Fall Dinghy Coming Up This Weekend Oct 26/27

Fall Dinghy is coming up this weekend at St. Francis Yacht Club.  Six races are planned per the NOR, with three each on Saturday and Sunday.  The first start each day is planned for 11:30am.  We currently have 11 teams registered and a few more are confirmed/rumored to be sailing the event.  The late fee kicks in on Wednesday.  Please get your registrations in and if you're on the fence, please do whatever you can to attend the event!  We had 21 boats down in Long Beach a few weeks ago and should get as many boats out this weekend as possible.

Three teams went out to practice yesterday.  It was classic SF, 18-22kts with higher gusts and an ebb tide; it was awesome!

There are groups planning to practice in the evenings out of StFYC on Tuesday and Friday.  Please join if you can.

Registration

NOR

Registered Teams

2013 Mid-Atlantic Championship/Carl Miller Regatta - Henry Amthor

Henry Amthor’s report on the 2013 505 Mid-Atlantic Championships (Carl Miller) hosted by the West River Sailing Club, Galesville MD on September 28-29, 2013:

Fourteen teams with a nice mix of sailors from as far as Cork Ireland, Illinois, New Hampshire, North Carolina, New York, Maryland and Virginia sailed a light air series just south of Annapolis.

Saturday the fleet was greeted with a 10 to 12 knot northerly. The start time was nicely adjusted to late morning allowing many teams to make the drive and set up Saturday morning. Tyler Moore sailing w/ Carl Smit (who recently moved back the east coast) got off to a good start and lead all the way showing that light air races can be won by larger west coast-type crews.

However, Races 2 through 4 were dominated by Parker Shinn and Jesse Falsone who showed good boat speed, solid starts and protected the favored in-shore side of the course. Kelsey Averill, a recent 505 convert (thanks to Macy), sailing with Uncle Henry  also had a good day to round out the top 3 on Saturday. Craig Thompson sailing with Peter Scannell from Ireland had a solid day with a deuce in race 2. Catherine Guiader sailing with Chris Brady also had some great moves to get a 2nd 3.

WRSC staff, with their recently renovated kitchen, grilled up some serious looking steaks and crab cakes for the hungry group watching a very nice sundown overlooking the creek.

Sunday brought another sunny day with 8 to 10 for the sail out. Unfortunately, the pressure dropped to 6 for the start of race 5 and continued to die just as the fleet finished.Kelsey and Uncle Henry picked up the last shift on the first beat and lead all the way around followed by Tyler and Carl and Macy Nelson sailing with Stephen Long.

With the breeze iffy for the rest of the day, Macy made a good call to sail in and have and have a casual debrief to discuss what worked well in the light air conditions. Special thanks to the WRSC 505 fleet members Macy and Doug for putting the regatta together and pushing for strong turnout. Of special note, Macy loaned his #2 boat to Region One sailors Craig & Peter and Dave Burchfiel loaned his #2 boat to two college sailors David Rogers & Andy Simons from NC State.

Photos Courtesy of Clay Taylor, Race Committee, www.westriversc.org

Long Beach Training Weekend - Howard Hamlin

10/14/2013 UPDATE:
Day 1 Photo Album Courtesy of Glaser Sails
Day 2 Video Clips Courtesy of Glaser Sails
Day 3 Video Clips Courtesy of Glaser Sails
Day 4 Photo Album Courtesy of Glaser Sails
Day 4 Video Clips Courtesy of Glaser Sails

Howard Hamlin Graciously organized another fantastic training weekend on the west coast and provided the following report. The American Section recently voted to devote more funding for these training events next year so keep your eye out for the 2014 schedule and plan to attend. No better way to get up to speed and see what the top sailors in the class are doing to improve their game!

We had 21 boats show up for 4 days of fantastic warm sailing out of Alamitos Bay YC.  We sailed almost 40 races, averaging about 10 per day.  Jay and Pease Glaser ran a pre-brief in the morning, then set the course and provided on the water coaching followed by a de-brief at the end of each day where everyone shared information.  We had a range of wind from 4 knots to 15 knots with the vast majority of sailing in wire running conditions.

I consistently heard from everyone how this format was more fun and more beneficial than any regular regatta.  The Glaser's saw dramatic improvement over the weekend.  Thanks so much to Jay and Pease and all those who attended, providing good ideas and some fantastic tight racing.  Here is who attended:

AJ Crane/Blaine Pedlow
Bob Tenet/Rich Mundell
Brian Trainor/Evan Jennings
Channing Hamlet/Sean Aiken
Chris Pittack/Annie Fitzgerald
Dan Esdorn/Nick Martin
Eben Russel/Jay Miles
Harrison Turner/Sam Haythorn
Howard Hamlin/Andy Zinn
Ian O’Leary/Chris Burlson
JB Turney/Ashley Lyon
Jeff Condon/Reeve Dunne
Jeff Miller/Pat Diola
Krysia Pohl/James Weigand
Mike Martin/Andrew “Dog” Palfrey &  Jeff Nelson
Paul Allen/Jon Bell
Rob Waterman/Aaron Ross
Ryan Cox/Stuart Park
Ted Conrads/Holt Condon
Tim Murphy/Antoine Laussu  & Oliver  
Zack Downing/Paul Von Grey

We will look at trying to schedule another one in early spring next year.