By Northeast Airwaves writer Paige Hoffman
With summer sailing in full swing, the peak of competitive sailing is at its height. Summer race teams and recreational classes alike are running all over the country. Everyone remembers the first time they started their journey as a sailor. Some didn’t begin sailing until high school or college, but many others started off in summer junior sailing programs. As a result, many of these sailors end up working as summer instructors in the programs they learned to sail in. Whether you began your racing days in Green Fleet, or were new to sailing altogether when you began competing, chances are you have some experience working in or around a junior program.
With over twelve hundred registered yacht clubs in the United States, and countless community boating programs, there is always a demand for sailing instructors. Consequently, many high school and college sailors, sailing students themselves, find jobs working in programs like these. I grew up sailing at Duxbury Bay Maritime School, and as a result found it easy to acquire a job there, having had connections with the Junior Sailing Program director through high school sailing. Getting the job was easy enough, but I soon realized that coaching is a lot more than simply being a competent sailor myself.
Like most junior instructors, I started off at age sixteen teaching classes as a sort of assistant to a more experienced instructor. This experience was invaluable to me as a person with really no prior teaching knowledge. I was able to learn the ropes of working with young sailors while making money and preparing myself for teaching more independently. Menial tasks, filling gas tanks, dropping marks, bailing boats, unpleasant as they seem, create hardworking and well-conditioned sailors. Being a junior instructor is sort of like being a freshman in high school or college. You’re expected to listen and work diligently, but also to make mistakes and learn from them. I can still remember the devastation I felt as a first year instructor when I fell out of a docked boat and lost a radio. It wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but at the time, confessing to my boss was daunting. It helps to remember that even the oldest and most senior of sailing coaches were young once too, and that they too have broken equipment, lost equipment, and circumstantially made the same mistakes that young instructors are making now. If there is one thing to stress about being a junior instructor, it’s that you too are a student in this point in your teaching career. Listening to and watching how the older instructors teach and handle their students is a big part of your job too. Taking a backseat role and simply letting them take charge is not preparing you to be a competent teacher yourself. No matter how many times you have to fight for students attention, or tow them upwind when they can’t figure out how to get out of irons, the actions you take towards preparing your students as sailors will help you prepare you as a coach.
Explaining to children the fundamentals of sailing helps you to gain a deeper understanding of the sport and take pride in your own abilities as a sailor, something that can never be accomplished in any way but spreading a love and understanding of the water to others. You can sail in the most competitive events in the world, participate in the highest-level clinics in sailing, but if you never spread your appreciation for the sport onto others, you will never quite experience the kind of pride you feel watching a young sailor catch onto the sport and succeed.
About Paige Hoffman, Northeast/High School Sailing Airwaves Reporter
Paige started sailing at age ten at Duxbury Bay Maritime School. By age twelve, she was competing in Optis and transitioned to 420 sailing when she was fourteen, becoming a member of the Duxbury High School sailing team as a freshman in high school and racing through club programs at Duxbury Bay Maritime school in the fall and summer seasons. In the summer, she works as a Junior Sailing Instructor at Duxbury Bay Maritime School, teaching younger sailors the fundamentals of sailing. In 2016, she helped her team win the Mass Bay League Team Race Championship and was named co-captain of her team for the 2017 spring season.
ILCA Boat Grant Recipients win Lightning ACC's
This weekend the International Lightning Class held their Atlantic Coast Championship on waters off Wrightsville Beach, NC. Carolina Yacht Club hosted the event and certainly demonstrated true southern hospitality throughout the event in preparation of hoisting the 2017 North American Championship.
The event began with Greg Fisher (College of Charleston, Director of Sailing) and Brian Hayes (North Sails One Design) leading a clinic for the early arriving teams. These clinics, know to the class as Lightning Labs, are very intuitive seminars directed at performance in the Lightning. This session began with a short shore session where Greg and Brian talked about a few nuances of sail trim and fine tune controls in breezy conditions. After this quick shore session, 12 boats hit the water for some practice races with Greg and Brian coaching and videotaping. Conditions were perfect to knock out four good races and a few practice starts. The clinic wrapped up late in the afternoon with an hour long video debrief about sail trim and boat handling.
