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If you are a dinghy sailor, one of the regattas on your “must do” list should be the Canadian Olympic Regatta at Kingston. CORK, as it is commonly known, has been an end of summer tradition for over thirty years, and if you haven’t attended yet, you really need to make it a priority. For San Diego sailors the experience is especially huge. Whether you travel by land or air, it’s quite a mission, including an international border crossing. Then you arrive in the small city of Kingston with its not-small-at-all Olympic Sailing Center, the site of the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. The venue is busy, and with events like the Youth Fest, CORK International, and the Olympic Classes Regatta generally scheduled in succession, you’ll get plenty of sailing in a short time. The fresh water of Lake Ontario is a pleasant change from the ocean, and a wide variety of weather and breeze is almost guaranteed. Add to this the fun tradition of bunking up in the dorms of Queen’s College, and you’ve got a first rate one-design experience!

This year, a handful of Team SDYC members made “the Other Border Run”. With all the commotion of the Sears, Bemis, Smythe Championships here in town, their story may have slipped under your radar, so here are some details of their adventure. Nick Rasdal and Kaitlin Driscoll paired up for the first time to represent SDYC in the C420 class for CORK International. The four day regatta included two days of qualifiers which saw winds up to 32 knots and 6-foot chop! Despite a spectacular pitchpole in the big breeze, they made the Gold fleet and went on to finish 11th overall in their first international event!

CC Childers teamed up with skipper Chanel Miller for some 29er action at CORK. They also survived the big breeze of the qualifying days which caused tons of damage and even a few injuries in the skiff fleet. The ladies turned in a nice top-half finish in the Gold division, placing 12th overall. Next, the ladies turbo’d their boat up to sail in the 29erXX division with more sail area for the Olympic Classes Regatta. This event saw a wide variety of conditions as well, but the team sailed steadily to make an appearance in the medal race and finish 8th overall for the regatta!

Team SDYC’s top performer was Matt Morris sailing in the Laser Radial division. After two days of qualifying races to separate the 84 boat fleet, Matt was sitting 3rd and had easily made Gold. The next three days saw conditions ranging from 20+ knots to very light, but Matt kept working on his technique, especially off the wind, to keep his scores consistently strong. In the end he finished a truly impressive 2nd place overall at this ISAF Grade 1 event!

Congratulations to all of these sailors who travelled over 2000 miles and represented the Club so well! If you haven’t been yet, make sure to put CORK on your summer calendar as soon as you can!

On the rainy morning of October 15th, Team SDYC piled into the cars and headed north to Long Beach for the Linda Elias Memorial Women’s One-Design (LEMWOD) Challenge. The regatta is sailed in identical Catalina 37s, each crew consisting of 10-15 women.  This was the first regatta that I skippered a Catalina 37.  Team SDYC consisted of Samantha Treadwell, Stacey Szabo, Lauren Maxam, Summer Greene, Tammy Fowles, Lisa-Marie Terhaar, Lois Harrington, Karen Butler, and Kathy O’Brien.

Friday was a practice day, in which all teams participated.  After some boat handling practice, the race committee ran ten practice starts. These were quite exciting as all nine teams were pushing the line hard.  Shala Lawrence came out to coach the team, which was a huge benefit.

Saturday’s racing started in very light breeze, with most of the first race sailed in about 3 knots.  Fortunately the wind filled in a little for the remainder of the day, and we managed to sail the scheduled 4 races. At the end of the day we were in fifth so we knew we had our work cut out for us.

The weather conditions were almost identical on Sunday, but more shifty for the 3 races.  During the first start on Sunday, the Cal Yacht Club team was poked out and at the gun, 6 of their crew were instantly in the water. Their lower starboard lifeline had broken, there was some confusion, but the race committee and another competitor helped retrieve everyone. Through excellent crew work and tactics from Stacey Szabo, we managed to move up in the rankings by the end of the competition.

Team SWYC, steered by Colleen Cooke won with 23 points. In second was Team NHYC, skippered by Suzanne Spangler, with 28 points followed by Team SDYC also with 28 points.  To congratulate Colleen in her first LEMWOD win, Summer Greene and Lisa-Marie Terhaar threw her in the water, although the Southwestern crew decided that meant I should also enjoy a dip.

