillers
Rigging the CL270 with Becket
1-4mmø
(3/64"-5/32")
CL263W CL263
SPRING 2009
Regatta
World Championship ISAF Grade 1
NA Championship 40 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1
North American
Women’s Radial Champs ISAF Grade 1
Canadian Championships
Laser
St. Margaret’s Bay, NS
www.laserinternational.org
August 17-26
Crystal Beach, ON
2009 Schedule
Radial
Laser 4.7 Buzios, BRA
St. Margaret’s Bay, NS
www.laserinternational.org
July 24-31
August 27-Sept. 5
Karatsu, Japan Women: July 25-Aug 2 Youth & Men: Aug. 3-10
Crystal Beach, ON
www.buffalocanoeclub.com
www.buffalocanoeclub.com
na
Ft. Lauderdale, FL www.lyc.org February 13-15
June 25-28
Vancouver, BC
June 25-28
Vancouver, BC
Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
US Championships
Brant Beach, NJ
Brant Beach, NJ
CORK
Kingston, ON
Kingston, ON
30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 2
30 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 2
30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 1
July 3-5
www.bbyc.net
August 7-9 www.cork.org
August 22-26
July 3-5
www.bbyc.net
August 7-9 www.cork.org
August 22-26
Midwinters East
Clearwater, FL
Clearwater, FL
Midwinters West
Marina del Rey, CA
Marina del Rey, 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 19-22
www.calyachtclub.com
March 27-29 Miami, FL
www.ussailing.org
Jan 25-31
Annapolis, MD
www.clwyc.org
Feb 19-22
www.calyachtclub.com
March 27-29 Miami, FL
www.ussailing.org
Jan 25-31
Annapolis, MD
Crystal Beach, ON June 25-28
na
Vancouver, BC
Wabamun SC
July 3-5
June 19-21
Royal Vancouver Yacht Club
Brant Beach, NJ www.bbyc.net
August 7-9
Kingston, ON
na
Clearwater, FL
Sarasota, FL
www.clwyc.org
Feb 19-22
Marina del Rey, CA
na
na
na
Annapolis, MD
Rock Hall, MD
March 27-29
Cascade Locks, OR
CascadeLocks,OR
www.cgra.org
July 17-19
June 6-7
www.cgra.org
July 17-19
Gulf Coast Championships
www.southernyachtclub.org
No Coast Championships
www.grapevinesailing.org
www.grapevinesailing.org
www.grapevinesailing.org
Macatawa Bay, MI
Macatawa Bay, MI
Macatawa Bay, MI
25 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 3
25 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 3
Great Lakes Championships
25 GP Pts., ISAF Grade 3
www.Laser.org
New Orleans, LA Aug. 29-30 Dallas, TX
May 23-24
June 13-14
New Orleans, LA
www.southernyachtclub.org
Aug. 29-30 Dallas, TX
May 23-24
June 13-14
Feb 13-15
www.calyachtclub.com
Cascade Locks, OR www.cgra.org
Monterey, CA August 14-16
www.cork.org
August 22-26
www.laseracc2009.org
July 17-19
May 15-17
na
www.laseracc2009.org
June 6-7
WrightsvilleBeach,NC
www.buffalocanoeclub.com www.carolinayachtclub.org
www.laseracc2009.org
May 2-3
Masters
Oct. 4
San Francisco, CA
www.2009seniorgames. org
August 7-9
New Orleans, LA Ft. Walton Beach, FL
www.southernyachtclub.org
Aug. 29-30 Dallas, TX
May 23-24
July 11-12
Park City, UT Sept. 26-27
June 13-14
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
SPRING 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 Procedure: (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.
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
High Intensity Training
can be effectively added. Examples of these include (1) leading up to peak regattas - using HIT 2-6 weeks before your peak will help to lower your training volume while maintaining intensity, allowing your body to fully recover and adapt without detraining; (2) during the sailing season - HIT can be a time effective way to maintain your aerobic fitness and keep your legs strong; and (3) in the off-season and leading up to the sailing season - HIT and variations can add variety to your training or help you complete a workout if you are pressed for time.
The Benefits of Incorporating High-Intensity Interval Training Into Your Regimen
EVAN LEWIS H.B.KIN., CSCS
INTRO Over the course of your yearly training program, different periods will emphasize different types and intensities of training. In my last article, I discussed the benefits of aerobic training for building your base endurance and improving your muscle’s ability to store and use energy efficiently. Now that the sailing season is fast approaching it is time to start increasing your training intensity. A great way to accomplish this is to increase the intensity of your cardio workouts by including highintensity interval training.
WHAT IS IT High-intensity interval training (HIT) is a variation of traditional endurance training that produces similar adaptations, requires a fraction of the time but significantly more effort. HIT consists of a short bout of intense exercise followed by a period of rest of that is repeated a several times. Current research has found intense exercise bouts of 30 seconds followed by 4 minutes active recovery to be highly effective for improving endurance capacity and athletic performance1. Several different modes of exercise can be used for HIT including cycling, rowing, running and swimming.
HOW IT WORKS It may seem surprising that as little as 2-3 minutes of intense activity per training session, 3 times per week can promote large improvements in endurance capacity and performance for both highly trained and inactive people1. In fact, a study from McMaster University (Ontario, Canada) determined that untrained subjects, who performed 6 sessions of HIT comprised of 4-6 bouts of 30 second all out cycling, lead to a doubling of their sub-maximal endurance capacity1. Another study using recreationally active participants compared the previous HIT training regiment to 6 bouts of 90-120 minutes of continuous aerobic training. It was determined that performing HIT stimulated almost identical adaptations with 90% less volume in 25% of the time1. These findings were further validated following a cycling time trial test in which the HIT group out-performed the endurance group1.
In addition to improving your aerobic capacity and raising your lactate threshold, there are several different muscular and metabolic adaptations that HIT can stimu-
20
late. From the intensity required during HIT, almost all of your muscle fibres are recruited (both fast and slow fibres) compared to traditional endurance exercise, which recruits mostly slow fibres. As a result, more fibres learn how to be activated during exercise and are forced to adapt to training.
HIT increases your muscle’s ability to produce energy during exercise. Research has found HIT can cause an increase in the number of mitochondria (cellular power generators) present in trained muscles. A greater number of mitochondria allow for more fats and carbohydrates to be broken down and used as energy during all types of exercise. This provides more energy to working muscles helping them work efficiently for longer periods at higher intensities. Along with this increased ability to produce energy, muscles trained by HIT are also able to store a greater amount of energy in the form of glycogen, which is readily used during prolonged activity.
ADVICE HIT workouts are as hard as you make them; however, due to the high intensity of this style of training, you should not push yourself outside of your comfort zone. When performing HIT choose an interval length, intensity and recovery period that are challenging yet sustainable. Bouts lasting between 30 seconds and 4 minutes can stimulate the adaptations discussed2.
Sample High Intensity Interval Training Session Time (m)
-5:00
Warm-up
0:00
0:30
Sprint
To effectively incorporate HIT into your training, perform 4 to 6 high intensity bouts three times per week.
HOW HIT FITS INTO YOUR TRAINING Your body and your muscles have a great ability to adapt to the different demands placed on them. As a result, using the same training program for an extended period of time will allow your body to adapt and your rate of improvement will decrease. As a result, increasing the intensity of your workouts will challenge your muscles to adapt to a new type of training.
As the sailing season draws ever closer, incorporating HIT into your training program can help your body prepare for the demands of racing. There are several different times in your training year when HIT
4:30
Recover
Repeat 3-5 times
Cool down
Please send questions and comment to sailstronger@evanlewis.ca. Evan is an MSc candidate at the University of Toronto where he is studying muscle health and aging and is a NSCA Certified Strength Conditioning Specialist. For more information and training tips visit www.evanlewis.ca.
REFERENCES 1) Gibala, M. J., McGee, S. L. Metabolic adaptations to short-term highintensity interval training: A little pain for a lot of gain? Exercise Sport Science Reviews. 2008. 36:58-63.
2) Talanian, J. L., et al. Two weeks of high-intensity training aerobic interval training increases the capacity for frat oxidation during exercise in women. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2007. 102:14391447.
SPRING 2009
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www.Laser.org
21
Regatta Reports
LUKE RAMSAY Clearwater, Florida is like a box of chocolates, you never really know what you’re going to get. In the past few years at Midwinter’s East we have had every condition from every direction, from windy cold northerlies to beautiful and warm southerlies, and this year was no exception, every day brought new conditions which made for some really great racing. The first day brought 16 knots out of the south west, accompanied by some nice ocean waves, and after a few recalls we were off to the races. The wind was slowly dying and apparently had plans on going pulling right for the first beat, this did not end up sitting well for me and the others on the middle left, however, those who were able to sneak right, Nick Thompson (GBR), Clay Johnston (USA) and Brad Funk (USA) were able to have a good first rounding and finish top three. The next race brought lighter winds with some leftover chop from the morning which made for some interesting downwinds. At the front of the fleet Nick Thompson and Chris Dold (CAN) were fighting for the lead followed by Lee Parkhill (CAN), myself (CAN), and James Espey (IRL). After almost an hour and a half of close racing the last upwind to the finish proved to be critical and I was able to sneak in just ahead of James. The radial fleet was dominated on the first day by Anna Tunnicliffe (USA) and Paige Railey (USA) who were both able to earn 2 bullets in their respective fleets. It’s always nice when you wake up in the morning and you can hear the wind blowing dogs off their chains from inside your hotel room. The second day in Clearwater was one of those days, and was accompanied by a bite in the air that reminds you even though it’s Florida it’s
Laser Midwinter’s East 2009
still winter. We had some fantastic conditions out of the north, with big ocean swell and winds blowing around 18-20 knots. The first race was pin Photo by Bev Dolezal - Hot Flash Photo. favoured and www.ordermyphotos.net Clay Johnston played an were all in a dead heat. Brad tacked out left excellent beat up the left side, Bernard early hoping for some wind, while I sailed Luttmer (CAN), was able to capitalize on up the right side, there was some shuffling an early right shift and used his upwind around and we all swapped positions at speed to round the top mark in excellent least once. My strategy of playing the right condition. Up the second beat the right had worked and I was able to sneak out faded at the top and the boats on the left ahead of Chris to finish second behind made some substantial gains. Bernard Nick. The radial fleet looked like really sailed a excellent race and earned the bulclose racing and Paige Railey sailed an let, closely followed by Clay and Nick. The excellent day with another 3 firsts, moving day wore on and the races became a test of her total to 9 points in 8 races without a endurance, Nick Thompson was able to drop. capitalize on his fitness and win the next The final day of racing began with a two races, while Clay had another excellent light northerly. The Lasers race began with day and took away 3 top 3 finishes. a pin favoured line, however with some The third day of the regatta was lighter dark clouds looming on the right side much with the wind beginning out of the Northof the fleet was eager to start up the line. East for the first race and eventually Lee Parkhill played an excellent beat on the switching around for the rest of the day. right side and was first to the weather Race 1 began in light winds and a heavy mark, with Nick, Luke Lawrence and committee boat favoured line, Clay, James myself close following. The four of us had and I were all able to get a jump on the a very close race out in front and at the fleet up the first beat by quickly playing the final leeward mark the wind completely right after the start, then consolidating back shut off, we spend much of the last beat left towards the top. We had a battle down trying to balance getting to a side where we the first run which resulted in James roundhoped the wind would fill in, while coming the left gate and Clay and I the right. pleting enough tacks to still be moving in We met at the top mark together quickly the right direction. In a miraculous last beat followed by Nick and Bernard. With one Bernard came from deep in the 20’s to 6th beat left all the leaders were within 30 to hold on to third place in the regatta, meters of one another and the wind apparently he still has a few tricks up his was dying quickly, James, Nick and sleeve. So the regatta came down to the all pursued the left, a large hole final race with 2nd to 8th all within 10 developed on the right resulting caus- point of each other, and with 2 worlds spots ing Bernard and Clay to lose almost on the line it would be interesting. Brad 10 boats each. The next two races Funk sailed a near perfect first beat, allowwere out of the south and were also ing him to win the race and jump into 4th light wind; the first beat brought a in the regatta, mean while Lee, Bernard, big right shift causing some top races and I were battling it out near the front of to get stuck mid-fleet. By the second the fleet, resulting in Bernard taking 4th beat it had become apparent that and holding on to 3rd in the regatta . The there was a persistent shift of the final results in the Laser Class were: Nick right and the course became a one Thompson 1st, Clay Johnston 2nd, Bernard sided racetrack. In the last race of the Luttmer 3rd, Brad Funk 4th, Luke Ramsay day, after almost 6 hours on the 5th, Lee Parkhill 6th, Luke Lawrence 7th, water, there was a battle for the right Chris Dold 8th, James Espey 9th, and Photo by Bev Dolezal - Hot Flash Photo. hand side; coming up the last beat Charlie Buckingham 10th. www.ordermyphotos.net Brad Funk (USA), Chris, Lee and I
22
SPRING 2009
Caribbean Laser Midwinters
The 7th Caribbean Laser Midwinter Regatta was held in Cabarete Dominican Republic this past weekend. The event was hosted by the Laser Training Center, run by the Andres santana of the Dominican Sailing Federation, and sponsored by Palmera de Cabarete a new luxury development in Cabarete. (www.palmera-dr.com) Participants demonstrated the uniqueness of the laser class, with the variety of age groups all competing in a one design class. The fleet featured some of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top sailors, older legends, and future superstars just off the Opti program. The Great Grand Master class of sailors included legends Dick Tillman and Peter Seidenberg. It was a great surprise to see this category won by newbie 70 year old Jan Salin of Sweden. On the other age spectrum 7 sailors competed for the top honors, in the Laser 4.7, which was won by Eric Holbrun from the Dominican Republic. Apprentice Master Category was won by Mike Matan GBR, Grand Master; Ken Brown CAN, Radial; Peter Seidenberg USA, Women; Judith Krimski USA. The over all Master groups were won by Olympic Bronze medalist Terry Neilson who donated his $1,000.00 prize money to the Dominican youth sailing program. 2nd with a one point difference was another Laser celebrity Peter Vessella of the USA. In the open category Nick Thompson of the United Kingdom took away $1,750.00 in cash, before Javier Hernandez of Spain, $1,250.00, and Brad Funk of the US, who went home with $1,000.00. Like in many races around the world the best conditions were sailed in the 5 practice days before the event. for more details checkout www.midwinterregatta.com
www.Laser.org
360 years of Laser sailing: Jan Salin-Sweden, David Hartman, Peter Seidenberg, Denis Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan-Ireland and Dick Tillman.