Racing began Saturday AM with a SW breeze and a 3-foot ocean swell. Three races were sailed with three different winners; Doug Wake, Ched Proctor & George Harrington. Other notables on the day were Greg Fisher, Peter Hogan and Eric Oetgen.
Sunday’s races began around 1130 after a quick postponement on the water. The breeze was light and from the SE with a very light ocean swell. Peter Hogan and Tommy Allen took the bullets in the two remaining races. Other notables were Gordon Wolcott (Boat Grant Recipient), Carter Cameron and Bill Mauk.
The real story behind this event is the overall winner with 5, 3, 10, 2 & 6 for finishes. Gordon Wolcott from Virginia Beach with his crew Elizabeth “Lizzie” Chambers from Mooresville, NC and Chris Stessing from Buffalo, NY sailed to very consistent finishes throughout the event to take tie with Greg Fisher (with his wife JoAnn and daughter Martha) and win the tiebreaker. This team is one of the 2016 Boat Grant Teams*. This is only the 2nd event that they have sailed in a Lightning and the first major event in the class. This win certainly sends a statement that our Boat Grant Program* is working and we are finding great sailors. Congratulations to Gordon, Lizzie and Chris on the win!
*To learn more about the International Lightning Class Boat Grant Program, you can visit our class page or see this Scuttlebutt article from May 16, 2016.
Overall Results
Interview with the Winners
Ida Lewis: the Stories Behind the Podium
By Airwaves writer Sammy Pickell
The 2016 U.S. Junior Women’s Doublehanded Championships in Mississippi welcomed its sailors with the famous Bay St. Louis presence of both humidity and southern hospitality. The event offered 29 competitive teams from all across the country the opportunity to culminate their stories of preparation and hard work in three days of racing. For some, the event served as a stepping stone for other national events later in the summer, particularly allowing the top two
teams to qualify for the Youth Championships held in August. For others, placing at Ida Lewis would serve as the pinnacle of their sailing careers thus far. Ida presented every team with an equal opportunity to showcase everything they have learned about sailing a club 420.
Much of the preparation for the three days of racing came from the critical two days before the regatta. World class coaches at the top of their craft in both college sailing and high level competitive youth sailing helped prepare all the girls at practice clinics. Sailors and coaches tinkered with their charter boats and worked together on boat handling skills later out on the water, as steady southerly winds funneled in usually after scattered thunderstorms dissipated by the venue. Coaches not only emphasized the importance of fine tuning and rigging, but also of
hydration in the humid environment. Sailors also met their generous host families for the week and settled in at host homes of Bay St. Louis locals, another crucial aspect to building up peak performance. Emma Batcher from San Diego, California called a large summer house with 17 other girls her home for the week. “The host family’s importance can’t be overstated,” said Emma. “We are all able to do our best in an unfamiliar place thanks to the hospitality of our families.”
Emma Batcher’s host family may have held the key to her success. She and her skipper
Amanda Majernik narrowly made the podium, securing a fifth place after some strong finishes
throughout the week. Even more impressive, her skipper’s journey to Ida Lewis started off in the
front of the boat, as Amanda crewed at the 2015 Ida Lewis and only began her debut as a skipper
that same summer as well. Amanda and third place skipper Tanner Chapko, also from San Diego,
share similar stories. Tanner began her experience with double-handed boats as a strong crew,
working for years to master her trapping skills and jib trim. However, she soon learned she was a
force to be reckoned with in the back of the boat as well. Tanner and her crew Megan Lansdale
made success imminent as well as enjoyable with their many laughs during the week and mutual
understanding of each other as crews.
Another team on the podium hailing from California, the fourth place boat included fifth
time veterans to the Ida Lewis regatta Aitana and Lorea Mendiguren. Their journey together
began long before their sailing partnership did, as twins sailing against each other since they
were young. The twins began their Ida Lewis journeys barely old enough to compete and now
finished up their experience during their last summer sailing together before college. Reaching
this spot on the podium has been a long and memorable journey for them both. “I’ll miss my
sister and it’ll be difficult because I have come to understand what she needs from a crew, so the
transition will be tough,” says Lorea. “But I’m always up for a new challenge and love meeting
people who love sailing as much as I do.” Lorea and Aitana will part ways for the first time in
fall— Lorea to the University of Southern California and Aitana across the country to the George
Washington University. The twins will also part ways as teammates after five years of Ida.
