Winter Wrap Up

As I sit here on the plane heading back to Boston I have some time to reflect on the sailing I have done over this winter break. After the conclusion of the fall academic semester I packed my bags, picked up my trailer, and began the long drive down to Florida. On the trailer sat both the F18 and Nacra dealer Todd Riccardi’s Carbon 20 FCS, the 20 foot foiling catamaran on which I have the majority of my foiling experience. I arrived on Christmas Eve and during the afternoon of Christmas day headed down to the Sarasota Sailing Squadron to rig up the Nacra 20. I couldn’t wait to get out on this boat as every day on the foils is as exhilarating as last, if not more.

After a week of demo rides and practicing in all conditions, mixing distance and short course racing as well as straight line speed runs, it was time to pack up again and head down to Miami for the first M32 Winter Series event. I raced with team Escape Velocity on which my BU sailing coach is a member. Several days of boat prep and practice led up to the event and we were feeling quite happy with how we were doing in racing, but unfortunately disaster struck near the finish of the second race. A large front had pressed into the area earlier than expected and brought with it a very strong 20+ knot breeze. As we made our final approach to the mark before the last reaching leg a huge gust came down and both our and another team's masts broke. This brought an early end to our weekend, but allowed me to reassemble the Nacra 20 at Miami Yacht Club and head home early. Time on the water practicing is always beneficial and the days leading up to the regatta as well as the racing taught me more about how the M32 sails and how tactics change in this type of fleet.

Photos taken by M32 North America

I spent my last week in Florida coaching a young sailor from my former club, Sarasota Youth Sailing. He is new to the Sarasota multihull program and I took him under my wing for the week, coaching him in the F16. We ended the week by racing in a local multihull regatta, the 1st Annual Bluster on the Bay, and after 3 days of racing he had improved tremendously. It is great seeing how my Alma mater sailing program is continuing to thrive and how the younger generation of multihull sailors loves going fast as much as I do.

Now that I am returning to school my focus will shift back to my studies as I am taking my first classes in the Aerospace concentration. Balancing schoolwork will be tough, but I’m always up for the challenge.

I have made a few updates to my social media.

New YouTube account

Updated campaign documents

My biggest focus in sailing right now is raising funds for a MK2 Nacra 17. I intend to sell the Viper F16 and possibly the C2 F18 in order to afford this, but would also like to raise funds through sponsorships and donations.

Sponsorship Proposal

2017 Budget

Resume

Stay tuned for more!

Summer Shenanigans

High school has finally ended! I have graduated from Southeast High School and am patiently waiting for early July to find out if I received my International Baccalaureate diploma. Now that I am officially on summer break I have had a considerably larger amount of free time which has been spent planning my academic courses for next year at Boston University as well as preparing for the F16 World Championship which will be taking place next week in Newport, RI.


Last week I had the opportunity to attend my Boston University freshmen orientation session. After being forced to spend an additional night in Charlotte, NC due to a cancelled fight and finally arriving in Boston a day later than I had planned, I managed to arrive at my orientation activities on time. My three days were spent getting familiar with the city and transportation systems around the school, understanding the course curriculum, registering for class times, and finally meeting other freshmen students. When I departed from Boston on Friday I left having developed a strong passion and excitement for the school as well as several new friendships that will make my college experience quite memorable.

In preparation for the F16 Worlds I have been fine tuning and upgrading my boat with several smaller tweaks and adjustments. These upgrades include a skipper trapeze system that is run through the hull rather than across the deck, carbon rod rigging rather than the traditional stainless steel wire, and other smaller additions spread around the platform. These changes to the standard boat design were implemented to reduce weight, minimize the possibility of binding and catching while sailing, and increase the performance capabilities of the boat. As the departure date for Newport quickly approaches, I will be loading up the trailer and will begin driving with another Sarasota team comprised of two siblings, Sophia and Nico Schultz. We're all very excited to put our skills to the test against some of the top F16 teams at the Worlds!