Team SDYC’s good placing could not have happened without the generous support from the Competition Fund and Challenge Committee.  We also want to thank Mike Dorgan and Steve Wright for loaning us their boat to practice on in San Diego. Carolann Dekker, of Top Dekk, generously provided adorable team gear bags.

Although the sun never broke through, the rain did hold off for most of the weekend, a good time was had by all and we enjoyed some excellent competitive racing.

Team SDYC went undefeated through four days of challenging racing on the waters off Rapallo, Italy, dominating the 2010 Italiana Cup junior match racing event. The team of Nevin Snow, Jake La Dow, Max Hutcheson, and Jake Reynolds, along with coach Austin Dias, have been training for several months and all their hard work certainly showed as they systematically bested all opponents in a variety of conditions.

The efforts began in early spring when S/C Dennis Conner helped Team SDYC gain an invitation to the fourth running of the Italiana Cup, an international match racing event for sailors aged 18 and under. The invitation was certainly exciting as the event sponsors generously handled all aspects of travel and hospitality while in Italy! Team SDYC was long on talent, but relatively new to the match racing game, with just one Governor’s Cup under their belt. A training schedule was quickly established which included a spring match racing event at Balboa Yacht Club, another Governor’s Cup, and many excellent practices utilizing SDYC’s J/22 fleet and receiving input from several of the Club’s experienced match racers. Coach Austin Dias also spent much of his summer in Chicago, match racing with SDYC rock star Bill Hardesty, and deepening his expertise in the discipline.

After arriving in Rapallo, the sailors were greeted with a nice opening ceremony and were introduced to the boats, Judel/Vrolijk designed Portobello 28s. Luckily Team SDYC is in good shape, as these boats are larger than many match racing platforms, and the breeze would be on for much of the regatta. After a practice day, the first round-robin began. Team SDYC went undefeated on day one, and readied itself mentally overnight for a morning meeting with the defending champion British team. After dispatching the defending champs and remaining undefeated, the Team waited out some stormy weather before triumphing over an Italian team 2-0 in the gusty semi-finals.

The final day of racing saw lighter breeze, but increased challenges, as Team SDYC once again faced the Brits, this time in best of three series. The racing was tight, with constant tacking duels upwind. Team SDYC even had to deal with a lost spinnaker halyard, but thought quickly to employ the masthead topping lift as a halyard, sailing the rest of the race with no spinnaker pole option! They won race two of the finals in a photo finish to capture the match racing championship. Finally, as the top foreign team, Team SDYC was once again pitted against the top Italian team for the Italia Cup. The Italians put up their best effort yet, attacking doggedly before the start, but in the end Team SDYC retained their winning form and prevailed.

Congratulations to Nevin, Jake, Max, Jake, and Austin for taking match racing at SDYC to the next level!

Two San Diego Yacht Club Juniors, Nick Rasdal and Kaitlin Driscoll, traveled over 2300 miles this summer to sail in the Canadian Olympic Classes Regatta, more commonly referred to as CORK. The CORK regattas have been hosted in Kingston, Canada annually since 1969 and traditionally attract elite sailors from all over North America. This year, representatives from all over the world, including Europe, Asia, and Oceana were among the 600 competitors in 480 boats. Nick and Kaitlin were among the twenty sailors who travelled all the way from California and they were the only team at Kingston representing SDYC.

The four day regatta started with 2 days for qualifiers, then 2 days of Gold and Silver Fleet racing. The first two days of sailing saw winds up to 32 knots and 6-foot chop. With damage to many boats and sailors, the competitors were called in early both the first days. The conditions were so bad that SDYC Junior Flag Morgane Renoir, broke her leg when her coach boat hit a rough wave. With Nick at the helm and Kaitlin on the trapeze, their team was one of only 29 boats who finished the one and only race the first day. Nick and Kaitlin rounded the first weather mark in 4th place, but pitch-poled going downwind when the wind was gusting up to 35 knots. They showed their determination and seamanship by not giving up and eventually righted their boat, stayed on the course, and courageously finished the race. They ended up finishing 23rd out of the 98 boat qualifier and went on to qualify and race in the 49 boat Gold Fleet.

