Laser

Labor Day Regatta

This past weekend I participated in the 2013 Labor Day Regatta, an annual event hosted by my home club in Sarasota. I decided to compete in my Laser Radial rather than in a multihull and this proved to be a wise decision as this boat posed challenges that I had not faced during the several regattas I attended this summer. Sailing in a slower monohull  has several disadvantages. First of all, the boat does not move nearly as fast as a high performance catamaran. Also, the races take longer. Finally, the boat is sailed by one person which forces all the decisions onto the skipper. However, this boat also provided several challenges that tested my skills, taught me new techniques, and placed me in different tactical situations on the race course. By choosing to sail the Laser in this regatta I now had opportunity to practice starting more aggressively with the increased maneuverability of the boat. Also, since the boat moves more slowly through the water than a multihull, I had more time to analyze the shifts and make tactical decisions. This boat drastically slowed down the pace of racing and helped me focus on the fundamentals of boat-on-boat tactics. The weekend's sailing conditions were tough to manage as it rained in the mornings of both days of the regatta and we were presented with light and variable winds in the afternoons, however the race committee still managed to complete five races in the tough conditions. Even though I did not place as well as I had hoped and came in 6th overall, I had the opportunity to refresh some of my basic sailing skills and improve in close tactical situations and I was able to enjoy my three day weekend with my friends and teammates on the beautiful Sarasota Bay.

Sunset over the Sarasota Bay

Sarasota Sailfest

Sarasota Youth Sailing's annual Sailfest regatta is coming up! This local regatta is a great event for both novice and experienced sailors of all classes. Laser, 420, Opti, and even multihull classes all race on the beautiful Sarasota Bay; multihulls were incorporated into the regatta a few years ago and have presented a strong fleet ever since. In fact, if there is enough interest in a class that has not been represented at the regatta in the past and at least five boats register, they will receive their own start and possibly their own awards!

This regatta is run by Sarasota Youth Sailing and proceeds directly benefit this growing program.

District 13 Championship

This past weekend I competed in the District 13 Championship at the Davis Island Yacht Club for the fourth consecutive year, my third time in a Radial. I drove myself up to the regatta, car-topping my boat, which was a new experience. Saturday presented light winds around 5-10 knots out of the northeast which died off later in the day, but was soon replace by a consistent 10-15 knot breeze out of the northeast which was not part of the forecast. I set a goal for myself this weekend: place within the top five in every race. On Saturday I managed to accomplish my goal in three of the four races, placing 9th in the second race. Consistency pays off though, as my results proved; I led the fleet overall after Saturday's racing in 1st place by three points. Sunday brought similar conditions to Saturday, a light 5-10 knot breeze from the northeast dying and then building to the now familiar 10-15. I placed consistently in the top five until the last race of the regatta, which became my throw out. At the end of the day I placed 2nd after a tiebreaker with 26 points overall. This regatta was one of the few Laser regattas that I am planning on doing this year, yet it still presented its unique challenges. Davis Island is a tricky venue, with multiple nearby land masses and a breeze that does not always follow the forecast, yet I began to figure out what was happening on the race course by the end of the regatta. Overall, the District 13 Championship is one regatta that I have always enjoyed in the past and I'll plan on attending it next year!


Busy School Days





            This school year is already time consuming; the majority of my free time not spent sailing is now used for completing my never-ending homework. Everyone always said that Junior year would be the hardest but I never would have thought that it would become so difficult so fast! I've still been sailing as much as I can, mainly multihulls on Mondays and Lasers on Thursdays and Saturdays. The Sarasota Youth Sailing Race Team is hoping to add another day to its multihull practice which would be a huge bonus! Unfortunately school is going to start cutting into my sailing time more and more as this year progresses, but I'm going to continue staying ahead with my work and hopefully sail close to as much this year as I have in the past. It's going to be tougher to miss school for regattas this year so I will probably be doing more local and shorter regattas this year but I'm planning on throwing in some larger events when I can (Alter Cup, Orange Bowl...). Laser practice this past Thursday and Saturday went well. We have a large amount of new sailors who joined the team this year and I can already see how quickly some of them have progressed! This year's going to be tough but if I work hard it'll be just one more step towards a successful career in my future! 

