the laser sailor summer 2007

SUMMER 2007

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

LaserSailor0707.qxp 7/10/07 9:01 AM

www.Laser.org

Official publication

of the International

Laser Class Association,

North American Region

2812 Canon Street

San Diego, CA 92106 USA

Phone: (619) 222-0252

Fax: (619) 222-0528

[email protected]

www.Laser.org

EditorsSherri Campbell & Jerelyn Biehl

ILCA-NA

OfficersTracy Usher

Chairman22 Creekside Lane

San Mateo, CA 94401

Phone: (650) 340-1129

[email protected]

Eric Faust

Vice Chairman821 East 53rd Street

Austin, TX 78751

Phone: (512) 467-1317

[email protected]

Ben Richardson

Treasurer5 Beachmont Avenue

Gloucester, MA 01930

Phone: (978) 283-6983

[email protected]

Lauralee Symes

Secretary3576 SW Mt. Adams Drive

Portland, OR 97239

Phone: (503) 274-2818

[email protected]

Tommy Wharton

At Large118 Glouchester Ave.

Oakville, ON L6J 3W4 Canada

Phone: 647-296-6544

[email protected]

Sherri Campbell

Executive Secretary2812 Canon Street

San Diego, CA 92106

Phone: (619) 222-0252

Fax: (619) 222-0528

[email protected]

S U M M E R 2 0 0 7

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

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

Membership Stats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

From the Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

ILCA-NA AGM summarized minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

US Elite Youth Development Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Laser Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14-15

Technical Tips: Heating Up Your Downwind Sailing . .16

Downwind Sail Trim 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

District Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20-25

2007 Event Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

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

Fleet Profile - Treasure Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Masters Sailing: NA’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Masters Sailing: US Nationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

2007 Vanguard NA Grand Prix Results . . . . . . . . . 34-35

Regatta Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Membership Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Sailing Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

5

Cover: Aerial photo of the USMaster Nationals, WrightsvilleBeach, SC.

Photo: Logan Mock-Buntingwww.scott-free.com


SUMMER 2007

District 1Andrew Childs, 5369 South Street #3,

Halifax, NS B3J 1A3

902-423-5919. [email protected]

District 2Denys Deschambeault, 5120 Du Havre,

Trois Rivieres, PQ G8Y 5Y9

819-372-0842

[email protected]

District 3Heinz Gebauer, 2205 Soth Millway- Unit 109

Mississauga, ON L5L 3T2


D3 website: www.d3laser.ca

District 4Tim Felbel, 10 Oakhurst Crest

Winnipeg, MD R2P 2L6

204-334-1953, [email protected]

District 5Mark Lammens

510 Cynthia St. Saskatoon, SK S7K 7K7


www.jdecm.com/laser

District 6Andy Hunt, 111-2260 W 8st Ave,

Vancouver BC, V6K 2A7

604-733-9663. Hotline: 206-525-5788.

[email protected]

www.cycseattle.org/slf

District 7Sally Sharp, 39 Caleb Dyer Lane

Enfield, NH 03748


D7 Newsletter

Chris Morin

[email protected]

207.775.5485

www.d7laserforum.org

District 8Lindsay Hewitt, 17 Ridge Road

Cold Spring, NY 11724. 631-692-4798

[email protected]

www.laserd8.tripod.com

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21

12

2019

18 11

13

1

FLORIDA

ALABAMA

MARYLAND

CALIFORNIACOLORADO

CONNECTICUT

DELAWARE

ARKANSAS

GEORGIA

IDAHO

IOWA

KANSAS KENTUCKY

LOUISIANA

MAINE

MASSACHUSETTSMICHIGAN

MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

MONTANA

NEBRASKA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NEW JERSEY

NORTHCAROLINA

NORTH DAKOTA

OHIO

OKLAHOMA

OREGON

PENNSYLVANIA

RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH CAROLINA

SOUTH DAKOTA

TENNESSEE

TEXAS

UTAH

VERMONT

VIRGINIA

WEST VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON

WISCONSIN WYOMING

INDIANA

ILLINOIS

NEW MEXICO

ARIZONA

6

5

22

NEVADA

24

23

25

15

4

3 2

7

810

NEW YORK

9

17

14PUERTO RICO AND

THE CARIBBEAN

29

ALBERTABRITISH COLUMBIA

NEW BRUNSWICKMANITOBA

NOVA SCOTIAONTARIO

QUEBECSASKATCHEWAN

7

HAWAII26

District 9Chas Williamson, 9 Lagrand Court

Ithaca, NY 14850


District 10Eric Reitinger

[email protected]

New Jersey

District 11Jon Deutsch

411 N. Blvd. Apt. 2, Richmond, VA 23220


http://www.laserdistrict11.org

District 12Arland Whitesides, 14 W. Oxford St.

Wrightsville Beach, NC, 28480

[email protected]

www.d12.laserforum.org

District 13Meka Taulbee, 953 Cedarwood Dr.

Dunedin, FL 34968


www.laser.org/m/_general/d13.asp

District 14Cal Herman, 7038 Catina St

New Orleans, LA 70124, 504-282-1770

[email protected]

District 15Renee Ruais

512-266-7088

[email protected]

www.cerebus.winsite.com/Laser/districts/d15/

District 16Tim Fitzgerald, 2322 Bromfield Circle

Wichita, KS, 67226, 316-650-3636

[email protected]

District 17John E. Coolidge, Jr., 1113 Hanover St, Chat-

tanooga, TN 37405, 423-309-1926

[email protected]

District 18John Shockey

614-256-2254

[email protected]

District 19Sean Fidler

Michigan

[email protected]

District 20Dave Abbott, 2129 West Shore Dr.

Delafield, WI 53018


www.cerebus.winsite.com/district/d20/

District 21Mike Elson 2235 West 21st Street

Minneapolis, MN 55405

621-377-8903 [email protected]

www.cerebus.winsite.com/laser/district/d21

District 22Orrin Webber, 460 Orchard Ridge Rd

Kalispell, MT 59901


District 23Larry Arbuthnot

PO Box 132, Nederland, CO 80466

www.sailtherockies.com

District 24David Lapier


www.technicalwizardry.com/d24laser/d24

District 25Nils Andersson, 13460 Hwy 8 SPC #92 Lakeside,

CA 92040-5228


groups.yahoo.com/group/nalaserdistrict25

District 26Guy Fleming, 44-392 Olina St. #6

Kaneohe, HI 96744-2617


6


www.Laser.org

6th Caribbean LaserMidwinter Regatta

January 11-13, 2008

Reserve your boat now!

7


SUMMER 2007

Reports President’s Notes

TRACY USHER

8

It has already been a fantastic year for

sailing in North America as you will be

able to tell from reading the reports

from those major events that are already

complete. Still, while it does seem like the major events

have really been front loaded this year (mostly because of

the early dates for the ISAF Sailing World Championships),

there is plenty of sailing yet to come with several more

major events (PCC’s, the Great Lakes, CORK and the US

Championships) all still to come. And if you are a Master

then there are yet even more events on the schedule all

leading up to the big one: the Master Worlds in Spain

(which has already broken the record for the most entries!)

at the end of September. Check out all the upcoming events,

and much more, at www.laser.org!

For almost all of us Summer means getting out and racing

in our local fleet races, whether than means weekend series

races or weekday evening beercan races. For a good many

of us, this kind of racing may be all we do during a typical

year unless a major event happens by in our neighborhood.

To help recognize the role that fleets play in our everyday

Laser lives, TLS has started a new series which aims to pro-

file fleets from around the North American Region in each

issue. The idea is to not only let you know about some fleet

activity in your area but also to help other fleets by seeing

what things work in helping to build fleets, get people out

racing and, more than anything else, make sure everyone

has fun. This series starts off showcasing smaller fleets on

the assumption that the larger fleets are so well known as to

not need advertising (e.g. the Cedar Point Yacht Club Laser

Fleet, the biggest and most successful fleet in North Ameri-

ca).

Want to find a fleet in your area? You can find a listing of

fleets known to the Laser Class office at www.laser.org (go

to the District pages, select your district and there should be

a list of fleet). Don’t see your fleet listed? Let us know!

Send the information to the Laser Class office and they will

be happy to get your fleet’s information posted to the web-

site. Want to see your fleet profiled in TLS? Again, drop the

Laser Class office a line and they will be happy to help,

especially if it gets more people out sailing!

See you on the water!

Tracy


www.Laser.org 9

District Members1 23

2 27

3 121

4 7

5 36

6 113

7 255

8 95

9 36

10 120

11 157

12 87

13 156

14 22

15 70

16 18

17 17

18 72

19 73

20 96

21 44

22 1

23 30

24 101

25 150

26 7

ILCA-NA MembershipAs of April 26, 2007

Regular 1328

Junior 334

Family, 1 236

Family, 2 72

Family, 3 8

International 2

Total 1980

Complimentary 140

Honorary 5

New 379

Renewals 1453

Yacht Club 3

Total 1980

Age Categories:

• 402 Juniors (not 18 in2007)• 1097 Masters (35+)

Gender Categories:

• 1673 Male• 290 Female• 17 “undisclosed”

Boat Categories:

• 457 Radial• 12 4.7• 1455 Full Rig

4.7 Sailors!Are you going to the 2007 4.7 Worlds inSouth Africa next December/January?If you are and would like to be considered for a US

SAILING grant through ILCA-NA, please forward yourresume to the ILCA-NA office by September 1, 2007.


SUMMER 200710

From the Builder

New Owner. Bright Future.

NED JONES

As you have most likely heard, Pefor-

mance Sailcraft Europe (PSE), Laser

builder for Europe and most of Asia,

purchased Vanguard Sailboats in April.

The merging of the two companies cre-

ates a global enterprise capable of sup-

plying small boats and accessories

world wide. This is a positive move for

the sport of sailing and dinghy sailing

in particular. Chip Johns and Steve

Clark owned and operated Vanguard

Sailboats for over twenty years, grow-

ing the business every year. The Laser

and Sunfish brands were added to the

Vanguard line in 1997. With the addi-

tion of the PSE line of boats, Vanguard

becomes a global brand with enormous

potential to bring greater value to sail-

ing and its customers.

Sail Number No longer in Hull

Number

Starting later this summer with 2008

model year boats, the ISAF issued sail

number will no longer be molded into

the transom of Lasers. The ISAF issued

sail number plaque will still be affixed

to the interior of the cockpit. This

change will allow Vanguard to better

control inventory and ship the latest

sail numbers more easily from the fac-

tory. A listing of the HIN and the corre-

sponding sail number will be listed on

www.teamvanguard.com so that you

can identify your sail number should

the ISAF plaque in the cockpit become

unreadable.

Composite Radial Upper Mast

Composite Radial upper mast testing

will continue through the summer and

the World Council will take up the sub-

ject at its meeting this fall. As I have

mentioned before, the testing is show-

ing some promising results. This is a

tedious process and all precautions are

being taken to make sure if and when

this spar is approved for use, it will

perform to the criteria that was set

when the project began.

Summer is Here

Most importantly, more than any of the

printed words in this issue of The

Laser Sailor, go sailing. Rig your

Laser, or borrow a friend’s boat. Go for

a day sail across the pond, or compete

in a major regatta. Sailing Lasers is

why we are brought together here.

There is something special about shov-

ing off the dock or beach, and getting

underway. The Laser way.


SUMMER 2007

Laser E-MallHave you tried out the new Laser eMall? Now you can sup-port the Laser Class of North America every time you shoponline. Go to www.laser.org and click on the Laser eMall button.From there choose your online store. When you make yourpurchase, a percentage of your purchase total goes to theclass association at no cost to you. Every time you make apurchase from a store through the eMall, the class gets acontribution from the retailer. You get the same productsfor the same price through the eMall, but eMall allows you to support the ILCA-NA, atno extra cost to you.

International Laser Class Association, NorthAmerican Region

Hyannis Yacht Club, Hyannis, MassachusettsSummarized Minutes

The meeting was called to order at 4:35pm byTreasurer Ben Richardson.Sherri Campbell presented the class financial state-

ments as of May 31, 2007. Campbell reported that we are in good financial standing. Our membershipnumbers are consistent with the same time last year.She reported that the new online database is up andrunning. There is continued effort to improve The LaserSailor and the website. She asked for materials, photosand ideas to be sent to the class office at any time.

Future regattas were discussed and everyonewas reminded to check the calendar entries on theclass website.

Ned Jones from Vanguard/PSE gave a reportsummarizing the recent acquisition of Vanguard byGavel Securities Limited. He sees this as a positivestep for Vanguard and expects that the impact to ILCA-NA will be good. Derek Stowe asked for comment onthe status of the financial support by Vanguard to ILCA-NA. Jones commented that Vanguard’s intention wasto decrease that support in the future and that heexpected that PSE would favor the same move.Richardson and Campbell both spoke to the high levelof impact of the ILCA-NA on the marketing of the Vanguard product and remarked that strong negotiation

on behalf of the class would take place. Jones summarized the Radial composite mast section proj-ect. They are currently testing the third version ofthe part on a worldwide basis. The intention of thenew technology would be to broaden the weightrange of the competitive Radial sailor, particularly tothe lighter weight sailor. The initial price range is forthe part to be three times the cost of the current sec-tion with the idea that with proper care, only onesection would need to be purchase and replacementneeds would be minimal compared to the currentnon-composite product. Several coaches and teamleaders in North American had been sent test sec-tions for use with their groups. He outlined that aformal testing procedure was in place with multipleusers in varying conditions and forms provided byVanguard to be completed by the testing group. Allfeedback worldwide is expected to be collected andanalyzed for a report to the ILCA World Council attheir next meeting to be held in Spain in earlyOctober. At that time it is expected that a decisionwill be made with respect to forwarding the idea toISAF for possible approval as Olympic class equip-ment for use beginning after the 2008 Olympics.The meeting was adjourned at 5:45pm.

ILCA-NA

Annual General Meeting June 15, 2007

12


www.Laser.org

US SAILING, national governing body for the sport, haschosen six talented sailors to the US Elite Youth Development Sailing Team, which was created thisyear. In May, Claire Dennis was added to the team.These young athletes – all under 21 years old - havebeen identified as future Olympian prospects in theLaser and Laser Radial classes. This year, three LaserFull Rig sailors and three Laser Radial sailors havebeen selected from a pool of over 60 candidates.

The members of the 2007 US Elite Youth DevelopmentSailing Team are: Emily Billing (Clearwater, Fla.), AnneHaeger (Lake Forest, Ill.), Sarah Lihan (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), Luke Lawrence (Palm City, Fla.), KyleRogachenko (Collegeville, Pa.) and Fred Strammer

(Nokomis, Fla.) and Claire Dennis (CA).

For pictures and bios of the US Elite Youth Development Sailing Team members, please visit theTeam web site:

http://www.ussailing.org/olympics/EYDT/2007/team.asp

US SAILING created the US Elite Youth DevelopmentSailing Team this year to provide a national coaching,educational, administrative and financial support struc-ture for the country’s top youth sailors and futureOlympic prospects in the Laser and Laser Radial.These athletes will travel to major international regattaswith the guidance of elite-level coaches in order to gainmore competitive sailing experience against the best inthe world. In order to qualify for the Team, sailors mustbe younger than 21 years old.

“The Elite Youth Development Team identifies the best,young sailors in the USA and provides an opportunityfor them to gain further experience in international-levelsailing,” said High Performance Director and HeadCoach Gary Bodie (Hampton, Va.). “We plan to shareour hard-won lessons on competing abroad.”

The US Elite Youth Development Sailing Team is man-aged by US SAILING, national governing body of thesport. Headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USSAILING’s mission is to encourage participation andpromote excellence in sailing in the U.S. US SAILINGoffers training and education programs, supports a widerange of sailing organizations and communities, andprovides administration and oversight of competitivesailing across the country, including the US SailingTeams and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic SailingTeams. For more information, please visit www.ussail-

ing.org.