23
Laser Masters Compete at SCYA Midwinters at ABYC
STEVEN SMITH ABYC LASER FLEET CO-CAPTAIN
An eager group of Laser Masters racers gathered at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club (ABYC) in Long Beach CA to compete in the Southern California Yachting Association (SCYA) Midwinters Regatta hosted by ABYC. The SCYA Midwinters is a long-running event with yacht clubs from Santa Barbara to San Diego and Arizona participating and hosting various fleets of one-design and handicap classes. For the past three years, ABYC has hosted Laser Masters. This year’s event attracted a well traveled group as racers from the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, OR Maui, HI, as well as local ABYC members attended.
Light winds dominated racing both days with rare, (for this racing venue) north to north west winds on Sunday that had the locals shaking their heads as they sailed to a weather mark near the beach instead of its usual placement near the Long Beach harbor breakwater. Not to be bothered by such anomalies, Newport Beach raised, but currently hailing from Hawaii, Charlie Buckingham showed us how to win in the challenging conditions with no finish worse than second and winning the regatta. A mere four point’s back was a frequent guest and friend of ABYC, Peter Drasnin from the Westlake Yacht Club in second.
The rest of us were hoping for a throwout but were denied when race management changed from five to six, the number of races required before a race score would be dropped. This may have shuffled the results, but we’ll never know. Anyway, racing was competitive, as the next five places were separated by a mere point. From the Bay Area; Doug Cefali from Richmond Yacht Club finished third while Laser District 24 Secretary David Lapier finished fourth. Following in order were; Chuck Tripp from ABYC, Jacque Kerrest from the Bay Area, your author, David Cefali from 2009 Laser Midwinters West host, California Yacht Club, Jorge Suarez from ABYC and from Portland OR, Doug Seeman.
asked the driver if he was here for the Laser regatta. Turns out he was. Now, regatta registration had closed a half hour before Doug arrived, but we got him signed-up. With the very light winds and his late arrival, I hoped Doug would have time to get rigged, launched and make it to the race area. Well, suffice it to say he did. Later in the regatta, I asked if he was going to stick around, but he reported he was driving back to Portland Sunday night. A
Photo by Rich Roberts
busy weekend indeed and wonderful example of sportsmanship. Besides close racing on the water, the other great part of Laser Masters racing is the obvious camaraderie between competitors; many who have know each other for years and others who quickly share bonds of life experience and sailing. This was truly evident with the congenial group of Masters at this event!
Speaking of Doug…you have to love his competitive spirit! As I was walking from the parking lot, dressed for battle the first day, I saw a striking lime green Honda Element with a Laser on the roof rack parked on the street outside the club. Noting his Oregon plates, I stopped and
24
SPRING 2009
US Youth World Qualifiers held at ABYC
Ten youth sailors have qualified for US SAILING's 2009 Youth World Team, which will represent the USA at the 39th Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship in Buzios, Brazil from 9-18 July 2009. Eight of the athletes were selected based on first-place finishes in their respective classes at the 2009 US SAILING ISAF Youth World Qualifier and U.S. Youth Multihull Championship Regatta in Long Beach, California, which concluded Monday after three days of racing. Athletes in the boys’ and girls’ windsurfing classes were chosen by resume and did not compete at the 2009 Youth World Qualifier. The members of US SAILING’s 2009 Youth World Team are: Event Equipment Team Member Boy’s One Person Dinghy Laser Radial Chris BARNARD Girl’s One Person Dinghy Laser Radial Marissa LIHAN Boy’s Windsurfer RS:X with 8.5m2 sail & 60cm fin Chris GARDINER Girl’s Windsurfer RS:X with 8.5m2 sail & 60cm fin Solvig SAYRE Boy’s Two Person Dinghy 420 Ian LIBERTY and Alex WHIPPLE Girl’s Two Person Dinghy 420 Morgan KISS and Laura MCKENNA Open Multihull Hobie 16 with Spinnaker Korbin KIRK and Daniel SEGERBLOM
The 2009 US Youth World Team will be led by Coaches Leandro SPINA for the doublehanded classes and Bern NOACK for the singlehanded and windsurfing classes. BARNARD, LIHAN, LIBERTY, WHIPPLE, KISS and MCKENNA are all members of the newlylaunched US Sailing Team – Under 18 (U18), which includes sailors identified as Olympic hopefuls in the Laser Radial Boys, Laser Radial Girls, 29er (open) and 420 (boys or girls) classes and were born after 1 January 1991. Both SPINA and NOACK are also the lead coaches for the US Sailing Team – U18.
Hosted by the Alamitos Bay Yacht Club, the US SAILING ISAF Youth World Qualifier and U.S. Youth Multihull Championship Regatta were competitive regattas for the 79 athletes aged 19 and under. Saturday and Sunday brought light winds, which presented challenges for some sailors. Monday, after a morning staring at glassy water, all five fleets were able to finish three fair races in a steady 6-8 knot breeze, the best conditions of the entire event. All five fleets finished seven races overall, with one throw-out score. “Alamitos Bay Yacht Club ran a terrific regatta,” said ANDREASEN. “The Race Committee handled the conditions well and it was very fair racing.” For complete results, photos and more information about the racing at the US SAILING ISAF Youth World Qualifier and U.S. Youth Multihull Championship Regatta, please visit the event web site: www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=324. Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship – www.sailing.org/youthworlds
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www.Laser.org
25
US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Announced
The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) is managed by the United States Sailing Association (US SAILING), the national governing body for the sport of sailing and sailboat racing. The top three boats in each Olympic and Paralympic class are selected annually to be members of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. The 2009 USSTAG was selected based solely on on-the-water performance at US SAILINGâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 2009 Rolex Miami OCR. The qualifying events for the 2010 USSTAG have yet to be determined. The 2009 members will be on the team until the 2010 team is announced in February/March 2010. USSTAG Laser Brad Funk (Plantation, Fla.) Clay Johnson (Toms River, N.J.) Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.)
Under 23 Team: Laser - men Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) Robert Crane (Darien, Conn.) Cam Cullman (Rye, N.Y.) Derick Vranizan (Shoreline, Wash.) Kyle Rogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) Luke Lawrence (Palm City, Fla.) Under 23: Laser Radial - women Claire Dennis (Saratoga, Calif.) Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
2009 Canadian Sailing Team
Laser Full Rig Mike Leigh David Wright Bernard Luttmer Christoper Dold Luke Ramsay Abe Torchinsky Brendan Wilton Lee Parkhill
Radial Isabella Bertold Lisa Ross Keamia Rasa Danielle Dube Jennifer Spalding Allana Viltery Claire Merry
26
USSTAG Laser Radial Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) Emily Billing (Clearwater, Fla.)
Under 18: Laser Radial - boys Chris Barnard (Newport Beach, Calif.) Mitchell Kiss (Holland, Mich.) Drew Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) Mateo Vargas (Treasure Island, Fla.) John Wallace (St. Petersburg, Fla.) Under 18: Laser Radial - girls Emily Billing (Clearwater, Fla.) Arielle deLisser (Miami, Fla.) Marissa Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) Emily Stubbs (Rye, N.Y.)
2009 Canadian Youth Sailing Team
Laser Full Rg Robert Davis Evert McLaughlin Oliver Darroch Tom Ramshaw Jean-luc Robitaille
Radial Ingrid Merry Isabelle Bertold Dave Mori Brenda Bowskill Charlotte Skinner Samantha Rea Neomi Lebel
SPRING 2009
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www.Laser.org
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27
LANIE PARDEY
Brett Davis Wins Masters Midwinters East
Newcomer Brett Davis takes the overall and apprentice title at the 2009 Master's Midwinters East! Ken Swetka is top Master, Alden Shattuck top Grandmaster and Peter Seidenberg is the top Great Grandmaster - full results at this link. Overally, 83 boats raced in beautiful Sarasota, read the daily reports from Lainie Pardey! We have a fantastic fleet of 83 Lasers registered for the Masters Midwinters East regatta. Brett Davis at the 2009 Master's Midwinters East Day 1 report: After a short wait for wind, and a hard-won battle to set a course with 40 degree shifts, we managed to sail three races today on lovely Sarasota Bay in 73 degrees and bright sunshine. The first start saw 3 General Recalls, the first two due to wind shifts, and we finally started on the 4th try under a black flag. This race was fairly light and shifty throughout. However we'd paid our dues to the wind gods, it seems, and the second and third races saw a nice steady 5 - 7 knot sea breeze filling in fairly well. Results? Well I can sum that one up in one line. Brett Davis, back in his Laser after quite a while, took the fleet to school in all three races. Day 2 report: After another battle with the elements, breeze shifting 40deg. back and forth and dying, we ran 4 more races for our fine fleet of Master sailors on lovely Sarasota Bay. Temps were perfect, but breeze certainly could have been better, although we had between 4 and 8 knots all day. Brett Davis is still in the lead, and is top Apprentice but did not dominate quite as thoroughly today as he had done yesterday. Ken Swetka leads the Master division by 43 points, but the Grand Master group is separated by only one point with Alden Shattuck edging Peter Branning. Peter Seidenberg is dominating the Great Grand Masters in fine style, sitting fifth in the overall. Day 2 racing action at the Master's MWE One more day to go before these old sailors can have a rest. We look forward to a few more races tomorrow. Final Report: Well, we arrived early, hoping to start racing at 1030 but the wind was AWOL so we waited under postponement ashore until almost noon before it looked like there was breeze across the bay. By the time we got the course set up, it was blowing nicely, about 10 - 12 knots from
28
the south, with crazy thick bands of sea fog blowing down the course just to make it fun for all. Try setting up a weather mark when you can't see the mark boat! Try setting a square line when you can't see the other end. Did you know that a Laser fleet is like a bunch of ball bearings? If you skew the line the slightest bit, they all roll to the favored end. PRO Cindy Clifton, doing a magnificent job all weekend, went straight to the black flag today and the fleet got a clean start off on the first try. Finally the sailors had a bit of hiking to do, and the wind held up nicely to the finish of this race, with Apprentice Brett Davis battling it out with Master Ken Swetka for the lead. Ken won this race but not by much. Honorable mention goes to Great Grand Master Dave Olson, our hometown boy, for a very sharp sail to 3rd in this race. Super job also by Cindy Taylor, Top Woman, for muscling her full rig up the course. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s by far the shortest and lightest sailor in this fleet. Final day action at the 2009 Laser Masters Midwinters East In the second race, again a clean start was celebrated by the RC as the boats took off in the same nie solid breeze, but it was not to be. The fog returned, the wind shifted right and started to falter before the end of the first beat. Luckily it never died, holding well enough to finish the race and Brett once again showed his magical skills at calling those pesky shifts, coming home in first by a fairly good margin over Ken.