The following two days of racing conditions were a bit milder with Nick and Kaitlin sailing a very consistent regatta with 4 top 6 finishes out of 6 races in the final series. Regatta rules kept them from being able to throw out their worst race (a 29th) because it happened in the qualifying series. Having to keep that score pushed them out of 7th place, but they still finished a very respectable 11th place in their very first international regatta.

by Rick Arneson

Snipe Nationals
The US Snipe Nationals were held in Annapolis, Maryland over the week of August 16-20. The Severn Sailing Association hosted the fleet of 63 boats for an event that delivered challenging conditions and tough competition. We had four skippers from SDYC make the trip; myself, Eric Heim, Aimee Heim, and Tyler Sinks. Eric took the Quantum sails van and trailer across the country and made great time, arriving in just a couple of days. The racing started with the Crosby series; two days of racing which would qualify the top 33 teams for the championship Heinzerling round, and place the remaining teams in the Wells consolation fleet. All SDYC teams made the cut, but the conditions were tough; light air, hot and humid (except when it rained, when it was warm and wet), tricky
currents and rough chop. The Heinzerling round had to be cut short due to lack of wind, so only three races were completed over the last three days.

We might have taken a swim to cool off between races, but the bay was full of jellyfish! Eric Heim sailed consistently to a solid 6th place finish, Tyler Sinks took 9th, sailing fast but having to keep an OCS since there was no drop, I finished 19th, dealing with some daggerboard problems that plagued us all week, and Aimee Heim took 29th.

Snipe Western Hemisphere & Orient Championship
After Nationals, I continued the next leg of my trip up to Canada to race in the Western Hemisphere & Orient championship, held at the Buffalo Canoe Club on Lake Erie from Aug 29-Sep 3. Our daggerboard issue had been resolved, but the competition would be twice as tough. We would be facing the top teams from the US as well as those of Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Chile, Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Uruguay. This was my second Western Hemispheres, having sailed the previous event in Uruguay in 2008. Lake Erie proved to be very different from the Chesapeake—much like Long Beach; moderate temperatures and stronger winds. The lake is relatively long and shallow, so when the wind picked up, it brought big chop with it. We had some light air on the first day, and it only got breezier with every day. By the last day of racing, we had wind in the upper teens and 5-foot chop to pound through. These conditions agreed with Miami’s Ernesto Rodriguez and Augie Diaz, who finished first and second. We’d sailed nine races over four days of racing, so two throwouts were allowed (which helped us to get rid of a 29th and an OCS). We took 20th in the 40-boat fleet–below our goal, but not too bad considering the excellent company we were in. Following the conclusion of the event, I drove the San Diego boats to Carlyle Lake in Illinois, where our next event, the Silver Cup, will be held September 24-26.

It’s been a long road trip, but well worthwhile in terms of strong competition. As always, I am very grateful for SDYC’s support, and am proud to represent the club on the race course.

August 14-15, 2010

The Balboa Challenge was hosted by NHYC August 14-15, 2010. The event was sailed in the Etchells Class and this year Team SDYC was composed of Patrick Sloan, Chuck Sinks and Chris Busch, skipper. We packed Etchells (#969) up and headed up to Newport. We stepped the mast, rigged the boat, gave the bottom a quick wash and we were off to the skippers meeting. Seven races were planned for the regatta. Six clubs competed including the defending champion Newport Harbor Yacht Club skippered by Scott Mason.

After a long tow to the starting line just north of the Newport Pier, we prepared for the start. While each of our crew had significant time in the Etchells, we had never raced together as a team. We worked on some fundamentals then prepared for the start of race 1. The courses and starting line were kept short by the RC to keep the fleet compressed and the racing exciting. As is typical for Newport, the breeze was light and variable with plenty of shifts and holes and a good bit of current running.

Race one was going very well for Team SDYC, when at the start of the second downwind leg, we noticed the wire jib halyard was one pull away from parting – which would have sent the jib halyard through the mast and SDYC’s 2010 Balboa Challenge Cup effort to an early exit. Between races, with some luck and quick hands, a less than perfect “fix” was fashioned – although our start on race #2 suffered as the crew was focused on saving and repairing the halyard. The halyard fix held for the remainder of the day and Team SDYC ended on top of the leader board.