US SAILING Chooses Sailors to

New

US Elite Youth Development

13


SUMMER 200714

Laser Profiles

Name: Sydney Jones

Occupation:Student/sailor

City/state/province: St.Croix, USVI

Age: 17

I sail a radial Laser

I’ve been sailing since I was 13 andsailing a Laser for 2 years.

In the last year, I’ve sailed my Laseran uncountable number of days andraced in 10-15 regattas.

The last regatta I sailed in was

CROOD and I got a 1st place overall & hadfun sailing against the crazy old people inmy Yacht Club.

My hero is my parents because they havealways been there & supporte me througheverything.

My favorite part of racing a Laser isgoing fast & surfing waves & reaches &downwind.

At the end of a long day of sailing, Ilike to eat then go straight to sleep!

What other Laser sailor has helpedyou the most with your Laser sailing?Hmmm, that’s hard, probably ThomasBarrows.

If I had an unlimited bank account,I’d go crazy.

I’d like to see more Laser sailors fromthe Caribbean go & compete outside ofthe Caribbean.

Name: Mike Gilbert

Occupation: Architect

City/state/province:Missoula, Montana andthe Great Northwest.Mike & son AustinAge: 40...something (noobie Master)

I sail a full (sometimes empty) LaserI’ve been sailing since I was maybe 8, with ahuge gap in the middle, and sailing a Laser for1.5 years.

In the last year, I’ve sailed my Laser 10 daysand raced in one regatta.

The last regatta I sailed in was the District 22champs and this happened:

In my first real Laser racing experi-ence, I borrowed an old 70’s boat which leakedbadly. First, I tripped over the strap and wentover the side – boat kept going, I pulled myself upthe transom. Then I tried a big roll tack and wentin backwards. Next, the tiller extension snappedoff and I had to sail it with a solid duct tape joint.But I actually beat several boats!My hero is my Dad because he sacrificed somuch to help others.

My favorite parts of racing a Laser are beatingsomeone to the mark, blasting along on a reach,meeting new people, and the chance to sail ininteresting places.

At the end of a long day of sailing, I like to liedown in the grass and rest!

What other Laser sailor has helped you themost with your Laser sailing? Jim Christopher from CA, who helped me with rig-ging and strategy.

If I had an unlimited bank account, I’d edu-cate every child everywhere. Then I’d get a fleetof used Lasers to teach local kids to sail.I’d like to see more Laser sailors in my district,on Flathead Lake!


www.Laser.org 15

Laser Profiles

Name: KenRobinson

Occupation: President –Engineered TextileProducts (We makeRace Marks).

City/state/province: Mobile, AL

Age: 39

I sail a Full Laser

I’ve been sailing since I was 10 andsailing a Laser for 25 years.

In the last year, I’ve sailed my Laser 20number of days and raced in 3 regattas.

The last regatta I sailed in was O’dayQuarter Finals and out of 5 boats, Iwon 2 of 3 races. I appreciate the 3 nonLaser sailors who came out just for fun.

My hero is Green Lantern because he canuse his will power to accomplish anything!

My favorite part of racing a Laser isendorphins from a really physical upwind legAt the end of a long day of sailing, Ilike to drink a beer

What other Laser sailor has helped youthe most with your Laser sailing ZaneYoder

If I had an unlimited bank account, I’deliminate disease & hunger and achieveworld peace.

I’d like to see more Laser sailors behindme.

Name: Ashley LeGros

Occupation: StudentCity/state/province:Jeanerette Louisiana

Age: 17

I sail a radial Laser

I’ve been sailing since I was 8 years oldand sailing a Laser for about 2 yearsIn the last year, I’ve sailed my Laser 50number of days and raced in 8 regattas.The last regatta I sailed in wasClosing regatta and I was the only one whoshowed up but the race committee let merace (or really practice)

My heroes are my parents becauseThey are the ones who got me into sailingand they have always supported me in myendeavors

My favorite part of racing a Laser ismeeting all sorts of people from all over At the end of a long day of sailing, I liketo take a long nap

What other Laser sailor has helped youthe most with your Laser sailing? Mybrother Geoff has helped me the most withthe Laser by teaching me all sorts of littlethings and giving me friendly competitionbetween family members

If I had an unlimited bank account, I’ddefinitely travel more to sail

I’d like to see more Laser sailors notworry just about the competition but alsohave fun with new people


SUMMER 200716

Heating Up Your

Downwind SailingANDREW CAMPBELL

We have all felt slow downwind atsome point in our Laser sailingcareers. Luckily for all of us, down-wind sailing is the single easiestplace to make lasting impacts inour overall game. Very few people,maybe ten in the world at any giventime can really be called experts inthe field of downwind Laser sailing.So, be not afraid, you are not aloneif you feel like you could use somework. We all can usehelp, and happily, we allcan improve. Here arethree quick and easyways to make stridestowards better down-wind sailing. First, trysailing wider, broader,and hotter angles.Second, look for breezeinstead of worrying somuch about technique.And third, get off yourbutt and put yourweight on your toes. Before youlaugh me off and thumb away toanother article, let me explain…

Heat it up, or downOften the biggest differencebetween fast and average down-wind sailing is in the angles. It iscommon Laser jargon to talk a lotabout the magic S-turn as the “beall and end all” of going well off thebreeze. Why do we use the S-turn?Rationally isn’t the fastest pathbetween the windward mark andthe leeward mark a straight linebetween the two? How can a bunch of scalloping turns possiblybe a good thing? Yes. That’s thesimple answer. No matter how youlook at it, the kinetic nature of theLaser demands movement andangle change to jumpstart VMG.

However, instead of describing withgreat amounts of vague languageand useless description of “feel,”there is one trick to consider a starting point for better speed: sailbigger angles. If we sail the boatdead downwind, hanging onto thecenterboard and sitting on ourbutts, the boat will likely be slowerthan potential target speed themajority of the time.

When the boat feels slow try bear-ing away a bit, and sailing furtherby-the-lee, or heading up a bit to abroad reach. What should happen is that the angle change in theboat’s direction causes the appar-ent wind over the sails will increaseas you sail relatively closer to thetrue wind angle. The Laser, like any

other boat, likes sailing thesebroader angles off the breeze.Unfortunately, especially in flatwater, it is very common to seeLasers cruise down a leg withoutever changing course away fromthe mark. In almost every otherclass in the world it is commonknowledge that in most conditionsyou must sail proper gybing anglesin order to get the most perform-ance out of the boat. The beauty ofthe Laser is that you can sail bothgybing angles on both gybes. Wedo not have to gybe in order to sail45 degrees of angle away fromdead-downwind thanks to by-the-lee sailing. So use it! If you findyourself going slow… sail hotter.Take it up, or deeper, which everymakes the most sense strategically,but make that apparent wind do the

work for you. This may demandsome changes in your control set-tings. For instance that boomvangmight have to be cracked off a bit inorder to sail deeper. Inversely, thevang may have to be tightenedslightly to sail a faster broad reach.Try not to over do it at first. Try it inpractice and see what you feel comfortable with, and then go a lit-tle bit looser to see what your madeof. Usually improvements in sailingare made in the realm of theuncomfortable. Never be afraid totry things slightly more out of yourcontrol. Practice until you knowwhere your boundaries are, and theenhanced speed will eventuallyshow.

Keep your head on a swivelOne of the best ways to make yourself look like a fantastic down-wind ace is to sail your boat inmore wind. If it were only that sim-ple, right? It can be.

With all the technique in the world,it is impossible to win withoutdecent tactical awareness of what is happening to the breeze. That iswhy it should be more emphasizedwhen talking about downwind tech-nique to keep your head on a swiv-el looking upwind behind you forchanges in breeze and downwind in front of you for potential waves toride. Often clinicians and coacheswill talk and talk and talk aboutdownwind technique and feel that ispossible for everyone to understandand pick up after years of practiceand competition. This is fine, andoften times can lend small pointstoward the improvement of sailor’sdownwind speed. If you sail in thepuffs with mediocre technique onthe same course as Larry Laser Ace with great technique, but Larryis in a lull, it is almost guaranteedthat you are going faster. Oftentimes the guys with good techniqueare better at sailing in better breezebecause both skills develop aftermore time on the water. But, it isimportant to acknowledge the rolethat wind-spotting and wave-finding

Technical Tips


www.Laser.org 17

can play in successful downwindsailing.

By looking aft every fifteen or twen-

ty seconds, not only do we makesure that we have clear lane, but we can also see puffs coming downthe racecourse. When we do seepuffs that we can sail into, now is agood time to employ our recentlygained skill of sailing deeper, orreaching hotter across the leg to get into that breeze. It might not befast to reach all the way acrossfrom one side of the leg and backten times in a leg, but having theskill set necessary to heat it up andget into a little extra breeze canmake a big impact on perceiveddownwind speed. By sailing inmore breeze on average, you willget comments like: “Hey, Ralph,you’re extra hundred hours lastmonth working on downwind sailinghave really paid off!” Ralph, mean-while is snickering to himself,because he was just sailing in morewind. By keeping your eyes out ofthe boat, looking around for darkerwater, Ralph can come across to the rest of the fleet as having someRobert Scheidt-style talent. Themost basic principle in sailing isthat more wind equals more boat-speed. The Laser is no exception.Use your eyes to your advantage,search out breeze and watch thedownwind speed improve.

Get off your buttNext step to better downwind sail-ing is to use your legs. “What!?!”

You may beasking yourself.No joke, and Ihate to break itto you, but youmay start feel-ing the burn inyour legs on the downwindlegs now too.And, it is for thebetter. By con-centrating themajority of ourbody weight in

about eight knots or more onto theballs of our feet instead of our buttson the rail we can drasticallyimprove the kinetic power of theboat. Taking the weight off the railunder your butt and putting it intothe floor under your feet can makea significant difference in how youfeel your boat’s natural rock andturn in the waves and water. Inlighter wind conditions in mayindeed be necessary to hook yourleg under the hiking strap in orderto heel the boat over. That is fine,but in breeze where the boat willheel itself over just on by-the-leepressure on the mainsail, it thenbecomes necessary to activelycounter that energy with pressurefrom your toes and legs into thebottom of the cockpit, and maybe ahand on the leeward rail at times.Finn sailors and Laser sailors alikehave the same conundrum, and Iheard this concept from a Finnsailor, and did not even realize thatI was doing it. Whenever you feelas though you are getting slow,often times it coincides with amoment of sloth in your body’sactivity level. If we shift the weightoff of our rear-ends and into ourfeet we can then sail deeper andwith more pressure against our sails (a point of possible improve-ment conveniently listed earlier inthis article). More pressure in themainsail is a symptom of more

apparent wind and speed is anunavoidable consequence of moreapparent wind!

Get out and try itOf course, all downwind speedcomes from experience and experi-mentation. If you are willing tospend time concentrating on down-wind sailing, and trying things out-side of your comfort zone, then youwill find yourself able to improve.This is true for any aspect of yoursailing. It is also important to knowthat there are a thousand otherdetails involved with downwind sail-ing that can lead to increasedspeed. You know the vast majorityof them, but the three tricks in thisarticle are just three that sometimesget overlooked in Laser sailing.Don’t be fooled by the by-the-leedinghy. Sailing the downwindangles is still necessary and sailingin the most breeze on the race-course is still necessary. The lastpoint is to keep on your toes. Thisis an important one. As you experi-ment and strive to improve, youmay find the boat getting wobblyand might find your boat upsidedown from time to time. Don’t fret,you are not alone in the desire toimprove, and you’re not the onlyone turning over. I turned overthree times in one practice lastmonth preparing for the WorldChapionships in Portugal. A quickgrimace turns into a smile as welearn from how fast the boat feltjust before the capsize. Keep up the good work, spend the time onthe water and the improvementswill come.

About the author: Andrew Campbell is no stranger to our reg-ular Laser Sailor readers. As amember of the US Sailing Team,Andrew is currently on the cam-paign trail and was able to squeezein this technical article betweenpractice sessions. For more infor-mation, sailing advice and a lookinto daily life on the campaign trail,visit www.campbellsailing.com.

Special thanks for JohnPayne forfinding great photos for this article.


SUMMER 200718

Downwind Sail Trim 101MIKE JOHNSON

It is my opinion that sailing downwind fast is mostly afunction of finesse (anticipation, body mechanics,steering, wave placement, S turning, …) combinedwith the proper setup of the rig and sail trim to providemaximum power. This essay will attempt to lay somegroundwork for proper rig setup and sail trim for max-imum power downwind. It is by no means authoritativeand I believe there are many debatable topics in thisarea.

This issue will focus only on conditions where surfingor planning is possible (>8 knots of wind and >1 ftsea). Many of the concepts discussed also apply inlight winds, however going through all the exceptionswould dilute the central theme. Please keep thiscaveat in mind.

TwistTwist is the curve the leech takes when the sail isunder load. Twist is sometimes measured by a com-parison in the angle of the top batten relative to theboom. For example, zero twist is when the top battenis parallel to the boom. Twist can also be measuredby comparing the relative angles of each batten to one

another. When going downwind the twist is mostlycontrolled with the boom vang tension.

Active LeechAs the sail loads up due to a puff or added resistanceof stuffing the bow into a wave, the upper roach willfall off to leeward creating twist. When the sailunloads after the puff, the roach returns to the neutralposition. When the leech is said to be “active” it willeasily oscillate about the neutral position without anyhelp from body kinetics. Michael Blackburn usesthese words to describe the concept: “The leech shouldmove 2 to 3 foot of its own accord”. A good compari-son is a spring that moves back and forth after a forceis applied. Andy Vance says the leech should be“springy”. This natural action can be easily mistakenby a judge as “leech flick” if the motion appears to berhythmically timed with body movement or mainsheetpumps. Watch the following video clip to see RobertSheidt demonstrating this concept (fast fwd to 2:15).http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4270530856689008464

Velocity Made Good (VMG)When sailing a course other than straight downwindyour boat speed vector can be broken into two com-ponents: 1) dead downwind; and 2) perpendicular todead downwind. VMG is the magnitude of compo-nent (1). If you luff to a beam reach, your VMG dropsto zero. This concept is important when consideringwhether to momentarily sacrifice VMG to go after awave that may result in a ride that provides doublethe VMG if you just remained on the downwindcourse.

Sail TrimRemember the caveat that this guide only applieswhen surfing conditions exist. At the windward markit is most common to set the cunningham, outhaul,and vang for the conditions. Once on the run it isuncommon to adjust the trim of any control other thanthe mainsheet and the tiller. The only exception tothis is after a significant change to the wind (velocityor direction). Given this assumption, it is critical to setthe cunningham, outhaul, and vang properly to getthe maximum thrust from the sail. Here is a discus-sion of each setting along with my rules of thumb.

Cunningham Pretty simple. All the way off in all butvery high wind. End of story.

Outhaul The outhaul and vang settings share asymbiotic relationship. If the vang setting is left aloneas you ease the outhaul, the foot moves toward themast and the leech tension will decrease and createtwist. To achieve an active leech, it is critical tomatch the outhaul setting with a correct vang setting.

At the 2000 Cancun Master Worlds I arrived two days

Technical Tips


www.Laser.org 19

early and watched the finals of the Senior Worlds.Scheidt, Ainsle, Blackburn, Suneson, and many otherdownwind maestros were 4 months away from theSydney Olympics and we had 12 to 18 knots with 2 to3 ft seas in water that looked like a very clean swim-ming pool. It was downwind heaven. I walked aroundthe beach one morning and noticed that almost everyboat had a similar outhaul rig. This was in the dayswhen the outhaul was cleated on the boom and thepurchase was achieved by wrapping the tail around themast and back to several thimbles. I noticed that whenevery outhaul was eased all the way to the knot (han-dle) the clew grommet was always about 9 to 10 inch-es from the fairlead on the boom. Watching the Goldfleet round the weather mark, every boat eased theouthaul so the knot went all the way to the thimble andthus the 9 to 10” setting. After seeing this I concludethe optimum setting for almost all times when surfingand planning conditions exist is having the clew grom-met 9 to 10” from the fairlead. When in Rome...

