This week we have a couple very different videos. The first one, courtesy of the Volvo Ocean Race Turn The Tide on Plastic, absolutely screams irony. Remember the two women and two dogs that were rescued amid the fawning morning shows back in October? Well, while they have spent the intervening months trying to explain why they drifted for seven months in a seemingly sound enough boat eating oatmeal and pasta, their boat has been happily bobbing around the Pacific. Apparently neither they nor the US Navy saw the sense in scuttling the boat (which for the safety of other mariners should be done) or thought it was so close to sinking it would take care of its own sinking. As is often the case, the boat held together. The mast (which they felt couldn’t be used) was still standing, and other than some obvious water in the boat, Sea Nymph seemed quite intact. Certainly intact enough to sink a boat hitting it in the open ocean. As Tide‘s skipper Dee Caffari puts it: “We are asking you not to litter the oceans with plastic and here we have a whole yacht floating aimlessly in our oceans!” Caffari’s entire post follows the video. Talk about unnecessary plastic in the ocean…..
What should you do when you see a yacht floating with no of signs of life? Well that question was asked onboard Turn the Tide on Plastic yesterday.
We were sailing within sight of Brunel and to weather we saw another yacht close to our track. We looked through the binoculars as there was no sign on the AIS software and we contacted race control. We called on the VHF with no response and race control confirmed there was no active SAR in the area. We sent up the drone with James, our on board reporter, for a closer inspection and to get some identification for the vessel.
We collected some images and sent them back to race control and they confirmed the vessel was the abandoned vessel, Sea Nymph. Many may remember a big news story in the US, last autumn, regarding the rescue of two women and a dog from the vessel on their way to Hawaii. Well this was that vessel all these months later. She was sitting pretty low in the bow and her mainsail was washed over the side but the rest of her looked like she would make a nice cruiser.
We discussed salvage rights for a while and estimated that the race director would not give us redress if we towed her to Auckland while racing. So there she sits a hazard to shipping, a risk to islands, reefs and atolls and slowly not going anywhere.
We are grateful we saw her during the day as this could have been a very different story had we come across her at night. She was floating stern to us with no lights or signal being given out, there is no way we would have seen her. ]
I just hope now we have given authorities her position there is a chance for salvage or for scuttling her to prevent a far worse disaster in our oceans. We are asking you not to litter the oceans with plastic and here we have a whole yacht floating aimlessly in our oceans!
Dee and Team Turn the Tide on Plastic
The second video was on the exceptionally sunny and somewhat chilly Sunday past. The kite boarders were giving Meadow Point beach walkers quite the show, so I pulled out my phone. Some were foiling boards, some were not. You can get a close look at their gear and setup right there, and of course get some close views of takeoffs and landings when the waves are just right. It’s not too often placid Puget Sound serves up kiting conditions, but when it does it’s quite the spectacle.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
The Puget Sound Star fleet is a wonderful anomaly. It boasts some of the finest skippers to ever touch a Star tiller in Bill and Carl Buchan, and is one of the more welcoming fleets around. When I came to Seattle nearly 30 years ago one of my first races was on a Star by invitation of Foss Miller. It’s clear Foss and the fleet are still eager to build the Star fleet and community, initiating a loaner boat program for the season.
Local sailors Derek DeCouteau and Jaimie Stewart working upwind. Local photos by Jan Anderson.
The Star itself is somewhat of an anomaly. Designed in 2011 by Francis Sweisguth, it’s an overcanvassed (by yesterday’s standards anyway) 22′ chined keelboat. Once upon a time it was identified with the Olympics, but it’s been in and out of that designation a couple of times (currently out). I’m not sure Star sailors care that much. Now they even have the professional Star Sailors League. The best sailors still look to this class as the ultimate proving ground for tweaking, tactics and teamwork. Stars glide along nicely in 5 knots of wind and can pound in relatively big seas and 20 knots. To sail them at their best in those conditions, size and strength matter. No, it doesn’t have a sprit (or spinnaker for that matter), and doesn’t reach at 20 knots, but it remains the premier puzzle for the elite of the sport. The relatively small keel rudder combination and the sail area configuration put a premium on getting everything juuuuuuussssst right.
Locally we have the Puget Sound fleet dry-sailed out of Shilshole and wet-sailed fleet of classic Stars in Budd Inlet (Olympia). (I’d like to know about other active fleets in the Northwest) The Budd Inlet Fleet has a great program of getting butts in boats as well.
So, it comes as no surprise that the Puget Sound fleet is reaching out to potential Star sailors with these programs.
SAIL STARS WITH THE STARS!
Ever want to try sailing a Starboat but didn’t know where to start? Now you can!
The Star, an Olympic class boat for a century, has spawned some of the best sailors in the world. Many of them are right here in Puget Sound.
