As if PNW dinghy sailors didn’t know it already, Portland’s Bill Symes is a Laser sailing legend. And he just won the Legends class at the ILCA Master Worlds in Thailand.
For those of you unfamiliar with the ILCA Masters Worlds, it is a truly amazing gathering of older sailors still fit and ambitious enough to sail the seminal singlehander at the highest level. The age groups are Apprentice Master (35-44), Master (45-54), Grand Master (55-64), Great Grand Master (65-74) and, you guessed it, Legends (75+). And while the older sailors may not have the physical tools they once had, there’s an amazing amount of fitness on display and they are no less competitive than 18 year olds. They may, however, be a little nicer to each other on and off the water.
A start
This impressive annual gathering happens at carefully chosen locales around the world, with an eye toward keeping the ILCA (Laser) active worldwide. The locations are also chosen for good sailing conditions.
Bill Symes has been at the top of the masters classes for decades. Last year he missed on a Legends win with a black flag in the first race on the last day.
Symes wasn’t the only PNW winner. Al Clark of Vancouver BC won the Grand Master title. Like Symes, Clark had his worst race in the first race on the last day, but managed to hold on to a two point lead for the series win.
I’d like to make a few observations. In the modern sailing culture of faster, faster, faster, anything less than foiling seems ho hum. I doubt any of the foiling folks had any more fun, or experienced any more intensity, than these masters going at the more sedate Laser pace. While there’s nothing wrong with pushing the envelope and foiling, the fun to be had on inexpensive dinghies should not be dismissed. Also, one might think that there would be only a handful of “old folks” with the fitness and will to do a 6-day Laser regatta. The Legends class had 20 participants, the Great Grand Master class had 32. Those are great racing fleets. Finally, half the Apprentice class, including the winner, were women.
The whole phenomenon has been a great message that has been too long in the shadows. As a journalist it’s been fun and a little surprising to watch. As a sailor it’s been thrilling.
The story continues as the boat heads to Antigua via the Panama Canal, and then the US East Coast and Europe. It turns out there are PNW connections to Maiden‘s current voyage with Seattle liveaboard Cary Kaczowka and Julia Briggs who apprenticed with Brian Toss in Port Townsend onboard as “mile builders” crew.
Maiden back in the day.
I’m hoping to have more insights and info from Cary in the weeks to come. So far, she says “We have a few New Englanders aboard, a new Skipper Liz Wardley (her blog is up on themaidenfactor.org website and it’s really great). I’m really getting used to a boat this size, a watch system and flying a staysail for the first time. I’ve never been on one tack for multiple days either! Mind is blown.
I’m looking forward to relaying Cary’s experiences with Sailish readers. This is a lot more than a boat, a crew or a passage.
A little more about Cary from the Maiden web site:
Cary Kaczowka
Cary, 28, is originally from Seekonk, Massachussetts, USA and attended Bishop Feehan High School. She graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Design Innovation & Society from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2013, and holds a M.S. in Materials Engineering from the University of Southern California. Cary has worked as an engineer with The Boeing
Company in Seattle, Washington for six years. She is active in the Society of Women Engineers, where she volunteers as a leadership coach. Sailing has been a part of her life since age 13 when she learned to sail on Yarmouth
Recreation’s wooden knockabouts in Cape Cod, MA, USA. During summer internships she was able to race weeknights in both Newport, RI and Charleston, SC – always the highlight of the week. Upon making her way out to Seattle, WA she began volunteering as an instructor at the Centre for Wooden Boats. She began racing locally, and she eventually bought her first home: a 34’ sailboat, a Catalina 34, S/V Sea Haven. Much of her free time is spent racing on local boats, maintaining her sailboat, cruising the Puget Sound and Salish Sea, and racing Sea Haven in local events such as Sloop Tavern Yacht Club’s Race Your House annual regatta. Owning her first big boat has been empowering and certainly changed the course of her life, and has helped reinforce her confidence as an engineer. She finds fulfilment sharing and teaching sailing, especially with women who are looking to refine their skills and get comfortable on the water.
Cary was eager to sail with the Maiden crew in order to gain offshore experience, improve her racing skills and learn from a talented crew of sailors, and looks forward to sharing her experiences with the local racing and sailing community.
Go see the movie “Maiden.” Take your daughters. Just as importantly, take your sons.
The movie shows just what it took for Tracy Edwards, impressive and flawed as she was, to get the first female round the world crewed boat to both the start and finish lines of the Whibread Round the World Race in 1989-90. By the end of the movie, it’s pretty clear how much force of will it took for Edwards to overcome the inertia, and, yes, resistance to fielding an all-woman entry.
I’m lucky. I grew up sailing where a woman (my mom) was an
indispensible part of the crew. When a rock star was signed up on the crew and
suggested they dump my mom, the crew said, “No Enid, no us.” When we couldn’t
get our C&C 27 out of its own way, my dad asked for help from Judy Nye (yes
that Nye, and if you don’t know the name, Google Murphy and Nye) The best
helmsmen I’ve ever sailed with were women. And yes, I’m aware of the irony of
that statement.
Basically, those women were sailors, just as men onboard were sailors. As were the women on Tracy Edwards’ crew. But they were taking on the professional men on the water and jaded journalists on shore. They had to overcome a lot of preconceptions.
I wasn’t there, but I doubt there was a lot of intentional “hold the women down” Neanderthals among the male sailors. I’m guessing those male sailors felt they were the best, and didn’t give much credence to anyone crashing into their world. And it seems some of them, notably and not surprisingly Steinlager II skipper Peter Blake, did more than their share to help them along.