Contrary to Lorea and Aitana’s long involvement in the championships, both the winning
team and the runner up are relatively new to the club 420 and are first time Ida Lewis
competitors. The winners of the entire regatta, Sarah Burn and Patricia Gerli, grew up in New
Jersey dominating the Optimist fleet; each immediately transferred this power into Ida Lewis—
one of their first club 420 regattas. Similarly, in the case of the second place team including
skipper Michelle Lahrkamp and Gabrielle Delbello, Michelle only finished up sailing optimists
last summer. Both sets of girls are only incoming sophomores, giving them plenty of time to
keep building on their already huge accomplishments from the week.
The podiums at national sailing events present much more than skillful sailors able to tactically overcome competition out on the race course. Behind each team called up to receive their trophy, separate stories of preparation make the end result incredibly special after so much time and effort spent training for the event. Each Ida Lewis clearly differs from the next, but the level of talent exhibited by young women on the water is a factor that surely won’t change as long as the regatta is around.
Get Ready for the 2016 RS Feva North American Championship!
Over the weekend of August 6th and 7th, Indian Harbor Yacht Club Connecticut, will be hosting the 2016 RS Feva North American Championships.
The RS Feva Class is sailed and loved all over the world, popular with junior racing enthusiasts, training programs and sailing schools. It currently has a booming international race circuit, with the World Championships in Santander, Spain, this year seeing over 160 boats entered and competitors from as far afield as New Zealand to coming to compete!
The RS Feva Class is probably one of the friendliest and fun, as well as providing young sailors with competitive racing across all levels of ability. This summer, the RS North Americans is really not one to be missed. Come and experience the buzz for yourself.
Located on Long Island Sound in Greenwich, Connecticut, Indian Harbor Yacht Club has a rich sailing tradition going back over 125 years. IHYC is experienced in hosting top level events and is proud to be hosting the inaugural RS Feva Class this year! The club will be putting on racing on Saturday and Sunday and a great socialising opportunity in the form of a BBQ on Saturday night!
Entry costs $125 for the weekend and charter boats are available from Zim Sailing [email protected].
For information about the RS Feva Class and events go to rsfeva.org and for details about the boat go to RSsailing.com
For further information, please contact:
RS Sailing North America – Todd Riccardi
Martin Murray Comet Regatta Report & Results
The Martin Murray Comet regatta was well attended by 18 Comets. There were several new faces, Steve McMillan from Lake Hopatcong, John DiLella Green Pond sailing instructor, Michael Tolsma from Green Pond, and Peter Goodman from North Jersey. The Comet Class Association is alive and well!
Everyone enjoyed the two days of socializing with the high point being the Saturday evening beefsteak dinner with a live band afterwards.
Once the fog cleared Saturday morning four races were held that day and three more on Sunday. The hard luck prize goes to Mark Buruchian who was winning the last race when his mast step gave way and the rig slowly fell into the pond.
Always a joy to sail on a fresh water lake and to be able to cool off between races.
Thanks to Kathy Watson and Richard LaBossiere for running another great regatta.
Remember that Whitecap Composites produces new Comets, right here in the USA. Check our their website and learn more about this great class, and their new boats!
1st 4151 Talbott & Lee Ingram. 1,1,2,1,2,3,(5) = 10 pts (sailing a Whitecap Comet!)
