Summer Sixteen

Summer of 2016 is coming down to its final weeks and it has been a blast so far. It began with post season practice with my college sailing team. We spent the two weeks leading up to the ICSA National Championship practicing out on Boston Harbor with the Tufts team. After we brought the boats back onto the river we made one final trip down to Roger Williams University for a joint practice with several other schools.

Mark rounding at ICSA Nationals.

The BUDS had an early flight out to California and we arrived just in time to watch the last day of racing for the ICSA Women's National Championship, where our teammates came through with an excellent finish placing 12th in A-Division, 1st in B-Division, and 3rd overall. Using the experience gained from the women's event, we spent a couple days practicing out of Long Beach Yacht Club. During our rest days leading up to the event we took advantage of the nice weather and went out to Venice beach.

Nationals was definitely one of the most difficult regattas I have ever sailed in. The morning of each day of racing brought a light southerly wind that soon died and filled into the steady westerly San Diego is known for. These reliable sailing conditions and tough competition brought top level racing to the semifinals and final championship. I raced in the A-Division and at the end of the semifinals the BUDS finished 11th in A, 6th in B, and 8th overall. By the end of the finals we finished strong especially in the B-Division and placed 15th in A, 4th in B, and 8th overall. Several of our teammates received All-American awards later in the summer, which show they exemplify the true spirit of collegiate competition as well as high performance on the water.

After racing finished in California I returned to my home in Florida for a week before driving back to Boston with the F18 in tow. Once back up North I began practicing in the carbon Nacra 20 FCS, M32 (Marstrom 32), and F18. I have since joined 13Fifty Racing in their campaign for the American spot at the 2017 Red Bull Youth America's Cup. In order to prepare ourselves for this competition we have practiced in the FCS in order to get used to foiling and high speeds in a catamaran. The FCS is a 20 foot, all carbon catamaran with curved J-shaped main foils and long T-shaped rudders that lift the boat completely out of the water while sailing, greatly reducing friction between the boat and the water and raising the top speed the boat can achieve. It is not uncommon to average 25kts while sailing downwind with the spinnaker hoisted and exceeding 30kts on a run with just the main and jib. I have become quite comfortable sailing this boat on the foils and will use this experience to help my teammates progress.

The M32 has provided an excellent training platform for teams preparing for the Youth America's Cup. These boats are 32 feet long, approximately 18 feet wide, close to 1000lbs, fully carbon fiber, and are sailed with only a mainsail, furling gennaker, and 4-5 crew. They are also the same boats currently used on the World Match Racing Tour. We have used the M32 to work out team dynamics, try out new sailors, build endurance and strength outside the gym, and learn new tactics. The courses we sail during M32 regattas are nearly the same as those used in the America's Cup, allowing us to learn how to handle these unique tactical situations in a big fleet of catamarans. Reaching starts, upwind gates, and a revised set of sailing rules have made the racing all the more intense and fast paced.

The Young Guns

My first event on the M32 was the New York Yacht Club Race Week, where I put together a team of crew members who I have raced with or against in different boats throughout my career. After 3 long days of practice before the event and 4 days of the regatta we finished in 2nd overall, which was an outstanding finish for our young team and me as the skipper. Race Week was an amazing experience that would not have been possible without the help of 13Fifty Racing and M32 North America.

Next began a tour of the midwest and the first stop was Harbor Springs, Michigan where I intended to race on Escape Velocity, a privately owned M32 on which my BU coach sails. Unfortunately, during the practice day before the event I sprained my ankle and was not able to walk well for several days. This took me out of the racing, but even with only 4 crew members the Escape Velocity team sailed very well through the event. I spent that week on various support and mark boats, taking notes on both EV's and 13Fifty's performance. Since I couldn't sail I made the most of my time off the boat by learning from observing racing as well as sharing notes with my teammates to help them improve.

Following the Harbor Springs regatta I made a quick trip back to Boston in order to catch up with missed summer class work before heading to Wayzata, Minneapolis. At this venue I worked as part of 13Fifty Racing with the World Match Racing Tour to host a match racing expedition event on Lake Minnetonka. We assembled two M32s, attended several sponsor-hosted events, interviewed with local and regional news programs, took VIPs out for rides, spoke with junior sailors at the youth sailing center, and put on a show for the locals with eight match races. The goal of the event was to help set up a tour stop in Wayzata, beginning with a qualifying event, to bring more high performance racing to Lake Minnetonka, and to show younger sailors one pathway into professional sailing. The event was a huge success and I really enjoyed the time we spent there. The hospitality and support from the locals, sailors or non-mariners, made the event as fun as it was and I am looking for the next opportunity to return to the lake soon.