Apprentice Steve Kirkpatrick, kept Brett from running away with the regatta. A terrific Fourth overall went to top GGM Peter Seidenberg with incredibly solid finishes and a great regatta. Best of the Grand Masters was Alden Shattuck in 7th Overall, closely battling through yesterday with former World Champ Peter Branning. A great time was had by all, we ate, we drank, we sailed, we all went home tired! Seems everybody wants to come back to Sarasota pretty soon, and we like hosting the Lasers. I took over 300 pictures over the weekend.
photos by Lainie Pardey. Below: Great Grand Master Dave Olsen at teh finish.
Overall winner and First Apprentice was the youngest fellow in the fleet, Brett Davis, newly turned 35, and not having sailed his Laser since 2006. He may be underweight by about 40lb. (by Laser standards) and says he's "out of shape" but he sure hasn't lost his touch. Second overall and top Master was Ken Swetka who, along with 3rd overall and 2nd
SPRING 2009
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION
ILCA of NA, 2812 Canon Street, San Diego, California USA 92106 619-222-0252, Fax 619-222-0528
Name_______________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________________
City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________ Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________
Sail # ______________DOB (month/day/year) _____________Sex ______
Boat sailed
______Laser
Current 2007 Membership Fees
______Radial
______Laser 4.7
Want to pay by Credit Card? We accept Visa and MC:
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 2009), or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10) 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
Name on card:
International - $50 (any member not living in the US or Canada), one year only Amount enclosed __________________US$
CC billing zip code: _____________
Please provide family members names, DOB, boat type and sail number on an additional sheet of paper.
_______________________________ CC #: Visa_____ MC ______
_______________________________ Exp. date:___________________
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: ____
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 2007 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 2009), or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10) 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 - $50 (any member not living in the US or Canada), one year only Amount enclosed __________________US$
www.Laser.org
Want to pay by Credit Card? We accept Visa and MC:
Name on card:
_______________________________ CC #: Visa_____ MC ______
_______________________________ Exp. date:___________________ CC billing zip code: _____________
29
District Reports
District 1 Brian Mills
Hang on District 1 Laser, Radial and 4,7 sailors!!!!! The 2009 sailing season is going to be a wild ride as far as National and International regattas goes.
The World Laser Championships and the World Masters Championships are being held in St Margaret’s Bay at the St Margaret Sailing Club in Nova Scotia and the Canada Summer Games are in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. While qualifying systems restrict entry to these regattas, they will be great viewing for spectators who happen to be in the area. For instance, the World Masters will have a maximum of 400 boats and the World Laser will have 180 maximum.
Just as significant to local sailors is the District 1 Championships and the Atlantic Canada Masters Championship on July 18-19, again at the St Margaret Sailing Club as part of their Bay Wind Regatta. For sailors who did not apply or qualify for the Worlds, this is a chance to race in the same venue, with a few big titles up for grabs.
St Margaret’s Bay is famous for its consistent stiff breezes, big waves and excellent race management. My wife found the best place to watch the races, if you are ashore, is from Boutilier’s Point. You can find it easily on a local map!!!
If you are interested in who is racing in the Worlds, where they are from and so on, go the International Laser Class website, www.laserinternational.org, and follow the links. Also the St Margaret Sailing Club’s website, www.smsc.ca, has lots of information for you to look at as well.
As of March 15, in the World Masters, there were 343 confirmed entries from 28 counties in 7 categories. There are 73 Canadian entries with the following 7 sailors from the District. Judy Lugar, NS, Radial Master; Brian Mills, NB, Radial Grand Master; David Wells, NB, Laser Standard Master; Gordon Anderson, NS, Laser Standard Master; Bob Crinion, NS ,Laser Standard Master; Philip Gow, NS, Laser Standard Master; Gerry Giffin, NS, Laser Standard Master
If you are looking for other local regattas to attend, remember to look at the North American Laser Class website and follow the links. All of District 1 regattas are listed as well as ones all over North America. In addition, keep in mind that the websites of most of our Atlantic Canada Provincial Sailing Associations have a listing of all their regattas and usually a link to the host Yacht Club for more details.
If you still cannot find the information you are looking for, please feel free to call or email me at home. 506 457 1580 or bnmills@nb.sympatico.ca Hope to see you on the water this summer.
District 2 Denys Deschambeault
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Mais où étaient nos hommes? La délégation québecoise à OCR cet hiver était totalement féminine! Le calibre était fort, le soleil chaud et la mer plutot calme (heureusement pour nous!). Pour la plupart, c’était notre première expérience à OCR. Je dois dire que j’avais le coeur qui battait la chamade au premier départ! On était là pour apprendre et on a appris! C’est là qu’on se rend compte qu’on a encore du chemin à faire avant d’atteindre le sommet... Je tiens aussi à souligner que c’était le dernier événement avec Nicolas Kim comme entraîneur de l’équipe du Québec. Tu vas nous manquer!! Myriam Samson-Dô English version Remember the song ‘ Were the boys are’ from the 50’s? That was the question we ask ourselves. The Quebec sailing team that showed up at the Miami OCR was totally feminine. The level of competition was high, the sun warm and the sea fairly calm, (happily for us from the north). For most of us it was our first experience in an OCR event. I must say that my heart was pounding heavily for the first start. We were there to learn, and we did. But the one thing that came quickly to our mind was the fact that it is a very long road to get to the top and the amount of work to be constantly competitive, enormous, and with no stopping. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our coach Nicolas Kim who was working with us for the last time as the Quebec team coach, we will miss you. Myriam Samson-Do Ps You can meet Nicolas at his new Laser training, coaching center in Mexico.
District 3 Rob Koci
This issue’s story of our frozen district is more about the Diaspora than the goings on in the Kingdom of Ontario.
The Miami OCRs, for instance, were invaded by some of D3’s finest; David Wright (5th), Lee Parkhill (7th), Chris Dold (17th) led the pack, while Rob Davis, Greg Clunies, Evan Lewis and Paul Brikis helped them drink American beer. Chris Dold says the regatta was “a tough event”—with lots of light air and high quality competition. It was for him a time for “lessons learned.” I’ve had a few of those.
In Radials, Joanne Prokop, Merry Claire and Ingrid Merry sailed well for the district and made us proud. The high number of D3 snowbirds seems to be the result of the National Racing Team renting a house in Miami for the season so our sailors could go down and train throughout the winter. I asked my boss if I could go down for the winter and race all day and drink all night. He said, “you’re 54 years old and you have a job!” Is that a yes?
The Midwinters East in Clearwater saw even more D3 competitors in attendance. The evidence is in that Dold wasn’t’ kidding and did learn something from Miami. He beat all D3ers but Bernard Luttmer, who ended up 3rd. No wait, sorry, Lee Parkhill, punched in two places above him in 6th. Darn. My fascination with Dold’s sailing career and my inclination to want him to succeed stems from my actu-
ally haven beaten him in the National Capital regatta two years ago in Ottawa. Since then, I judge what I would have done at regattas I don’t attend by his results. For instance, if he wins Silver at the next Olympics, I will be comforted by the fact that, had I qualified to represent Canada, I would have won Gold. Don’t laugh, you do it too. But there were more D3s around in both the Fulls and the Radials: Rob Davis, Evan Lewis, Matthew Ryder, Evert McLaughlin, Paul Brikis, Gregory Clunies and Master sailor Terry Neilson. In the Radials: Clair Merry showed best with a 16th place finish, followed by David Mori, Joanne Prokop, Ingrid Merry and Tyler Meyrick.
D3 was there at the Woman’s North American Champs as well, with Claire Merry, Joanne Prokop in the 10 and 11 spot and Emma Hughes getting her feet wet. All in all, the kids of D3 have been fantastic representing Ontario this past winter.
But the Masters were not immune to diasporaing. The Caribbean Midwinters in Cabarete, Dominican Republic was the first stop. Terry Neilson came up 6th over all and first Master. He was joined in Cabarete by another D3 Master Andy Roy and was going to be joined by yet another D3 Master Rob Muru, but Muru got stuck in traffic. Or it was something about work?
Terry showed up also when the circuit continued in West Palm Beach for the Florida Masters and placed 3rd overall there. Along with Terry, Joe Van Rossem from Water Rats, Jeff Fullerton from London and I headed down to Florida for the Master circuit, which includes the Florida Masters, Midweek Maddness and the Masters Mids in Sarasota. The turnouts for each regatta broke records, with over 70 in West Palm, over 60 admitted to Maddness in Jensen Beach and over 80 at the Mids. Both Florida Masters and Middweek Maddness blew hard, while Sarasota did what Sarasota apparently does –six to nine, no hiking allowed, or, at least, required. All in all, the regattas were a great way to start the Worlds year that Canada will enjoy this summer. But there is another D3-related event to be excited about. D3 kid Vaughn Harrison and a friend from D2, Nic Kim have begun a Laser training centre in Mexico called Port Tack Option (PTO for short) that, in its first year, attracted some terrific training and perfect weather. Both juniors and masters sailors found opportunity to go down, and say the conditions comparable to those found at the now famous Cabarete centre run by Ari Barshi. Vaughn reports that the centre’s success has inspired them to scale up operations by moving from Malaqua to a brand new facility in Puerto Vallarta at the La Cruz Yacht Club.
“We are joining forces with leading Mexican visionaries to create the first development center in Mexico,” say Vaughn. PTO plans to add Opti’s and 420’s to the fleet, and “will open our doors more to local Mexican development and Collegiate racing.” Sounds like a Diaspora with a difference. Will we ever see those boys again? And how about those D3 Masters sailors? Because the Worlds is in our backyard (if Halifax can be called the backyard of Ontario. Might get nasty let-
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ters on that one), a group of them have banded together to form the Ontario Masters Racing Team. The 13 members intend to conduct four clinics across Ontario during the spring and summer to push the pace in Ontario and find a few spots on the various podiums of Halifax. The group has representation in almost every fleet (there are seven) at the Masters Worlds and expect good things to happen as they pool resources and get all coached up. You’ll see them in force for the first time at the North American Masters in Wrightsville Beach. They will be the ones sipping protein drinks and going to bed at 9:00pm. Serious dudes.
There is one thing happening within our frozen regions. Kevin Biskaborn, an excellent sailor from London, Ontario and even more excellent web designer has agreed to completely revamp the D3 website. You can get a hint of what is to come by going to www.d3laser.com. There you will find the cover page and something of what the new website will look like. You’ll have to admit, the kid rocks. The new site will deliver more perks than an Obama bailout, and we can’t wait to share his work with the world. The new site should be up and running by May. But wait, is that sun I see? A fresh breeze in 2 degrees C? Break the boat Molly, and push that ice flow aside. I’m going sailing…
District 5 Mark Lammens
2009 promises to be another great race season. I would like to invite sailors from out of District to the 2 Regional and 1 National event hosted in District 5. For the Masters Sailors we have May 3031 at the Wabamun SC, the Western Canadian Masters Championships, this is tune up for June 1921 at the Wabamun SC, the CANADIAN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS,
For the Youth, Open, and Masters sailors July 17-19 at the Battleford’s SC in Meota is CYA SAIL WEST, the Western Canadian Championships for the Laser and Radial as well as Western 16 and under and 18 and under. The big push for 2009 is the Canada Games in PEI, August 15-21, the World Laser Championships in NS as well as the World Masters championships.
Ian Elliot, 1 of the top District 5 sailors for the last few years is getting involved in coaching. Very good to see a friendly, personable sailor of that caliber giving back to the sport. Ian will be coaching Alberta at the Canada Games. Ian is a 2 time Western Champion. On a significantly more serious note Robert Decker, the coach for Newfoundland Sailing Team at the last Canada Games is the sole survivor of the helicopter crash that killed 17. Hopefully he continues to improve in his recovery.