Star
The Star is incredibly fun to sail, and the fleet is friendly and always ready to help a newcomer out.
The Puget Sound Starboat fleet currently has 3 Stars available for loaner use, and is hosting a Star training clinic as well. Details below:
Cost: Port of Seattle dry storage fee: $232.54/month.Insurance is covered.
Recommendations: Some sailing experience is required for the helmsperson. Crew should be somewhat athletic.
STAR TRAINING CLINIC – JUNE 9 & 10
AT CORINTHIAN YACHT CLUB OF SEATTLE, SHILSHOLE MARINA, SEATTLE
Star Gold Medalist Olympians, Bill Buchan and Carl Buchan, are running a Star clinic in June!
Everyone with a loaner boat is welcome to participate in this special event.
It’s amazing to have a local learning opportunity with two people who, between them, have won two Olympic gold medals, and seven World championship titles!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
While we wait for what will surely (?) be a banner crop of videos coming off the Center Sound boats, here’s a good one from Hamachi laying down some serious miles on an “outside” leg of the Van Isle 360 last year:
And here’s a teaser. The movie Coyote: The Mike Plant Story is currently making the film festival rounds, and while it’s not in the PNW yet, director Thomas Simmons assures me that he’s looking hard for an opportunity to get it here. I, for one, am very anxious to see it – Mike Plant was a fascinating character, a great sailor and not as well known as he should be.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
The Radial fleet faced some epic conditions in Miami. No doubt there were some sore bodies after this race. Photos by Jesus Renedo.
It’s been a week now, and the Sailing World Cup Miami is in the books. It is great tracking the PNW women in their campaigns. To compete at that level is very special, and these young women are doing the Northwest proud. Here’s a retrospective on how it went for them all.
In the Laser Radial class we have Hanne Weaver. While she would certainly have liked a higher finish, she was the fifth US sailor. Hanne was kind enough to share her thoughts:
Miami World Cup for me was a challenge. I had a hard time getting off the line this year. I had a training camp prior in Miami at the beginning of January with the USA Sailing Team. That helped me a lot with windy condition. I came early to Miami World Cup to do more training before the event start. I perfected my down winds and increased my boat speed. Like always the training days are never like the regatta. It was lighter the first two days of racing. The Laser Radial class didn’t race the first day due to that lack of wind. The next day we started first. I had a difficult time getting off the line which made it very hard to pass boats. I didn’t finish that great. After that it became windy, I don’t think it got below 20knots. It was all about hiking hard and hitting the left, and don’t tip over. On the 26th all classes didn’t race due to the high winds that came through, but the last day we races 3 races in once again 20+ knots. I made a few mistakes up the course by tacking too late or not getting on that wave on the downwind. I took this regatta as I have nothing to lose. I didn’t start out that great but I ended on a good note. Just because you have a bad first few races doesn’t mean you should give up. Anything can happen when you have a 5-day regatta.
Looking ahead toward the Olympic berth, we have Paige Railey still on top after taking some time off. She’ll be trying to make her third Olympic Games. All the Radial sailors will be pushing her hard, and at age 30 Paige is by no means the youngest in the class. This will be a fun class to watch in the coming months and I know a whole lot of Northwest Laser sailors who are rooting for Hanne.
Don’t look now, but here comes Kate Shaner in the 49erFX class. She along with crew Charlotte Mack are newcomers to the game and gaining speed and technique by leaps and bounds. Best of all, you just have to like the attitude. You can see in the pictures and from her writing that Kate is enjoying herself. That is, I believe, the foundation of boatspeed. You gotta love it. Kate wrote about the event on her web site, and has allowed us to share it hear as well:
We’ve just wrapped up our first international competition as a team. Last week Biscayne Bay played host to over 500 top notch sailors from all over the world. While our scoreline shows less than stellar finishes, we progressed by leaps and bounds each day of the event, and the inspiring level of competition and incredible atmosphere gave us motivation to take lessons learned back to our training. Huge thanks to the event organizers and our event coach Udi Gal for getting us through the week!
Shaner and Mack sending it.
Day one of the event saw light to nonexistent breeze; the FX fleet waited several hours on shore before finally launching and getting in two light races. The first, we struggled with keeping speed and height through the lulls. By the second race however, we sorted through the changes that needed to be made to our upwind technique and earned a top ten finish.