After missing nearly half of my classes this summer term I have to spend a week here in Boston to get caught up. Fortunately, I have kept up with the work and will finish strongly. Next weekend I will be competing in the US Team Racing Championship for the Hinman Trophy with a group of Tufts sailors. This will be a very challenging event and will help prepare me for team racing in the Spring college sailing season. The following week the BUDS will be reuniting in Newport for preseason practice where we will focus on getting more open water experience in 420s. At the end of that week I will resume my college academic and sailing schedule, but will continue working with 13Fifty Racing in our challenge for the Red Bull Youth America's Cup.

Summer of School and Sailing

I finally returned home to Florida last week to take a much needed break from the rush of classes and sailing. I had just completed my final regatta for the summer and finished my third summer class, freeing my schedule up significantly. It was nice to come home and see visiting relatives as well as my immediate family all at once. After spending a week at home I traveled back up North and am currently in Oyster Bay, NY training on foiling carbon Nacra 20 FCS, loving the entire experience.

BU campus during summer.

Earlier this summer I began taking a few classes at BU, staying after my spring semester had ended. After studying during the day I often sailed out of MIT or BU's boat houses in order to keep fresh and get out on the Charles River. On the weekends I competed in many regattas, borrowing boats from friends and traveling around to some of New England's many sailing venues. One weekend a few of my college sailing teammates and I drove down to Annapolis for a team racing event, which provided a nice opportunity to work on skills we learned during the year and see friends from other schools. This summer brought many new sailing experiences, including my first distance race in a catamaran. The Statue Race, held on the 4th of July, began at Sandy Hook, NJ and led us around the Statue of Liberty and back to the finish line, a total of 19 miles. With wind conditions ranging from zero to 15 knots and sunshine to pouring rain, this shorter distance race was full of challenges and I will definitely be sailing in it again. None of this would have been possible without the help of many friends in sailing: a huge thank you to Ryan Epprecht and his family as well as Mike Easton and Tripp Burd for lending their boats for many of this summer's events and to Jim Zellmer, Brendon Scanlon, Brian Firth, and other sailing friends for helping with other event details.

Now at the end of the summer I am focusing on training in the foiling catamarans before I head back to school to resume college sailing and classes. These boats are extremely fun and are among the fastest sailboats on the water, flying above it most of the time. The learning curve has been quite steep and initially there was a bit of a fear hurdle to overcome, but after a few more days on the boat and some building confidence it has become easier to push the boat harder and reach higher speeds. Crew work on this catamaran is different than others I have sailed in the past with tacking boards, constantly adjusting foil rake, and the rapid speed changes, but these challenges have elicited harder work and a much more rewarding sailing experience. Foiling is the future of high performance sailing and I am happy to be involved, I will be posting a video of sailing the foiling catamaran later this week.

I will be returning back to Boston soon and moving into my new housing accommodations. Classes this year will be more difficult, but I am ready to learn even more both in the classroom and on the water.

View from the Statue Race.

Ronstan Rocket at Newport Regatta.

Weight training in Oyster Bay.

Foiling catamaran training.

2014 F16 World Championship

I just recently arrived back home after spending the past week traveling to and sailing in Newport, RI. This week was full of many adventures, experiences, and memories, all of which taught me valuable life lessons. I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Newport and racing in the F16 Worlds; however, after spending a week away from home living with several other sailors and approximately 50 hours towing a trailer I am glad to finally be home and back on my regular training schedule.

The whole trip started on Thursday June 19th when we began the drive. All of Thursday afternoon and Friday was spent in the car taking turns behind the wheel. We didn't hit bad traffic until we reached New York City, where we decided to take a short break from driving to get a nice dinner in order to avoid rush hour traffic while crossing the Hudson River. We arrived at the regatta venue, Sail Newport, on Saturday morning and after rigging the boats, greeting fellow competitors and friends, and moving into our home for the week we were able to get acclimated to the change in scenery and explore Newport. I had already sailed in Newport once before, but since this was several years earlier at an Opti regatta it was still a new experience.