2nd 3418 Peter & John Schell. (7),5,4,5,1,1,1 = 17 pts
3rd 4102 Rob & Drew Schell. 2,(9),7,3,5,2,2 = 21 pts
4th 4086 Bob Griswold & Kristen Dawson. 3,3,5,4,4,(10),10 = 29 pts
5th 4088 Kevin & Ashley Buruchian. 6,(10),3,6,7,5,3 = 30 pts
6th 4148 Wick Dudley & Tina Lauver. 5,2,6,8,6,(12),4 = 31 pts
7th 3468 Brad Meade & Caitlin Goodman (15),4,11,14,3,4,6 = 42 pts
8th 4137 Joe & Ian Lauver 4,(14),10,2,9,14,7 = 46 pts
9th 3983 Mark Buruchian & Greg Gilbert 13,11,1,7,14,8,(DNF) = 54 pts
10th 4077 Reed Valliant & Ridgely Kelly (16),7,12,12,10,6,8 = 55 pts
11th 4093 Ralph & Matt Grossmann 10,8,8,9,(15),15,10 = 60 pts (tie break)
12th 4130 Rick & Sarah Sloan 11,(13),9,11,11,9,9 = 60 pts (tie break)
13th 4022 John & Paul DiLella 9,6,13,13,8,(13),13 = 62 pts
14th 4084 Steve McMillan & James Byrne 8,(15),15,10,13,7,11 = 64 pts
15th 4023 Michael Tolsma & Ron Damiano (17),16,16,15,16,11,14 = 88 pts
16th 3938 Ellen Bakalian & Charlotte Smith 12,12,14,(DNF), DNS,DNS,DNS,= 95
17th 4030 Peter Goodman & John Gaidimas (18),18,17,16,17,16,15 = 99 pts
18th 3382 Keith Callahan and Brayden Huston 14,17,(DNS),DNS,12,DNS,DNS=100
Tips to Training During the Summer Sailing Season
By Airwaves Fitness Expert Rachel Bennung
Summer is in full swing! Which means of course the summer sailing is here. With the warmer temperatures, and nicer weather we are all able to get back out on the water more often. For some this is your big season because you aren’t able to sail as much in the other seasons. We are all excited to have this weather back, but what happens to our fitness plans in the summer? This is something that may not seem as essential since you are sailing more often. However, continuing your fitness training during the summer season is essential to your success out on the water.
Just because your sailing more often in the summer doesn’t mean the workouts stop; it just means they need to change. Here are four training tips to use this summer to help maximize your performance on the water.
Summer Sailing Training Tips
- Pick 1-2 days a week to strength train
- Don’t try to make any major improvements in the weight room.
- Know you body and when you need to rest
- Focus on recovery
- Pick 1-2 days a week to strength train
During the week you want to try and pick one to two days you can get in a strength routine. Since some of you will be sailing 4-6 days a week during the week, you won’t be able to do strength more then 1-2 days. For your strength routine you want to try and pick days that you aren’t sailing, or you have a light day of practice. Try to spend 30 minutes to an hour for these workouts. Focus on areas of your body where you feel you need some improving.
- Don’t try to make any major improvements in the weight room.
When you are in season you don’t want try to make any major improvements in the weight room. The focus while in your sailing season is to maintain the gains you made in the off season. You want to work on quality work, and not push your body too far. You can burn out and possibly get injured trying to make any major improvements with your strength during your sailing season.
- Know you body and when you need to rest
Some days you just need some rest. Know your body and when you are hurting and just need to rest for the day. Even if its a day you had planned on doing your strength training, take the time and rest your body. The only thing that can come from working out while your already tried and sore is injury. Once your injured your out for the season, so its always worth taking that day off. Missing one or two workouts isn’t going hurt your performance.
- Focus on recovery
During your sailing season you always want to spend extra time focusing on recovery. You are using those essential muscles more often while in season. So spend extra time before and after sailing, and your workouts stretching and foam rolling. Maybe try some yoga on your rest day to get some extra stretching in. Also make sure your body is getting enough sleep each night.
Summer fitness training for sailing is just as important as your off season training. It takes your body a long time to get into your top shape, and without continuing a routine you will lose all the gains you made in the off season. Fitness training never stops it just changes depending on what season you currently are in. These four tips; picking 1-2 days a week to strength train, not making any major improvements in the weight room, knowing your body and when you need rest, and focusing on recovery, will all help you keep going through this summer sailing season! Check out the video below for some good moves to add to your strength routine and that will help enhance your sailing performance this summer!
For more information on fitness for sailing contact [email protected]. Also check out Sailorcise on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for daily tips on fitness, nutrition, and sailing.