Day two was slightly windier, enough to bring the boats to full power. Light to moderate conditions de-emphasize boat speed– everyone goes fast. The most important part of the races by far were the starts, which we struggled with. Our lateral positioning against boats and accelerations were good, but we were too far back from the line. We intend on putting in some solid hours of starting line practice these next few months.Day three got “fresh.” Wind gusted from 18 – 25 knots, sea state was 3-5 ft short chop. The FX course was downwind of the harbor, boats had to execute well timed bear-aways and jibes just to make it to the race. A few boats turned around and wentin immediately. It took most of the fleet several attempts to turn down before making it to the course. After our second try, our coach gave us our helmets to wear. Helmets are a relatively new piece of safety equipment in sailing. While serious head injuries do happen relatively frequently, especially in skiff sailing, sailors prefer to have their heads free to feel the wind. Most of us don’t wear them, even if we should. Neither of us had ever worn one in competition. Putting them on, however, took away the fear of injury and gave us both the confidence to push ourselves in difficult conditions. Any thought of hiding onshore with the other new teams vanished. We made it to the line in plenty of time for our start.
We approached the race with more “can do” attitude than technical ability; our upwind speed was off the pace slightly. This didn’t matter too much. Half the fleet capsized at the first windward mark. We waited for an easy wave set before bearing away, and nearly impaled a poorly placed coach boat in the process but got the kite up cleanly. We executed a stable jibe in the corner, where many others flipped, and came screaming in to the leeward gate. Unfortunately, when we arrived another boat had flipped with their mast across it, making it impossible to get through. We flipped avoiding them.
The boat came up quickly, and instead of attempting to bear away again, we backed our sails to slide between the gates, then turned upwind. The breeze built, and we bounced off wave peaks up the course, our centerboard coming out of the water. We’d gained some confidence in our tacks, and were able to use them to gain advantage on a few faster boats before the windward mark. We got around clean, and then looked for a good spot to jibe into the finish. A missed grab on the main sheet lead to our second capsize. This took longer to right as we had to douse the kite in the water.
Shaner and Mack laughing between races while Mack ices her ankle in a cooler.
When we came upright, we didn’t risk putting it back up. We reached, both of us on the back corner on the wing, straight towards the finish. We were in 7th place, 20 boat lengths from the finish line when the time limit expired. Five boats finished within the time limit.While it was disappointing to miss out on a top 10 finish by minutes, it was encouraging to know that after 27 days in the boat together we could put up a good fight. There was no racing the next day due to too much breeze. No classes sailed. Qualifying series was over. However, the opportunity to watch the medal races the next day and learn from the top 10 teams in the men’s and women’s fleets gave us a better idea of the target to aim for. Over the next few months, we will continue training and begin to focus on the specific mechanics that define excellence in our class. Can’t wait to get back on the water.
We’ve already been lucky to get a check-in from Helena Scutt (originally of Kirkland, Washington) during the Miami event. Along with skipper Bora Gulari, she’s tackling the relatively new Nacra 17 foiling catamaran. To hear her describe crewing on the beast, it sounds like she’s moving all the time. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have a bunch of guys on bicycles powering hydraulics to adjust the foils like they did in the America’s Cup. And, really, I’m guessing here. Gulari and Scutt capsized in the medal race, but the bigger point is they made it to the medal race after a very limited time sailing together.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
It’s that time of the year when US Sailing hands out awards and honors. This time around, two of our own PNW sailors received acknowledgment from the governing body. Here’s US Sailing’s announcement and the specifics on the community sailing work done by these two!
Community Sailing and National One-Design Award Winners
Announced by US Sailing
BRISTOL, R.I. (January 29, 2018) – US Sailing is proud to announce the 2017 Community Sailing and National One-Design Award winners for their contributions to the sport of sailing in the United States. To celebrate the accomplishments of these individuals and organizations responsible for advancing sailing forward in their respective areas of focus and within their communities, US Sailing will recognize them on Thursday, February 1, 2018 at the Awards Celebration to be held at the Sailing Leadership Forum in St. Pete Beach, Florida, hosted by the TradeWinds Island Grand Resort.
US Sailing will issue a second announcement following the Awards Celebration for the award winners who will be recognized live at the awards celebration.
The following 2017 Community Sailing and One-Design Award winners are:
Andrew Alletag (Tewksbury, Mass.) of Community Boating, Inc. in Boston, Mass. received the Jim Kilroy Outstanding Outreach & Inclusion Award.
Erik Skeel (Woodinville, Wash.) of Sail Sand Point in Seattle, Wash. received the award for Excellence in Instruction.
Jamie Jones (Westerville, Ohio) of the Hoover Sailing Club received the award for Outstanding Organizational Leader.
Joan Storkman (Gig Harbor, Wash.) was named Volunteer of the Year for her ongoing dedication as a volunteer at Gig Harbor Junior Sail Program.
Wayzata Community Sailing Center (Wayzata, Minn.) received the award for More than Ten Years of Hallmark Performance for their continued commitment to community sailing.
Sail Nauticus (Norfolk, Va.) received the award for Creative Innovations in Programming.
Delavan Lake Yacht Club (Delavan, Wis.) received a the National One-Design Regatta Award for excellence in development, promotion and management of the year’s most outstanding one-design regatta.