Boom VangSimilar to the symbiotic relationship described above,the vang and the mainsheet share a symbiotic relation-ship. Given a standard outhaul setting as statedabove, the optimum vang setting to achieve the activeleech concept will vary slightly depending on the windand sea state. It has been said that the top and middlebattens should be kept parallel to one another and alsokept 90 degrees to the boats centerline. Not enoughvang tension will create a situation where the top bat-ten is slightly more twisted than the middle batten. Toomuch vang tension will create a situation where theleech will not react to a load / unload and therefore willbe “inactive”. The optimum vang setting to achieve anactive leech is somewhere between these extremes and necessitates finding the optimum amount of twist.

My theory is that between 8 to 20 knots of breeze, onevang setting can do the job. This “one size fits all” set-ting is probably not what the pro sailors would sub-scribe to, however I have found it to be just fine for pro-viding an active leech through this wind range. Thistheory assumes that the main sheet performs the finetune and the vang the coarse tune, thus the symbiosisbetween these two settings. For those that do not sub-scribe to this theory, I’d like to hear yours.

I recommend placing a stopper knot in the vang tail soat the windward mark all that is required is to un-cleat itand let it run to the stop knot. In the upper windranges it will be necessary to pull the line in a few inch-es to limit twist. To determine where to put the stopperknot here is a procedure I use.

--Attach the vang to the mast and boom. Put the boomin the gooseneck and lift the end of the boom until the

vang purchases goes tight.--Put the sail on the mast.--Grab the clew in one hand and the end of the boomin the other.--Pull down and aft on the sails leech (without bendingthe mast) and lift up on the boom (without bending theboom).--The vang stopper knot should be adjusted so the clew grommet is about 4-5 inches above the top of theboom.--When you get a new sail (not yet stretched) it may benecessary to adjust the stopper knot if you have previ-ously been using a relatively blown out sail.Steps 1 to 6 should get you in the ball park and mayrequire some fine tuning to achieve the ultimate “activeleech”.

This procedure sets the position of the stopper knot sothat when fully eased the vang is in its loosest setting.

MainsheetAs stated earlier, the main sheet trim shares a symbiot-ic relationship with the vang setting. While the vang isset to achieve an active leech, the main sheet is used tokeep the top two battens perpendicular to the boat centerline. As wind speed increases the average loadon the sail increases, and therefore the twist increases.This requires that the boom always be trimmed at anangle less than 90 degrees to the centerline.

To keep things simple and allow the majority of focusto be on the finesse aspects of downwind sailing, Iplaced a mark on my main sheet that is 25 ft-6 in. fromthe end that ties to the becket. When this mark alignswith the forward boom block I am at the optimum trimfor sailing dead downwind in the 8 to 20 knot windrange. This is only true given the previous discussionof the outhaul and vang settings and the symbiotic rela-tionships. While this is another “one size fits all” the-ory, it is not something that I think should be rigidlyadhered to. Since the main sheet is in your hand, themark is helpful to keep the sail at near its optimum trimand not be grossly out of trim. When sailing by the leethe mark is eased 8 to 12 inches and similarly whenheating up it is tighter by 8 to 12 inches. The markmay need to be moved slightly to match your style;however I suggest the 25’6” as a starting point.

My hope is that this guide will stimulate some experi-mentation and fine tuning of the theories made. Thereare many theories on what is fast and what is not. One irrefutable fact is that time in the boat (TIB) will dothe most to improve your downwind performance.Getting the rig tune and sail trim create the frameworkthat allow the TIB to be most effective. Good sailing.


SUMMER 200720

District ReportsDistrict 2

Deny Deschambeault

Trois Rivieres, QuebecWe are exploring any way to increase participation

in the district. There seem to be plenty of regattas

for Youth sailors but not enough for regular Laser

sailors. We are hoping to get another person in the

district to help with getting more sailors to partici-

pate in the few regattas we have and to help to

encourage established regattas to add the Laser fleet

to their event. While the Canadian dollar has

gained strength making new Lasers more afford-

able, there are still concerns about the quality of the

boats which may deters some potential buyers

District 4 Secretary

Tim Felbel

Winnipeg, ManitobaBig Storms Bring Big Winds!

After a bit of a slow start to the sailing season

things are certainly heating up here in district 4.

While most “land lover’s” are complaining about

the many summer storms, sailors all over the

province have been happier than ever as the low

pressure systems have been bringing spawning

bumper winds.

While it’s not very often that a sailor will com-

plain about too much wind, last month many sailors

at the Gimli Yacht Club did just that after winds hit

with gusts up to 150 kph in the early hours of the

morning. Fortunately there was little to no damage

on the laser fleet, just another great story to share

after a long day of racing.

As most of the summer regattas are yet to take

place there are no results available to publish how-

ever make sure to keep checking the Manitoba Sail-

ing Association website at www.sailmanitoba.com

for updates and results throughout the summer

months.

District 5

Mark Lammens

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan2 regattas in 1 weekend. At the Wascana Short

Course in Regina, it was the battle of the brothers,

the Fabulous Baker Boys, finished 1,2. David fin-

ished in the top 3 in the first 7 races and held on

with the late charge from Craig who won the last 2

races. Both Sailors represented MN at 2 Canada

Games and are still active and, as reflected by the

score and other sailors, fast. “Lagatchie”, Paul

Lagace finished 3rd.

In the Radial Fleet, National Champion and Past

National Team athlete Tanje Smutny had 5 top 3’s

(and a 16th) in the mixed fleet for the win. Jocelyn

McLaren was 2nd thanks to a 7,7,2 in the last 3

races. Canada Games silver medalist Paloma Corrin

finished 3rd. 20 boats 10 races no drops and the boat

handling improved quickly. The racing was tight and

the wind gusty and shifty. Swimming skills also

improved..............everyone slept well.

At the Icebreaker spring regatta at the Regina SC

on the Sunday and Monday, the only thing that

stayed the same was Tanje Smutny winning the

Radials again. However she had to win the last 2

races and get some breaks to beat sister Katje Smut-

ny. Katje is also a National Champion in the 29er

and sailed a boat older then her. She is fast and

smart, a good combination. Paloma was 3rd.

In the Laser, the battle this time was between

training partners from Calgary, Eric and Ian. Ian

made an excellent bid but Eric sailed well and con-

sistent dropping a 3rd. Eric has maintained his

National Champion form from 2 years ago and is

still going very well. He was very concerned about a

7 hour car ride if it was a different result. Payton

Byrns finished 3rd.

A big thank you to the Regina Sailing Club, Patty

Coons and her RC team of Mark, Sandy, Judy,

Kevin, Stefan, Helen and others. The Regina SC is

an excellent venue, Race Management was very

good and this event is a great way to start a fun year

of racing.

See you next week at the Calgary YC for their

Icebreaker Regatta. This event is always well run,

well supported and great racing.

District 6

Andy Hunt

Vancouver, British ColombiaIn addition to the usual slate of regattas in British

Columbia and Washington State, there has been

local weekend and evening racing at local clubs.

The Jericho Sailing Centre has racing on every non-

regatta Sunday until the end of August and then

every two weeks until the end of October.

There is also the most popular racing series, the

Tuesday Night Racing Series. This series happens

every Tuesday Night until mid-September. The

average turnout for the Lasers on Tuesday Nights is

8 Lasers. Results for both Sunday and Tuesday

evenings can be found by going to the following

website: www.jerichorace.com. The Bellingham

Yacht Club also has racing on Tuesday evenings

until September 11th. No results are posted as yet

but please go to their website (www.byc.org) for

more information. The Corinthian Yacht Club of

Seattle has racing every Thursday evenings until

July 19th. There are 33 Lasers registered for the

Thursday evening racing program with an average

turnout of 17 Lasers. Five of the 33 Lasers have not

yet participated in a Thursday race. Results for the

Thursday Night Series can be found on the website:

www.cycseattle.org/slf (schedule).

The 2006/2007 District 6 Frostbite Series is

now over. The series has been going on for around

25 years. It starts out with the Bluenose Regatta,

hosted by the Kitsilano Yacht Club in November

and ends with the Flights of Spring Regatta, hosted

by the Jericho Laser Fleet at the Jericho Sailing

Centre in April.

Both Lasers and Radials are scored in the series

using a best 4 of 5 format. If there are no Radials at

a regatta, the Radials are then scored using a differ-

ent format. This year they were scored using a best

3 of 3 format. The five regattas that make up the

series are: Bluenose Regatta, Frigid Digit Regatta,

Frozen Assets Regatta, March Madness Regatta and

the Flights of Spring Regatta. Only one Laser sailor

competed in more than two regattas and that sailor,

Jacek Suski, won the overall title. Jacek competed

in four of the five regattas and also won the iron-

man mention. 57 Laser sailors competed in at least

one regatta. There were 23 Radial sailors who com-

peted in the series but none who competed in all

three regattas that had a Radial component. The

Frigid Digit had the most Laser sailors with a total

of 31 while the Bluenose Regatta had the most

Radial sailors with a total of 13. Most of the Laser

and Radial sailors who competed in the Frostbite

Series either came from the Seattle area or were

from the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club.

It seems as though that unless the Seattle area

sailors the the RVYC race team decide to travel,

attendance will continue to suffer at regattas that are

hosted by clubs either than CYC or RVYC. The top

ten Laser sailors are: Jacek Suski, JSCA, 15.00;

Luke Ramsay, RVYC, 23.00; Abe Torchinsky,

RVYC, 25.00; Greg Miller, RVicYC, 27.00; Kevin

Grierson, RVYC, 28.00; Dalton Bergan, SYC,

31.00; Mike Karas, CYC, 32.00; Brendan Fahey,

NKSC, 33.00; Andy Mack, CYC, 34.00; Jay Win-

berg, CYC, 34.00. The top seven Radial sailors are:

Alanna Vitteray, RVYC, 11.00; Isabella Bertold,

RVYC, 12.00; Michael Schalka, SYC/RVYC, 14.00;

Jen Spalding, RVYC, 18.00; Ricardo Montemayor,

RVYC, 18.00; Kelsey Shugg, RVYC, 22.00;

Sebastien Fritz, RVYC, 23.00.

The Flights of Spring Regatta was hosted by the

Jericho Laser Fleet on April 21 and 22, 2007 at the

Jericho Sailing Centre. There were 9 Lasers and no

Radials. Just under half of the Lasers (4) came from

south of the border. Many thanks for those who

made the effort to come to Vancouver. There were 9

races and one throwout race. Top three sailors are:

Jacek Suski, 13.00; Peter Wall, 18.00; Andriy

Kanyuka, 21.00. The following weekend, April 28

and 29, saw the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club host

the Kitten Cup. This is the first of the youth regat-

tas. There were nine races and one throwout race.

There were 18 Lasers and 32 Radials.

The Radial fleet saw one race abandoned so they

had 7 races with one throwout race. The top five

Laser sailors were: Luke Ramsay, RVYC, 16.00;

Abe Tochinsky, RVYC, 20.00; Brendan Fahey,

NKSC, 32.00; Kevin Grierson, RVYC, 38.00; Elliot

Drake, WSC, 48.00. The top ten Radial sailors

were:

Ricardo Montemayor, RVYC, 12.00; Clair Dennis,

StFYC, 17.00; John Renehan, SYC, 18.00; Isabella

Bertold, RVYC, 20.00; Chris Tulip, RVYC, 27.00;

Katie Maxim, StFYC, 43.00; Alexander Heinze-

mann, RVYC, 43.00; Adrian Passier, HSC, 51.00;

Karl Jensen, RVicYC, 51.00; Miklos Tasz, 55.00.

The first weekend of May saw the Royal Victoria

Yacht Club host the Spring Dinghy Championships.

There were 6 races with one throwout race. There

were 21 Lasers and 23 Radials. Top 5 Lasers were:

Andy Wong, RVYC, 17.00; Ben Scott, RVYC,

19.00; Greg Miller, RVicYC, 21.00; Kevin Grierson,

RVYC, 28.00; Geoff Abel, RVicYC, 28.00. The top

five Radials were: Isabella Bertold, RVYC, 9.00;

Ricardo Montemayor, RVYC, 12.00; Karl Jensen,

RVicYC, 20.00; Robert Berry, RVicYC, 21.00; Gina

Chen, RVYC, 28.00. The Bellingham Yacht Club

hosted it’s annual Sea-to-Ski Regatta on May 18 and

19. There was a very low turnout of Lasers (2) but

there was also 3 Laser 4.7s. There were 10 Radials.

There were 6 races with one throwout race.

The two Lasers were James Rhyne with 6 points

and Brennan Ashton with 8 points. The three 4.7s

were Teddy Weaver with 6 points, Maddy Erjavec

with 8 points and Alexis Aird with 16 points. The


www.Laser.org 21

top three Radials were:

Josh Larsen with 5 points, Molly Jackson with 13

points and Erika Vranizan with 14 points. The Seat-

tle Yacht Club and the Corinthian Yacht Club co-

hosted the SOCKS Regatta. There were 11 races

over the two days (May 18 and 19). There was one

throw-out race. There were 26 Lasers registered but

only 22 sailed in the regatta. Top five Lasers were:

Brendan Fahey, NKSC, 18.00; Dan Falk, CYC,

30.00; Anthony Boscolo, CYC, 30.00; Michael

Johnson, 39.00 and Michael Schalka, SYC, 59.00.

None of the two Radials sailed on the first day.

There was four races on the second day and no

throwout race. Only Milica Dukic sailed in the four

races and Lucinda Stockett did not sail but was

scored anyway. Results for the Jericho Classic

Regatta, hosted by the Jericho Sailing Centre on

June 2 and 3, can be found on the Jericho website:

www.jsca.bc.ca/racing.

District 7

Sally Sharp

Enfield, New Hampshire

The 2007 regatta season is well under way here in

New England. In fact the first ‘major’ just conclud-

ed down in Hyannis – the North Americans drew a

total of 220 sailors in three fleets, an amazing

turnout! And lots more to come: two more regattas

in the D7 championship series, at New Bedford MA

(D7 Grand Prix) and Falmouth ME, plus the three

D7 Radial series events at Newport, Hyannis, and

Buzzards Bay (please note that BBR is the D7 Radi-

al GP, not Hyannis!). Then in mid-August head on

up north for the US Nationals at Malletts Bay VT –

they’re looking for a strong turnout so be sure to

register early!

Lots of club fleets have their summer series in full

swing. I’m getting weekly reports from both Mal-

letts Bay (20+ boats on the line..) and Greenwich

CT, where over 30 sailors have registered for their

Sunday series. Keep the regatta results coming in,

as well as NORs for upcoming events – Chris Morin

continues to post everything on the D7 website

(http://d7.laserforum.org), thanks Chris!

Have a great summer – sail fast!

2007 District 7 schedule:

June 30-July 1 Saltmarsh Trophy / Championship

of Buzzard’s Bay - DISTRICT 7 GRAND PRIX

New Bedford, MA - New Bedford Community

Boating (July 1 only - O’Day Area A Qualifier Haas

Trophy). John Bentley [email protected] #2 of 3

for D-7 Championship

June 30 Bass River Yacht Club 2nd Annual Laser

Regatta - South Yarmouth, MA. Matthew Fitzsim-

mons [email protected]

July 7 Stone Horse Laser Regatta - Harwich Port,

MA - Stone Horse YC. Laser & Radial fleets. Vicky

Wiseman [email protected]

July 14-15 2007 Newport Regatta - Newport, RI -

Sail Newport. Laser, Radial, 4.7 fleets. Adam

DeSantis [email protected] #1 of 3

for D-7 RADIAL Championship

July 14-15 Lipton Cup - Quincy, MA - Squantum

YC. Laser & Radial fleets. Dick Casey

[email protected] Website: www.Squantumyc.org

New England Women’s Radial Championships

July 21-22 Lobster Bowl Classic - Falmouth, ME -

Portland YC. Jack Zinn [email protected] #3

of 3 for D-7 Championship

July 27-29 Hyannis Regatta - Hyannis YC, MA.