Always Sailing Fast at Sailfest

With diverse wind conditions, warm water, and sunny weather, the Sarasota Sailfest is always a great regatta that provides racing opportunities in several classes ranging from the Optimist Dinghy to the newly adopted multihull class. This year's event was as successful as it has been in the past and we were able to get 6 races completed over the course of two days. We were postponed on shore Saturday until noon when the classic Sarasota sea-breeze began to build. This was to my advantage as my crew, Sam Armington, had to take a school exam in the morning and luckily we did not miss any races. Saturday's wind conditions were light and variable, shifting direction drastically several times during racing. We pushed to get four races off and ended up sailing late into the day, coming to shore at about 5:30 pm. On Sunday the breeze filled in much earlier and with substantially more velocity. There was a decent amount of carnage on the multihull course during both of Sunday's races, but thankfully there were no major injuries or damage to equipment. After two long days of racing in both light and heavy wind conditions with varying sea states, Sam and I were able to win all six races of the regatta and capture first place.


The Sarasota Sailfest has always been a major event on my calendar and I love to support my home club and sailing program by participating as a competitor or helping out with running the event. This year 100 Optis, 50 Lasers and 420s, and 9 multihulls attended and I hope this regatta continues to grow.

A link to the full regatta site and results can be found here.

2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Qualifier

My teammate Nico Schultz and I have been officially named to the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Team and will be sailing in this event in Tavira, Portugal. This summer Nico and I will travel to Europe, meet up with ten other sailors that will also be representing Team USA, and compete in the most prestigious youth sailing event in the world. Each country that is able to support a team sends sailors to race in different boats including the Laser, I420, 29er, RS:X, and SL16. This will be my second year at the event and I will bring experience as well as a matured perspective that will hopefully be of benefit to all members of Team USA.

In order to qualify to be a member of this selective team, Nico and I competed at two qualifying events over this past year to demonstrate our commitment and skill in the multihull class. The first event, the US Youth Sailing Championship, took place during August in Corpus Christi, TX and presented us with rough sailing conditions and 15-20 knot winds every day. The second event, held during January in Miami, FL, differed from the first as we sailed in a mixed fleet of F16s and Nacra 17s and had more diverse atmospheric conditions. The members of Team USA were then chosen based on the combined results from the two regattas. This two-part qualification system gave sailors a chance to race at two venues and in different weather conditions, truly forcing consistency in racing results.

2013 US Youth Sailing Championship

Training was absolutely essential to our success in these two regattas. We spent our time in the months leading up to both events sailing F16s, F18s, Club and High School 420s, and various keelboats in order to gain experience racing against the level of competition we expect to face in Tavira. Of course it is essential to perfect boathandeling and speed in our specific class; however, we understood the importance of becoming well rounded athletes and did not limit ourselves to only multihulls. In addition to spending time sailing, we performed boat maintenance to make sure our equipment would function properly in use and improved our physical fitness by exercising regularly in the gym. Sailing is a physically demanding sport and as regattas are typically held over several days muscular endurance allows sailors to remain strong throughout an event.

A view of downtown Miami.

Now it is time for us to focus on the path that lies ahead. Nico and I are planning on attending several regattas in the near future, including the F16 World Championship. In late June F16 sailors of all ages from around the world will travel to Newport, RI and race in a five day regatta. The winners will become the new F16 World Champions and the top team from the United States will be named the F16 National Champion and take ownership of the perpetual trophy Sam and I claimed in Racine, WI last summer. Even though we will not be sailing together for this event, Nico and I will be able to use the experience gained from sailing in Newport and apply it to the Youth Worlds. We are both ready to display our hard work and commitment to our sport at upcoming regattas and I am especially excited about having a second opportunity to represent my country in Europe this summer.

To read the full press release on the 2014 ISAF Youth Worlds Team click here.

To read the full press release on the 2014 US Sailing Development Team click here.

Interviews with the Lead Pack

I recently found this article on the United States Formula 18 Association website about an interview from the F18 Americas Championship last year. Apparently I now have the nickname Ravi "The Young Gun" Parent! The original article can be found here. The USF18 class site has excellent organization and sections for viewing ads, tuning tips, purchasing F18 merchandise, and other related subjects.

Interviews with the lead pack: Ravi (The Young Gun) Parent

What is (are) your name(s), and where do you sail?
Ravi Parent, I sail in Sarasota, FL on the Sarasota Bay.

How long have you been sailing F18s?
RP:  I have been sailing F18's for 3 years now, starting in the middle of my freshman year in high school.