Jon VanderMolen (Richland, Mich.) and Don Parfet (Richland, Mich.) received the National One-Design Creativity Award for their inaugural Vintage Gold Cup.
San Diego Yacht Club (Calif.) received the National One-Design Club Award recognizing administrative excellence, fleet growth, creative programming, regatta support and member contributions.
Erik Skeel (with Laura Smit) at the singlehanded college nationals.
Erik Skeel – Excellence in Instruction
Erik Skeel (Woodinville, Wash.) of Sail Sand Point in Seattle, Wash. has been recognized for his superb leadership and extraordinary instruction. Providing highly technical feedback to sailors, his greatest strength is his leadership in group settings.
As a sophomore member of the University of Washington Sailing Team, Skeel’s enthusiasm and knowledge, regardless of his role on the boat, has made a positive impact on his teammates. As a summer camp instructor, he shares his love of sailing and amicable personality with everyone around him.
He is a truly remarkable instructor and valued member of Sail Sand Point.
Joan Storkman – Volunteer of the Year
Joan Storkman (Gig Harbor, Wash.) is a tireless volunteer with the Gig Harbor Junior Sail Program in Washington. She has been there since its inception and, in less than 10 years, this program has grown from a very small all-volunteer operation, to a fully-fledged program employing seasonal staff, while operating eight months a year. This year, the Gig Harbor Yacht Club (GHYC) Junior Sail “Learn to Sail” summer program recorded its highest enrollment ever, with 160 local youth participating in their weekly sailing camps, thanks to Storkman’s hard work.
She recruited and leads the 12-member Board of Directors, and works countless hours to ensure that the GHYC Junior Sail a well-run, organized and high-morale community asset.
Storkman’s high-energy leadership, attention to detail, as well as her endless team motivation and expressions of gratitude to all the volunteers and instructors has positioned the GHYC Junior Sail to be a successful program with a fantastic future.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Last Saturday Seattle YC hosted an informational meeting on ORC scoring, led by Ian Lloyd of ORC-Canada. It’s great to see the racing community gathering and spreading information. First off there’s a summary by organizer Sue Weiss, who is a scorer with SYC. Then we have impressions from attendee William Bonner. While it appears this was fairy focused on scoring, this kind of meeting certainly expands the community’s familiarity with the system. Let’s keep the conversation going about how to get more butts in boats, whether it’s ORC, PHRF, one-design or just “hey, I’ll meet you on the water!” Send sailish.com your thoughts, and we’ll try to get it posted. A sailish.com reader is even undertaking the task of explaining in plain terms what ORC and PHRF are really about. Stay tuned!
Ian Lloyd is to the left of the TV screen in the background.
Summary from Sue Weiss to the attendees:
First – a huge thank you to Ian Lloyd for preparing a 16 page hand that will help us review major concepts. It was a lot of absorb in 2 hours and I hope participants review it in the following months. I appreciate everyone’s workshop comments.
My observations and takeaways – and everyone is encouraged to enter into the discussion, agree and/or disagree with them.
Sailwave is a favorite scoring program locally. Racers are used to the one PHRF number and can easily figure out how they did in comparison to another boat.
ORC has more ratings depending on what rating system the YC (aka Organizing Authority) has said they would use – one rating or triple ratings. The number and kind of ratings (TOT and/or TOD, Windward/Leeward or Coastal Long Distance) need to be explicitly stated in the NOR and SIs and that the wind speed decided by the Race Committee is not subject to redress.
ORC Scorer does not have the sail number entry system that Sailwave has (great observation) (Sail Number Wizard), however time results could be entered by boat name, similar to a check in sheet.
Racers can see potential result changes that different wind conditions and type of race would make with a simple ORC drop down menu change.
ORC Ratings are also available online and can be updated online.
Most Puget Sound boats have been getting their ORC certificates from Canada, but that will change as US Sailing is setting up its own ORC certificate system.
I want to thank 48 North, Kurt Hoehne and all the yacht clubs for publicizing this event. Hoehne runs a sailing blog and I suspect he’d like to continue the conversation.
And this from William Bonner, who attended the meeting:
Thanks for the information in the Saturday seminar. I gained a huge amount of knowledge.
Experience racing under PHRF and ORC in the past year left me seriously questioning ORC.
What I really liked from this weekend was the discussion related to the methods of scoring used by race committee’s which will likely be the deciding factor on how much any handicapping system is used.
I like the quantitative measurement rating of ORC. It’s use in buoy racing where conditions of a particular race are likely consistent makes plenty of sense to me.
Its use in a longer coastal race with variable conditions, such as Swiftsure, VanIsle360, or Round the County are more problematic when the wind may vary from nothing to gale in a single segment. While no handicapping system will work for every boat, the fact that racers can’t know the handicap variables till after the race, and knowing what the race committed decided to call the wind, makes things much less satisfying.