Life in the Fast Lane: 2016 29er National Championship Regatta Report
Sail1Design would like to welcome our newest writer, and addition to our High School Reporting Staff, Camille White. Camille White grew up in Annapolis, Maryland where her sailing career started at age 7 in the Opti program at Annapolis Yacht Club. Camille moved up from Optis and into the Club 420, which she sailed for three years. After Camille won C420 Nationals in 2015, she transitioned into a new boat she is currently sailing, a high performance skiff— the 29er. Camille will be a junior during the 2016-2017 school year. She is a crew on Severn School’s varsity sailing team, where she will continue to sail CFJ’s and C420’s during the rest of her high school career. You can reach Camille at [email protected] 
Anyone who has sailed out of Sail Newport is familiar with its general and specific conditions. The sea breeze fills in just after noon with a nice southerly. The tide plays a significant role throughout the day, presenting both challenges and opportunities on the race course as it goes out and comes in. (photo from http://www.tsgphoto.com/ )
The 2016 29er National Championship was one of the largest 29er events on the East Coast: 35 boats competed in the three day event at Sail Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The competition drew a diverse group of sailors, from the Virgin Islands, Antigua, Bermuda, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada.
There was very little wind on the first day, and it became apparent after the first two races that the boats that were doing well those races kept to the far left of the course during the windward legs. All of the pressure was coming from the very left; boats sailed as close to the wall as possible. Cloud cover prevailed for the second day, precluding the land from heating up, the cause the sea breeze could not fill in. The race committee therefore postponed on shore, but eventually sent the sailors out in the light and variable conditions. The left payed off just as it did the day before. The target number of races was 10 for the whole event, and because only three races were scored the day before, the race committee aimed for 5 the second day. Strong current pushed boats over the line in the late afternoon, and the committee flew the black flag for the fifth race. However, during the first leg of that race, thick fog rolled in, and the race was abandoned and only 4 races were scored. There was a stiff breeze the morning of the last day, but it was not coming from a sea breeze direction: another postponement. Once the race committee saw sea breeze clouds moving in and the breeze coming from the odd direction dying, they proactively sent the sailors out. Just as predicted a very nice breeze filled in; the most breeze the sailors had seen during the whole event. The race committee ran 4 races that day, achieving the 10 race goal for the regatta.
Until the last day, Christopher Williford and Cate Mollerus led the event by 5 points with only 16 total points, but Ryan Ratcliffe and Sam Merson had a successful last day scoring a 2nd, two 1sts, and a 3rd, winning the 2016 29er National Championship overall by three points.
For Results of the 2016 29er National Championship, click here, and for pictures from the event, click here.
Team USA WINS Optimist Team Race World Championship!
Sail1Design is elated and proud to share the following:
The United States of America are the new Team Racing World Champions. This is the first time the USA has won in the 33 year history of the competition. Optimist World Championship 2016 has finished today in Vilamoura, Portugal.
It was a very long day in Vilamoura. It started in the morning to finish the qualifying series and has longed almost until 5 pm, when the race committee have decided that was impossible to have the semi final between Argentina and Italy and the final, where the USA had already the place.
The wind was light and shifty and dropped completely when the decisive matches would’ve been sailed.
USA finishes first, a well deserved title. Argentina was second and Italy ended third.
Team racing
| Rank | Nat | Nat |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
USA |
| 2 |  |
ARG |
| 3 |  |
ITA |
S1D Coach of the Year Announced!
The 2016 winner of the S1D Coach of the Year, presented by Henri-Lloyd, is St. Mary’s Director of Sailing Bill Ward. This award is determined by you, our readers. We only choose from submitted nominations!! We had MANY outstanding candidates, and this year was, by far, the most difficult year to choose.
Bill Ward joined the St. Mary’s sailing coaching staff in the fall of 2006 as the assistant coach. However, his official title has changed to the Director of Sailing. In nearly 15 years of collegiate coaching, Ward’s teams have won five national championships. He also had the honor of coaching Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. In 2008, Ward was also named the National Coach of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee. He was also on the coaching staff of the U.S. Sailing Team for the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Ward served as the team leader/head coach for the U.S. Inter Collegiate Sailing Association Team competing in the BUSA Tour in 
England and Ireland in 2005. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1996, where he was a two-time All-America honorable mention (1994 and 1995) and team captain. Ward led Georgetown to the program’s first-ever appearances at the ICSA Dinghy and Sloop National Championships. Bill’s nomination included the following letter and video from a player on the St. Mary’s squad:
I would like to follow up with my nomination for Bill Ward as coach of the year. Having been involved in college sailing for five years with two top sailing programs, I have experienced all levels of coaching. I have experienced ineffective coaching techniques firsthand and have witnessed many different strategies. Throughout all of this, Bill Ward has stood out as one of the best coaches in college sailing. He has been able to stay motivated year after year leading to reach the podium of team race nationals all most every year. He has been able to develop a technical training program and with his detailed guidance after every race or drill, his sailors are able to become some of the best sailors in the country year after year. Bill always knows where things went wrong and seems to always say the right thing. He is aware of when it is the time for a lesson and when it is time to keep things light and move forward. I know that if I was starting a sailing team today, I would hand pick Bill Ward to be the coach.