Several attempts were made to secure a new or replacement halyard upon arriving at the dock Saturday evening. When those efforts were exhausted – the SDYC Team fashioned a more “permanent” fix for the halyard that appeared to do the trick. Sunday brought less breeze and a very long postponement. Finally racing was to get underway. When hoisting the jib, it became apparent the jib halyard was not cooperating. Finally, after some cajoling the jib went up and racing began. Team SDYC posted another solid race score by factoring in the current and applying “innovative” downwind techniques with a fully hoisted jib. For the final race of the regatta, the halyard finally gave out and the Team hoisted the jib on the spinnaker halyard. After rounding the weather mark, the jib was dropped to the deck, the halyard removed then re-connected to the spinnaker and the kite hoisted – not a picture perfect set that final race – but enough to keep Team SDYC on top of the leader board and earn the 2010 Balboa Challenge Cup a trip to SDYC for the next year.

A big thank you to the membership, the Board, the Challenge and Competition Committees for their support.

Respectfully submitted,
2010 SDYC Balboa Challenge Cup Team

Patrick Sloan
Chuck Sinks
Chris Busch, Skipper

Governor’s Cup is an International Match Race Regatta which is by invitation only.

Nevin Snow, Max Hutcheson and myself were privileged to be among the best of the best at Balboa Yacht Club.  Other youth sailors were representing Australia, UK, New Zealand, Argentina and US. These outstanding sailors were highly ranked in the world tour standings.

The boats are Governor 21s. They are 21 feet long and the rudder is about a foot wide and it makes it difficult to maneuver in light and choppy conditions which lead us into our first Day One Racing of the first round robin. We quickly realized that boat speed would be the key to winning races and having experience in the boat was an added advantage for our competitors. After the first day we felt optimistic about a 3 win, 3 loss record.

Awakening to our second day of races, we were encouraged after our first win which gave us confidence for the day resulting in a 3 win, 3 loss record which concluded the first round robin.

Day Three of racing found us in mid fleet with a positive attitude and the presence of our coach, Austin Dias, which helped guide and strengthen our team skills for the day resulting in another 3 win, 3 loss finish.

We continued the following days races with a 6 win, 6 loss record in both round robins.  On our last day, we regrettably missed the final four by one race but left us in the 5/6 racing slot, with which we were pleased.

We competed against Mission Bay Yacht Club in the 5/6 battle and ended up beating them for Fifth Place in the overall regatta.

The competition was strong and helped make us better and, of course, one of the best parts of the regatta was meeting and befriending the sailors.

Thanks to Segerblums for being our host family and Balboa Yacht Club for hosting a great regatta and San Diego Yacht Club for their continued support and encouragement.

We look forward to taking what we learned and catapulting it to our upcoming regatta in Italy in September.

By Mallory Schluter

My crew Marly Isler and I arrived at Hingham Yacht Club on June 25 for the Ida Lewis Regatta. We started out with two days of clinic, run by the six great coaches provided by US SAILING. We focused on setting up our charter boat and familiarizing ourselves with the venue, which was inside Boston Harbor.

The regatta offered some of the most difficult conditions I have ever sailed in, and this is reflected in the inconsistent scores found throughout the fleet.  The first day, the breeze started at around 15 knots, but quickly died after the first race.  Four races had been planned for the day, but an approaching thunderstorm sent us in after three.  We were in sixth place due to a tough first race, but excited because with a throwout we would be tied for the lead.  The next day, we fit in four races, but again large shifts and a huge variance in the pressure (at times girls would be fully trappezing on one side of the course while the other side was glassy) made it tough to be consistent.  We had two good races and two bad ones, so we were hoping for three more races on the final day.  With a bit more consistent breeze, we got two top five races in on the last day, moving us up to fourth place, one point out of third.  While we were disappointed we weren’t able to get one more race in, this really showed us the importance of every single point and place in each individual race.

We would like to thank the Competition Fund and SDYC for their support, without you this would not have been possible!