Did you do anything special to prepare for the 2013 F18 Americas Championship?
RP:  I trained twice a week in multihulls, F18s and F18s, and two additional days in monohulls in order to perfect boat-handling maneuvers and learn the wind patterns of the bay. I also train [in the gym] 6 days a week in order to keep myself in peak physical condition which proved helpful on the windy days. Over the summer I traveled to three high caliber multihull regattas in order to gain big line starting experience, battle against other top teams, and re-learn wind patterns in different venues.


What do you think was the biggest factor in your success in Sarasota?
RP:  My time spent consistently practicing in the boat prior to the event was the biggest factor in my success in Sarasota. I mastered fast boat-handling techniques and limited my mistakes in the boat which helped me hold consistently fast boatspeed on all parts of the course.

The Americas Championship was a 17 race event with conditions from 5-25 knots. How did you manage to have success over such a broad range of conditions?
RP:  I had prepared in all these conditions prior to the event. I gained big wind and wave experience in regattas over the summer and was comfortable in these conditions. I knew what needed to be done on the race course and took each race one at a time. I was in a disadvantage on the windy days as I was a light team, but I focused on my strengths during the races, upwind and downwind angle rather than speed, and used these to my advantage. I positioned myself on the start and around other boats in a way that took full advantage of these strengths.

What was the most memorable regatta moment for you?
RP:  My most memorable regatta moment was winning the final race of the regatta. The actual winning of the race wasn't the most significant part for me, but actually the combination of all the right moves my teammate and I made during that race. Our decisions during the race displayed the results of our persistent training and showed that all our hard work paid off when we were able to nail the start, maintain fast boatspeed, and call the correct shifts on the course. Winning this race showed me that hard work truly does pay off and that I am capable of achieving my desired results through all this hard work and preparation.

Every event has difficult moments. What was yours, and how did you overcome that setback?
RP:  My difficult moments occurred on the windiest day of the regatta, Wednesday. I was a light team and knew I would not have the boatspeed advantage on this day. In order to overcome this setback I chose to take each race, even each leg of the race, one moment at a time and focus on how I could make the best of each situation on the race course for my ability in the boat. I pushed as hard as I could and maintained decent race results, kept a positive attitude, and reminded myself that there were many more races left in the regatta for us to regain positions on the scoreboard.

If you could get a redo for one sailing mistake during the week, what would it be? What would you do differently?
RP:  I would have started more conservatively during race 3 of the regatta. Unfortunately I was scored OCS during this race which I had actually won and if I had started more conservatively and made sure I was not over early I would have had the same chance to win the race and would not have used one of my race discards, placing my points closer to that of the competitors in third place on the final day of racing.

For new teams just getting into F18 sailing, what would be your biggest piece of advice?
RP:  Spend as much time as you can perfecting your boat-handling and boatspeed before events. It is important to perfect these aspects of racing so you can forget about them while you are actually on the race course. If you are able to maintain fast boatspeed with limited boat-handling errors, you will be able to devote more time and energy to analyzing the wind conditions and predicting shifts.

I do not own the content of this article. It can be sourced to the USF18 Class Association and the original article can be found here.

Viper Training

Check out this video of some training in the Viper F16! It shows what we love to do every day. The video was filmed and edited by Dalton Tebo.

The link is here.

Falcon F18

These past few weeks have been quite busy with both academics and sailing. I have managed to complete my remaining college applications, begin looking for scholarships, and finish my last few school assignments before the break. I have also recently competed in the Junior Olympic Sailing Festival in Jensen Beach, FL in the Club 420 class. This was my first Club 420 regatta and with only a few days of training prior to the event my teammate and I placed 5th overall after two days of racing in light winds and shifty conditions.

In addition to competing in this regatta I have had the opportunity to sail the Falcon F18, a newly designed boat that is built on the East coast of Florida. This boat has more volume in the hulls than many other F18 designs as well as a well cut sail plan made by Glaser Sails in California. Sam and I will be able to sail the Falcon a few more times in the upcoming week and I will be uploading more photographs of our sailing action.

F18 Americas Championship

This past week I chose to miss four days of school in order to take advantage of a unique opportunity. The F18 Americas Championship was held out of my local sailing club, the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, and I decided to miss school in order to compete. Prior to this event I spent two days a week practicing with Sam, my teammate, perfecting our boathandeling maneuvers and boatspeed. We had spent a large amount of time training in the F16 before the summer so the transition to the F18 was not too drastic; however this larger boat is much more powerful so we had to alter our mark roundings and depowering techniques to accommodate this increase in power.