The primary question I was asked was if there’s a larger push to move more boats to ORC from PHRF. I wasn’t able to confidently answer that, but based on the consensus that the sailflow interface is what people are familiar with and it doesn’t natively use ORC ratings, there will likely be more splits in the fleet through the next couple of years, with some boats competing under the ORC rating, and some competing under PHRF, and some switching between individual events.
Is there a general movement one way or another?
(I’m just crew that’s interested in all of this for the geek factor)
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Back to a PNW Wet Wednesday, specifically Sloop Tavern’s Iceberg Series. This video comes courtesy of Marc-Andrea Klimaschewski (thanks!) from onboard the J/80 Reckless. Some fun footage of a flying reach to Skiff Point including losing the chute a couple times. Reckless ended up winning Class 4. Send those videos in. Now’s a good time to get your video gear sussed out for the season. You want to save it for posterity, right?
And for you dinghy sailors, all those Olympic and up-and-comer types were in Miami for the World Cup Series a week ago. And while all the final races were broadcast live online over the weekend, I’m thinking not many of us spent our days doing that. Here’s a 50 minute recap of the series, with some great heavy air sailing in all the Olympic classes. Check out the boat handling, and check out Caleb Paine coming from behind to grab the silver in the Finn. You can skip around to enjoy the classes you find most interesting.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Gulari and Scutt sending it in the Nacra 17. Jesus Renedo photos.
Helena Scutt (of Kirkland, WA) and skipper Bora Gulari are currently the top U.S. Nacra 17 team at the World Cup Series Miami. Despite what must be exhausting days, she wrote the following to sailish.com to share:
After three days of racing, with one more day of normal racing plus a medal race day, we are in 9th place. However, this regatta is so much more than the result for us. It is our first regatta together, and my first Nacra 17 regatta, and it’s Bora’s first regatta since the horrific accident we had on Aug 30, in which he lost parts of 3 fingers. So for us to be here competing in the thick of it is something to be grateful for. This newly foiling Olympic class is new to everyone, and since we lost some training time, every day is a steep learning curve. We are really enjoying working together and I’m amazed by the progress we’ve made in the last three weeks of sailing here in Miami. We’ve improved our boatspeed in all conditions, boathandling, race communication, starts, catamaran-style tactics… you name it, we’ve gotten better at it. I couldn’t ask for a better teammate. What’s also very cool is Seattleite Jonathan McKee is coaching us and the other three USA Nacras. Right now we are in 9,10,11, and 17 as a group. We brief and debrief daily together and look forward to being pushed by the other teams in training, that’s a great asset.
Bora and I are very self-critical so we’re never satisfied, but given our situation, we’re making the best of it and happy with progress. Ten days after this regatta we are going to Buenos Aires, ARG and then Punta del este, URU to train with the Rio 2016 Gold medallists Santi Lange and Ceci Carranza, and Riley and Louisa will join us too. Lots more in store for us!
We should all be excited for Helena. She’s an Olympic veteran (2016 Rio with Paris Henken in the 48erFX) and Bora is a multi-class champion. Their Facebook page is Gulari Scutt Racing, and Helena posts to Instagram as @helenas9.
The Racing
Thursday the conditions were definitely “breeze-on.” As far as our other heroes Hanne Weaver and Kate Shaner, we haven’t heard from them yet, but I’m guessing they’re pretty tired right now. Sailing a Laser Radial in those conditions is brutal and the 49erFXs had a whole lot of DNSs and DNFs in the results. This experience is invaluable for their aspirations.
After 18 months away from a physically demanding sailboat such as the Laser Radial, a windy day like Day 3 of the 2018 World Cup Series Miami, USA, can be a rude awakening. But if two-time Olympian Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla., above) is going to get back into world-class sailing shape in time to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, there’s no time to waste.
“I haven’t sailed since the [Rio Olympic] Games, and coming into this event we’re extremely underweight and obviously not in the best of shape,” she said. “So, what [a windy day] does for the long-term goal is that it really shows you how hard you can push yourself. It also forces you to be really good with all of your boat handling. I think events like this, too, when they’re windy day after day, it’s good mentally. The Games is always a tough mental event. If you can start early on in the quad where you start pushing yourself mentally, I think it’s good training for the big events.”
Railey’s first day back was workmanlike, two 10ths and a 13th. Today was less successful with a mid-fleet finish and a black-flag disqualification for being over the starting line early. She’s 15th overall, but within striking distance of the top 10, and Sunday’s Medal Race. Emma Plasschaert (BEL) is walking away with the competition. Her 20-point total is 22 points less than Manami Doi (JPN) who is second. But Plasschaert has a large number for her throwout, which means this regatta just one mistake from being completely wide open again.
With more than a decade of campaign experience under her belt, Railey is pragmatic about the path to her third Olympic team. The key to campaigning as a veteran is to be as efficient as possible with your time and energy. That means embracing whatever conditions come her way.