District 6 Andy Hunt
Racing our Lasers as well as just sailing and having fun has started up again in District 6. Activity at the club level as well as some of the major events are
www.Laser.org
beginning to heat up for the 2009 season. In District 6, there were two regattas in February and one in March. The two regattas in February, the Frigid Digit Regatta and the Frozen Assets Regatta, were held on the same weekend (February 7 and 8). I hope that this senario does not happen again since it forces some sailors to decide which regatta to attend when they would like to have attended both regattas. Here is a condensed summary of the report that is posted on the District 6 website (www.cycseattle.org/slf). There were mild temperatures, light wind but lots of races at the Frigid Digit. The race committee, led by Todd Willsie and Michael Cenname (both regular Seattle Laser racers), managed to pull of 4 races on Saturday and 7 races on Sunday. Competitors enjoyed their dinner and seemed to enjoy sailing in the mild temeratures (for a contrast, see the report on the March Madness Regatta). There were 16 Lasers and 2 Laser Radials. Top five Lasers were: Carl Buchan, SYC, 22.00; Michael Schalka, SYC, 40.00; Paul Stewart, CYC, 43.00; Dave Watt, CYC, 53.00; Doug Honey, SSC, 57.00. The two Laser Radial sailors were Sarah Mackey (12 points) and Danielle Erjavec (19 points). In Victoria, light winds prevailed on both days. In order to do well, a sailor had to avoid the many holes on the course. There were 3 races on Saturday and 3 races on Sunday. One of the Laser Radial races had to be abandoned when no boat made the time limit. The race committee, led by RVICYC Laser sailor Geoff Abel, did what they could in the conditions. There were ten Laser sailors and one Megabyte sailor (who raced boat on boat with the Lasers) and eight Radials. Top three in the Laser fleet were: Phillip Round, RVicYC, 10.00; Jacek Suski, JSCA, 16.00; Robin Smith (Megabyte), CBSA, 16.00. Top three Radials were: Reid Cannon, RVicYC, 14.00; Aiden Koster, RVicYC, 14.00; Elizabeth Hind, RVicYC, 15.00. Temeratures were above normal for February in Victoria. In contrast to the two above mentioned regattas, the March Madness Regatta had cold temperatures (there was some snow on Sunday) and winds in the 12 to 18 range. On Saturday, March 14, sailors started out with an Easterly wind of around 12 knots and increased as the day went on. The wind started to move north and the windward mark was moved for each race. The race committee decided that the sailors had had enough after three races (it was a wise decision as some of the sailors were looking cold). On Sunday, the wind did not let up and sailors had to battle temperatures that hovered around freezing. The afore mentioned snow fortuneately only lasted half an hour. As on Saturday, the race committee called racing after three races. One unusual aspect of the March Madness Regatta was that it was completely free. The Race Officer (RVYC Sailing Director, James McDonald), only listed the first names on the result sheet and several boats were missing the skipper names. There were 17 Lasers and 13 Laser Radials. Both the winners of each fleet (Luke Ramsay in the Laser and Jon Scott in the Laser Radial) won four out of six races. Top six Lasers were: Luke Ramsay, RVanYC, 6.00; Ricardo Montemayor, RVanYC, 11.00; Kevin Grierson, RVanYC, 12:00; Alexander Heinzemann, RVanYC, 20.5; Chris Tulip, RVanYC, 21.00; Ben Scott, RVanYC, 22.00. Top five Laser Radials were: Jon Scott, RVanYC, 6.00; Jamie Bone, RVanYC, 12.00; Eric, RVanYC, 12:00; Natalia Montemayor,
RVanYC, 17.00; Unknown, 26.00. The summer of 2009 is looking to be very exciting for District 6. In addition to WAVES, the District 6 Grand Prix and the Pacific Coast Championships (all held one after the other starting with the Candadian Laser and Laser Radial Championships (WAVES) on July 3 - 5, 2009 and ending on July 17 - 19, 2009 at THE GORGE, there is the Canadian Youth Championships in Victoria on August 1 through 6 and the Jericho Sailing Centre will be host to the Laser Regatta portion of the 2009 World Police and Fire Games. There is also a new regatta on the schedule in May. The Cultus Lake Sailing Club (Cultus Lake is near Chilliwack and the US Border) have decided to host a FREE regatta on May 23 and 24. An NOR is available and will be posted on both the District 6 website and the ILCA NA website. A lot of the Distict 6 Masters will be going to the Master Worlds in Halifax and for those Masters who want to do a high wind tune-up, there will be a Masters Clinic at the Gorge on August 22 and 23, 2009. Please contact Bill Symes (wjsymes@comcast.net) for more information. I would like to wish all the District 6 Masters good luck in Halifax. In closing, I would also like to thank Tracy Usher for updating the district schedules on the ILCA NA website.
District 7 Sally Sharp
Frostbiting is in full swing down in southern New England. Newport has had great fleets all winter, and the Cedar Point and Essex series just got underway this month. Smaller fleets are active in Bristol RI and Stonington CT. Looking ahead to the District 7 spring/summer season, the schedule is filling up fast. A couple of important dates to note: the D7 Radial Grand Prix will be sailed at the Buzzards Bay Regatta (Aug 7-9), and the full rig GP will be held June 20-21 in conjunction with the Saltmarsh Trophy / Championship of Buzzard’s Bay in New Bedford, MA. The winner of this regatta will take home the coveted D7 Championship trophy! In all likelihood the D7 Super Series will be a 5regatta series again, though we’re still looking for a Maine regatta to make it a six-state affair. The series starts at Lake Sunapee NH on Sunday June 14 (new date!), followed by the Stone Horse regatta in Harwich Port MA (July 25), the Vermont Open (Aug 15-16), the RYC Fall Laser Invitational in Riverside CT (Sept 20), & Fat Boys (somewhere in Rhode Island on Oct 24). The Radial series will remain the same as last year, consisting of the Newport Regatta (July 11-12), Hyannis Regatta (July 31-Aug 2) and BBR the following weekend. Details on the two series will be posted on the D7 website (d7.laserforum.org), and also on the new “Laser District 7” group on Facebook. Be sure to check for updates before you head off to regattas - despite our best efforts there are bound to be some scheduling changes in the next couple of months. Yes sailors, we’re on Facebook-! This is very much a work-in-progress, but Fran Seidenberg has done a super job setting it all up, now we all have to learn how to make the best use of it. We’re up to almost 40 members as of mid-March, it seems to be gaining momentum already. Folks are beginning to use the Wall to post info on fleet activities, and on the discussion board you can find the D7 summer sched-
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ule, classified ads etc., and soon we’ll be adding NORs and results, photos, and hopefully lots of useful links to other sites. If you’re already on Facebook it’s easy to join the group (and invite your Friends to join too!), and if you’re not - please consider jumping on board. It promises to be a great way to facilitate communication among D7 sailors, regatta organizers, vendors – anyone interested in all things Laser…
It should be a fun summer – we’re anticipating great turnouts all around the District as all the Old Guys gear up for the Masters Worlds coming up in Nova Scotia in late August. Hope to see young and old on the water soon ;-) 2009 District 7 Schedule (please confirm dates on D7 website or Facebook!)
March 29 - Beverly YC Spring Frostbite Series begins (10 Sundays). Marion MA. April 11 - Cedar Point YC Spring Regatta Westport CT. Lasers, Radials. April 26 - 2009 Peter Milnes Memorial Regatta Newport RI, Fort Adams State Park. Lasers, Radials, 4.7s May 9 - QYC May Madness Laser Regatta Wakefield MA, Quannipowitt YC. May 16-17 - Wickford Regatta - Wickford RI (Cold Spring Beach). Lasers, Radials. May 30 - Sail Salem Spring Regatta - Winter Island MA. May 31 - Lake Mascoma Spring Regatta - Enfield NH. June 6-7 - RIISA / Leeds Mitchell Regatta Barrington RI. Lasers, Radials. June 13 - NH Seacoast Open Laser Regatta - Dover NH. June 14 (new date!) - Lake Sunapee Open - Sunapee NH. D7 Super Series #1 June 20-21 - Saltmarsh Trophy / Championship of Buzzard’s Bay - New Bedford MA, New Bedford Community Boating. D7 Championship & GRAND PRIX (full rig). June 20-21 - OGYC Summer Solstice Regatta - Old Greenwich CT June 27 - Massapoag YC 2nd Annual Small Boat Regatta - Sharon, MA. July 11-12 – 2009 Coastal Living Newport Regatta Newport RI, Sail Newport. Lasers, Radials, 4.7s. D7 Radial Championship Series #1 July 11-12 - Lipton Cup - Quincy MA, Squantum YC. Lasers, Radials. New England Women’s Radial Championships July 25 - Stone Horse Laser Regatta - Harwich Port MA, Stone Horse YC. Lasers, Radials. D7 Super Series #2 July 25 (tentative) - Merrimack River Regatta American Yacht Club, Newburyport MA. July 31-Aug 2 - Hyannis Regatta - Hyannis MA, Hyannis YC. Lasers, Radials, 4.7s. D7 Radial Championship Series #2 Aug 1 (tentative) - Ipswich Bay Laser Championship - Gloucester, MA - Annisquam YC Aug 7-9 - Buzzards Bay Regatta - New Bedford Community Boating, MA. Lasers, Radials; DISTRICT 7 RADIAL GRAND PRIX, D7 Radial Championship Series #3 Aug 8-9 - YRALIS Championship Regatta Greenwich CT, Indian Harbor YC. Aug 15-16 - Vermont Open - Malletts Bay VT, MBBC. D7 Super Series #3
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Sept 12-13 - Massapoag YC 60th Annual Multiclass Regatta - Sharon, MA. Sept 13 - Ponce de Leon Laser & Radial Series (#1 of 3) - Marblehead MA, Eastern Yacht Club Sept 19 - Lake Mascoma Fall Regatta - Enfield NH. Sept 20 - RYC Fall Laser Invitational - Riverside, CT. D7 Super Series #4 Sept 26-27 - New England Masters - Newport RI, Third Beach. Oct 3 - Sail Salem Founders’ Cup Regatta - Winter Island MA. Oct 10 - Eastern YC Laser Fleet Fall Frostbite Series - Marblehead MA. Oct 10 - QYC Last Blast Laser Regatta - Wakefield MA. Oct 11 - NH Seacoast Open Laser Regatta - Dover NH. Oct 24 - Fat Boys Regatta – Bristol(?) RI. D7 Super Series #5 Nov 14 - Cedar Point YC Fall Regatta - Westport CT. Lasers, Radials.
District 9 Chas Williamson
We have a lovely warm spell of sunny weather right now, and Luke Miller, a wonderfully enthusiastic sailor today has been asking the golden oldies to get their Lasers out of mothballs and take them to the club this Sunday. That is great ! Luke is awesome ! However, I am not sure how long the weather will keep warm, and when we will get pummelled back into the subfreezing conditions! But I think with Luke in town we will be making a good and early start to the season, and my son Chippy will get onto the water too in his new (2001 Worlds) Laser .... Thanks Luke and Thanks Miller Brother team!
The Spring 2009 season will start with Ithaca YC Wine Keg on 23 May 2009, and we will be off to a good start with guaranteed good breezes, followed by Willowbank YC (30 May); an early start this year for Saratoga Lake SC (6 June); Newport YC (13 June) and Chautauqua Lake YC (27 June). For these and later regattas see the calendar below, and also check out the D9 Schedule on the FANTASTIC improved ILCA - North America website put in place by top physicist and President Tracy Usher, and the San Diego Team of Sherri and Jerelyn. There you will find complete schedules and information on the fleets and clubs, all over the country.
The Empire State Games (New York State Games) was called off this year, because of the Credit Crunch, even though sailing cost them nothing, and in fact the Games generates spending on a big scale for the venue, and is actually anti-crunch. There is now a movement (in the last week) to reinstate the Games, but this is not yet confirmed fully by ESGHQ in Albany. Sailors should also note that Allan Miller and Richie Wait have taken part in all (or almost all) the Games since it began in 1978. These sailors are awesome in the extreme, and are wellloved by the other sailors in the region. Allan is writing a history of the Games, and it is so nice to see how he and Richie looked as young whippersnappers ! That is not to suggest they are more than young now of course.... To be frank, we owe Allan and Richie so much ! In the last magazine, we reported on what happened in the regattas during the second half of last season,
so more discussion on the regattas below is found in the last Laser Sailor. We omitted to record the enthusiastic sailors that took part in these regattas, so we include them briefly below. BEST WISHES FOR A SUPERB SEASON, SAILORS !