Sunday and Monday were both spent practicing out on the Narragansett Bay where the race course would be placed. This time was quite beneficial to my teammate Sam and I as we had implemented several new systems and upgrades to the boat prior to coming to Newport. This included carbon rod rigging in place of the standard stainless steel wire that holds the mast upright. These carbon rods are much stiffer, lighter, and thinner than the wire, increasing the sensitivity of the boat and platform as well as decreasing the overall weight and windage of the boat. With this new rigging came new boat settings and we used our precious practice time before racing to figure out our optimal mast rake and rig tension settings in all wind conditions.

Racing began Tueday morning and we were fortunate enough to have a consistent breeze of 10-15 knots with occasional sustained gusts in the upper teens. Unfortunately, we had a mechanical issue during the first race of the regatta when our spinnaker halyard cleat pulled out of the mast. Sam and I quickly sailed to our coach Jim Zellmer and repaired the rivets on the water. After missing the first two races of the regatta in our preferred sailing conditions our spirits were beginning to break; however, we knew that this was going to be a long regatta with 15 races on the schedule and we approached the following races with a fresh mind. In order to make up for this loss we worked very hard to win the next two, keeping us in a good position to place well by the end of the week.

Day 2 of racing had similar conditions and wind direction as day 1, but with less velocity and more dispersed wind lines. We were able to maintain our hot streak through the first race of day 2 by placing first and we kept consistent scores for the remainder of the day, all in the top 5. Day 3 brought light wind from a new direction with a forecast of rain and thunderstorms in the afternoon. After a survey by sailors and conversation with the race committee, which was a new way of making decisions at this world championship, racing was postponed on shore until late in the afternoon and then finally canceled for the day. Even though we did not have the opportunity to sail and stay on schedule with races, we were able to see more of the city of Newport. The Etchell World Championship was held during this same week out of the famous New York Yacht Club and it was very interesting to see the list of competitors for this event as it included several former world champions and professional sailors.

Racing resumed the following day and in order to make up for our lost time the race committee ran 5 more races for a grand total of 13. We started out the day strong with several top finishes, but during the third race we had a problem with our spinnaker retrieval line wrapping on the forestay, putting us just two points out of fist place by the end of the regatta. Sam and I finished as the 1st youth, 1st American and 2nd overall team and even though we were slightly disappointed with our performance this is still quite the achievement for us.

Sarasota Youth Sailing was strongly represented at this regatta. Another youth team consisting of a brother and sister, Nico and Sophia Schultz, also came to the event and placed very well despite fighting through some tough situations that were similar to those Sam and I faced. They also missed two races on day 1 of the regatta, but they quickly recovered from this and ended the regatta on a great note by winning the final race.  They placed 7th overall which was still a strong finish in this World Championship. Sarasota Youth Sailing has come a long way with it's youth multihull team and it is great to see how we are benefiting from this program and getting good results at top regattas.

Now came the time to leave Newport and drive back home. The trip back to Florida was quite uneventful and now that I am back home I have some time to reflect and learn from last week's experiences. I learned that it is absolutely essential to be prepared for any boat issue that could arise on the water and that boat prep work is key prior to a big event. I also learned that even though I may face several obstacles and setbacks, it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind and to continue progressing forwards. I am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel with my friends and sailing partners and the memories I have created will remain with me for the rest of my life. I must thank my family, coaches, friends, and teammates for their continued support as without their help I would not have been able to make last week a success.

The remainder of my summer will be quite busy leading up to the beginning of my school year in September. Mid July I will be traveling to Portugal with Nico Schultz and competing in the ISAF Youth World Championship. This is the same regatta that I sailed in last year with Sam as a member of the US Sailing Youth Worlds Team. After I return back to the states I will be sailing an F18 in the Hyannis Regatta off the coast of Massachusetts late in July. Near the end of August I am planning on sailing the Nacra 17 National Championship at Oakcliff Sailing in New York. I am not pursuing an Olympic campaign for the 2016 games as my primary focus is my education at Boston University, but, as it is important to stay competitive and learn as much as possible, I am attending as many regattas as I can fit in my schedule. Continue to check this blog in the weeks to come because I will be posting updates about my travel and sailing experiences!