“I have a bucket list [of things to work on this event],” she said. “But honestly it’s getting off the line, and since it’s so windy—and I’m sitting under 135 pounds—it’s really getting off the start and then just focusing on trying to hike as hard as I can. I’m literally in the phase right now where I’m just trying to get my legs and everything back which is obviously brutal, but whatever, it’s life.”
While many might find that level of physical exertion unappetizing, for Railey it’s a welcome change after a year and a half in the business world.
“There’s nothing like going out and physically pushing yourself,” she said. “You know, you go to the brink of ‘I don’t even know if I can continue doing this.’ It starts turning into mind over matter. In the working world, a lot of it’s just mental, mental, mental, and then you’re lacking the physical exertion. What’s fun for me is being out on the water and actually feeling the fatigue. People would say that’s crazy, but I actually like to be able to push myself physically.”
Railey is the top-placed American in the fleet by a 18-points. But with the strong winds expected to continue through the weekend, a good result will require her to push herself back into the pain cave time and time again. And while rising stars Erika Reineke, Haddon Hughes and Christina Sakellaris, among others, are not having great regattas, each has shown the potential to place in this very competitive fleet. The race for the U.S. Laser Radial berth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has only just begun.
It was a wild and woolly day for the 49er fleet with a number of teams not finishing or even not starting races. Day 2 leaders Dylan Fletcher-Scott and Stuart Bithell (GBR) kept themselves in the pole position with a solid day, including a win and a third. In second and third, after nine races, are a pair of Spanish teams, Diego Botín le Chever and Iago López Marra (ESP) and brothers Federico and Arturo Alonso Tellechea (ESP).
Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) continued his consistent sailing with fill-in crew Alain Sighn (GBR). They are eighth in the overall standings. The full-fleet portion of the regatta will wrap up tomorrow with three more races, with the top 10 moving on to Saturday’s Medal Race.
“Today, we had some pretty epic breeze on the 49er course, about 18 to 20 knots with some gusts in the 23 range,” said Ryan (at left). “The goal of the day, and actually the goal of our regatta, has been to just try and keep getting around the top mark in the top 15 and pick away from there. Sort of our scoreline reflects that from today. It wasn’t really a superb day, but we did what we needed to do and actually, because of our consistency, we moved up a spot. That’s always pretty rewarding on the big breeze days.”
Capsizes were plentiful today and Ryan noted that they can have a lasting impact.
“As our coach says, ‘You’ve got to use the K.I.S.S approach. Keep it simple, stupid,’” Ryan said. “Basically, minimize maneuvers, don’t capsize, and make your life easy. On a four-race day, if you have a few capsizes, your energy gets zapped. It just gets worse and worse, and obviously your performance suffers.”
With nine full-fleet races in the books, and just three remaining, for the Nacra 17 class at the 2018 World Cup Series Miami, USA, this much is clear: anyone hoping for a place on the podium in this coed class is going to have to knock a defending Olympic medalist down a peg. Five of the six sailors that won medals in the 2016 Rio Olympics are sailing in the class this week, and showing little willingness to share the wealth, so to speak.
Rio 2016 silver medalists Jason Waterhouse and Lisa Darmanin (AUS) have done their homework when it comes to the lifting foils that were introduced to the class less than a year ago. Whether in near-drifting conditions on Day 1 and Day 2 or the full-on breeze of Day 3, they have been extremely hard to beat, winning five races and posting just one finish outside the top four.
“Today was great, quite fresh, which is tricky on a foiling boat,” said Waterhouse. “We scored a three, two, one but we threw away a few points in the first race due an equipment malfunction, which was quite disappointing.”
With a 17-point lead, Waterhouse and Darmanin have a few points to burn. And, he added, there is an upside to the malfunction.
“We are trialing a lot of new systems and we had an issue where something got caught and we couldn’t get the spinnaker up,” he said. “We are actually pleased that happened because we can learn from it. Imagine if that happened at the World Championships or the Olympics.”
The reigning gold medalists in the class, Santiago Lange and Cecilia Carranza Saroli (ARG) are second, though they have nearly matched the Australian team over the last five races. The bronze medal skipper from 2016, Thomas Zajac (AUT) is sailing with a new crew in this Olympic cycle, Barbara Matz (AUT).
The top three American teams are grouped within six points of one another, between ninth and 11th place. Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) (at right) lead the trio, with Ravi Parent and Christina Persson in 10th and Sarah Newberry and David Liebenberg in 11th. All three teams are new partnerships for this Olympic cycle and face the double challenge of learning a new boat and meshing with a new teammate.