I started out the week of racing by competing in the annual Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous. This regatta served as the Stiletto Nationals and a great warm up for the upcoming Americas Championship. We had eight boats registered for the F18 fleet but around fifteen boats raced on our course. We were able to get five races off on Saturday but on Sunday we were unable to get any races off due to a lack of wind. The sea breeze fought the remains of a front for the entire day, creating glass water and cloudless skies. Fortunately we had a several top finishes in the races that were sailed and we finished this regatta in first place.

Tuesday was the first day of racing for the Zhik F18 Americas Championship and the conditions were similar to those in the Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous. We had light wind for the first four races of the regatta and we took wins in two of these four races, but unfortunately we were OCS in race 3. This score became one of our discarded races for the regatta and hurt us initially in the overall results. Wednesday brought completely different conditions than what we had raced in the previous days. Another cold front caused a rapid drop in temperature overnight and created a strong frontal breeze consistently blowing in the upper teens that lasted up until Saturday morning. We made and achieved our goal for the windy races: finish within the top fifteen in order to remain in contention for a spot within the top five. We were not the fastest boat out on the race course on the windier days, but we used our local knowledge and tactical experience to keep us in the front of the pack. We made several mistakes during these races, including beginning races with second row starts and not capitalizing on our gains in the fleet while we could; however we quickly learned and saw consistent improvements throughout the regatta.

Video is the property of Sam Greenfield. Thank you for putting this great video together for us! It truly highlights what youth multihull sailing is all about!

Saturday presented more light wind conditions in the Sarasota Bay. We got one final race off to end the regatta and Sam and I were able to put all the pieces together and pull off a win. This race moved us up from fifth place to fourth and we ended the regatta as the second junior team which included sailors aged 23 and younger, third American team, and fourth place overall.

This regatta taught me many lessons over the course of a whole week. I learned how to manage a large catamaran fleet as we had 56 boats out on the course. Managing a big catamaran fleet uses different tactics than the management of a large dinghy fleet; boatspeeds are much higher and it is slow to make several tacks to cover the fleet. I learned how to get first row starts on a long starting line in a big fleet and how to pace myself during a long and tiresome regatta, especially while on the starting line. One single bad start, such as our one OCS of the regatta in race three, makes it much more difficult to finish in the top of a large fleet. This race initially put us out of the top ten, but through hard work and persistence on the race course we were able to work ourselves back into the top five. Seventeen races also take a toll on a sailor both mentally and physical by the last day of an event and it is important to use free time between races and while off the water to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each day so improvements can be made. This entire week was a once in a lifetime opportunity to compete in this regatta against world renown sailors at my home venue and I am glad I chose to take four days off from school for this event. It is commonly said that having the home field advantage helps, but our results at this regatta show how much we have been training and how this hard work pays off.

The full regatta site is here.

Results for the regatta can be seen here.

Pictures taken by Tim Wilkes here.

All regatta reports from Scuttlebutt can be found here.

All of the regatta videos from each day can be seen here.

Catsailingnews.com posted several reports about the event that can be found below:
Preview
Day 1 Report
Day 2 Report
Day 3 Report
Day 4 Report
Catsailingnews Final Report
Final Report by Annie Gardner

The Remainder Of This Year

The beginning of my final academic school year of high school has arrived and with that also comes an increase in my workload. Since I am enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program I have a different set of graduation and diploma requirements than the typical high school student. IB students must complete projects called Internal Assessments in each of our classes throughout the school year. IB students are also required to write an Extended Essay over summer. I won't go into details about each of these assignments but it is fair to say that they have taken up the majority of my free time. Fortunately, I am still able to sail several days a week if I budget my time according to my schedule. Over the next few months I am planning on racing in several high caliber regattas, including the F18 America's Championship that will be held at my home club, the Sarasota Sailing Squadron. Prior to this event is the Buzzelli Multihull Rendezvous which is a smaller event in memory of an avid multihull sailor. These events will provide world class competition and I am excited to meet, sail against, and learn from this competition.

I will continue to keep you updated on my sailing and life experiences!

The regatta site for the 2013 F18 America's Championship is here.

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