This is a video about the St. Mary’s Sailing Team’s 2016 Season and is dedicated to their coach Bill Ward for his dedication to create a title winning team. Featured in the video are skippers: Markus Edegran, Alex Curtiss, Mackenzie Cooper, and Carolyn Smith. Crews: Shelby Jacobs, Pat Tara, Greer Wattson, and Julia Monro.
The team competed this spring in the 2016 Intercollegiate Sailing Association’s three spring national championships – Sperry Women’s National Semi-Final and Final Championship, LaserPerformance Team Race National Championship, and the Gill Coed Dinghy National Semi-Final and Final Championship – held May 24-June 3 on San Diego Bay in San Diego, CA.
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About the Award
Sail1Design annually seeks your nominations for the Henri-Lloyd S1D Coach of the Year, for a coach that embodies the qualities (and more) listed in the article below. Sailors, this is your award! The Sail1Design staff chooses the winner only from our readers nominations! This is a great opportunity to recognize a coach that you feel makes a difference!
Henri-Lloyd generously supplies the winning coach with a new HL Jacket, and a $500 gift card for Henri-Lloyd Online, to shop and get some of the worlds best sailing technical gear.
All good coaches, regardless of their chosen sport, share some important fundamental qualities that transcend technical knowledge, or specific x’s & o’s. In other words, whether it’s a basketball, tennis, hockey, football, chess, or sailing coach, there are certain key characteristics to good coaching, and none of these really requires technical knowledge of the sport they are in.
Here are some of those characteristics: logistics, organization, energy, leadership, passion, creativity, patience, dedication, motivational skill, humility.
I would bet that you could take a good coach, put him or her in a new sport, and that coach would find some success. Think about the best coach you ever had, and visualize that person in another sport, and you might see just how that person could adapt and still be a difference-maker.
However, we all know that great coaches not only possess these core qualities, but indeed they are also masters of the subtleties, rules, and technical chess moves of the sport they are involved in. Very often, great coaches are former players themselves, and often they are good, but not necessarily great players. In any event, it seems virtually certain that actually having been in the arena at some level, having been a true game player, is a necessary ingredient for a great coach.
So then, what an important advantage sailing coaches have, since the sport allows lifelong top-level competitive opportunities. While it would be impossible for a middle-aged football coach to live, first-hand, what his players go through on the gridiron, middle-aged sailors and coaches can stay current, and can compete right alongside the world’s best sailors, and even win world championships in sailing. Opportunities exist in team racing, match racing, and all types of one-design classes offer regattas, year-round. In this manner, sailing coaches have the ability to get inside the sport, at the highest levels, learn more, and feel the same things that their players go through out on the race course. The empathy gained here is a very powerful tool that great coaches employ when coaching.
Getting into the rhythm of a sailboat race, realizing first-hand the excitement and frustrations of the sport, preparing mentally for each race, “knowing when to tack”, these are all things that coaches must be able to talk to their players about, and talking to them about these things is so much more clear and present when done by someone who is actually good at them, and has done them recently at a high level.
For example, it was always easy for me to say to a team, “make sure when you are in FJ’s at the starting line to allow yourself more leeward room to accelerate since the foils are small and the boats need to go bow down first before they start lifting.” It was really easy to say. It was quite another thing to actually do it, and to go out on the starting line, in FJ’s, and practice what I preached. That was a LOT harder, and I drew a great deal of empathy with my players from that situation and recognized better ways to talk about it and to talk them through it, having been there myself. This is especially true in team racing, where coaches can see plays easily on the coach boat or on the drawing board, but it’s one thing to talk about a mark trap at Mark 1; it’s another thing altogether to go out and be able to execute it. Without being, or having been, in the arena, sailing advice and technical coaching can be somewhat hollow compared to other sailing coaches who know it first-hand and live what they coach.
