SAVE THE DATE: 19 APRIL 2014
SSA Demo Day will feature over 20 boats from every one of SSA’s one design fleets and a few new boats that aren’t fleets yet, each one represented by their most enthusiastic sailors who can’t wait to take you out for a sail or talk about the boat. SSA Demo Day is open to the public and will be a great opportunity to try sailing as many boats as you can! Make sure you are dressed appropriately for a day on the water. There will be food and drinks served all day starting at 11am. Come out to have a great time and enjoy spring sailing on the Severn River.
Located in Annapolis, Maryland, SSA has a half-century tradition of quality one-design racing. We feature a full season of racing for our Fleets plus a winter frostbiting series. We regularly host major regional, national and international championship events. www.severnsailing.org
Severn Sailing Association
311 First Street . Annapolis, Maryland 21403 . (410) 268-8744 . fax (888) 248-8691
[email protected] . webmaster: [email protected]
Some of the most challenging days a team faces going upwind are those days when it is consistently puff on, followed by a lull , puff on – nonstop transitional sailing .
The kids really work hard for Chris because they realize he knows what it takes to become a champion. His current team of junior sailors includes the U.S. Laser National Champion and the Junior Women’s Single-handed National Champion. He videos all the training sessions on the ocean and goes to the gym to workout with them. He communicates with his sailors almost daily on his team FB page and sends them video’s to watch about mental training and reads all of their regatta reports. He is tough and demanding of his sailors on and off the water. Missing a practice for late homework or last minute studying is not an acceptable absence. I have also seen him send sailors home when they show up with less than total commitment. He also expects each team member to support their fellow teammate. He believes sailing is a team sport, not an individual sport. “
S1D: Where did you grow up sailing?
S1D: How did you and Nick prepare for each day of racing?
Sail1Design welcomes your thoughts in our forum at the bottom of this article. Enjoy.
The theme of some other proposed rules was increasing the safety precautions for the sailors. Concussions within college sailing have been increasing steadily over the years, and understandably so with a big pole made of metal hovering a couple of inches over your head whenever you are in a boat. One proposed solution was making helmets mandatory for all sailors; but this did not pass. The cost per school would be very high, and it did not seem like the most reasonable solution to the voters (and, more likely, all of the sailors who refused to wear helmets.) Some more experimental methods have been proposed, and have started to be tested. For example, Fran Charles (head coach at MIT) has proposed that all booms be made of carbon fiber, so as to reduce the weight of the boom and therefore the risk of serious head injury. All of the FJ’s at MIT already have carbon fiber booms, and they seem to sail as well as the normal collegiate FJ’s. The only difference is that they do not have a track to feed the foot of the sail through, and so a clew strap is necessary. These often break, and so present a sort of nuisance to the sailors right now, but if this flaw gets perfected I think that the carbon fiber booms are an excellent solution to the safety problem. Harvard has gone another route; two of the boats in their fleet of FJ’s have booms that are about 6 inches taller than normal. The masts are also longer, so there is no change in the sail area, but this is still the more controversial method because it may have a more influential change in the way the boats sail. 8 other schools are following suit with this, and have been approved for use for these new masts. Only testing of the two methods over the season will tell which is more effective.