For 56 years the Mercury Class sailboats have been racing on Huntington Lake in the Sierras of California. On Friday July 23, 2010 skipper  Don Whelen of Bonita, CA and San Diego Yacht Club and crew Alan Johnson of Seal Beach, CA  launched the 18 foot sailboat to practice for the upcoming racing on Saturday and Sunday.  They had sailed up and down the 5 mile long lake once and were on their way up a second time. As Whelen and Johnson had not sailed together for a year and a half they joined up with another boat owned by Richard Whiteley of Long Beach and Alamitos Bay Yacht Club and crew Kate Wall to test their speed  when they heard shouts for help. There is a small rock island about 100 yards off shore, but the direction of the shouts were confusing as they also were coming from the shore.  From a quarter mile away they could see one person on the rocks shouting and waving and soon also spotted three people in the water close to the island. The swimmers were obviously in trouble as the heads were bobbing and disappearing out of sight underwater.

Whelen and  Johnson were the closest of the two boats and prepared to rescue the swimmers. On the boat were two flotation cushions and both of the sailors were wearing  personal flotation devices (PFD). On the first rescue pass the boat was going too fast to stop at the swimmers but the cushions and PFD were dropped as the boat went by. Whalen quickly circled to make a second pass and the three swimmers were grabbed and held  close to the leeward side of the boat.  When the three were securely holding onto the boat, Johnson retrieved one of the cushions, laid it on the deck and lifted the first swimmer’s body onto the cushion. Being slippery nylon fabric on the cushion, the swimmer was easily slid across and into the bottom of the boat. The remaining swimmers were more fatigued so Whelen and Johnson would tip the boat as much as possible to get the rail closer to the water then together lift each swimmer onto the cushion and into the boat.

Whitely and Wall stood by to render additional assistance if necessary.  As the swimmers were secure, they sailed up to the island to retrieve the one man on the island. They stopped the boat a few feet from the island; he grabbed  hold and was assisted aboard. After establishing that the person was in good condition, they sailed back to the shore and dropped him off with the fifth member of the group.

Whelen and Johnson were  immediately assessing their condition and talking to the swimmers. They  were conscious and breathing but probably in need of medical attention. Even though the wooded shore was only a hundred yards away, there was no appropriate place to land the men where rescue personnel would have easy access. During the one mile sail back to the launch ramp their breathing was shallow, and  they would slowly respond to questions such as names and where they were staying.

Once at the dock a cell phone from another boat was used to call 911. Paramedics and Fresno County Sheriffs Office responded immediately. One swimmer had enough strength and was able to get on to the dock, but the other two remained until the paramedics arrived and administered oxygen.  After they were all evaluated at the paramedic vehicles, two were released, but one was evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Fresno, CA for observation.

Later in the weekend there was a tearful reunion of swimmers and rescuers at their campsite. The five  young men had gone camping to celebrate a birthday. While walking along the shore near to their campsite they saw the island just off shore. When they decided to swim to the island, they did not consider that it is more exhausting to exercise at 7000 feet elevation and in cold water. Realizing that it was beyond his ability, one turned back early while the others continued.  Whelen and Johnson and Whiteley and Wall happened to be in the right place at the right time with the skills learned from US Sailing’s Safety At Sea Seminars and experience to save the swimmers. After packing up, the campers picked up the birthday boy when he was released from the hospital on Sunday.

Viareggio, Italy (June 12, 2010) – US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics’ (USSTAG) Star teams had a stronghold on a deep, 132-boat fleet this week at the 2010 Star European Championship in Viareggio, Italy, the biggest Star event in the class’ history. USSTAG’s Andrew Campbell (San Diego, Calif.)/Brad Nichol (Miami, Fla.) won a silver medal, while the teams of George Szabo (San Diego, Calif.)/Mark Strube (West Palm Beach, Fla.) and Mark Mendelblatt (St. Petersburg, Fla.)/John von Schwarz (Annapolis, Md.) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The German team of Johannes Polgar /Markus Koy led the regatta from the beginning, but the places below changed daily. The U.S. teams consistently stayed in the top ten, thanks to several stellar days and seamless teamwork. 