BYC Beginnings

Looking back now, I have gone a long way since my first summer sailing! I've gone from working my way across the Manatee River in a pram to racing around the country in high-performance catamarans. And to think it all started in one of those floating "bathtubs". It all began during a summer camp at the Manatee River Pram Fleet. At age 8 Lisa Fath introduced me to singlehanding and ever since then, even though I do the majority of my training in Sarasota, I have been sailing as much as I can up at my home yacht club, the Bradenton Yacht Club. I've learned a lot by sailing here, from keelboat skills (Thursday night/Sunday afternoon racing series) to river tactics. I have been very fortunate to have sailed with Dr. John Marcin as well. His extensive sailing experience, including racing as an Olympic Finn alternate, has taught me a lot of what I know now and helped me achieve the BYC Sailor Of The Year award (which was a surprise to me!) and it all started at the BYC!

Back to practice

It sure does feel good to be back on the water in a catamaran! It has been a few weeks since I have been able to sail and boy does it feel nice to be back out there. I had been practicing for the Laser Midwinters East up until the event which was last weekend.
Start of a practice race

This last practice went very well for the team. The conditions ranged from 10-15 knots of breeze with some bigger gusts with mild chop. On the way out I decided to wear my GoPro Hero2 on my head as a way of trying something new. I got some interesting footage of my crew Erick Weinstein and I on our sail out and of us doing some speed testing before sailing in some practice races. After not sailing together for a few weeks we felt a bit awkward at first but after a while we got back into the groove. One of the things we realized that we immediately were doing wrong was the setting of out daggerboard height, which can be seen in our GoPro footage. At around 10:45 we realized this and pulled them up to a higher setting and immediately saw improvement in our speed testing.


Downwind practice


When we started doing practice races it was all business and the GoPro came off (it was giving me a headache anyways). After a few bad starts we end up tacking off to the right every race, getting the favorable shifts on that side of the course and tacking off and taking them back over to the left side before the other boats could. Our tacks have really improved since January! We hardly lose any ground during the tacks and we are getting out on the wire much faster. We worked on our kite sets which have also improved and our wire-to-wire downwind jibes, which could use more practice.



On the downwinds Erick and I worked on sheeting and steering in unison. Erick worked on keeping the kite trimmed well during waves and puffs and on moving body weight around on the wire to keep the boat powered up in the lulls. I worked on playing the traveler more than steering during the puffs and on keeping the boat powered up in all situations as well.

Erick Weinstein mid-tack



Over all this was a very productive practice. Both Erick and I felt fast and in a steady and controlled groove by the end of the day. Also, the entire team was very lucky to have Mrs. Le Patourel, the mother of one of the sailors, out on the water. She took some amazing action shots of the entire team out training! Thanks again!

Orange Bowl 2011

Even though I did not place as well as I had hoped, the Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta was a good learning experience and I had a good amount of fun on and off the water, especially while waiting for the wind to fill in! Off the water I attended the different club-organized dinners and events, including the college night where students from several colleges with sailing teams came down to speak to the older sailors. On the water we had varying conditions, including a steady 10 knot breeze with small chop to very little wind with lots of the infamous Miami powerboat wake. Here's some GoPro videos taken on the practice day.

Goals

I am a competitive youth sailor who races in multiple fleets including Lasers and 420s. Additionally, I have substantial experience as helm and crew in other classes including V15s, F16s, F18s, Nacra 20s, and J24s. I train daily in the gym and on the water in these boats, and attend frequent local, district, national, and international events throughout the year.I have previously competed internationally in the Optimist class attending both the IODA South American Championship in Salinas, Ecuador, and the British National Championship in Larges, Scotland. My future goals include advancing my racing and tactical knowledge through training and competing in both monohulls and multihulls.

  • Increase the amount of time I spend sailing multihulls.
  • Train as hard off the water as I do on on the water in order to maintain physique and stamina.
  • Compete and place well in upcoming District, National, and International events.