Newport YC, 21 June 2008: Mark Sertl topped the fleet with Jamie Moran and Kirk Reynolds just behind. 1. Mark Sertl; 2. James Moran; 3. Kirk Reynolds; 4. Tim Jones; 5. Richie Wait; 6. Travis Wright; 7. Peter Gould; 8. Matt Johnson; 9. Merritt Moran; 10. Steve Leach; 11. Luke Miller; 12. John Boettcher; 13. Justin Grodin; 14. Jim Cuddihee
Youngstown YC, 5 July 2008: Kevin Doyle, who is a brilliant J22 - J24 sailor, took first place overall emphatically with three wins. 1. Kevin Doyle; 2. Charlie Palame; 3. Rich Wait; 4. Doug Barger; 5. Guy Jones; 6. Chris Doyle; 7. Jimmy Carminati; 8. Steven Leach
District 9 Championships, Sodus Bay YC, DATE: Welcome back to Jake Muhleman - who now sails for MIT, and who counted two race wins, and convincingly won from Scott Possee, Katie Evans and Chas Williamson. 1. Jake Muhleman; 2. Scott Possee; 3. Katie Evans; 4. Chas Williamson; 5. Mark Converse; 6. Stuart Grulke; 7. Markus Costich; 8. Jon Faudree; 9. Tim Jones; 10. Jason Evans; 11. Jamie Moran; 12. Kevin Doyle; 13. Merrit Moran; 14. Morley Flynn; 15. AJ Murphy; 16. Tom King; 17. Thomas Shaw; 18. Justin Reisch; 19. Luke Miller; 20. Travis Odenbach; 21. Douglas Collins; 22. Jacob Doyle; 23. Max Buzell; 24. Chris Rogers; 25. Alexander Grassl; 26. Rory Mess; 27. Peter Fleckenstein
Empire State Games - 2008 - were held at Lake Cayuga, Ithaca, over three days 24-26 July 2008, at the beautiful Merrill Family Sailing Center at Cornell. Chas Williamson won 10 of 11 races, edging out Scott Meyer from Saratoga in second overall, and Allan Miller (Chair of Sailing for the Games) in third place. 1. Chas Williamson; 2. Scott Meyer; 3. Allan Miller; 4. Merritt Moran; 5. Andrew Smith; 6. James Nichol; 7. Peter Gould; 8. Luke Miller; 9. Richie Wait; 10. Steven Leach; 11. Sarah Nichol.
Seneca YC, 16 Aug 2008. The regatta was won by Aaron from Hobart, and he was followed by Doug Bargar, and Chris Wilson, who has just graduated up from Opties. 1. Aaron; 2. Doug Bargar; 3. Chris Wilson. 4. More results not available. Willowbank YC “Deathroll” regatta, 6 Sept 2008. Ray Cudney won at his home club, with four first places out of five races, beating his local rival Dick Mitchell into second place, and they were followed by speedy Peter Bushnell. 1. Ray Cudney; 2. Dick Mitchell; 3. Peter Bushnell; 4. Peter Fleckenstein; 5. Eric Magnuson; 6. Campbell Woods; 7. David Filiberto; 8. Thomas Shaw; 9. Peter Webster; 10. Luke Miller; 11. Paul Martellock; 12. Mike Mueller; 13. Matt Johnson; 14. Dave Whiteaway; 15. Jon Stremmel; 16. Mike Johnson; 17. Eduardo Solessio; 18. Peter Murphy; 19. Papa Joe Miller; 20. Charlie Barton.
2009 DISTRICT 9 REGATTA SCHEDULE Skippers Meeting 10:00 am for each regatta.
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Sat 23 May Ithaca YC “Wine Keg” Sat 30 May Willowbank YC Sat 6 June Saratoga Lake SC “Derby” Sat 13 June Newport YC Sat 20 June Chautauqua Lake YC Sat 4 July Youngstown YC (Open regatta is Combined with DISTRICT 9 JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS) 11-12 July Ithaca YC DISTRICT 9 GRAND PRIX CHAMPS 23-25 July Empire State Games, Chelsea YC (Qualifiers only) 31 July - 2 Aug Rochester YC Ê- Junior Olympics Youth Sat 15 Aug Seneca YC 23-27 Aug C.O.R.K., Kingston, Ontario Sat 12 Sept Willowbank YC “Deathroll” Sat 10 Oct Henderson Harbor YC
District 10 Eric Reitinger
First off it is with great sadness that I report the passing of Laser sailor Rich Warren’s mother Elizabeth. If you were ever at a Surf City regatta over the years, she was always behind the scenes doing anything and everything to help the event run smoothly. She will be missed. There was a big group of District 10 sailors down south for various regattas. At the Miami OCR two full rigs and one radial competed. Out of the 63 full rigs, Clay Johnson (Little Egg Harbor YC) finished 9, making the medal race and Kyle Rogochenko (Toms River YC) finished 16th. Arielle deLisser (Barnegat Light YC) was the only radial sailor finishing 22nd out of 41. Arielle also competed in the Women’s Radial NA’s finishing 7th out of 24. Midwinters East had a few make the trek down south. In the full rigs, a fleet of 55, Clay Johnson finished 2nd, Patrick Mignon (Bay Head YC) finished 45th and Joe Lepis (Lavallette YC) finished 46th. 2 Radials raced and in the fleet of 54, Jack Swikart (Shrewsbury Sailing and YC) finished 19th and Arielle deLisser finished 26th. In the Masters division, 4 sailors raced the entire series and 4 more joined for part of the master midwinter circuit. I heard nothing but great comments from many of the first timers and let’s hope they bring their friends to the circuit next year.
Florida Masters 73 total boats John MacCausland (Cooper River YC) 10th Mike Hecky (Riverton YC) 22nd Don Hahl (Brant Beach YC) 28th Newt Wattis (Surf City YC) 33rd Midwinter Madness 55 total boats John MacCausland 4th Don Hahl 16th Mike Hecky 17th Newt Wattis 23rd Chris Williams (Brant Beach YC) 26th Masters Midwinters East 83 total boats John MacCausland 12th Chris Williams 25th Bill Mergenthaler (Surf City YC) 28th Mike Hecky 29th
www.Laser.org
Newt Wattis 32nd Dave Watts (Monmouth Boat Club) 41st Mike Peloscia (Shrewsbury Sailing and YC) 42nd Don Hahl 47th Here is the updated schedule for District 10. They will also be up on the class calendar on the Laser website.
April 18 28th Annual Philadelphia Laser Championships @ Marsh Creek April 19-May 17th Toms River Spring Series (every Sunday, racing starts at 11:30am) May 9 Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club Spring Regatta May 16 Monmouth Spring Regatta @ Monmouth Boat Club May 30 38th Annual Orange Coffee Pot @ Surf City Yacht Club June 13 Brant Beach Annual Regatta June 20-21 District 10 Championship @ Lavallette Yacht Club June 26 Jr. Commodores Regatta @ Surf City (Juniors only) June 28 Avalon Laser Invitational @ Avalon Yacht Club August 7-9 Laser, Radial and 4.7 Nationals @ Brant Beach Yacht Club August 30 Corinthian Yacht Club of Cape May Laser Regatta (word is we are sailing in the ocean September 12-13 SCYC Annual Regatta @ Surf City October 3 Fall Laser Regatta @ Marsh Creek October 10 Monmouth Fall Regatta @ Monmouth Boat Club If you need to get on the email list shoot me an email at er4599 at gmail dot com
District 11 Jon Deutsch Virginia http://www.laserdistrict11.org
District 11 has had a busy winter with several fleets frostbiting throughout the winter. Both Severn Sailing Association and Potomac River Sailing Association have been sailing every Sunday and have had good turnouts on a regular basis.
Our first regatta of the year is already in the book. PRSA held their annual Hangover Regatta on January 1. 26 sailors came out and raced in 30-degree weather with 10mph winds. In 5 races, James Jacob (FBYC) got 3 firsts to take first overall. Erich Hesse (PRSA) got the other two bullets to take second overall. James’ son Alex Jacob finished consistently in the top 10 (in a Radial) and took 3rd overall. Complete results at: http://www.laserdistrict11.org/events/r331
Our District 11 Schedule is now complete and posted to our website at http://www.laserdistrict11.org Our 2009 events range from local beer can weeknight racing to regional championships and
everything in between. We have 5 fleets that will be sailing weekly in the summer on either Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays or Sundays. There’s also the 2-day annual regattas held at clubs around the bay. Our district Championship will be held at West River Sailing Club on September 12-13. The website for the 2009 Atlantic Coast Championship is now live. The NOR is posted and online registration is now open. Check it out at http://www.laseracc2009.org
There are a number of great ways to keep up with what’s going on in D11 as we get into our summer sailing season. By far the best way is to join our email list. To sign up, send an email to lasers-join@laserdistrict11.org
We now have a District 11 Group going on Facebook. This is a great way to connect with other sailors in the district. To find our group, do a search in Facebook for “Laser District 11” And if the website, RSS Feeds, Facebook Group, and Email List aren’t enough or you prefer something else, we now have Twitter. Follow District 11 at http://www.twitter.com/laserdistrict11
We’ve got a great summer sailing season planned. I hope to see you on the water. Here’s a recap of just some of our May-July events: May 2-3 Standard Rig ACC - SSA May 9 Laser/Byte Regatta - PRSA May 9 Opening Day Regatta - PRSA May 10 SS#1 - SSA May 17 Piankatak Regatta - FBYC May 30 SS#4 - FBYC June 6-7 Rad/4.7 ACC - SSA June 14 SS#2 - SSA June 20-21 Annual Regatta - RHYC June 27 Sum Series #1 - SSA Jul 12 Sum Series #2 - SSA Jul 25-26 Corsica Annual - CRYC
District 12 Glenn Walker Doug Sherwood NC-SC-GA
SCHEDULE: APRIL 4-5: Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club- D12 CHAMP EVENT – GRAND PRIX FOR STANDARD RIG, qualifying race for all fleets # 1 APRIL 18th-19: Lake Norman Yacht Club - D12 CHAMP EVENT - qualifying race for all fleets #2 May 30th-31st: Savannah Sailing Center- D12 CHAMP EVENT - qualifying race for all fleets #3. ODAY SEMIFINAL EVENT FOR STANDARD RIG. July 25th-26 CYC-SC Charleston - D12 CHAMP EVENT - RADIAL GRAND PRIX qualifying race for all fleets # 4 . Open regatta for other classes.
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August 1st-2nd: CYC-NC Wrightsville Beach SAYRA OPEN-D12 CHAMP EVENT - qualifying race for all fleets # 5. September 26th-27th Columbia Sailing Club-D12 CHAMP EVENT - qualifying race for all fleets # 6. Final event, party, and Annual Meeting (Sept. 26th).
District 12 has moved to a six (6) regatta format, meaning that full rig participants need only to sail in four (4) events in order to qualify for the series perpetual trophy and radial sailors need only to compete in three (3) events to qualify for its perpetual series trophy. This is a change over last year, adding one regatta to the championship series. Thank you fleet captains for hyping our outstanding district sailors! D-12 sailors have been active this winter with frostbiting all around the Southeast. Fleet activity has been reported from Wrightsville Beach NC (Host to the 2009 Laser Masters North Americans May 1517th) to Atlanta GA. At least 13 sailors made the trip south to sunny Florida and represented us well at the Masters Madness week regattas. Several sailors participated in all three regattas! Congratulations to Eric Oetgen for being the top D12 sailor in the series. Also speaking of being active, we have 74 registered sailors thus far for 2009! D-12 has added its own YouTube site where district sailors can post video of themselves or of laser sailing for the entire world to critique. http://www.youtube.com/user/Districttwelvelaser Our area yacht clubs have been active as well, some have added new facilities while others have honed RC skills and are mastering the internet where you can view registered participants and pay for regatta registrations online via CC or Paypal. Speaking of being online the NA-ILCA site has now gone hi-tech with their regatta scheduling and mapping service for District regattas. It should now be easier than ever to see regattas across multiple districts at the same time on the same map with easy links to each regatta host! Thanks !
Visit our website for all the latest musings on what’s happening in our district. www.d12.laserforum.org See Ya on the water
District 13 Michelle Davis
Fall can be a pretty quiet time of year in District 13, although the summer afternoon thunderstorms have usually stopped and the front-driven winds are beginning to blow, especially this year. The Treasure Coast Series wrapped up the 2008 season with two events. Twenty-four Lasers and Radials gathered on the ocean off West Palm Beach on Sept 13 to enjoy bright sunshine, a 7-10 kt easterly breeze and some lingering swell. Will Glenn crawled out of the woodwork to dominate the day with 4 bullets out of 5 races. Todd Hudgkins, James Liebl, Dave Hartman and Steve Carr rounded out the top 5. First Radial was Curtis Woodworth.
The final TCS stop was in Melbourne. Attendance was light as a lot of the regulars were off bareboating in the Caribbean or wandering around New Zealand or something. The five of us who showed up on November 15 were treated to one of the best sailing days of the whole series, with a warm 10-16 kt southwesterly blowing ahead of a cool front. The breeze was tricky with lots of shifts and velocity changes, and we flipped a lot. No worries, as the water is still pretty warm! Top five (all fullrigs) were Michelle Davis, Shannon Fox, Jack Clark, Dick Tillman and Hasty Miller. Battling with Dick for first place during the entire last race was all kinds of fun!