Peter Johns [email protected] Website:

www.hyannisyachtclub.org. #2 of 3 for D-7

RADIAL Championship

Aug 3-5 Buzzards Bay Regatta - New Bedford

Community Boating, New Bedford, MA.

DISTRICT 7 RADIAL GRAND PRIX info@buz-

zardsbayregatta.com Website: http://www.buz-

zardsbayregatta.com/ #3 of 3 for D-7 RADIAL

Championship

Aug 10-12 US National Championship (Laser/Radi-

al) - Outer Malletts Bay, VT - Malletts Bay Boat

Club. Al Russell: [email protected] Website:

http://www.mbbc-vt.org/

Aug 11-12 YRALIS Championship Regatta -

Greenwich, CT - Indian Harbor YC. Jonathan Nye

[email protected] Website: www.yralis.org

Aug 18 RI Leukemia Cup - Lasers & Radials

launch from Colt State Park in Bristol, RI.

http://www.leukemiacupri.org/

Sept 8-9 Seitech New England Masters - Newport,

RI - Third Beach. Peter Seidenberg [email protected]

Sept 14-16 Last-Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier -

Westport, CT - Cedar Point YC. Andy Hoffman

[email protected] Website: www.cedarpointyc.org

Sept 16 Ponce de Leon Laser Regatta (#1) - Mar-

blehead, MA - Eastern YC (#2 on 9/30, #3 on 10/7)

Wayne Colahan [email protected]

Sept 22 Lake Mascoma Fall Regatta - Enfield, NH.

LOCATION TO BE ANNOUNCED! Sally Sharp

[email protected]

Sept 23 NH Seacoast Open Laser Regatta - Dover,

NH. Ken Jennings [email protected]

Website: http://www.sailpsa.org/laser.htm

Sept 23 – Hospice Regatta - Niantic, CT - Niantic

Bay YC. 860-848-5699. Website: www.hospice-

sect.org

Sept 30 - Merrimac River Regatta - Newburyport,

MA - American Yacht Club. Al Lavender allaven-

[email protected]

Oct 3-14 - 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials - New-

port, RI - Third Beach.

Oct 13 (tentative) - QYC Last Blast Laser Regatta -

Wakefield, MA - Quannipowitt YC. Deb Mason-

McCaffrey [email protected] Website:

www.sailqyc.com

Oct 27 (tentative) - Halloween Regatta - Stamford,

CT - Stamford YC. Lasers, Radials. Kurth Ander-

son [email protected]

To qualify for either D7 Championship series, you

must attend 2 of the 3 series regattas.

District 9 Chas Williamson Ithaca, New York

We have had a great relaxing warm season so far,

with some Summery light very shifty breezes, at

every venue so far! A breeze would be welcome!

Our three main regattas have been Ithaca, Willow-

bank, and Saratoga Lake sailing-yacht clubs, fol-

lowed by Newport next weekend - Today, I am off

to a conference on the island of Corfu, Greece, and

nobody believes I would rather stay here.

ITHACA WINE KEG - 26 May 2007

On Lake Cayuga last year we had a nice mix of

wind strengths, but this time it was really light and

very shifty, but it was pleasantly warm and sunny.

It was pleasure to welcome back Mike Hecky from

New Jersey, with his son Kevin. Mike sailed solid-

ly in the first two races, winning them both, fol-

lowed each time by Chas Williamson. David Filib-

erto was third in Race 1, and represented one of the

new squad of sailors at Ithaca YC, comprising Dave,

Peter Gould, Clare Fewtrell, Wade Leftwich, Byrne

O’Brien ex-Commodoro, Jim Scarpulla, Len Dol-

hert, and also Luke Miller, an enthusiastic 13-year

old. I am proud of these guys, and want to wel-

come them to the fleet (and encourage all to join

ILCA!). Race 3 was won by Len Dolhert, and he

was visibly excited to win his first Laser race since

his days at MIT on the team. Clare Fewtrell, ex-

Queen Mary Sailing Club, outside London, then

won the next race by going inshore on the West side

of the lake, and she streaked to the finish, also very

excited to win. Zuber from Rochester YC pipped

Chas overall by winning Race 5. Mike Hecky was

third overall, followed by Liam of the Faudree

Team, with Len finishing a comfortable fifth.

Many thanks are due to the Race committee led by

Wade Leftwich and Sarah Gould, and a lovely Pizza

party and Awards ceremony with some beer fol-

lowed the racing onshore. It was super to see Jim

Cuddihee and Steve Leach on the water, from New-

port YC. The final places were:

1. Zuber; 2. Chas Williamson; 3. Mike Hecky;

4. Liam Faudree; 5. Lennie Dolhert; 6. Jim

Scarpulla; 7. Peter Gould; 8. Clare Fewtrell;

9. Dave Filiberto; 10. Kevin Hecky; 11. Steve

Leach; 12. Jim Cuddihee; 13. Luke Miller.

WILLOWBANK YC - 2 JUNE 2007

Willowbank was beautiful as always, and at last we

saw Richie Wait, who had been absent from Ithaca,

and he has brought a new consistency to his racing

this year, buoyed up by the incredible national per-

formance of Cornell’s Lacrosse team. It was

indeed sunny but the wind was blowing little

zephyrs, not enough to race until after we had time

to eat our scrummy lunch (Thanks Peter Bushnell

and Ray and Dick). When we eventually started

against the very light Northerly wind, it would shift

around 30 degrees, even during one beat, and so

Chas struggled up to the first mark just ahead of

speedy Peter Bushnell, who chased him down to the

lee mark. On the last beat, Dick went far left

(West) which sometimes pays at Cazenovia, and he

pulled ahead of Peter by the finish. Liam and Allan

Miller sailed through to finish just behind. The sec-

ond race was also the last one, and this was even

more shifty. Chas’ outhaul came undone after he

was showing off that he did not need the new metal

system, and it was difficult to catch Campbell

Woods, the head instructor at the home club, who

was followed by local lad Andrew Smith. Chas

won overall, followed by Liam, then Peter Bushnell,

Dick Mitchell and Campbell Woods, counting a 11th

and a first, indicating the large fluctiations in scores.

However Richie was very consistent with a 6th and

7th to pip his rival Allan Miller from Saratoga.

Thanks so much to Peter Bushnell for a charming

regatta, in a great ambience, and for the stylish

awards too. Thanks to the Finn Team for special

running of the race committee. Thanks to Peter

Gould for coming to the regatta with me ! Nice to

get the Masters sailors going again at IYC. The

final places were:

1. Chas Williamson; 2. Liam Faudree; 3.

Peter Bushnell; 4. Dick Mitchell; 5. Campbell

Woods; 6. Richie Wait; 7. Allan Miller; 8.

Andrew Smith; 9 Eric Magnuson; 10. Peter


SUMMER 2007

Regatta Laser Radial Laser 4.7 Masters

World Championship

ISAF Grade 1

ISAF WorldsCascais, Portugal

July 2-13

ISAF WorldsCascais, Portugal

July 2-13

HermanusRep. of S. Africa

Dec. 26,’07-Jan. 4,‘08

Rosas, Spain

Sept. 29-Oct. 6

NA Championship

40 GP pts. ISAF Grade 1

Hyannis YC, MA

June 14-17

Hyannis YC, MA

June 14-17

Hyannis YC, MA

June 14-17

Austin YCAustin, TXJune 1-3

North American

Women’s Radial Champs

ISAF Grade 1

naFt. Lauderdale, FL

www.lyc.org Feb. 1-4

na na

Canadian

Championships30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 2

Buffalo Canoe Club, ON

www.buffalocanoeclub.com

June 22-24

Buffalo Canoe Club, ON

www.buffalocanoeclub.com

June 22-24

Jerico Sailing Center

Vancouver, BC

Sept. 1-3

US Championships

30 GP Pts

Colchester, VTwww.mbbc-vt.org

Aug 10-12

Colchester, VTwww.mbbc-vt.org

Aug 10-12

Wrightsville Beach, SC

May 18-20

CORK

30 GP Pts. ISAF Grade 1

Kingston, ONwww.cork.org

August 18-22

Kingston, ONwww.cork.org

August 18-22

Midwinters East


Clearwater, FLwww.clwyc.org

Feb 22-25


Feb 22-25


Feb 22-25


Feb 17-18

Midwinters West

30 GP Pts., ISAF Grade 2

California YC, CA

March 23-25

California YC, CA

March 23-25

Rolex Miami OCR

ISAF Grade 1

Miami, FLwww.ussailing.org/olympics

Jan 22-27

Miami, FLwww.ussailing.org/olympics

Jan 22-27na na

Atlantic Coast

Championships


Jensen Beach, FLUSSCMCMay 26-27



Rock Hall, MD

Sept 29-30

Pacific Coast

Championships


Treasure IslandSan Francisco, CA

August 10-12


August 10-12


August 10-12

Lake Tahoewww.tahoeyc.com

Aug. 24-26

Gulf Coast

Championships

25 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 3

Southern Yacht ClubNew Orleans, LA

May 19-20

Southern Yacht ClubNew Orleans, LA

May 19-20D13, 14 or 15

No Coast

Championships

25 GP Pts, ISAF Grade 3

D21 D21 D16, 21, 22 or 23

Great Lakes

Championships


KingstonOntario, Canada

Sept. 28-30

KingstonOntario, Canada

Sept. 28-30

D19 or 20

2007 Schedule

22


www.Laser.org 23

District Reports - continued from page 21Gould; 11. Bruce Poushter; 12. Steve Leach;

13. Mike Mueller; 14. Tom King; 15. Paul

Martellock; 16. Peter Colman; 17. Jim Cuddi-

hee.

SARATOGA DERBY REGATTA - 9 June 2007.

For the first time I drove the night before to Sarato-

ga Lake, so that I would, for once, not repeat the

desperate rush to get to the start line in time, some-

times depending on general recalls to make it. This

year, I was well rested, and I needed it because yet

again, it was light and shifty, from the North on

Lake Saratoga, one of the most wonderfully beauti-

ful locations to sail in this area. As I put it last

year: “The clubhouse is actually also a private

house, with creaky staircases and lots of rooms -

rather unusual as a clubhouse, but with such an

ambience, like your Granny’s house” It was nice to

show Peter Gould around, noting the new showers!

It was not only fluky on the race course, but one or

the other side of the course had distinctly different

wind strength, usually favouring the right (East)

side. Al Russell from Vermont went like a rocket

in race 1, followed by club mate Al Baker, and then

Chas, and Richie to one of his many 4th places.

Race 2 was won by Chas only just from Ray Cud-

ney, who always sails brilliantly on Lake Saratoga,

and sometimes cleans up. Al Russell was in third.

Race 3 was strange, originally favouring the star-

board coimiittee boat end then shifting hard left,

dumping Chas to 14th place about 100 yards behind

leader John Beal down the first reach. However,

Chas was able to move back up with Ray to be in

contention for third place by the next windwards

mark - the key was going right this time picking up

stronger breeze, almost like taking an elevator.

Finally, after a long run, Chas reached the front and

pipped John Beal at the line on the final beat for

first. Al Baker was also being consistent and went

on to take Race 4 from Chas and Allan Miller.

Allan came through to third in the final race too,

behind Richie Wait and a long way behind Ray Cud-

ney who had a brilliant horizon-job race. Chas won

the regatta from Al Baker of Vermont, and Richie

Wait in third, who had placings of 4,4,3,4,2 - Mr

Consistent. Ray Cudney took fourth in front of Al

Russell. At the feast afterwards at Granny’s house,

Al Russell reminded us to sign up for the US

Nationals at Malletts Bay, and we all look forward

to that event in August. Thanks to Allan Miller

and Barbara for putting on a great event, with lovely

surroundings, food and friends. Absolutely magnif-

icent !

1. Chas Williamson; 2. Al Baker; 3. Richie

Wait; 4. Ray Cudney; 5. Al Russell; 6. John

Beal; 7. Allan Miller; 8. Liam Faudree; 9.

Mike Kitner; 10. Peter Gould; 11. David Nicol;

12. Gary Werden; 13. David Greenwood; 14.

James Nicol. 15. Brandon Dickerman; 16. Bill

Hamilton; 17. Lois Haignere; 18. Ryan Werden.

__________________________________________

_______________

DISTRICT 9 REGATTAS 2007 (still to come)

Sat 16 June Newport YC Jim Cud-

dihee 585-266-8686

Sat 30 June Chautauqua Lake YC David

Menzies 716-763-4331

Sat 7 July SBYC/SBJSA Sodus

Bay YC Open Laser regatta - - Also represents the

Laser

District 9 Junior Championships !! -Lory

Ghertner and Tom Knapp

315-483-4864

14-15 July DISTRICT Grand Prix CHAMPS

(Centrals Regatta) ROCHESTER YC

Brad Buell 607-279-9182

Sat 21 July Youngstown YC Paul Hays 716-

745-1279

26-28 July Empire State Games - Ossining YC

(Regional Qualifiers Only)

10-12 Aug Rochester - Junior Olympics Youth

Jason Evans 585-342-2976

Sat 18 Aug Seneca YC Jim Gindling

<[email protected]>

18-22 Aug C.O.R.K. Kingston Kingston,

Ontario

Sat 8 Sept Willowbank YC “Deathroll”

Peter Bushnell 315-655-4671

District 10

Eric Reitinger

New JerseyThe Spring had some great regattas going on in

District 10. Cooper River hosted its annual spring

regatta on May 19th. 8 boats sailed on some tricky

conditions with the breeze coming across the river

and oscillating 30 degrees every race. 6 races were

sailed with Eric Reitinger won with Carl Oberg 1

point behind and Robby Seidelmann third.

Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club had their annual

regatta on May 19th. 6 full rigs and 3 radials were

racing with Theo Ingram first, Mike Hecky 2nd and

Dave Watts third. Radials had Ryan Riddle in first,

Andrew Tamblyn in second and Tee Craves in third.

Riverton Yacht Club had their frostbite series over 3

weekends. Carl Oberg won the full rigs with Clint

Neuman 2nd and Jim Knab 3rd. The Junior Full rigs

had Craid Williams in first, Chris Lojek in 2nd and

Glenn Smyth in 3rd. The Radials has Mike Rabbetts

in first Nick Pro in 2nd an George Bader in 3rd.

The 36th Annual Jack Elfman Orange Coffee Pot

Regatta was hosted by Surf City Yacht Club on

Long Beach Island on June 2nd. This Laser only

regatta dates back to the start of the laser class in the

early 70’s and is the oldest running laser regatta in

the country. Over thirty years of this event’s history

it has drawn many of the great laser veterans. Pre-

vious winners include Skip Whyte and Gary Jobson.

This year the regatta served a dual purpose as the

Area C Eliminations for US sailing’s O’Day Cham-

pionships.

This year the 27 boat fleet consisted of 1 radial, 3

4.7’s and 23 full rigs. Of those 23 full rigs 15 were

competing for a chance to represent Area C in the

O’Day Championships. Conditions ranged from 10

to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 out of the south

which steadily built over the course of the day as the

sea breeze filled in. The courses were windward

leeward five legs with half-mile beats. A total of

seven races were sailed. Theo Ingram placed third

with 30 points. Dave Breder placed second with 25

points and Jerry Tullo finished first with a total of

14 points.

Brant Beach Yacht Club hosted the District 10

Championships on June 9th. 23 full rigs and 2 radi-

als raced in some great conditions throughout the

day. Clay Johnson, just back from representing Har-

vard at College Nationals, finished first with Matt

Geotting in 2nd and Glenn Dickson 3rd. In the Radi-

als, Nicolaus Pro was first and Mike Rabbetts 2nd.

A few regattas that weren’t mentioned in

the previous issue include the Surf City Annual

Regatta which will be held on September 8th and

9th. MAYRA will be hosing Laser and Radial regat-

tas every weekend starting June 9th and finishing up

the end of August. Look at the official laser site and

http://mayra.org for more information.