 “We’re very excited about this finish,” said Campbell, who competed in the Laser at the 2008 Olympic Games in China. “What a great day for San Diego Yacht Club, and another strong performance by the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. All the guys sailed well. The point spread in the top ten was tight because of the extraordinary series that everybody had amongst the biggest fleet in class history.

“We sailed conservatively, cautiously and consistently this week. We tried to avoid the traffic as much as we could,” he said. “We had the best overall series if you count all six races, so that game plan ended up working out really well.”

The starts were particularly challenging because of the sheer size of the fleet, so it was easy to get caught in the packs.  “We stayed away from high risk starts and tried to get a clean lane so we had room to work our way up the first beat instead of battling with the pack,” said Nichol.

Another challenge was the light air, which caused postponements and ultimately long days on the water. Each beat was approximately two-and-a-half miles long, so the races often lasted two-and-a-half hours. Of the six race days, they were only able to start on time two of the days, so they spent hours on the water in the hot sun, waiting for the afternoon sea breeze to fill in.  

“Because of the sheer size of the fleet, the starting line [was] in two segments, totaling 1.4 kilometers, more than 4,000 feet long,” Campbell wrote on his blog. “The beats [were] kept to a reasonable two-plus miles and except for [Thursday’s] five-leg course, we’ve been tallying up eight-mile races, no problem.” 

“I am really impressed with the team and their determination to get to the top,” said USSTAG Coach Mark Ivey (Tiburon, Calif.), who won US SAILING’s 2009 Coach of the Year Award. “Instead of accepting where they were, they attacked the race course and continually advanced.”

Campbell and Nichol applauded Ivey, who assembled U.S. team meetings every day at 10 a.m. to discuss the previous day’s racing and the conditions. Ivey then had the U.S. teams do daily line-ups to test their starts. “Coach Ivey really held us together through a grueling, light-air week, and I think the U.S. team put up a strong front with our 12:15 daily line-ups,” said Campbell. “By the end of the week, there were lots of boats that wanted to see how they would line up against us.”

Campbell and Nichol agreed that the USSTAG’s strong team presence, training and coaching at the Expert Olympic Garda in Riva del Garda, Italy, last month made a big impact on how they performed at the Star Europeans this week. USSTAG’s Szabo and Strube won a silver medal and Campbell/Nichol finished sixth at the Expert Olympic Garda.

 
USSTAG is made up of the United States’ top athletes in each of the 10 Olympic and three Paralympic classes who train together with the common goals of winning medals at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Weymouth, England. The next major event for the team is Kiel Week, the sixth ISAF Sailing World Cup event in the 2009-2010 series, which is scheduled for June 19-23 in Kiel, Germany.

For Fried Elliott’s daily photos of the USSTAG, please visit http://photos.friedbits.com/p571101811.  For all of his pictures from this event, please visit http://photos.friedbits.com/2010stareuropeanchampionship.  [Editors: If you’re interested in downloading high-resolution photos for editorial use, please contact Marni Lane for the coupon code.] 

For the full results, please visit the event web site: http://www.stareuropean2010.it/ 

To read Campbell and Nichol’s daily regatta reports and analysis, please visit their campaign blog: http://campbellnichol2012blogspot.com To read additional reports from the 2010 Star Europeans, please visit: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org. For the latest USSTAG news and updates, please follow the team on Facebook and Twitter.  

About the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics
The US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics is managed by the United States Sailing Association (US SAILING), the national governing body for the sport of sailing and sailboat racing. The top boats in each Olympic and Paralympic class are selected annually to be members of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics. US SAILING supports these elite athletes with funding, coaching and training. The title sponsor of the team is AlphaGraphics; other sponsors include Rolex Watch USA, Atlantis WeatherGear, Sperry Top-Sider, LaserPerformance, Harken, Team McLube, Bow Down Training, New England Ropes, Group Experiential Learning and Trinity Yachts. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, US SAILING is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. US SAILING offers training and education programs for instructors and race officials, supports a wide range of sailing organizations and communities, issues offshore rating certificates, and provides administration and oversight of competitive sailing across the country. For more information about US SAILING, please visit: www.ussailing.org. For more information about the US Olympic Sailing Program and the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, please visit: http://sailingteams.ussailing.org.