Things pick up down here a lot in winter. We started off with the District 13 Grand Prix in Sarasota on Dec 13-14, with 23 Laser, 39 Radial, and 11 4.7 sailors showing up to enjoy two days of shifty racing in 10-15 kts of breeze. Luke Lawrence topped the Laser fleet while Mateo Vargas won the Radial fleet and Cameron Hall won the 4.7’s.
Late December featured the huge Youth Orange Bowl Regatta hosted by Coral Reef YC in Miami. D13 kids who excelled in the Laser, Radial and 4.7 fleets included Luke Lawrence, first overall in the Lasers, and his brother Eric who won the overall Sportsmanship trophy for helping out a girl in a 4.7 who was having trouble righting her boat after a capsize. Zeke Horowitz, Tommy Fink, Andrew Fox and Cleve Hancock also made the top 10 of the 33boat fullrig fleet. Six D13 sailors made the top 10 of the 110-boat Radial fleet: Chris Stocke in 1st, Colin Smith in 3rd, Mateo Vargas 4th, Edgar Diminich 5th, Emily Billing 7th and John Wallace 10th. 4.7 stars included Kevin Holmberg from Davis Island in 3rd and Dominique Wright from Lauderdale in 4th.
Concurrent with the youth event is the Orange Bowl for the rest of us, held at the Coconut Grove SC. Miami legend Augie Diaz dominated the 13-boat Laser fleet with 3 bullets out of 6 races.
The Miami Olympic Classes Regatta was a mostly light-air affair held Jan 25-31 on Biscayne Bay. Brad Funk was third overall in the Lasers while Anna Tunnicliffe edged out Paige Railey for first overall in the Radials. Emily Billing from Clearwater also sailed an impressive regatta, placing 6th overall in the tough international fleet. The Women’s Radial North Americans were held Feb 14-15 on the ocean off Ft Lauderdale. Anna
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Tunnicliffe took first while rising Lauderdale YC star Erika Reineke placed third in the light-air event.
There was a good turnout for the open Midwinters East in Clearwater, with 55 Lasers, 106 Radials and 15 4.7’s enjoying racing during Feb 18-22. Conditions were wide-ranging, with one 20-25 knot day sandwiched among several drifters. The Anna and Paige show resumed in the Radials, with some exciting match racing between the two of them in the 10th race, with Paige coming out on top in her home waters. Other top ten D13’ers included Ian Heausler in 6th and Emily Billing, Colin Smith, and Mateo Vargas in 8th,9th, and 10th respectively. Brad Funk finished 4th with Luke Lawrence in 7th and Andrew Fox in 15th in fullrigs. The 4.7 fleet was topped by three D13 kids: Kevin Holmberg in 1st, Alejandro Ruiz-Ramon in 2nd, and Mary Hall in 3rd.
The Masters trifecta was back and bigger than ever, as the format of 7 race days out of 9 proves to be immensely popular. (Yes, Dave, this was a brilliant idea!) The series began offshore of West Palm Beach on Feb 8-9 with the classic Jack Swensen Florida Masters Championships (73 boats!!) followed by the Midweek Madness at Jensen Beach Feb 10-11(55 boats) and ending with the Masters Midwinters East, held in Sarasota on Feb 13-15 with 83 boats. Altogether over a hundred Masters sailors participated. The three venues had quite different conditions, so everybody should have gotten something to their liking. WPB was the roughest, with 46 foot seas and 18 knots in gusts challenging the competitors; Jensen Beach was the windiest with 20+ knot gusts on flat water Sunday, and the light air folks had their day(s) at Sarasota. The weather was gracious enough to be quite warm the whole week; few people are as cranky as Northerners that come all the way down to Florida to race and are still cold.
Quick rundown of who got what: WPB: 1st overall; Ernesto Rodriquez, 1st Apprentice; Ernesto Rodriquez, 1st Master; Ari Barshi, 1st Grandmaster; Abreu Jorge, 1st Greatgrandmaster; Peter Seidenberg, 1st Female; Michelle Davis. Jensen Beach: 1st overall; Mike Matan, 1st Apprentice; Eric Oetgen, 1st Master; Mike Matan, 1st Grandmaster; Jorge Abreu, 1st Greatgrandmaster; Peter Seidenberg, 1st Female; Karen Long. Sarasota: 1st overall; Brett Davis, 1st Apprentice; Brett Davis, 1st Master; Ken Svetka, 1st Grandmaster; Alden Shattuck, 1st Greatgrandmaster; Peter Seidenberg, 1st Female; Cindy Taylor. Upcoming stuff: Treasure Coast Series # 1 April 11 Lake Eustis Treasure Coast Series # 2 June 13 Melbourne (stay tuned for dates & locations of TCS #3-5) Florida State Champs June 6-7 Ft Walton Beach Gulf Coast Masters July 11-12 Ft Walton Beach D13 Grand Prix Dec 5-6 Jensen Beach Check D13 website or listserve for NOR’s.
District 14 Cal Herman
District 14 Is hosting the 2009 Gulf Coast
SPRING 2005
Championships August 29 - 30 at the brand new Southern Yacht Club in New Orleans, LA. Please make every effort to attend and enjoy the new clubhouse and facilities.
Also, April 25 - 26, Gulfport Yacht Club will be hosting the District 14 Championships in their newly built clubhouse. Come sail in the Mississippi Sound at Gulfport, MS.
District 14 Laser Fleet has been in a rebuilding mode since Hurricane Katrina. There’s been a few avid Laser Sailors like Bo Harris who has been instrumental in inspiring other laser sailors to make the local events as well as traveling to away regatta’s. We are hoping to get the Junior side of the fleet more active and maybe add some older guys to the Laser Fleet.
Hope to see you all in August for the Gulf Coast Champs!
District 15 James Freedman
I am excited to be the new District 15 secretary! I look forward to giving back to a group of folks that made Laser sailing possible for me throughout my life. With that said let me cover the details surrounding the 2009 Laser racing circuit in Texas. This year we will be using our new Google group to post and share all the district 15 information. I will be making regular announcements of our upcoming regattas, maintain our schedule, and post regatta results and overall results for the year after each district regatta. Hopefully this will increase participation between clubs at district events. You can visit our group site at: http://groups.google.com/group/txLaser The first regatta of the year is March 14/15 at Seabrook Sailing Club on Galveston Bay. They are working hard to get the club functioning after the devastating hurricane Ike left the whole club without a building. The rest of the regatta schedule is below: AYC Easter Regatta – April 25/26 - Austin Yacht Club FWBC Laser Regatta – May 2/3 – Fort Worth Boat Club RCYC Spring Dinghyfest – May 16/17 – Rush Creek Yacht Club SSC Summer Solstice Regatta – June 20/21 – Seabrook Sailing Club CSC Laser Regatta – Sep 19/20 – Corinthian Sailing Club LCYC Wurstfest Regatta – Oct 31/Nov 1 – Lake Canyon Yacht Club We also have other non district events for Lasers this year listed below: White Rock Leukemia Cup Dinghy Regatta – Apr 25/26 – Corinthian Sailing Club GSC No Coast Champs – May 23/24 – Grapevine Sailing Club FWBC Annual Regatta – Jun 6/7 – Fort Worth Boat Club RCYC Fall Dinghyfest – Oct 24/25 – Rush Creek Yacht Club It is very exciting that the No Coast Champs will be in our backyard this year. We invite other district sailors to tune up at the Fort Worth Boat Club and Rush Creek Yacht Club regattas prior to the event. This year is going to be a great year for Laser
www.Laser.org
sailors in District 15, don’t forget to check our website for upcoming announcements and results. Good luck.
District 18 John Shockey
Warm weather is just around the corner which means its time to pull the Lasers out of hiding. Check the district 18 website for up to date scheduling because as of now there are a couple of regattas waiting to be finalized. The annual Indy Spring Laser regatta at Indianapolis Sailing Club is tentatively scheduled for May 9th-10th (Refer to D18 site for final date). The Indy Spring regatta typically draws 20-65 Lasers! Eagle Creek’s Weekend Warrior regatta is tentatively cancelled. Mark your calendars for this one as the 2009 D18 Grand Prix will be put on by Cowan Lake Sailing Association, May 16th and 17th near Dayton, OH . Cowan is an inland lake known for its tricky conditions that make it a unique place to sail. The Lake is also located on the western half of Ohio which makes a short and manageable drive for anyone in the Midwest. Nearby lodging in Wilmington, OH can be found as well as convenient camping on club grounds will also be available. Shortly after, the US Sailing Men’s Singlehanded Championship (O’day Trophy) qualifier for Area E will be hosted by Cleveland’s Edgewater Yacht Club June 13th on the south shore of Lake Erie which provides a great open water venue. The 2009 Great Lakes are being held this same weekend in Macatawa Michigan June 13th-14th. That about wraps it up for the D18 spring but remember the other nearby districts are sailing as well and traveling to other districts is always a rewarding experience! Happy planning.
District 19 Ken Swetka
D19 has passed the Secretary Torch from Sean Fidler to me, Ken Swetka. Sean will help as needed and we thank him for all his efforts in keeping D19 going. I sail out of Crescent Sail Yact Club, www.crescentsail.com, just North of Detroit (no mayor jokes please...). I also get a chance to do one or two major regattas per year and have been doing some Masters events. The big one for me this year will be the Masters Worlds in Nova Scotia. At least a few D19 Lasers will be going. Recently I have been working with Tracy Usher to integrate events from www.laser.org to www.d19laser.org. Both sites use the same Content Management backend. It has been very education for me and hopefully not too tedious for the teacher...Tracy (he REALLY knows this stuff!!). Last year we had success with D19 sailors posting their own regatta notices and results on the site. Anyone can sign up and get authorized to write articles and then be allowed to modify them. This allows each fleet captain to go and update their own articles. This really helps keep the site fresh when so many people are adding info throughout the year. We look forward to more people singing up and helping to keep other D19 sailors informed. There is also a post by email Blog function on D19Laser.org. This allows one to easily post to a blog for regatta reports. This past winter I did one for the Midwinter events. As I was getting ready to sail in the morning or winding down in the evening
I could send an email from my phone and it would post to the site. If you have a camera phone pictures can be posted too. Like all classes it would be nice to see some grass roots fleet building. I think in these economic times the Laser is an easy sell. From fleet sailing to regattas it just makes sense. Where else can you get high level and just plain fun sailing for so little cost? In just a short drive you can go and meet some great people at different regatta venues....stay overnight in a tent...a couple days of fun sailing...and then home in time for dinner on Sunday. Here’s a brief list of events in D19. More info can be found at www.d19laser.org. May 9-10 Think Spring Regatta - Crescent Sail Yacht Club June 13 Spring Regatta - Michigan Sailing Club June 13-14 Great Lakes Championship - Macatawa Bay Yacht Club July 9-12 Rick White Seminar at Leland Yacht Club July 30-August 2 USSailing Single Handed Championships (O’Day’s) - Hosted by Detroit Yacht Club and Crescent Sail Yacht Club August 1-2 Leland Laser Regatta - Leland Yacht Club August 9-September 10 D19 Grand Prix - Grand Traverse Yacht Club September 26 No Sweat - Portage Yacht Club October 4 Fall Regatta - Michigan Sailing Club
District 20 Steve Dolan
A warm greeting to all District 20 Laser Sailors. Allow me to introduce myself. I am your incoming District 20 Secretary. Go easy on me as I learn the ropes. A big thank you to out going Secretary, Dave Abbott for all he has done for the past 10+ years keeping Laser sailing alive and well here in the heartland. Rest assured, Dave is not going anywhere. Look for him to sail more in 2009 now that he is free of administrative duties. As I write this, many of you are still under ice, but soft water will return and with it another great season of Laser sailing. I trust you all have been staying fit in the off season and are ready for another fun season of straight leg hiking. So here is what’s new for 2009. To keep everyone up to date on Laser happening in our District, I would encourage you all to join the D20 email list on topica.com (http://lists.topica.com/lists/LaserBelmont/?cid=3 71). Dave is the administrator so send him your current email address (Dave at sailmc1983@yahoo.com ) and we will get you added. Fear not, email from topica can be batched and sent out in digest format to minimize you daily email burden.
Also, we have dusted off the District 20 web page at http://d20.laserforum.org Please check that site often for an up to date District 20 regatta schedule, NORs, regatta reports, Fleet location and contacts, used boat listings, cool photos and other interesting D20 news. Feel free to send me the same to post there.
So, here is a snapshot of your upcoming D20 events. Time to get you and your boat ready for another sea-
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son. See you on the water.