District 11

Jon Deutsch

Richmond, VirginiaOur district championship was held the first week-

end in May at Severn Sailing Association. While

gale warnings kept sailors in the 2007 District 11

Championship off the water on Sunday, Alden Shat-

tuck had 3 top 5 finishes in 3 races Saturday to take

the overall title. Several general recalls and later

black flag starts kept the aggressive 57-boat fleet at

bay.

Alden Shattuck, Kevin Shockey, and Henry

Amthor, our 2006 District Champion, consistently

finished near the top of the fleet to take 1st-3rd

respectively. In the radial fleet Kim Couranz topped

the radial division followed by Margaret Podlich

and Jennifer Parrow.

Thanks to all of the laser sailors at Severn Sailing

Association for putting on another great event.

Elsewhere in the district our District Series is well

underway. The first event in March was the Capital

City Regatta held at Potomac River Sailing associa-

tion just a stone’s throw from our capital. Twenty

laser sailors braved cool and windy weather to take

part in the two-day event. Keri Harris finished first

followed by Stephen Yelland and David Teale.

Check out the PRSA Laser Fleet website for photos

and videos of the event: http://www.potomacriver-

sailing.org/lasers/

Our second series event, the Crystal Bowl Regat-

ta, was held at West River Sailing Club Memorial

Day weekend. Mike Schmidt edged out Nick Von

der Wense by a point to finish first overall. Kelsey

Averill was two points behind in 3rd. Our District

Series continues 8/11-12 at Fishing Bay Yacht Club,

8/18-19 at Deep Creek Sailing Association and 9/22-

23 at Severn Sailing Association.

This fall District 11 will host a couple of great

masters regattas.

September 8-9 is the Chesapeake Bay Laser Masters

Championship at Fishing Bay Yacht Club in

Deltaville VA. September 29-30 is the Laser

Masters ACC’s/Hard Rock Masters at Rock Hall

Yacht Club in Rock Hall MD. These are sure to be

two not-to-be missed events, so make your plans to

attend now!

For events, results, boats for sale and all kinds of

other up-to-date information about laser sailing in

the Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware areas, check

out the District 11 website at http://www.laserdis-

trict11.org.


SUMMER 200724

District Reports - continued from page 23

District 12

Arland Whiteside

Wrightsville Beach, North Caroli-na

We have held 3 Laser events in the D12 area this

spring.

Our first two events in the D12 Championship series

have been held and they were in such different con-

ditions. Sunny weather warmed 37 D12 Laser

sailors at Lake Norman Yacht Club’s NC States.

4 races were completed in light air racing , April

21-22.Glenn Walker, returning to his home lake

won 1st overall. Before racing started, Glenn shared

some of his inside information at the Friday night

clinic held for early arrivals. LNYC provided a very

fair series of races in difficult wind conditions.

1st jr.-John Mellnik

1st female-Emily Aspland

1st master-Glenn Walker

1st radial-Benton Whitesides

The next Laser event in D12 area (26 D12 sailors

raced)was the US Laser Masters Nationals at Caroli-

na Yacht Club-NC, Wrightsville Beach, NC. 67

Masters showed up for 3 days of races in the

Atlantic. Some days the winds were light and some

days the sea breeze showed up. Sailors from the

East Coast, West Coast, Canada, Dominican Repub-

lic and Great Britain all converged to race and have

a great time socializing with each other. Mark Bear

took 1st overall and 1st master. Mike Matan was 1st

apprentice master. Peter Seidenberg was 1st great

grandmaster. Alden Shattuck was 1st grand master.

Susie Pegel was 1st female. The top D12 sailor was

Martin Willard at 14th.

All sailors, RC and guests enjoyed a sumptuous

cocktail party at the upstairs ocean front bar, fol-

lowed by a great dinner and rowdy give-away on the

new open dining deck. The terrific souvenir fleece

vests were welcome during the cool ocean breezes

that were unusual for a May evening night. Many

thanks to the Carolina Yacht Club-NC for their RC

and hospitality.

Tropical Storm Barry beat up D12 at the second

series event in Savannah. 15 of 29 registered sailors

were either good enough, brave enough or naïve

enough to head out in sustained winds of 22-25 with

gusts over 35. One 2 lap race was completed before

the RC made the right call and sent everyone in on

one of those “sit down, shut up and hang on” rides

back to the docks. There were unbelievable down-

wind runs with many many deathrolls. Horizontal

tropical storm rains drenched everyone and every-

thing. 6 inches of rain fell. No one got upset as we

all bunched up in Charlie Usher’s garage for a great

supper. Sunday’s races were cancelled as the fore-

cast called for even stronger winds. Peter Gamble

took 1st overall and 1st master. Charlie Usher took

1st radial. Krysta Rohde took 1ST female and1ST jr.

Andrew McIntosh and John Mellnik won the O’day

quarterfinals. Glenn Walker took 1ST Apprentice

master. Finn Hassing took 1st grand master.Our one

great grand master ,Ken Hopkins, was wise and

stayed on the shore.

Our next event will be the Radial Grand Prix to be

held at Carolina Yacht Club-SC, Charleston, SC,

July 28-29. This will not count as a series event

except for radials. The following week will be the

Sayra Open at Carolina Yacht Club-NC,

Wrightsville Beach, NC, August 4-5. That race will

count in the series for full, radials and 4.7.

For series standings and all nor’s for the remain-

ing series events, and suggestions for other non-D12

racing this summer, check the D12 site.

See you on the water.

District 13

Meka Taulbee

Dunedin, FloridaWe had a great Atlantic Coast Championships at

Jensen Beach just before Memorial Day Weekend.

The weather was perfect and they really got a great

number of races in. Now summer is upon us and

D13 is starting to slow down. Our Treasure Cost

series is going strong with events every month.

Thanks to James Leibl and David Hartman we are

never at a loss for a regatta in FL. July 14th we have

the TCS at Kelly Park in Titusville, August 25th at

Jensen Beach and September 22 at Palm Beach Sail-

ing Center. Also coming up, July 15, we have the

Gulf Rats Offshore Challenge at Ft. Walton Beach.

A lot of our junior sailors are moving on to col-

lege and it looks like they will get a chance to sail in

some other great districts. I wish all of them luck.

There is a great lineup of events on the East Coast

this summer so if you aren’t sailing in D13 I hope to

see everyone there.

District 15

Renee Ruais

TexasSince I wrote last, we had our third D15 Circuit

Regatta of 2007 at Rush Creek in Heath, TX. This

is one of my favorite venues as power boats seem to

be limited to small fishing craft and RC Boats! It is

also a great facility with plenty of room for camp-

ing. Turnout was a bit light, with just 12 Lasers.

And the wind was pretty light too, if I remember

correctly. It was quite shifty and I just had a hard

time making the boat go or being on the right side

of the shifts. So…I can’t really say much for the

excitement at the front of the pack, but I do have a

bit of a story from the other end, maybe a story most

of you can identify with. I’m no rock star, but I’m

usually at least a bit better in lighter air, so I was

really disappointed in myself towards the end of the

event. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to stay out for

what was to be the last race. On seeing that RC

decided on a W1 instead of the W2 they had run

earlier I decided to stick it out…I didn’t want to be

a quitter again...I had already bailed on a miserable

drifter race the day before. Surprisingly, I got a

pretty good start and somehow found a groove with

the sail trim. I got out front early and managed to

hold it, but just barely. It really is true; staying in

front is easier than catching up. Anyway, I was

holding my breath as I sailed towards the finish line,

trying hard to keep up my speed as Brad Winslett

had gained enough that he might just get there

before I did. As I saw him turn to round the weather

mark, my eyes got wide and I secretly hoped he’d

just keep going…and that who-ever was yelling to

him that he was supposed to finish would just

‘shhhh!’. Lucky for me, he didn’t hear it anyway

and I got the win. Even though I knew it could have

been a 2nd place, it felt great; almost like I felt the

first time I ever won a race. If you are racing Lasers

and haven’t felt that yet, keep at it, it takes time and

is well worth the effort! In the overall results,

David Grogono from Austin was 1st, followed by

Ed Henkel and Brad Winslett, both from Dallas, in

2nd and 3rd respectively. Congratulations!

Looking forward, we are in the midst of a flurry

of Laser events before the Dog-Days of summer and

the typical Texas pause in activity. We just finished

hosting the 2007 Laser Masters North Americans at

Austin Yacht Club. Thanks to Alan Clark from

Canada for keeping us honest on the North Ameri-

can claim J. Of course, I’d like to extend my thanks

to all who attended and those who helped with the

event. It really was a pleasure to meet so many

Laser enthusiasts from all corners of the country. I

believe there is a regatta report elsewhere in this

issue, so I won’t go into any detail here. We contin-

ue June with two D15 Circuit events, both probably

complete by the time you read this. First we return

to the salty seas for another run at some waves at

the Summer Solstice Regatta, June 23 & 24 at

Seabrook Sailing Club in Kemah, TX and then we

come back to fresh water and Austin Yacht Club the

following weekend (June 30/July 1) for the annual

AYC Centerboard Regatta. That brings us to the

dog days of summer, when most of our Laser sailing

happens at a local level, in the evenings.

District 16

Tim Fitzgerald

Wichita, KansasTwo regattas are in the books so far for District 16

and so far we’re 2 of 2 for regattas with great races

even though it’s raining. The first was a one-day

event at Walnut Valley Sailing Club. Every year

they do an outstanding job of catering to the Laser

fleet. This year we saw all kinds of fun stuff like

downwind starts, starboard roundings, and a

screamin’ reach course that looked a lot like the old

slalom course. Winds were 6-12 most of the day

with some interesting variations as rain came

through in the middle of race 2. 7 Races were sailed

in total making it a great regatta for everyone there.

Saturday night WVSC served a great Mexican din-

ner to make sure everyone was plenty full before

heading home. They do an excellent job of hosting

our fleet and we look forward to another fun one to

start the season again next year!

Last weekend the fleet was in Oklahoma City for

the Lighthouse Charity regatta. Boats came from

everywhere between Kansas City and Austin, TX,

including some familiar faces who have been absent

for a while. It was great to get the whole group

back together and made for some excellent competi-

tion. Day 1 saw lighter winds between 6 and 12

which made for a great day of sailing. In three races

there were three different winners, and close compe-

tition throughout which kept scores tight going into

Sunday. Sunday’s forecast was the topic of discus-

sion all the way until it was time to rig Sunday

morning. The heavier guys all praying for wind,

and the light ones hoping it wouldn’t get any windi-

er than it was. The smaller ones got what they

asked for, and winds stayed between 8 and 15

almost the entire day. The name of the game was to

go to the nearest storm cloud, take your shift, tack,

and ride the lift out in the rain. We were lucky to


www.Laser.org 25

avoid any lightning in the area and had a great day

that showed us some planning reaches, and very

exciting beats.

By the time you read this the Weatherby Lake

regatta scheduled for this weekend will also have

been sailed. Be sure to catch the next Laser Class

mag or if you cant wait that long, see the results on

the web. Google Search “Laser D16”.

Sail Fast,

District 21

Mike Elson

Minneapolis, MinnesotaThe evening Laser racing season opened April 18 at

Wayzata Yacht Club with reasonable 10 to 12 mph

winds. There were 3 Wednesday races to tune up

for the Heckl invitational at White Bear Lake on

May 5th. But I was certainly not prepared for a 20

to 30 mph blow out. After the big winds at Okoboji

for the D 21 GP in September I vowed to get a radi-

al rig for the next big wind regatta. Did I get it? Of

course not, and I was one of the three sailors who

got blown off of the lake. Lars Hansen, a certified

extremophile, won the coveted Heckl Cup with 4

fists and 2 seconds. Mike Bowers was second with 2

firsts, 3 seconds and a third. Kurt Holtze finished

third by one point over David Thompson, the num-

ber one radial sailor in the regatta.

The strong winds continued as the evening Laser

racing to include Calhoun in May and White Bear

Lake in June. It was either 15 to 20 mph or com-

plete calm. The pattern was demonstrated again at

the D 21 Championship/ GP/ O’Day qualifier. The

event drew 21 boats, 5 from Canada. Saturday was

20 to 30 mph and the only race on Sunday was fin-

ished in an almost dead calm. And, you guessed it,

Lars Hansen, the extremophile, was first with 3

firsts, 2 seconds and 2 thirds.

John Dyer was second and Bruce Martinson was

third after missing the start of the first race while

being the extraordinary host of the event. Kurt

Holtze was fourth, a point behind Bruce and a point

ahead of fifth place Gordy Lampher, the first junior

in the regatta. I should note that Lars had a second

place on Sunday, the no-wind day, so he certainly

does not need heavy air to do well.

As of June, D 21 has 4 venues for evening Laser

racing: Tuesday evenings at Wayzata, a choice of

Calhoun or Bald Eagle Lake on Wednesdays and

Thursdays at White Bear Lake. Other class boats

seem to take sailors away from weekend Laser rac-

ing. The next weekend event will be Calhoun’s

Aquatennial Regatta, July 14 and 15. D 21 will be

having the second annual event at Duluth on August

18 and 19. It is a big lake and more convenient for

Canadian sailors. I hope to see you there!

District 24

David LaPier

NorCalLaser sailing in Northern California is growing

strong. We are seeing attendance increases of

50% at local weeknight races. Ralph Pombo and

Steve Orosz have done a great job building the Trea-

sure Island fleet, which has grown to 15 boats in just

two years. Further south at Shoreline Lake, the

fleet has doubled, with 12 boats regularly racing.

Roger Herbst continues to build a great spirit of fun

and cooperation every Wednesday night. The Saint

Francis YC is hosting Laser races every other Thurs-

day, and Lake Tahoe has a great series on Monday

evenings all summer long.

The Northern California Spring sailing season

started off with the Nor Cal Regatta a Santa Cruz

YC. Saturday started outl looking bad with a bit a

rain, but it cleared up and there was plenty of sailing

and breeze after that. The St Francis YC Elvstrom

Regatta featured Vann Wilson and Chuck Tripp vis-

iting from LA for some heavy weather action. The

Radial fleet racing was very close on the City Front.

Richmond YC added a new dinghy event to their

very active callendar. Tom Burden won the Big

Dinghy Regatta, and Mark Halman, who is a very

successful single handed ocean racer, won the

Dinghy Invitational.

Up in Gold Country, Ron Witzel reports of

warm water, beautiful weather, gusty challenging

breezes, good competition, and excellent organi-

zation (evening party w/ barbacue and band) at the

“Go For The Gold” Regatta. Dan Oulett dusted off

his Laser skills and raved about his first experience

with the new rigging upgrades. Once again it was

a great time. Put it on your calendar for next year!

Our summer callendar continues with the Open

PCCs at Treasure Island, the Master’s PCCs at

Tahoe YC, the Summer Sailstice at TI, the High

Sierra Regatta at Huntington Lake, and the Kip Laur

regata at Tahoe.

District 25

Nils Andersson

SoCalThe Midwinters West was held on March 23-25,

2007 and hosted by California Yacht Club. for com-

plete results see www.calyachtclub.com. As usual it

was followed by Alamitos Bay YC’s traditional

Olympic Classes Regatta on March 31 and April 1,

2007. for results see www.abyc.org.

California Laser Masters Championship and

Womens California Radial Championship was host-

ed by Mission Bay YC in Sand Diego. Here is a

report written by Ken Wild:

MBYC hosted the California Laser Master’s and

Women’s Radial Championships on April 14-15.

Laser Masters sailors are age grouped as follows:

Apprentice 35-44, Master 45-54, Grand Master 55-

64 and Great Grand Master 65 and over. In addition

to age group awards, a formula is used to adjust

scores to give the older competitors (some in their

70’s) in this very physical Olympic Class dinghy a

chance to win overall against the younger guys (in

their mid 30’s).

Saturday on the ocean was a challenge with no

wind and then a light south/east wind shifting 140

degrees to the north/west over afternoon. Three

races in mostly hiking conditions were completed,

however the first race was tossed due to some com-

petitors (without compasses) confusion regarding

the location of the weather mark. Following Satur-

day night’s “Cook Your Own BBQ” at MBYC was

time to catch up on old and new friendships, Sun-

day arrived with a nasty storm providing winds in

the teen’s, gusting into the 20’s. The storm com-

bined with a high surf advisory closed the jetty

entrance diverting our competitors to complete four

double windward leeward races in the bay.