Back to the movie. It does a great job painting the picture
of Tracy Edwards, an overwhelmed 20-something year old that grabbed on to the
Whitbread like a lioness, and wouldn’t let go. She’d be the first to admit lack
of experience going into the race. But that didn’t stop her. It showed the
thrill of victory and agony of defeat, as the saying goes. But as Maiden crossed the finish line, the
footage shows just what it meant to the world. You’d be a fool not to feel it
too sitting in the audience.
No sailing movie is perfect, and few even rate OK in my
book. But “Maiden” is very good. I wanted to hear more about the actual sailing
and more backstories of the crew, but there simply wasn’t the time. Also,
sailing an old IOR warhorse around the world was a lot more physically
demanding than the movie showed. One of the things that could have easily been
pointed out, was that the staggering performance of Steinlager II was the main show of the Whitbread that year. Had it
not been for that, no doubt the Maiden
team would have gotten even more notoriety.
Tracy Edward, with binocs, during the Whitbread.
My wife was amazed that after that performance by the women, more women aren’t sailing at the top level. It is surprising, in a way. In fact, the organizing authorities had to allow extra crew (an advantage) to encourage racers to include women on the crew in the last round the world race. Unfortunately, there are few boats racing at that level, and more qualified male racers all the time. The pickings are slim for anyone to crack into the top echelon.
Hey, the US women’s soccer team has won the World Cup four
times and is still seeking the appropriate level of respect.
The actual boat Maiden will be in Seattle in a couple of days, and the boat will be open for tours on the 13th. Maiden is the centerpiece of a the fundraising project “The Maiden Factor” which is raising fund for girls’ education. There will be a program at Corinthian Yacht Club that night, though tickets are sold out. Schelleen Rathkopf (Whidbey/Pt. Roberts Race Week Poo-bah) is on the Vancouver BC-Seattle WA delivery.
World Sailing just finished evaluating the Laser, Devoti Zero, Melges 14 and RS Aero in Valencia, Spain as part of the decision which one will be the singlehanded class used in the 2024 Olympics. Don’t know which was chosen yet.
RS Aeros and Devotis
I’ll just say up front I don’t have a lot of faith in World
Sailing or the Olympic Committee. Both bodies have seen their images tarnished
by dubious decisions in recent years. I can’t help but wonder if all this
testing is window dressing for a decision which has already been made. I don’t
have any evidence, just a hunch.
I’ll add that being chosen as an Olympic class is not the end-all. The future of any class lies more with its class association and builders than it does with World Sailing or the Olympic designation. The Laser became the go-to singlehanded boat long before Olympic designation. The Olympics didn’t make the Laser a success.
Melges 14s
And there are plenty of examples of Olympic designations that never vaulted a class’s numbers. The Tempest, Flying Dutchman, Yngling, Soling, 470, Euro, 5.5 Meter and Dragon are all fine boats with active fleets. But did the Olympics create active fleets throughout the world? The Star seems to shrug off Olympic designation as it might a nice jacket. OK to wear, OK to put on a hanger. I see more interest in the Finn class outside the Olympics than inside it, so I doubt its ouster will have much effect.
Devoti
While my point isn’t exactly, “who cares?,” I must say that for those of us ordinary folk sailing any of the four singlehanders in the running, it’s not worth getting too excited about. Chances are good that all four of those classes will live on based on their own merits. Young sailors planning on Olympic campaigns will be going to where the competition is, regardless of which boat it is. This isn’t going to affect local fleets that much.
That said, I’m following World Sailing’s sea trials with interest. From a non-sailor’s standpoint, none of these boats are going to seem remarkably different from the others. Sail a mixed fleet of Lasers and Aeros, the Lasers are going to get their asses handed to them. Watch a fleet of Aeros go at it, then a fleet of Lasers, and it’s not going to seem all that much different.
So I guess the testing was to see which boat best tests a sailor’s skill. There are lots of considerations here revolving around the size of the sailor. The Laser Radial has been immensely unpopular with many women because of the size it requires to be competitive (~150 lbs). The newer boats with squaretop sails and bendier carbon rigs naturally depower a lot easier. I still wonder how, on a breezy day, a 125 lb woman depowering is going to fare against a 150 lb. woman totally powered up. On the men’s side of things, that combination will theoretically allow a wider range of sailor sizes. Dinghies have been, are and will be weight sensitive.
For me, the most important issues are worldwide availability, durability and builder support. The Olympics have the potential to popularize sailing. Laser would be the obvious choice with these criteria, except for the builder support. The primary builder, Laser Performance, has done an atrocious job of supporting sailors with parts. Its feuds with designer Bruce Kirby and the International Laser Class Association are epic. So the Laser’s main drawback doesn’t have much to do with its speed.
The upshot is, I’m watching this all with interest, but I’m not going to get too upset no matter the result. It’s just the Olympics. The more important question is: who’s bringing the sandwiches after Sunday’s frostbite racing.
In this era of #metoo it’s essential, especially in sailing, to pay homage to the women who broke ground without the support of social media and an international conscience. Tracy Edwards was a giant in this regard while racing Maiden in the 1986 Whitbread Round the World Race, and remains so today as she sails the restored racer (now The Maiden Factor) around the world putting focus on empowering and educating girls worldwide.
As for this movie, it should be captivating as an adventure story, not just a women’s story. The equipment, boats and training just weren’t what they are today! The sailors onboard Maiden accomplished something amazing.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