Frostbiting Chicago Yacht Club. Belmont Station Sundays March 15- April 19 Milwaukee Yacht Cub Sundays April 5-May 17
Beer Can Racing Tueday nights May 20- Aug 25 Milwaukee Bay Laser Fleet
Regattas April 25-26 Nagawicka Ice Breaker, Nagawicka Yacht Club May 2-3 Vlad Kobal Memorial Regatta, CYC May 9 Mothers Day Regatta Pewaukee Yacht Club May 24 Memorial Day Laser Regatta Milwaukee Yacht Club July 11-12 SuperSail Winnetka Yacht Club July 19 Laser Regatta on Lake Mendota, Madison Aug 1-2 Laser Regatta at South Shore Yacht Club, Milwaukee Aug 8-9 Verve Cup, Belmont Station CYC Aug 29-30 Hobelman, CCYC Chicago Sept 19-20 Border Battle LaCrosse Sailing Club Oct 3-4 Jimmy Talbot, Belmont Station CYC Oct 10-11 Nagawicka Oktoberfest Nov 14-15 High School Great Lakes Champs
District 21 Mike Elson
Winter shuts down Laser activity but there are other diversions: Ice boating, a sometime activity in the Minneapolis area when there is no snow on the ice and snow kiting, when there is snow on the ice. Warm Spring days can combine the two endeavors and we just had a spectacular day combining ice/slush boating and snow/slush kiting. We now await ice-out. The high point of the coming season should be the D 21 grand Prix at Lake Okoboji, IA. D 21 has always had great regattas at Okoboji and are looking forward to one more on August 29/20. Join us!
District 22 Mike Gilbert
We are making small steps forward for Laser sailing here on the Big Lakes of the Northern Rockies. There are locals here with connections to big time sailing from both coasts. People just like Montana and stay here!
Discussions are underway with a sailing association on Flathead Lake that may allow us to sail with them on Saturdays from a large private marina on the west shore. Good reliable winds in Dayton Bay. We will get our own course and separate starts from the big boat fleets. We are also planning on some short course racing and a clinic or two with things like starting practice. The intent is to introduce people who haven’t met, keep everyone together, and encourage many local former and new sailors to try racing. We have several people interested in scaring up used boats and getting out there again.
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The District Championships will likely be held on Flathead Lake as well, in mid to late August. Start making those Montana summer trip plans! Glacier National Park right up the road! Beautiful clean, clear, deep water.
We are planning the First Annual Whitefish Lake Invitational Regatta. For those who don’t know it, it is near the base of the famous Big Mountain ski resort at Whitefish, MT. A multi-leg round the buoys race with a party on the beach. Informal and fun. It’ll be sweet. If there is interest (and there will be!), we will again attempt the epic sail on Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. There is no place like this. The water is clear glacial green. There were some mechanical casualties last time, so entries will be based on equipment condition and proper clothing and safety gear. We are also talking with the clubs on Lake Pend Oreille in Sandpoint Idaho about holding a Laser event there or tagging onto a multi-fleet event. There are quite a few former Laser sailors over there that we need to bring back into the fold. Getting too used to their J-24’s! Their lake is big, and 1100 feet deep - they have a Navy submarine training base...on a lake! I am in contact with our good friends in D5 to the north about a D22 vs D5 challenge. We go to one of their regional championships and they come down to ours. If it’s based on either skill or numbers we are doomed. But just wait!
Another possibility is to be included in a multi-fleet regatta on Canyon Ferry Lake near Helena, MT, where there are scows, I-14’s, and all kinds of interesting things sailing. I may be able to haul some Masters sailors down to Park City for the No Coast Masters if the schedule works out.
week. The fluke accident left him ashore for the rest of the series, presumably to balance the California budget. February sent our rock stars Claire and Mike back to college or off to sunny Florida. We only had two races in the light air, as the race committee and sailors all caught Superbowl fever instead of waiting for wind. Drake Jensen led the way on Super Sunday with two firsts, followed by James, Tom, and Ryan Nelson. Much needed rain caused sewer systems around San Francisco Bay to overflow, so racing was cancelled in March.
Overall participation was strong; 45 boats participated in the series, with an average of 20 each time. Shout outs to the sailors that made it on water on every race day – Ron Witzel, Joe Carter, and Ryan Gorsiski. Ron was our most veteran competitor and Joe our youngest. I am sure they were neck-andneck in many races. Series Results: 1) James Vernon, 2) Drake Jensen, 3) Tom Burden, 4) David LaPier, 5) Michael Kalin, 6) Ryan Nelson, 7) Roger Herbst, 8) Veijo Suorsa, 9) Nico Colomb, 10) Claire Denis. (45 Boats)
The seasons are changing here in Northern California. Tomorrow is the Spring Dinghy Regatta at the St Francis; our traditional season opener – 1519 knots from the west is expected. We will see who has been doing their crunches. Svendsen’s Marine is sponsoring our Grand Prix series, with 12 events at locations across Northern California. Masters are invited to back-to-back major events this summer at Treasure Island for the Senior Games and Masters PCCs, and at Mission Peninsula YC for the Masters Nationals in August.
Photo: submitted by Captain Hof, District 17.
So, we want to encourage you Western, Northwestern, and greater North American sailors to give us a try this summer.
District 24 David LaPier
It was a quiet winter for Laser sailing in Northern California; calm sunny weekend weather coincided with our racing days, so we got in our yearly quota of drifters at the Richmond Yacht Club Midwinter Series.
In December, Steve Bourdow, Mark Halman, Mike Kalin, Tom Burden and James Vernon showed the speed and smarts to finish well in the shifty, dying northerly. We got in four races thanks to Kers Klausen’s skillful race committee work. James Vernon hung tough in January with more consistent sailing, but Michael Kalin and Claire Denis (with a big rig) dominated the day. Local guru Mark Halman broke his hand while practicing earlier in the
SPRING 2005
2009 District Schedules
The schedules below show the dates for events in each District. To get information on contacts, links to regatta host websites, NOR’s, as well as a nice map to the event location. Either go to the District page at www.laser.org, or visit the listed District website. And be sure to always check www.laser.org for changes and updates!
District 1 - Brian Mills www.laser.org
May 2-3, 2009 May 9-10, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 13-14, 2009 June 27-28, 2009 July 9-10, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 18-19, 2009 July 25-26, 2009 August 6-7, 2009 August 8-9, 2009
NSYA Spring Series #1 NSYA Spring Series #2 NSYA Spring Series #3 NS Canada Games Trials NS Canada Games Trials - II NB Circuit Regatta #1 ARK YOTS ARK Regatta D1 Champ- Atl Can Masters’ Champ NB Circuit Regatta #2 Kennedy Cup Regatta NB Circuit Regatta #3
May 23-24, 2009 June 13, 2009 July 10-11, 2009 August 8-9, 2009 August 29-30, 2009 September 25-26, 2009 )
Laser D2 Training Camp (PCYC) Venture CLQ #1 CLQ #2 (CVL) CLQ #3 (PCYC) Ottawa Valley Masters CLQ #4 Quebec D Champs + CLQ #5 (PCYC
May 3, 2009 May 9-10, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 May 23-24, 2009 May 30-31, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 13-14, 2009 June 20-21, 2009 June 25-28, 2009 June 27-28, 2009 July 4-5, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 16-17, 2009 July 18-19, 2009 July 18-19, 2009 July 25-26, 2009 August 2, 2009 August 15-16, 2009 August 19-22, 2009 August 22-26, 2009 August 29-30, 2009 September 5-6, 2009 September 5-6, 2009 September 12-13, 2009 September 19-20, 2009 September 20, 2009 September 26, 2009 October 3-4, 2009
Flat Water Freeze Out Mother’s Day Regatta Ice Breaker Regatta Lilac Regatta June Bug Regatta Spring War RCYC Open Inco Regatta 2009 North American Championship Grand Bend Laser Open Sarnia Yacht Club Ontario Master’s Championship Steerer’s Regatta Four Sister’s Regatta North Shore Regatta Mid-Ontario Championship Good Friend’s Regatta N. C. Regatta CORK International Regatta CORK Regatta Ottawa Valley Laser Masters 2009 Cornish Hen Regatta Sudbury Yacht Club Regatta High School Championships CORK Fall Regatta Laserpalooza Ice Bowl Pumpkin Regatta
May 15, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 May 23-24, 2009 May 30-31, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 13-14, 2009 June 19-21, 2009 June 27-28, 2009
Lake Wascana Short Course Ice Breaker Regatta D5 Championship - Icebreaker Regatta Wabamun Open - AB W Can Masters Mtn Madness Regatta - SK Event #1 Glenmore Short Course Canadian Masters Championship Saskatoon Annual - SK Event #2
District 2 – Deny Deschambeault www.laserd2.org
District 3 – Robert Koci www.d3laser.com
District 4 – Kyle Ross www.sailmanitoba.com District 5 – Mark Lammens www.sasksail.com
www.Laser.org
July 17-19, 2009 September 4-6, 2009 September 5-6, 2009 September 12-13, 2009
CYA Sail West - W Can Champ Alberta Championships Prince Albert Sailing Club Annual Short Course Championships
April 4-5, 2009 April 18-19, 2009 April 25-26, 2009 May 2-3, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 May 23-24, 2009 May 23-24, 2009 May 30, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 July 3-5, 2009 July 8-10, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 13-15, 2009 July 16, 2009 July 17-19, 2009 August 1-2, 2009 August 8-9, 2009 August 8-9, 2009 September 12-13, 2009 September 12-13, 2009 September 19-20, 2009 September 26-27, 2009 September 26-27, 2009 October 3-4, 2009 November 7-8, 2009 November 21-22, 2009
Spring Frostbite Regatta Flights of Spring Kitten Cupu Regatta Spring Dinghy Championships 2009 Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta Memorial Day Regatta Cultus Lake Sockeye Cup Regatta Rose Festival for Juniors Jericho Classic Regatta Canadian Championship WIND Youth Clinic District 6 Championship Kitsalano Invitational Laser Performance Clinic Gorge Laser Blowout 2009 Pacific Coast Championship Columbia Gorge One-Design Regatta SOSA Invitational Al Morris Regatta Johnny Adams Memorial Regatta Lake Chelan Regatta Bellingham Bay One-Design Regatta Fall Dinghy Championships Octoberfest Seattle Fleet Championships Bluenose Regatta Turkey Bowl Regatta
March 29, 2009 March 29, 2009 April 26, 2009 May 9, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 May 30, 2009 June 6, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 20-21, 2009 June 27, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 11, 2009 July 12, 2009 July 25, 2009 July 31-August 2, 2009 August 1, 2009 August 7-9, 2009 August 8-9, 2009 September 12-13, 2009 September 13, 2009 September 19, 2009 September 26-27, 2009 October 3, 2009 October 10, 2009 October 24, 2009
Beverly YC Spring Frostbite Series Newport Fleet 413 Frostbite Peter Milnes Memorial Regatta May Madness Laser Regatta Wickford Regatta Sail Salem Spring Regatta Lake Sunapee Open RIISA / Leeds Mitchell Regatta Saltmarsh Trophy/Champ of Buzzard’s Bay Massapoag YC 2nd Small Boat Regatta New Bedford Junior Regatta 2009 Coastal Living Newport Regatta Lipton Cup Lipton Cup/NE Women’s Radial Champ Stone Horse Laser Regatta Hyannis Regatta Ipswich Bay Laser Championship Buzzards Bay Regatta YRALIS Championship Regatta MYC 60th Annual Multi-Class Regatta Ponce de Leon Laser and Radial Series Lake Mascoma Fall Regatta New England Master’s Championship Sail Salem Founder’s Cup Regatta QYC Last Blast Laser Regatta Fat Boys Regatta
May 16, 2009 May 23, 2009
D-8 Sebago Canoe Club Laser Regatta Seawanhaka Corinthian YC Regatta
District 6 – Andy Hunt www.cycseattle.org/slf
District 7 - Sally Sharp D7.laserforum.org
District 8 – Ted Cremer Laserd8.tripod.com
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2009 District Schedules
The schedules below show the dates for events in each District. To get information on contacts, links to regatta host websites, NOR’s, as well as a nice map to the event location. Either go to the District page at www.laser.org, or visit the listed District website. And be sure to always check www.laser.org for changes and updates!