Jim Buckingham of NHYC bested us all winning

overall (his son is Sabot & Laser champ Charlie

Buckingham) A strong contingent of 14 MBYC

sailors did well in the overall results to include our

new Military Flag member Keith Davids in 2nd,

Dixon Smith in 3rd, Doug Hart in 4th, Dave Leuck

in 7th, Kendal “Wild in 8th Ian Storer in 9th, Peter

Gerstoft in 10th Nils Andersson in 16th, Jim Hecht

in 17th, David Bloomberg in 20th , Barney Rickett

in 21st , Keith Sternal in 23rd, Malcolm Napier in

28th and , Karen Gerstoft in 29th. In the age

groups Keith Davids was 1st in the Apprentice Divi-

sion; Kendal Wild won the Grand Masters Division,

while Nils Andersson won the Great Grand Masters

title. Karen Gerstoft won the Women’s Radial title

and is to be commended for sticking with it through

some tough conditions.

Competitor and special awards were beautiful

reproductions of a water color of a Laser scene by

our favorite local artist Julie Anderson. Special

thanks to Scott McKay, John Billings and Tom

McKinney doing R/C duty both days in the “Bob

Gales.” Also thanks to Jamie Hoffmann for R/C

duty, Carol Hartman and Danah Woodruff for han-

dling registration and Ron & Debbie Lane for pro-

viding new charter boats for our visitors from Wash-

ington and New York.

Laser 2007

New England Circuit

June 14-17 Laser/Radial/4.7 NA Champs Hyannis YC, MAJune 30-July 1 D7 Grand Prix -Saltmarsh New Bedford, MAJuly 27-29 District 7 Radial Grand Prix Hyannis YC, MAAugust 3-5 Buzzards Bay Regatta New Bedford, MAAugust 10-12 Laser/Radial US Champs Mallets Bay BC, VTSeptember 8-9 New England Masters Newport, RISeptember 14-16 Laser/Radial Olympic Trials Q Cedar Point YC, Westport, CTOctober 3-14 Laser/Radial Olympic Trials Newport, RI

See District 7 Website for more information: http://d7.laser-forum.org/


SUMMER 200726

Treasure Island Laser FleetTreasure Island, San Francisco,. CA(District 24)

http://www.technicalwizardry.com/d24laser/d24.htm

Fleet CaptainsSteve Orosz & Ralph Pombo

Sailing VenueThe Treasure Island Laser fleet sails outof the Treasure Island Sailing center(TISC) located on Clipper Cove.(www.tisailing.org) TI is located in thecenter of San Francisco Bay which isknown for its heavy air sailing with windsregularly in the high-teens and low-twen-ties during the summer months. SinceClipper Cove is sheltered somewhat fromthe prevailing winds, sailing in the covecan be milder than sailing on the Bayitself with flat water and little current.One advantage of being in the center ofSan Francisco Bay is that, TI Laser sailorshave the best of both worlds — flat water and moderate winds in the cove or strongwind and waves getting out into the “thick of things” is just a short sail away.

TISC offers boat storage on racks or in trailer spaces, a ramp and two hoists for largerboats. In addition to boat space TISC, has very active youth and adaptive programs andhas hosted to numerous regional and national level dinghy regattas.

Racing ProgramThe TI Laser fleet races every Thursday nightfrom April to September in conjunction with thelocal Vanguard 15 fleet. In addition to theSummer Sailstice Regatta in June, the TI Laserfleet is also the host of the 2007 Pacific CoastChampionships. URL: http://pcc2007.laserfo-rum.org/ Fleet members also regularly sail inother district and regional regattas includingthe Northern California Grand Prix Regattawhich is a tour of major District 24 regattas.

After Racing ActivitiesThe post-race parties are often the highlight ofthe week. The competition continues after rac-ing with the social chairs (who rotate each

TLS is proud to unveil our newest series, TheFleet Review. After we printed an article on theCedar Point YC fleet and their great organizationand fleet goings-on, we decided that fleetsaround the country should be profiled. TreasureIsland in San Francisco is our first guinea pig. Ifyou’d like us to profile your fleet, contact the NALaser Class office!

ILCA-NA Fleet Review


www.Laser.org 27

week) competing for the coveted end of sea-son “Best Social Chairman” award. Festivitiesinclude food and drink, scores and awards ofthe evening, and always free advice and shar-ing of techniques. This year our local Laserdealer, Svendsen’s, is sponsoring the serieswith end of season trophies and food, drinkand raffle prizes on three evenings spreadthroughout the season.

The Best thing About the TI Fleet...TI fleet members have a wide range of skilland experience levels but always offer reallyclose, friendly competition on the water.

Attracting new sailors to the fleetWe try to help connect prospective new mem-bers with boats and rigging and cajole localowners of Lasers to get their boats out andjoin us sailing. The post-race sharing of tipsand tricks helps everyone continue to improveand stay motivated to come back next week.But when necessary we resort to kidnapping,threatening, bribery, and sheer animal mag-netism.

Last WordsDistrict 24 is the greatest place in the world tosail Lasers. Contact us to come by and join in,there is always room for more. We have ninedifferent fleets in the district that are veryactive and competitive, with something forevery sailor.


SUMMER 200728

Masters SailingSCOTT YOUNG

Throughout the year, I havewritten some articles for my yachtclub newsletter about my plan forpreparing myself for competing inthe Laser Masters North Americans. I decided to spend asmuch time as I could sailing withmy good friends Mark Salih, MattRomberg and Doug Kern to pre-pare for the regatta. My main prob-lem was self discipline.

I was able to learn a fewsubtleties from my friends such assailing with less vang tensiondownwind than I ever had prior, notletting the mainsheet out past 90degrees, having a stopper knot inthe boom vang so that I could un-cleat the vang completely when Irounded the weather mark in orderto bear-off faster, getting all of mycontrol lines marked in the appro-priate settings, getting my sail bro-ken-in properly, working on bettertacks and jibes, and sitting moreforward in the boatdownwind. After that, I had to relyon getting in some goodWednesday night racesagainst folks that I willargue make up one ofthe most competitiveLaser fleets in the coun-try. Race 1: With about aminute to go, I saw thatthe wind was swingingto the right and decidedto setup a few boatlengths down from the weatherend. I noticed a lot of the regattafavorites were down at the leewardend and I anticipated the windwould eventually shift back, so Idecided to go for maximum speedand tried to foot over the top of thefleet. This worked pretty well and Iwas eventually able to round thefirst windward mark in 1st. The firstbeat put me in a good position but

more importantly, it told me that mypreparation for the regatta wasgoing to pay off and that I would becompetitive enough to have achance to win. Things started goinga bit downhill after this. Dave andMatt took advantage of the windshifting to the right and were ableto work low and get inside at thefirst jibe mark. Things got worse onthe 2nd beat when Al Clark, man-aged to claw his way back tofourth. He had made a lot of dis-tance and it seemed only like amatter of time before he passedme. On the run, the wind hadbegun to increase and the “S-turn”technique for sailing downwind wasstarting to play big dividends. MattRomberg was sailing a beautiful

race. Race 2: The 2nd race had thebreeze continuing to build and goleft. It seemed many people werecaught off guard with the left shiftand no one seemed to be reallyfighting for the pin-end so I decidedto go for it. I sailed on port tack anddid a tight lee bow on MattRomberg and tried to keep his bowstuck up above my weather quarter

so he could not bear off and try andduck below me. I was able to regu-late our speed so as to burn offsome time and was able to eekaround the pin end without slowingdown too much. It was a good startbut Matt did a good job of keepingclear air and maintaining his lane.After being pinned by some boatsto weather, Matt was finally able totack and I went right with him. Weboth looked golden. Sure enough though, the windstarted to clock back to the right. AlClark rounded the weather mark 1stand I rounded close behind. Al did a great job sailing downwindand started to stretch his lead out.On the next beat, I was able tomaintain a pretty strong 2nd and on

the last downwind leg, On thelast beat, I thought there wasno chance of catching him butI continued to hike hard andstay in phase with the windshifts. He was so far aheadthat he was in a different oscil-lation pattern than I was. I keptsailing lifts and he kept tackingon me to cover but he wastacking out of phase. Slowly, Istarted gaining ground on him.It seemed like each tack Imade, I was able to gain a boat length. As we approachedthe last 100 yards, he tacked

on me on what appeared to be thestarboard tack lay line. I decided totack off and hope for a betterbreeze right. I went only about 4 or5 boat lengths and tacked back tostarboard. As we sailed to the fin-ish, he fell into a hole and was nolonger laying the finish line. Meanwhile, I got a nice right handshift and a puff and I was eased outand planing to the finish line. He

Masters North American Championship

Scott Young, Matt Romberg & Eric Faust

photo: Melissa Leboeuf Tothero


www.Laser.org 29

had to tack back to port to get tothe finish line and he tried to sail tome and tack on my lee bow. Realizing this, I kept bearing offand going faster to force him totack back before he could get up tospeed. Just as he tacked, to star-board, I shot the boat back up toweather and trimmed in and shotup towards the line and was just

able to nip him at the finish by afew feet. I was as shocked as hewas that I was able to catch him. Race 3: I don’t remember as muchdetail of this race as I do the othersbut the breeze continued toincrease. I remember thinking thatit was a going to be a long day withso much breeze and hiking. At thefirst weather mark, I rounded justbehind Tracy Usher from San Francisco and a few boats ahead ofAl Clark. On the first run, I was ableto hang pretty close with Tracy withAl slowly gaining on us. We werestill on a pretty good starboard tackangle so I decided to work hard atkeeping my air clear from Tracy soI wouldn’t be forced out of phase.Al decided to tack off to port andhead to the other side of the course. At the weather mark, Tracystill led but I was right on his tail.We had both opened up some dis-tance on Al. On the run, a pretty bigpuff hit and I just let it all hang outand tried to hang on to the edgewithout capsizing and I managed toget past Tracy. On the final beat, Ijust covered him with a “herding”type cover where I tried to encour-age him to stay with the rest of thefleet. I was able to win with Tracy2nd and Al in the 3rd.Race 4: Just before the start, thewind shifted right. The right shiftlasted almost the entire beat. I hadto duck a pack of boats that camein from the right at the weathermark and rounded about 5th or 6th.Al Clark came off the right and wasone of the first 2 boats to round.The fleet was tight and there was alot of jockeying downwind. Al heldon to his lead and I could not catchhim this time. Eric Faust sailed anice race to grab 3rd.

a 2nd. Race 7: The breeze was from thesame westerly direction but theholes were more pronounced. Mygoal was not to commit to one sideand take the risk of getting stuck ifa big shift came in. I took a prettyconservative mid-line approach andgot off on to port tack pretty quickly.I ended up rounding the first weath-er mark in the top 5 with Eric Faustand Matt Romberg both sailingwell. At the finish, Matt held on forthe win and I took second. In retro-spect, this was a really rewardingvictory. I had established this eventas one of my primary sailing goalsfor this year. Mark Salih and I spenta lot of time sailing together leadingup to the regatta. Mark was able tooffer me some great insight andoffer a few tips for improving mydownwind speed. And just havinganother person to help keep youmotivated to spend time on thewater and in the boat is invaluable.

Race 5: Saturday dawned with avery light southerly breeze. After ageneral recall, the fleet got off. Theport end of the line was prettyfavored and most of the fleettacked to port immediately. I couldtell that I was moving faster thanthe boats on my hip and the boatsto leeward were doing better than Iwas. About 2/3rds of the way upthe beat, a big right shift came in. Itlooked like I was going to be about12-15th. Al Clark was stuck on theleft side of the course. Fred Schrothsailed a masterful race in very lightand tricky conditions and held on towin. I was able to slowly work myway up to 3rd. The race committeesent the fleet to shore and we werefinished for the day. Race 6: Sunday brought a light andshifty westerly breeze which can bevery random. I decided to start nearthe windward end in response to apretty big right shift that had comein. The right side of the courselooked like it had more breeze butmy gut told me that eventually thewind would tryand go back to the south.Sure enough,a few minutesafter the start,the right fadedhard and theleft was look-ing much bet-ter. I played afew shifts inthe middle and was notlooking good. Irounded theweather markabout 12th and just con-centrated ontrying to slow-ly work myway back up.Eric Faustsailed a greatrace and heldon to the winand I was ableto rally back to


SUMMER 2007

. Leading up to the 2007Master’s US Championshipthe Carolina Yacht Club hadhosted two major Laser Classevents in the past five yearsand has earned a welldeserved reputation as one ofthe finest Laser racing ven-ues in North America. Theracing is on the ocean in frontof the club, typically on awarm Southwesterlyseabreeze peaking in the 15-18 knot range which developsa nice regular pattern ofwaves. Upwind requires hik-ing, but not too much hiking,downwind is Laser nirvanawith enough wind to planeand surf the waves, making iteasy even for the old folks toS-carve their heart’s away, but not so much wind to make it a white knuckle ride.Onshore the CYC hospitalityis tough to beat, especiallywith the beautiful facilitiesthey have overlooking theAtlantic Ocean.

With a reputation like that itwas no wonder that 68 eagerMaster’s sailors descendedupon Wrightsville Beach May18-20 to race the Master’s US Championship, comingfrom all corners of the NorthAmerican Region and evenbringing some out of a longretirement! As soon as regis-tration we knew we were notto be disappointed - the regatta giveaway was a beautiful fleece lined shell

vest. This was going to be agreat event!

Unfortunately, the regattacoincided with the departureof a late season weather sys-tem leaving us with a weak-ening offshore flow the firstday or so of the event, though at least leaving uswith plenty of sunshine. Thisoffshore breeze is tough tosail (and tough for the RaceCommittee too!) since it ischaracterized by large (20-30degrees) shifts at seeminglyrandom intervals. On the firstday of racing this breeze stillhad some velocity with thepuffs in the 12-15 knot rangeand the lulls still in the 8-10knot range, so we were stillhiking and it was possible toget sideways on apuff downwind andcapsize (at least thatis my excuse!). As acredit to the ability ofthe Race Committeeto get it right, we gotin three solid, andvery interesting, races on the first day.In trying conditionsconsistency is alwayskey and already the

three main players wereestablishing themselves withMark Bear always in front,with Al Clark and Ari Barshialways nearby.

Day two saw furtherweakening of the offshoreflow with the fleet getting inone early race in a slowlydying breeze, a race whereconnecting the puffs andanticipating the next shiftwere the keys. In this raceMark Bear began to establishhimself as the guy to beat byfinishing second. The RaceCommittee attempted to run a second race in these condi-tions but the offshore flowfinally ran out of steam and

Below: Mark Bear leads the pack.

Photo: Chip Whitesides

2007 Master’s US Championship The Carolina Yacht Club

Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina

30


www.Laser.org

they wisely abandoned therace. After a short wait, theseabreeze finally made itsfirst appearance of the regattathough it never really filled into more than about 5-8 knots. In these conditions theRace Committee got in onemore solid race to then sendus in for the banquet dinner.

Saturday evening’s dinnerwas really fantastic with abeautiful buffet greeting thehungry sailors with the warmevening perfect for sitting out-side beside the beach. Thiswas followed by the regattaraffle in which everyone (orso it seemed) ended up walk-ing away with something withcool stuff ranging from Zhikhiking pants, boat covers,sails, all the way to t-shirtsand hats.

On Sunday the locals said“seabreeze.” Music to thesailors ears... until the sail outwhen it seemed like a steady2-3 knots. Hmm.... But that ishow seabreezes work, theytake their time to come in but

when they do, well suffice itto say that it was a perfectday of sailing with two greatraces in 15-18 knots of windwith beautiful waves for sail-ing downwind - as they say:just like the travel brochuredescribed!