Giles Scott (GBR) and Caleb Paine (San Diego, Calif.), both whom who won medals in the Finn class in the Rio 2016 Olympics, are in familiar territory after six races, with Paine in third and Scott tied on points for the lead with Alican Kaynar (TUR). The top 10 is tightly packed, however, with 13 points separating fourth from 10th, which should make for an exciting conclusion to the full-fleet portion of the regatta.
For a team that had not sailed together for five-plus years before reuniting during the lead-up to this regatta, Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Graham Biehl (San Francisco, Calif.) have shown a remarkable ability to pick up where they left off. A sixth and a ninth today, in the sort of punchy conditions that would expose any rust or lack of cohesion, puts them in sixth place overall, with four races remaining before Sunday’s Medal Race. Getting onto the podium, which is currently occupied by Luke Patience and Chris Grube (GBR) in first with 16 points, Kevin Peponnet and Jeremie Mion (FRA) in second with 22 points, and Anton Dahlberg and Fredrik Bergström (SWE) in third with 26 points, will likely require some help. But getting as high as fourth is very realistic for the American team. Young guns Wiley Rogers and Jack Parkin, who won the 2016 Youth World Championships in the International 420, are 26th.
Afrodite Zeggers and Anneloes Van Veen (NED) showed their skill in the wind and waves today, scoring a first and a second in two races in the Women’s 470 division. That moved them up to second place. Ai Kondo Yoshida and Miho Yoshikoa (JPN) hung on to the overall lead despite a 17th in today’s final race. But the margin between first and sixth is just 10 points, with four full-fleet races remaining before Sunday’s Medal Race. Atlantic and Nora Brugman (Miami, Fla.) are the top-ranked American team in 24th.
The dramatic shift in the wind conditions, from 6 to 8 knots for races 1 through 4 of the RS:X Women’s regatta to 18 to 25 knots for races 4 through 8, did a number on the results. Noga Geller (ISR) who was so dominant in the light air, struggled to break into the top 20 in the breeze and dropped from first to sixth. Hélène Noesmoen (FRA) on the other hand, sparkled in the fresh breeze, picking up two firsts and a third and vaulting up to fourth place. Consistency across a range of conditions is the key to long-term success and Stefania Elfutina (RUS) showed today that she can handle high winds almost as well as the lightest edges of the wind window. She leads the regatta with 33 points. Blanca Mancon (ESP) is second. Farrah Hall (Annapolis, Md.), is 25th.
After a tough start to the regatta, Louis Giard (FRA) has been nearly unbeatable, with two first and two thirds in his last four races in the Men’s RS:X division. With no one else in the fleet able to match that level of consistency, Giard has staked himself to a 12-point lead after six races. Teammate Pierre Le Coq (FRA), the bronze medalist in the class from the Rio 2016 Olympics is second with Kiran Badloe (NED) in third. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the regatta has been the performance of double gold medalist Dorian Van Rijsselberghe, who is returning to competition after a long layoff. He’s in 10th place, with just one single-digit result to this point in the regatta. The class has just three full-fleet races remaining before Saturday’s Medal Race. 2016 Rio Olympian Pedro Pascual (West Palm Beach, Fla.) struggled in today’s windy conditions and dropped to 35th overall.
For the Women’s 49erFX fleet, which didn’t start a race until 2:40 p.m., the conditions proved to be too much for most of the 21-boat fleet. Many of those who survived the windward mark found turning back upwind to be too great of a challenge and only seven boats finished the race, after which the race committee sent them in for the day. Victoria Jurczok and Anika Lorenz (GER) extended their win streak to four races and pushed their lead to 10 points over Ragna and Maia Agerup (NOR) who are in turn 10 points ahead of Tanja Frank and Lorena Abicht (AUT). No American teams finished the race. Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) and Maggie Shea (Wilmette, Ill.) are the best-placed U.S. team in ninth place in the overall standings while Paris Henken (Coronado, Calif.) and Anna Tunnicliffe Tobias (Pittsburgh, Pa.) are 13th in their first regatta together.
In the 70-boat Laser fleet, anything in the top 10 is a very good result. String together a few of them and you could well find yourself in the lead. That’s been Tom Burton’s (AUS) experience so far in this regatta. He’s had one bad race, and five no worse than seventh, and is currently leading by 10 points from Philipp Buhl (GER). Nick Thompson (GBR) is third, three points further back. 2016 Rio Olympian Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif.) hasn’t been able to replicate his first race, a second, but he’s sailed well enough to be inside the top 10 with four races to go before the fleet is thinned out for the Medal Race. Given how quickly points can add up in this fleet, Christopher Barnard, currently 17th, is within striking distance of the top 10. Erik Bowers (above, left) is 58th.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
World Cup Series Miami is happening this week, and it’s where all the Olympic hopefuls congregate to start racking up wins and gaining experience in all the relevant classes. I’ve gathered some training videos – a couple of them VERY short clips – of PNW women that are there competing. Looks challenging for 4 seconds. Imagine a whole day of racing. First up is Kate Shaner and Charlotte Mack doing some heavy air training in her 49erFX. Then comes a video of Helena Scutt (with skipper Bora Gulari) in a polished pr video sailing a Nacra 19 on foils. Finally, we have a few seconds of Hanne Weaver working the waves in her Laser Radial in some big wind. I’m hoping to get some first-hand accounts of how the series is going. And for the young sailors at home, here are some hometown heroes to root for and learn from!