May 30, 2009 June 6, 2009 June 13, 2009 June 20, 2009
D-8 Cold Spring Beach Club Regatta D-8 Regatta - Southampton YC D-8 Sayville YC / Westin Cup Regatta D 8 Championship
May 23, 2009 May 30, 2009 June 6, 2009 June 13, 2009 June 20, 2009 July 4, 2009 July 11-12, 2009 July 31-August 2, 2009 August 15, 2009 September 12, 2009 October 10, 2009
Ithaca Yacht Club — ‘Wine Keg’ Regatta Willowbank YC Saratoga Lake SC — ‘Saratoga Derby’ Newport YC Chautauqua Lake YC Youngstown YC - Open/Jr D9 Champ District 9 Championships — Ithaca YC Rochester YC — Junior Olympics Seneca YC Willowbank YC — ‘Deathroll Regatta’ Henderson Harbor Yacht Club
March 29, 2009 April 18, 2009 April 19, 2009 May 9, 2009 May 16, 2009 NJ May 30, 2009 June 13, 2009 June 20, 2009 June 28, 2009 August 7-9, 2009 September 12-13 October 3, 2009 October 10, 2009
MBC Fleet #9 Winter Frostbite 28th Philadephia Champ for Lasers Toms River Spring Series SSYC Spring Laser Regatta MBC Spring Laser Regatta, Red Bank,
April 5, 2009 May 2-3, 2009 May 3, 2009 May 9, 2009 May 10, 2009 May 17, 2009 May 30, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 June 14, 2009 June 20-21, 2009 June 27, 2009 July 12, 2009 July 25-26, 2009
Stew Pot Regatta ACCs – Standard Rig Salsa Bowl Laser regatta – Potomac River SA SSA Spring Series #1 Piankatank Regatta Leukemia Cup – FBYC ACCs – Radial & 4.7 Dave Irey Regatta SSA Spring Series #2 RHYC One Design Invitational SSA Summer Series #1 SSA Summer Series #2 Corsica River Annual Regatta 45th Virginia Governor’s Cup
District 9 – Chas Williamson www.laser.org
District 10 - Eric Reitinger www.laser.org
38th Jack Elfman Orange Coffee Pot Brant Beach Annual Regatta District 10 Championship Avalon MAYRA Regatta 2009 US Championship Surf City YC Annual Marsh Creek Fall Regatta MBC Fall Laser Regatta
District 11 – Jon Deutsch www.laserdistrict11.org
August 1-2, 2009 August 8, 2009 August 8-9, 2009
August 15-16, 2009 August 15-16, 2009 August 29, 2009
August 30, 2009 September 5-6, 2009 September 12-13, 2009 September 19, 2009 September 19, 2009 September 26-27, 2009 October 3, 2009 October 3, 2009 October 4th, 2009 October 17-18, 2009 October 25, 2009
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SSA Summer Series #3 Annual Oxford Regatta 70th Annual Regatta
Deep Creek Laser Invitational
Deltaville Regatta SSA Fall Series #1 West River Annual Regatta District 11 Championships Low Country Boil Regatta SSA Fall Series #2 Crab Claw Regatta Indian Summer Regatta Hard Rock Masters
Masters ACCs Chesapeake Bay Master Champs Chilly Chili Bowl Regatta
District 12 – Glenn Walker/Doug Sherwood www.d12.laserforum.org
April; 4-5, 2009 April 18-19, 2009 May 30-31, 2009 July 25-26, 2009 August 1-2, 2009 September 26-27, 2009
D12 Champ Event – Grand Prix Lake Norman – D12 Champ Event Savannah SC– D12 Champ, Oday CYC-SC D12 Champ Event CYC-NC-SAYRA Open – D12 Colombia SC, D12 Champ
April 18-19, 2009 June 6-7, 2009 December 5-6, 2009 December 11-12, 2009 December 27-30, 2009 December 28-30, 2009
Spring Regatta Florida State Champs District 13 Champs JO Festival Orange Bowl Open Orange Bowl
April 25-26, 2009 August 29-30, 2009
D14 Champs Gulf Coast Champs
April 11-12, 2009 May 2-3, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 May 23-24, 2009 June 20-21, 2009 September 19-20, 2009 October 31-November 1, 2009
25th Annual Easter Laser Regatta D15 FWBC Laser Regatta D15 RCYC Spring DinghyFest 2009 No Coast Championship D15 SSC Summer Solstice Regatta D15 CSC Laser Regatta D15 LCYC Wurstfest Regatta
September 19-20, 2009 October 10-11, 2009 November 14-15, 2009
Lotsa Lasers, Harbor Island YC Georgia State Champs No More Turkey Grand Prix
April 25-26, 2009 May 16, 2009 May 16-27, 2009 October 3, 2009
Indianapolis SC Laser regatta Cowan Lake Laser Regatta D18 Grand Prix Laserlips Inland Classic
April 25-26, 2009 May 9-10, 2009 May 16-17, 2009 June 13, 2009 July 9-12, 2009 July 30-August 2, 2009 August 1-2, 2009 August 9, 2009 September 26, 2009 October 14, 2009
Spring Laser Regatta, Indianapolis Think Spring Regatta, Crescent Sail YC D18 Championship, Cowan Lake Baseline Lake, Ann Arbor Rick White Seminar, Leland YC Oday Cup, Detroit YC Leland Laser Regatta D19 Grand Prix Championship No Sweat – Portage YC Baseline Lake, Ann Arbor
April 25-26, 2009 May 9, 2009 August 1-2, 2009 August 8-9, 2009 August 29-30, 2009 October 3-4, 2009
Nagawicker Icebreaker Mother’s Day Regatta Leland Verve Hubelman Talbot
District 13 – Meka Taulbee/Michelle Davis www.d13.laserforum.org
District 14 – Cal Herman www.laser.org
District 15 – James Freedman www.cerebus.winsite.com/Laser/districts/d15/
District 16 – Tim Fitzgerald www.laser16.tripod.com District 17 – John Coolidge www.d17.laserforum.org District 18 – John Shockey www.laser.org District 19 – Ken Swetka www.d19laser.org
District 20 – Steve Dolan http://d20.laserforum.org
SPRING 2005
2009 District Schedules Technical Tips
The schedules below show the dates for events in each District. To get information on contacts, links to regatta host websites, NOR’s, as well as a nice map to the event location. Either go to the District page at www.laser.org, or visit the listed District website. And be sure to always check www.laser.org for changes and updates! JON DEUTSCH JON@LASERDISTRICT11.ORG
Getting Laser News on the Internet
KITTY KITTY HAWK HAWK
District 21 – Mike Elson
Onewww.d21.laserforum.org of the best ways that I have found to keep up with the many different sailing, professional, personal and fun websites that I like to frequent is through the of RSSGilbert feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple District 22use – Mike www.laser.org Syndication. It allows a website to publish news in a common format. Then a tool that aggregates RSS Feeds to put all of the news stories District 23 so – Larry together can be used that all ofArbuthnot the news can be read at one time withwww.sailtherockies.com out having to visit all of the various websites.
District 24 – David Lapier
Mywww.d24.laserforum.org favorite tool for reading RSS feeds is Google’s Reader. http://reader.google.com It March 28, 2009 RYC BIG DINGHY collectsApril all of my news sto2, 2009 Svendsen’s Thursday Night Series ries and lets4-5, me2009 read them April Santa Cruz Nor-Cals from work, from home or at April 19, 2009 Shoreline Lake Winter Series May 2-3, 2009 D24 Championship - Elvstrom Regatta a regatta using my May 6, It 2009 Shoreline Wednesday Night Series Blackberry. is free and 9, 2009 Richmond Dinghy Invitational simpleMay to use and there are May 16, 2009 Monterey Peninsula YC Fleet Champs video demonstrations of how May Monday Night Laser Racing it works on25, the2009 site. There June of 20-21, 2009 Summer Sailstice are plenty other RSS July 11-12, 2009 so if High Sierra Regatta aggregators out there, July like 25, 2009 Dinghy Delta Ditch you don’t that one, hunt August 7-9, 2009 Master’s Pacific Coast Championship around, there are plenty to Master’s US Championship chooseAugust from. 14-16, 2009 September 12, 2009 Championship How do you know if a website Tahoe has anFleet RSS feed? In most new September 19-20, 2009 Richmond Totally Dinghy Regatta browsers when visiting a website with an RSS feed there is a small logo October 24-25, 2009 StFYC Fall Dinghy Regatta (IE7 or Firefox <!—[if !vml]—><!—[endif]—> ) (Safari <!—[if !vml]— ><!—[endif]—> somewhere on the browser window indicating the site District )25 – Nils Andersson has a feed. Clicking that logo will take you directly to the feed and offer www.laser.org optionsApril on how subscribe. 25-26,to2009 CA Masters April 25-26, 2009
CA Women’s Radial
September 5-6, 2009that haveDistrict Champs Laser Websites RSS25Feeds:
November 21-22, 2009 Turkey Day Andrew Campbell http://feeds.feedburner.com/AndrewCampbell District 26 – Guy Fleming Anna Tunnicliffe www.laser.org http://www.annatunnicliffe.com/component/option,com_rss/feed,RSS2.0/no_html,1/ Laser Email List http://groups.google.com/group/laserforum/feed/rss_v2_0_msgs.xml International Sailing Federation http://www.sailing.org/1889.php District 2 http://feeds.feedburner.com/NaLaserClassAssociationDistrict2 District 11 http://www.laserdistrict11.org/feed.rss District 12 http://d12.laserforum.org/wordpress/feed/ District 13 http://d13.laserforum.org/?feed=rss2 District 19 http://www.d19laser.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=1&format=feed District 24 http://d24.laserforum.org/?feed=rss2 The Laser Forum http://www.laserforum.org/external.php?type=RSS2
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(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
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39
Sailing Fit
MEKA TAULBEE ACE CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER
Exercise your wallet! Bet you didn’t expect to read about that type of exercise. Well the topic is a bit off my norm, but I hope you’ll enjoy it just the same. It has been coming to my attention that a lot of the youth sailors I expect to see at different regatta’s nationwide are not registered. Honestly since Kurt has been coaching and we have not been traveling as much I haven’t looked at the registration fees. So I started looking....wow prices have jumped. While I have my own opinions on the registration fees that are being charged, I’ll save that for another time and place. What concerns me is that there are some very talented sailors who are not out sailing because the fees are not affordable. Yes the economy is what it is and sailing is a hobby rather than a necessity(ok ok maybe it is a necessity but you get the idea). I can understand for the adults, but believe it or not there are some youth sailors who are paying their own way and some parents who may have lost their jobs due to the economy. Instead of seeing decreasing numbers at regatta’s or declining membership in the Laser class I would rather turn this into a positive. Imagine this. Say a regatta is coming to your area and you are not going to sail it or you have an extra practice boat. Now say there is a youth who can’t afford to charter a boat. Do you see where I am going with this.... Now imagine how good you would feel if you made it possible for that talented young sailor to get on the water and sail the regatta. Here’s another scenario.. You are going to a regatta and there is a youth who has a boat but the registration fee is just out of their price range. How good would you feel if you were able to help out. Many don’t realize it but these exact scenarios play out all the time. Here’s what I propose! Summer is coming and there are a ton of regattas and a ton of youth off of school just itching to get out on the water. If you aren’t going to sail or have an extra boat think about letting a youth sailor borrow it. Maybe in trade they can bring you coffee every morning or maybe just having them help you load and unload the boat is enough. Think about sponsoring a youth at a regatta and paying their registration fee or even just paying half. If your a youth sailor and someone is kind enough to do this for you remember to pay it forward somewhere
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Exercise Your Wallet
down the road. THE fun is definitely in giving more than the receiving. Do what you can for that person to let them know you appreciate it and then go out there and rip it up on the race course! Sounds simple enough doesn’t it. I understand it has it’s logistics but this is where I come in. If you are a sailor willing to give a little let me know. Tell me what event or what you think you can do. If you are a sailor that could use a little help then let me know. I’ll match everyone up and exchange contact info and help make it all go as smoothly as possible. If you are on either end and would feel more comfortable remaining anonymous that is fine to. Just tell me and I’ll be the middle man and not let on who is who. I’ve always enjoyed being around laser sailors young and not as young. I like how everyone is willing to lend a hand and eager to learn more. Yes, some of you are competitive at a high level, but others who have the talent and skill may never get
there because of silly reasons. In the end the sport should be enjoyable and a way to learn. What better way to achieve this than to lend a helping hand. As always, if you want to hear about a certain topic or have any questions about this topic feel free to contact me. You can always find me at www.sailfit.com or email directly to meka@sailfit.com. I look forward to hearing from you
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SPRING 2005
Want to win in 2009
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EDMONTON, AB 6126 Gateway Blvd Edmonton, AB. T6H 2H8 Tel: (780) 434-0101 Fax: (780) 434-0079
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You have a competitive boat You have good sails You are physically in top shape How is your mental game???
VANCOUVER, BC 1625 Powell Street Vancouver, BC. V5L 1H5 Tel: (604) 251-3455 Fax: (604) 251-3480
www.glenmoresailboats.com
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
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