By the start of the day MarkBear, Al Clark and Ari Barshiwere in control with Markhaving to sail poorly to notwin. Mark, however, loves tosail in these conditions andwas not about to have a badrace, easily holding his lead tobecome the overall 2007Master’s USChampion and to finishtop Master.Top appren-tice was MikeMataan whohails fromEngland but iscurrently resi-dent in NewYork and sailswith thefamous Cedar

Point Yacht Club fleet.Rounding out the positionswere familiar names with topGrandmaster going to AldenShattuck and top GreatGrandmaster going to PeterSeidenberg.

As usual, Chip and ArlandWhitesides once again did afantastic job hosting the Laser Class. They again puttogether a great team with aRace Committee thatappeared to anticipate exact-ly what the wind was going todo, set up great race coursesand got in 7 good races overthree days, two of which werevery trying. Onshore, the finefolks at the Carolina YachtClub again showed us whythe South is so famous for itshospitality. Thanks to theWhitesides and the CarolinaYacht Club for a beautifulevent!

The first question after tro-phies: how long until we cancome back?

Above: Len Wells on his Honda Gold Wing with Laser in tow. In spite of sev-

eral motocycle “incident” ove rthe years, Len is undaunted and continues to

arrive at D12 regatta on his Honda. Photo by Marilyn Sechrist.

Below: Mark Salih has an overlap on

Al Clark coming into the weather

mark. photo: Chip Whitesides

31


SUMMER 200732


www.Laser.org 33


SUMMER 200734

2007 Vanguard NA Grand Prix ResultsStandings through May 31, 2007

for full results: www.laser.orgLASER

Pos. Last First # of Events Total

1 Pearce John 3 66

2 Ramsay Luke 2 39

3 Strammer Fred 2 38

3 Torchinsky Abe 2 38

3 Horowitz Zeke 3 38

6 Buckingham Charlie 2 36

7 Shockey Kevin 2 35

8 Hancock Cleve 2 33

9 Shockey John 2 31

10 Luttmer Bernard 1 29

11 Vranizan Derick 2 28

12 Campbell Andrew 1 27

13 Funk Brad 1 26

13 Garber Josh 1 26

15 Grierson Kevin 2 25

15 Rodriquez Ernesto 1 25

16 Smith Colin 1 25

18 Johnson Clay 1 24

19 Raab Chris 1 23

19 Wright David 1 23

21 Kalin Michael 1 22

21 Paine Caleb 1 22

23 Hernandez David 1 21

23 Taulbee Kurt 1 21

25 Fox Andrew 1 20

25 Lawrence Luke 2 20

25 Shattuck Alden 1 20

25 Walker Glenn 1 20

25 Wenner Peter 1 20

Anderson Niklas 1 19

Deermount Adam 1 19

Potter John 1 19

Swetka Ken 1 19

Amthor Henry 1 18

Lapier David 2 18

Mellnik John 1 18

Rogachenko Kyle 1 18

Toole Pat 1 18

Wilson Vann 1 18

Higgins Conner 1 17

Rothenbuhler Rick 1 17

Tripp Chuck 1 17

Tullo Jerry 1 17

Von Der Wense Nick 1 17

Willard Martin 1 17

Aspland Joseph 1 16

Buckingham Jim 1 16

Lewis Evan 1 16

Schmidt Mike 1 16

Sutherland Ian 1 16

Usher Tracy 1 16

Andrews Tyler 1 15

Buckingham Bill 1 15

Frechette Rob 1 15

Dold Chris 1 14

Forgione Phil 1 14

Lamphere Gordon 1 14

Morgan Ted 1 14

Spevak Walt 1 14

Wong Andy 1 14

Aspland Emily 1 13

Dusek Jeff 1 13

Jones Ned 1 13

Orosz Stephan1 13

Strilky Rick 1 13

Bell Simon 1 12

Hatton Cole 1 12

McRitchie Thomas 1 12

Tan Bob 1 12

Wright David 1 12

Adolphs David 1 11

Aspland Mark 1 11

Davis Michelle1 11

Hall Mitch 1 11

Japikse Jason 1 11

Kelly Sean 1 11

Raney Brian 1 11

Cruickshank Keith 1 10

DeWolf Henry 1 10

Drake Elliot 1 10

Hiller Todd 1 10

Usher Charles 1 10

Breder Dave 1 9

Drasnin Peter 1 9

Hanson Bill 1 9

Hartman David 1 9

Herr Fred 1 9

Harmon Dick 1 8

Jackson Chris 1 8

Parkhill Lee 1 8

Scott Michael 1 8

Seynhaeve Guillaume 1 8

Hopkins Ken 1 7

Johnston Paige 1 7

Legg Chris 1 7

McNally John 1 7

Vallo Matt 1 7

Brand Tyler 1 6

Cairnes Charles 1 6

Mulhausen David 1 6

Pesch Ryan 1 6

Last First # of Events Total


www.Laser.org 35

RADIAL

Pos. Last First # of Events Total

1 Railey Paige 2 69

2 Maxim Katie 4 69

3 Tunnicliffe Anna 2 68

4 Dennis Claire 4 68

5 Lihan Sarah 3 67

6 Ross Lisa 2 60

7 Bertold Isabella 3 60

8 Haeger Annie 3 60

9 Griffin Genoa 3 59

10 Crain Philip 2 53

11 Billing Emily 3 52

12 Rasa Keamia 2 49

13 Smith Colin 2 47

14 Alley Philip 2 45

15 Doane Justin 2 44

16 Dugdale Nick 2 41

17 Blouin Sam 2 39

18 Dube Danielle 2 36

19 Schalka Michael 2 36

20 Barnard Chris 1 29

21 Wallace John 2 29

22 Hoeven Ryan 1 28

23 Taylor Chris 2 26

24 Crowder Victoria 1 25

24 Toole Oliver 1 25

Montemayor Ricardo 1 24

Cameron Rex 1 21

Liebl James 1 21

Cruickshank Tyler 1 20

Vargas Mateo 1 20

Givens Matt 1 19

Jesberg Peter 2 19

Peterson William 1 19

Shea Maggie 2 19

Filbert Anne 1 17

Moynahan Sean 1 17

Scott Jon 1 17

Graef Richard 1 16

Lozier Philip 1 16

Lezin Ben 1 15

McClatchy Bo 2 15

Rohde Krysta 1 15

Rupert Janet 1 15

Weitzman Cindy 1 15

Antunes Jacob 1 14

Bertrand Alex 1 14

Mace Sally 1 14

Jensen Drake 1 13

Nickbarg Max 1 13

Spalding Jennifer1 13

Vallo Nick 1 13

Holtzworth Ian 1 12

Japiske Chris 1 12

Roble Steph 1 12

Spector Ben 1 12

Ahearn Justin 1 11

Howard Will 1 11

Wilson Morgan 1 11

Soto Julian 1 10

Witkowski Kim 1 10

Wright Caroline 2 10

Kelchner Zach 1 9

Laube Kevin 1 9

Robin Allison 2 9

Dube Tiffany 1 8

Dudenhoefer Robert 1 8

Davis Michelle1 7

Haeger Will 1 7

Wettergren Viktor 1 7

Ahearn Cullen 1 6

Heasler Ian 1 6

Tulip Chris 1 6

Beuchler Nicole 1 5

Reynolds Jake 1 5

Larsen Josh 1 4

Stocke Chris 1 4

Vittery Alanna 1 4

Allen Lindsay 1 3

Foscue Chris 1 3

Hall Ryann 1 2

Norris Phillip 1 2

Stubbs Emily 1 2

De Lisser Arielle 1 1

Martinelli Dennis 1 1

Smith Darby 1 1

Last First # of Events Total

photo by John Payne


SUMMER 200736

Regatta ReportsBRIAN RANNEY

Hyannis Yacht Club hosted the2007 Laser/Radial/4.7 North American Championships (13-17June). They had a lot of chal-lenges, aside from the usual logisti-cal ones related to running a largeregatta for 200+ independent-mind-ed singlehanders. But let’s just saythe challenges at HYC were“unique”.

First, there’s the wind. Most regat-ta venues suffer from the “it’s-never-like-this-here” syndrome,where the winds vacate the areafor the duration of a major regatta.Not at Hyannis. Here the problemwas too much wind!Second, there’s the current. Aquote from Peter Johns: “We weresetting the weather marks upcur-rent, not upwind!” And it flows inthe opposite direction from whatanyone not familiar with the areawould expect.Third, there’s the ferries. Lots ofthem. Big ones. Fast ones. Therace area had to be chosen toavoid their routes - somethingabout them not being able to stopor turn on a dime at 30+ knots.And because of the ferries, sail-boats are prohibited from the chan-nel into and out of the harbor. Veryconfusing for out-of-towners. Butthose ferries use the channels, sowe don’t want to be there at thesame time. This forced the Laserand Radial fleets into short-tackingup the side of the channel in somevery shallow waters. Many a cursewas uttered on the way through asboard found bottom.

HYC tried to get a handle on thoselogistical issues early. There wasan absolute cutoff to registrationtwo weeks before the event began.No showing up on opening day andexpecting to sail! They also allocat-

ed the Wednesday before as amandatory registration and sailmeasurement day - again, no showing up the morning of. Mostfolks expected to use it for a littlepractice. They even planned forsplit fleets after two day of racingand four races, and had a check-in/check-out board to account for allthe sailors at day’s end.

Things started to fray a bit, though,right from the start. Arriving atHYC, one found some good organi-zation - parking, rigging area, effi-cient lines at measurement and reg-istration. But challenge numberone was rearing its head - wind. Alot of it. 26 knot averages with 37knot peak gusts. Many thoughtbetter of practicing in those condi-tions - something important couldbreak, like the skipper! In contrastto the high wind speeds, the airtemperatures were low. The localEastern MountainSports had a run oncold-weather gear.

A competitors’ meet-ing was held in theevening, with themost important notebeing that the 4.7swould sail inside theharbor, not out inNantucket Sound.The Lasers and Radials were to takeheading 235 out 1.25nm from the last

channel marker - to avoid thoseferry routes.

Challenge number one was also tobe a factor on the first scheduledday of racing. To start the day,however, some folks didn’t realizethey really had to be there on Wednesday, so there was somemeasurement and registration going on Thursday morning (butkept to a minimum). At 0830, theAnswering Pennant went up, andwe began to wait. Apparently, itwas blowing 25-30 knots out in theracing area, with large seas. Anotice was posted at 1100, continu-ing the wait. And at 1245. Finally,at 1400, racing was canceled forthe day. So of course, some peo-ple went sailing. They reported thatthe conditions were fine. (A postof the winds the following morningconfirmed a significant drop-off inwind strength just after 1400.)

North American Championships


www.Laser.org 37

Another posting changed the fleetsplits so that only Day Two’s raceswould be used.

Day Two saw more reasonable conditions. 16-18 with gusts to 23knots from the N, shifting to NNE.That 1.25nm was about right, butthe last channel marker seemed tobe at least 1 nm out of the harbor!At least it was downwind to getthere. Except for some folks whodidn’t “move their dot” to check outbefore leaving the beach. They gotto sail part way out, beat back intothose shallows along the channel,and then sail back out. Tom Duggan and his team did a solidjob in setting the course in somestiff chop, adjusting for a slow shiftto the right during the day. Theygot in three races for the arbitrarilysplit Laser and Radial fleets. Burgers and dogs were waiting forthe fleets when they got in, and theILCA-NA Annual General Meetingwas run by Treasurer Ben Richardson, with presentations bySherri Campbell and Ned Jones.

The third day started a bit warmerand with more moderate winds, butsaw the fleets waiting ashore dueto a postponement. Some scoring

issues needed to be resolved inorder to properly split the fleetsbetween championship and conso-lation divisions. Rumor has it thatsome younger competitors sailedaround the outside of all of themarks, neglecting the extradown/up of the outer/inner trape-zoid courses. The delay gave thewind time to back to the SW andgive the fleets a long port tack andshorter starboard tack to the start-ing area - again, seemingly way off-shore. Boards started finding theshallow spots at the mouth of theharbor this morning. The RC againset good courses, adjusting for thestrong current, and managed to getthree races in for both Laser fleets,and two races for the Radials. DayFour would be needed to get athrow-out, which would apply afterseven races. The highlight of the

day was the broad reach and runback to the harbor - warmer tem-peratures and the boats playing inthe waves as they stacked up in theshallows near shore!

The final day saw the fleets head-ing out in a more moderate SWbreeze of about 9 knots. But thebreeze had a slight chill to thegusts. As we got out of the harbor(with much cursing as still moreshallow spots were found), the RCboat put up code flag Lima - “Comewithin Hail”. The reason was obvious as wewatched two ferries disappear likephantoms into the fog bank as itrolled in near shore. This gave thefleets the opportunity to do somesightseeing! We were sheltering inHyannisport, within view of thefamed Kennedy compound. Alongwith the compound, we managed tofind Sen. Kennedy’s Mya on amooring, and another mooringlabeled “Kennedy”, with a very well-maintained catboat (appropriatelynamed “Cattin’ Around”). Once thefog cleared, we followed the RCboat out, and out, and out. Back toour usual starting area. It justseemed even longer due to thelighter winds. This also made set-ting the courses more difficult, asthe current was a larger factor. Notthat the winds made it any easier,throwing in a significant back in themiddle of the day. The directionmade for a pleasant ride back into

the harbor, though!

Congratulations to Thomas Barrows (USVI) for the overall win,earning him his country’s berth atthe 2008 Laser Worlds. FredStrammer (USA) and KyleRogachenko (USA) earned the twoNorth American berths available,finishing second and third. LeeParkhill (CAN) and Evan Lewis(CAN) rounded out the top five.The top fifteen Americans alsoearned themselves berths at theOlympic Trials this fall.

In the Radial fleet, Colin Smith(USA) claimed the overall victory,followed by Cameron Pimentel(USA), and W. Ian Heausler (USA).Sarah Lihan (USA) was the topfemale in fourth, with Anne Haeger(USA) behind her in fifth.

The 4.7 fleet was won convincinglyby Cameron Hall (USA). OJO’Conell (USA) and Blake Cabassa(USA) finished in the next twoplaces, separated by only a point.Marissa Lihan (USA) and CoreyHall finished fourth and fifth. Marissa was also the first female inthis fleet.

Thanks to the Hyannis Yacht Cluband all of its dedicated volunteerswho put on a good event, in spiteof the usual challenges, and somenew ones!photos by John Payne


SUMMER 200738

Regatta ReportsMICHAEL KISS

The 2007 Laser 4.7 North Ameri-can Championship was held onJune 14-17, 2007 in Hyannis, MAhosted by the Hyannis Yacht Club.This event took place at the sametime and venue as the Laser &Radial NA Championship with theLaser 4.7s sailing on a separatecourse inside the harbor area justoff Hyannis Yacht Club. Sailing theLaser 4.7s on a separate windward-leeward course allowed the racecommittee to complete 12 races forregatta. Twenty one competitorsconsisting of 11 boys and 10 girlscompeted in the event.

Strong northerly winds caused rac-ing to be postponed on the first dayof the regatta. Racing on the secondday took place in a 15-20 knotbreeze from the north allowing for4 fast races to be completed.Cameron Hall with finishes of 1, 6,5, 1 led after the first day. MarissaLihan followed closely behind insecond (finishes of 9, 3, 3, 3) withCorey Hall third (finishes of 3, 5, 8,2).

The second day of the event sawwinds from the S-SW at 5-15knots. Four races were again sailedwith Mitchell Kiss sailing the mostconsistently this day with scores of4, 2, 9, 3. At this time competitorscould take their drop race. In thetop five after the drop wereCameron Hall with 26 points fol-lowed by Blake Cabassa (33points), Marissa Lihan (33 points),O.J. O’Connell (34 points) andCorey Hall (37 points). So farCameron Hall had been sailing agreat series with a six point leadover the second place boat with thepoint spread between second andsixth only 5 points.