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Gulari and Scutt in the Nacra 17. Photo by Jesus Renedo.
Well, this is going to be an interesting class to watch as the World Cup Series in Miami evolves. Six Nacra 17s are within two points after three races! In that mix is “our” Helena Scutt, who with Bora Gulari, racked up a 2nd and 5th (and a 16 throwout) to reassert themselves on the international scene. They definitely have medal potential for the upcoming Olympics. I’ll try to get some insight from Helena. After a 17th and 10th Northwesterner Kate Shaner and crew Charlotte Mack are in 14th place in the 49erFX. The Laser Radials never got a race off so chances are Hanne Weaver’s chomping at the bit somewhere.
Here’s Stuart Streuli’s recap for World Sailing.
The international regatta debut for Bora Gulari (Detroit, Mich.) and Helena Scutt (Kirkland, Wash.) came nearly a half-year after it was initially scheduled. Not surprisingly, the Nacra 17 duo (above) was chomping at the bit to get going on Day 1 of the 2018 World Cup Series Miami, USA, which is taking place on Florida’s Biscayne Bay through Sunday, January 28. The regatta is the second of four stops on World Sailing’s 2018 World Cup Series tour.
A lack of wind this morning made them wait just a little bit longer, but it eventually filled in enough for three light-air races. Of the 10 classes competing on Biscayne Bay in the 2018 World Cup Series Miami, USA, the Nacra 17 fleet was one of just two to get in the scheduled number of races, with four classes getting completely shut out.
“Today was our first international regatta together ever, so we were very excited about that,” said Scutt, who finished 10th in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the 49erFX class before switching the coed Nacra 17 catamaran. “We were postponed on shore for a while because it was very light, but it ended up getting sailable. I thought the committee did a great job of getting off three races with the conditions that we had.”
While the breeze never built into the double digits, it was enough for the catamarans to utilize their lifting foils—a new addition for this Olympic cycle—on the downwind legs, hitting speeds in the low to mid-teens.
“It was definitely too light to foil upwind, and honestly sometimes we were just trying to even fly one hull,” said Scutt. “But except for the last race, we could foil downwind. These boats can get foiling downwind in very light air. Then it’s a game of looking for the puffs and just trying to stay on the foils as long as possible, which is not easy when it gets that light.”
A pair of Italian Radial sailors launching in Miami. Richard Langdon photo.
The difference in speed between a boat up on the foils and one still dragging a hull through the water is dramatic.
“Downwind most people pop up [on the foils] at the same time, after the offset mark,” said Scutt. “The real game is coming out of a gybe—how good is your gybe, and how soon can you get back foiling because you can’t foil-to-foil gybe—so there’s definitely some focus demanded there.”
As for Gulari and Scutt’s overall results, it was a bit of a mixed bag: a second in Race 1, followed by a 16th in Race 2 and a fifth to close out the day. But that was the case for most of the fleet, with all but one of the 19 teams recording a double-digit result. With their lowest score dropped from the results, Gulari and Scutt currently sit sixth, two points off the lead.
“It was a fun day for us,” she said. “Our middle race was not great, but our other two were really solid. We’re happy and we’re excited for more.”
The highest-placed American after Day 1 is Laser sailor Charlie Buckingham (Newport Beach, Calif., at left), who started off strongly with a second in the first race and then had to grind out of the cheap seats in Race 2 to score a 21st. He is fifth in the 70-boat fleet, the largest of the regatta.
Stu McNay (Providence, R.I.) and Graham Biehl (San Francisco, Calif.), who sailed in two Olympic Games together and have reunited for this event while McNay’s regular crew, David Hughes (Miami, Fla.) recovers from a knee injury, finished ninth in the single Men’s 470 Race.
In the Women’s 49erFX, Stephanie Roble (Easy Troy, Wis.) and Maggie Shea (Wilmiette, Ill.) are sixth after two solid races, while in the 49er class, Judge Ryan (San Diego, Calif.) and Alain Sign, who is substituting for Ryan’s normal crew Hans Henken (Coronado, Calif.), are 13th of 38.
A young group of U.S. women’s 470 teams struggled in today’s lone race, with Madeleine Rice and Laura Slovensky leading the way in 25th.
Ed. Note: A previous version mistakenly had Caroline Atwood as Kate Shaner’s crew, when in fact it is Charlotte Mack. I regret the error.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