So, when you look to your coaches for advice or to get to that next level, or if you are a interested in sailing in a college program, take a moment and check out the coaches resumes, just as they will most assuredly be checking yours. The list that makes coaches good coaches should be there for sure, but see if the coaches list how, or if, they stay current in their profession and have the passion to go out on the racecourse themselves. Great coaches usually always have a story, and very recent one, of a lesson learned at a regatta they sailed in themselves. They love to sail and get better, if only to become a better sailor and coach.
While there is a short list of coaches who choose to (and can) do it all, many top collegiate programs now share these coaching qualities by hiring an assistant or co-head coach, who is very often a recent college sailing alumnus and is active in dinghy racing and brings that empathy, right away, to the team. The head coach then ties everything together with experience, maturity, management, and knowledge of the game.
If you’ve ever noticed, baseball coaches actually suit up for games even though they certainly won’t be playing. This historically comes from the old “player-coach” model, and perhaps, this connects them with the game and the player more intimately. Sailing offers the unique ability for all ages to compete at the highest levels of the sport, and great sailing coaches take advantage of this, “suiting up” themselves and making themselves better at coaching by sailing competitively.
Past S1D Coach of the Year Winners
2016- Bill Ward
2015- Frank Pizzo
2014- Chris Dold
2013- Steve Hunt
APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR US QUALIFIER OF HI-TECH YOUTH SAILING COMPETITION
APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR US QUALIFIER OF HI-TECH YOUTH SAILING COMPETITION COMING TO NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, USA
Red Bull Foiling Generation to Feature US Qualifier and World Final in October 2016
NEWPORT, RI — Today’s youth may have easy access to the technological world but now those talented in sailing will race with the latest in sailboat innovation when the Red Bull Foiling Generation international competition stops in Newport, RI this Fall for the US Qualifier and World Final.
Applications are now being accepted until July 15, 2016 for the US Qualifier held October 11-16, 2016 followed by the World Final on October 18 – 23, 2016 at the Sail Newport Sailing Center at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, Rhode Island.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for the rising generation of sailors who aspire to be at the top level of the sport of multi-hull racing and incredibly exciting to watch,” said Brad Read, Executive Director of Sail Newport. “We’re thrilled that Red Bull Foiling Generation organizers chose Newport as the only U.S. event which will fuel the marine and tourism economy in Rhode Island.”
Qualified youth sailors, born in 1996 through 1999 can apply as individuals or part of a two-person team. Those selected will first be trained by two of the most accomplished competitive sailors in the world, who are also the event’s founders. Double gold medalists, Austrians Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, realized an opportunity for the future of high-level foiling and the need to increase the skills of today’s young sailors.
Red Bull Foiling Generation is about providing talented young sailors with the opportunity to advance their careers through high-level hydrofoil racing. These championships serve as training waters for the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup, which caters to competitors ages 19-25. Both competitions train youth sailors from all over the globe on smaller versions of catamaran racers with foils, like those used in one of the world’s most famous sailing competition – America’s Cup.
The event will be sailed in 18’ Flying Phantom catamarans designed with hydrofoil technology. Hydrofoil technology amplifies speed on the boats because one hull lifts out of the water, which alleviates drag. As one hull is out of the water and “foiling”, the J-shaped foil keeps contact.
The seaside location of Fort Adams State Park in Newport Harbor is home to many sailing events and regattas because of its natural amphitheater on Narragansett Bay and legendary sailing waters. Red Bull Foiling Generation is working in partnership with US Sailing and the non-profit Sail Newport, New England’s premiere public sailing center, which will host the event.
Applications are being accepted until July 16, please visit: foilinggeneration.redbull.com and for images/video, please visit www.redbullcontentpool.com/redbullsailing
Profiles in Pro Sailing: Gary Bodie
RANDOM CHAT
What, in your opinion, is the very best thing about our sport?