The final day of racing saw winds

2007 Laser 4.7 North Americans

again from the S-SW much like theprevious day. As had been the casethroughout this regatta PRO JohnFields and his RC crew ran fourmore fine races. Cameron Hallsailed four great races with finishesof 2, 2, 3, 2 to win the Laser 4.7North American Championshipwith a score of 35 points. Secondplace went to O.J. O’Connell (50points), Blake Cabassa was third(51 points), Marissa Lihan fourth(60 points) and Corey Hall fifth (66points).

Special thank you goes to theHyannis Yacht Club and PRO JohnFields for hosting a great Laser 4.7North American Championship. Tothe parents of Optimist age outsand/or size out I would like toencourage you to get your kids outin a Laser 4.7. I believe this is thebest sailing going for sailors not bigenough for the Laser or Laser Radi-al!!!


39

2007 ACC Regatta

RYAN MINTH This year’s Atlantic Coast Champi-onship Regatta was held a bit earli-er in the NA season to ensurebreeze at the host venue, the USSailing Center of Martin County,Florida. Breeze there was!Although the racing days werescheduled for the weekend of May

26th and 27th, the staff at USSC-MC, led by Peter Strong, alsoorganized a pre-regatta clinic on

Friday the 25th. From Friday’s clin-ic through the Award Ceremony, thewind started in the low 20’s andheld up well into the teens, onlytouching the single digits briefly atthe top of the sheltered beats onthe last day.

The USSC-MC is one of the oldest,if not THE oldest, of the too-few USSailing Centers. Now nestled nice-ly in Jensen Beach, FL on the Indi-an River, they boast a wonderfuldinghy facility. There is plenty ofbeach launching space, nice grassylawns for rigging and rinsing, closeparking, and a new building withgreat meeting space, a huge deck,four bathrooms, outdoor showers,nice workshop facilities, and amplestorage for their ongoing sailingprograms. Just north of the WestPalm Beach (PBI) airport, the areais friendly and very reasonablewhen compared to ILCA-NA’s otherfavorite Florida venues. The com-plete package is a low-key, top rateplace to sail. After hosting DavidHartman’s successful Mid-WeekMadness Master Regatta/Clinic forits first two years, the secret is get-ting out quickly within the NA Laserfleet.

Friday’s clinic was led by RyanMinth of C-vane Performance Sail-ing. With 20 knots of breeze, thebriefing started late morning andwas followed by on-the-water drillsemphasizing boat handling atmarks, practice starts, straight-lineupwind, and downhill S-turn sailing.

It was a perfect regatta warm-up tobuild confidence for the sailorsaboard their Lasers, Radials, and4.7s. The de-briefing includedextensive video shot during theday, where everyone was able toview areas they needed to improveand observe the best techniquesperformed by others attending theclinic. Ryan also let them in onsome of the secrets of his topclients from Australia, China, andthe US Elite Youth Sailing Teams.

Peter and the USSC-MC teamassembled a fantastic race man-agement team, always critical for agood regatta. With full Olympictrapezoid courses, complete withreaching finishes, the PRO kept upwith what was a busy oscillatingeasterly breeze all weekend long.There were 23 Full Rigs, 47 Radi-als, and 28 4.7s that launchedSaturday and sailed north underthe bridge to the racing area undera blasting, full-spray beam reach.What a way to start a regatta!

Once out at the track, it becameclear that getting off the line nearthe favored end and staying inphase with the 20-30 degree windshifts would be crucial to getting tothe top mark with the front of thefleet. Overall, the bottom half ofthe beats were the breeziest, withmore consistent and rhythmicshifts. Big grinders had an advan-tage if they could come off the linein the front row and separate them-selves with better boat speed. Atthe top third of the first beats, thewind would drop off, as the inner-trap windward marks were placednear the shoreline. Here the shiftsbecame more erratic, where seek-ing pressure and balancing it withangle made big passes possibleand kept the racing exciting. Topsailors from each fleet typically didwell by getting off the line andheading left early in the beat, con-solidating, and then heading towarda starboard approach to the firstmark, where there was a bit moreopen water off to the right making

for a more consistent shift and bet-ter pressure. The first reach legwas interesting as well. Holdingthe high lane early often got the bigpuffs first, making for nice gains.But holding high into the secondhalf of the leg placed them tooclose to the shore, where the puffscould go right over the tops of thesails, only hitting the low-lane boatsand scooting them into the wingmark quickly. Almost every race,someone in each fleet would get it100% right, resulting in command-ing leads, but that someone wasseemingly never the same sailor.Heads up sailing was the order ofthe day. Proof was in the inconsis-tent results at the top of the Laserand Radial Fleets.

Saturday’s results: In Laser, FredStrammer of the US Elite YouthTeam, popped out of the box hotwith a quick bullet. At the end ofSaturday, he was only hot enoughto hold third though, as ErnestoRodriguez’s slower warm up wasmore consistent, scoring (10)-2-2-7-2-1 for the top spot of Day One.Only one point back was DOMsailor Raul Aguayo’s (11)-1-3-1-5-5.On the inner-traps with the Radials,Colin Smith, a Junior from Laud-erdale YC, put together a remark-ably consistent score-line under theconditions and tough competition of1-4-1-2-9. Anyone in the top sevencould still take the regatta as athrow-out would come into play withanother race. Sharing some of theday’s glory was Sarah Lihan, a USSailing Team member and SamBlouin, a Junior from DIYC; bothwon races during the day by huge,convincing margins. Probably theonly surprise was in the 4.7 fleet,where Edgar Diminich was the onlysailor afloat that seemingly hadeverything figured out all day, scor-ing a 1-4-1-1-2 and commandingthe second largest fleet competing.Even the pending drop race held lit-tle hope for other 4.7 sailors tryingto keep up with Edgar’s blisteringpace and smart sailing.

continued on page 41

www.Laser.org


Name_______________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________

City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________

Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________

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

Boat sailed ______Laser ______Radial ______Laser 4.7

Current 2007 Membership Fees

All amounts are in US dollars. Canadian checks must be in US dollars.Regular - $40 for one year or $75 for 2 yearsJunior - $35 (Member may not turn 18 in 2007),

or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 in ‘08)Family, 1 year - $40 for the primary members and $25 for each additional memberFamily, 2 years - $75 for the primary members and $45 for each additional memberPlease provide family members names, DOB, boat type and sail number on an additional sheet of paper.

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

SUMMER 2007

Name_______________________________________________________

Address_____________________________________________________

City ___________________State / Prov. _____Zip / postal code ________

Phone ____________________ E-mail____________________________

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

Boat sailed ______Laser ______Radial ______Laser 4.7

Current 2007 Membership Fees

All amounts are in US dollars. Canadian checks must be in US dollars.Regular - $40 for one year or $75 for 2 yearsJunior - $35 (Member may not turn 18 in 2007),

or $65 for 2 years (Member may not turn 18 in ‘08)Family, 1 year - $40 for the primary members and $25 for each additional memberFamily, 2 years - $75 for the primary members and $45 for each additional memberPlease provide family members names, DOB, boat type and sail number on an additional sheet of paper.

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

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: ____

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MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION ILCA of NA, 2812 Canon Street,

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www.Laser.org 41

After a tiring six-race day for the Lasers and fiveraces for the big Radial and 4.7 Fleets, everyonewas sent home on another fast blast reach back toshore, where drinks and a nice dinner were waiting.Sixteen complete trapezoid races held across thethree fleets on the first day!

Conditions were almost identical for Sunday’s racing.The breeze may have been a bit lighter and themedian heading a touch to the right, but the competi-tion was no less fierce. The PRO made another stel-lar call keeping the Laser Fleet, one race up on theother fleets afloat, first in the starting order. Racewinning strategy was no less tricky either, with thelulls at the top of the first beats (and second for theinner-trap course) more dramatic than the prior day.

Sunday’s and Final results: In the 4.7 Fleet, EdgarDiminich kept it together with a 1-1-(5)-1, winning theregatta by a significant and impressive margin.Second through sixth was separated by only threepoints after nine races, with Cam Hall and AlecAnderson second and third overall. Tied for third onpoints, but just out of the medals on the tiebreaker ina watch-this-upcoming-sailor-performance wasMarissa Lihan, as top Female (and younger sister toSarah). Sarah had it together Sunday in her Radialwith a 1-1-8-1, but it was only good enough for

Bronze after dropping a 33 and keeping a 26th.Phillip Alley was second overall, scoring three thirdsSunday. Colin Smith’s drop-2-1-9 was easily enoughto keep an eleven point gap over second for the

Radial title. Only five points separated 2nd and 6th,with another top female US Radial sailor Genoa Grif-

fin in 4th followed by fleet favorite-guy James Liebl,scoring the top, not-disclosed-upon-entry ApprenticeMaster spot. The drama ran high with the Laserfleet. Fred Strammer won the day with an impres-sive 2-2-1-3, and looking to take the championship.However, a tight final leeward mark rounding withregatta leader and always tough competitor Ernestoforced Fred into retiring from the race after finishing.In the end it was only drama, as the positions heldsteady with Ernesto Rodriguez winning the ACC titleas top Apprentice Master, followed by Raul Aguayo.The RAF score kept Fred Strammer in third. TopJunior was David Hernandez of the CGSC in fifthand top Master was Rick Strilky, making it down fromChicago’s CCYC. In the teens, Michelle Davis wasfirst Female and Henry Dewolf made an impressiveshowing in the breeze for top Great Grand Master.

For complete results, go to http://www.usscmc.org/and http://www.webshots.com/user/usscmc for pho-tos. The Laser Class should be looking forward togetting back to Jenson Beach soon.


SUMMER 2007

D18 ChampionshipsLeatherlips Yacht Club

Columbus, Ohio.

May 11th, 2007

JOHN SHOCKEY

D18 SECRETARY

The District 18 Champi-

onships held in Columbus, Ohio

proved to be a successful event as any.

Friday night sailors began to roll in for

the free clinic run by Rick Rothenbuh-

ler of Dieball Sailing. The clinic pro-

vided rigging tips, with on the water

filming for dissection later on that

night. The night was capped off with

tips and tricks by some of the experi-

enced locals who knew the shift pat-

terns. With the arrival of collegiate

sailors from Indiana, Florida Atlantic,

Old Dominion, and Bowling Green, the

regatta boasted some of the top young

Lasers the district had to offer, along

with experienced apprentices and mas-

ters making the game a bit more tacti-

cal than the “endurance” aspect of

Lasers. The first of five races on Satur-

day was light, shifty, and difficult to

figure out. Reassuring winds were on

the way however, as a strong 15 knot

breeze rolled through making the

inland reservoir a prime spot for

Lasers. After Saturday’s races, stand-

ings were tight and the competition

was apparent. Five different winners

in five races! (Saturday Bullets: Barret

Rhoads, Ken Swetka, Gordon Lam-

phere, Tyler Andrews, and Kevin

Shockey) Sunday’s forecast was for 15

knots as well, but 7-10 was probably

all we saw. After two more races and a

throw out, Barret Rhoads of Eagle

Creek took top honors in the full rig,

followed 2nd place Ken Swetka of

Michigan, and I finished up in 3rd rep-

resenting Vermilion Boat Club. Tyler

Cruickshank of Leatherlips Yacht Club

took the radial class throwing out a 2nd

with all bullets remaining. Following

Tyler was Matt Givens and Wick Har-

denbergh. For all those who missed

this year’s district championship, next

years will be just as fun, and just as

exciting. Special thanks goes out to

former D18 secretary Janet Rupert,

PRO Jamie Jones, and the volunteers

for putting on an excellent regatta at a

terrific venue!

-

Guy Fleming Takes

Hawaii Districts

SCOTT MELANDER14 Laser competitors attended the District 26 Champs on a

beautiful day off Waikiki. The winds were shifty trades 4-12

knots. In the first race the left side of the course attracted a

few boats trying to take advantage of the pin end on port at

the start. After a few races this tactic was proven to be a poor

idea and the fleet setteld down. Race 5 had a huge right shift

with a Radial sailor almost winning! Paying attendtion with a

minute to go was crucial to understanding the shifts. Thanks

to our race committee staff of Ted Miller, Tracy Woodrow,

and Ailana Warren. Congratulations to Guy Fleming who

qualified for the US Sailing Singlehanded Nationals. He plans on traveling to vacation-friendly New Jersey in July for the

ODays. This is Guy’s first win at the Laser Districts. The next few Laser races will be June 23 in Pearl Harbor; July 12-13 in

Waikiki, and August 4-5 in Kaneohe. The Hawaii State Singlehanded Champions will be in Kaneohe on September 8-9.

total with t/o

Guy Fleming 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7 6Scott Melander 4 4 2 6 4 5 2 27 21Jimmy Fowler 5 2 6 8 5 4 10 40 30Seamus Murphy 9 14 10 9 11 12 6 71 57

Jennifer Proctor 3 8 3 5 2 6 3 30 22Jackson Cook 2 9 4 7 7 2 4 35 26Lance Miller 7 7 11 4 3 8 7 47 36Morgan Merrill 10 5 7 3 6 11 9 51 40Rinchen Harrison 8 3 5 10 10 10 8 54 42Steve Marzo 14 6 8 12 9 3 5 57 43Paddy Loughlin 6 11 12 2 12 7 11 61 49Brett Fischer 11 10 9 11 8 9 12 70 59Ian Marshall 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 89 76Ryan Chan Wa 13 13 14 14 14 14 14 96 82

42


www.Laser.org

Photos:

Above: Scott Melander relaxes between races.

Left: Morgan Merrill (#25) with Guy Fleming leading the

pack.

43


SUMMER 200744

Sailing FitWhat’s your excuse?

MEKA TAULBEEACE CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER

Well, my deadline is coming up and

I really thought that I would have

to reprint something for this issue.

Then it hit me. I was running and I

started thinking about what differ-

ent athletes put themselves through

to be able to stay on their game in

their sport or even just for their

own satisfaction of staying in

shape. As you can imagine as a

trainer I hear all sorts of excuses as

to why someone didn’t work out,

couldn’t work out, couldn’t eat

healthy or left the regatta early.

Hopefully this short article will

light a fire under some of you.

What lead me to this train

of thought? Well, for those of you

that don’t already know, Team

Taulbee is adding another member

to the team. We are expecting our

second baby at the end of June.

Yes, you read right, I was running

when I thought about this article. I

am 36 weeks pregnant and still run

at least five days a week and do

light weights. Most times I am

pushing our two year old in his jog-

ging stroller as well. Crazy?

Maybe, but it’s what I do. It would

be really easy for me to make

excuses to not go. I too have to

motivate myself and talk myself

into it sometimes, but in the end I

do it and feel great for going.

I started thinking about

some of the sailors out there who

have had setbacks, but have kept

going and are stronger for it in the

end. One is Brad Funk. He had to

go through major surgery and reha-

bilitation on his shoulder. He timed

his training around this and now

look at how well he is doing. He is

still just as strong of a sailor if not

stronger. He has been traveling

back and forth from Europe to the

US to train and sail. Doesn’t look

like it stopped him one bit. It would

have been really easy for him to

make excuses to not train as hard.

The next person that came

to mind was Andrew Campbell.

Just recently he broke his wrist in

Europe while cycling. He had to

change his plans a bit and make

sure he heals causing him to travel

back to the states for some time in

a cast. It doesn’t look like this

slowed him down much. He was

still out on the water doing some

judging and then as soon as the cast

was off he was doing some Etchells

racing. This was the day before he

left to head back to Hyeres, France

for some more high level Laser rac-

ing. He got injured during his train-

ing and still

no excuses

from him.

He’s back

and ready to

rumble.

I

have had the

pleasure to

be able to

work with

one of the

Paralympic

teams before

the last

Olympic

Games in

Athens. This

was an

extraordi-

nary experi-

ence for me.

If anyone

has the right

to make up

an excuse

not to train it

would be

these guys.

Yet, they worked harder than a lot

of other sailors I know.

The last person I thought

about is my idol as an athlete.

Whenever I think I can’t go out and

work harder or even train at all I

think of him. Lance Armstrong.

Need I say more?

WHAT’S YOUR EXCUSE?


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the laser sailor summer 2007

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