My favorite part of sailing is the strategic and tactical decision making. Team racing is best because the decision making is non-stop.
England “Knights” people. Elton John, Paul McCartney, and of course Ben Ainslie (I mean, Sir Ben Ainslie). If you could “Knight” 3 American sailors, who would they be? Requirements:
- Must be alive
- Must still be actively sailing
Paul Foerester, Mark Reynolds and Anna Tunnicliffe. Gold Medalists. But then you’d have to add Kevin Burnham, Magnus Llejedahl and Hal Haenel. (spelling all names?)
Are pro sailors ruining, or saving, One-Design sailing in fleets like the J/70, Etchells, etc?
I don’t know, I don’t sail those classes. I think I’m an amateur again though.
What is your absolute top, favorite, one-design class?
Easy question. 505 will always be my favorite, even though I’ve been retired for 25 years…
The America’s Cup is in AC foiling Cats. Good thing, or bad thing? If bad, what should this event be sailed in?
Foiling cats are cool, but I don’t really have opinions about AC Cup.
Should the sport of sailing continue to try to get on TV? Why or why not?
TV is obsolete. Most of the time I can’t stand to watch Sailing on TV. The game element is completely lost. All you see is a few mark roundings and a finish. Boring. Sailing should move ahead with a really good digital streaming presentation that combines tracking, video, graphics, drone shots, and expert commentary.
US Optimist Class: Great for the sport, or too much, too soon?
I think the Optimist class is great, but if we start that young we need to revamp the progression. My generation started sailing at age 12 and the dynamic of the junior program was young teens. Now the dynamic in junior programs is older children. High school sailing is wildly successful because it’s the teen sailing scene. Best thing about Optis is that two kids can launch their boats themselves, and they can sail their boats in 20 knots. When we were young we sailed ridiculously overpowered boats for kids.
US Olympic Sailing. Where are we, and should the USA be better? If so, how can we get there?
We’re on the right track with increased funding, youth development and expert coaching. But the USA is a huge country and we need to increase youth development by another factor of ten. We also need to bridge the gap between self funded campaigns and USST funded programs. It’s still a bootstrap effort to get good enough to qualify for funding. Also need to improve retention of athletes between quads. Our sailors need funding to pay rent, buy health insurance, contribute to 401K, and also pay all the expenses related to sailing.
Rio predictions? Medals for USA?
0-3 (wind, current and medals) Seriously, six Medal Race appearances should be judged a success, and then we need most of those teams to return for 2020.
COLLEGE SAILING
Many feel you were present at the creation of modern college team racing, to say the very least. Others say you re-defined team racing with your success at Navy. How do you look back on your contribution to college team racing, something that has become the pinnacle of college sailing?
Ironically, my lasting contribution has turned out to be the language of team racing. (See photo, “Play One”). We invented a bunch of terms to discuss our system at ODU and Navy, but we tried hard to keep that stuff secret. It wasn’t until I did a few coaching seminars and spilled the beans that it became the lexicon. I thought the coaches at the seminar would go home and rename all that stuff, but it really stuck, and even became international.
You have coached Navy and Hampton U., among others. These are two different programs, to say the least. Which is/was more rewarding?
My heart is probably still with ODU where I started coaching in 1978, but it was also an honor and privilege to lead the Naval Academy team in the early 90’s. The sailors at Hampton University were really special, and it was very rewarding to initiate that program in my hometown. I’d probably still be there if the Olympic Team opportunity hadn’t come along.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate the competency, professionalism, and the overall state of US Sailing team race Umpires and Judges? Why?
I’ve actually only sailed a couple of umpired team race regattas in Sonars, so I don’t really have the experience to rate the umpires. Basically, I think they’re very good, but I believe the rules are the problem. The call book is ridiculous. We need to change the paradigm so that the authors of the call book have the latitude to define calls that make the game simpler for competitors and easier to officiate, even if that call might not be technically correct in the rules. Rewriting the call book in a sensible manner should actually be easier than trying to fix the rules. And if we did that for match racing as well, then we could actually start to have really simplified rules for fleet racing.
Shouldn’t college sailing be a one-season sport? Why, or why not? To that point. 4 years, 2 of 3 seasons, sailing FJ’s or 420’s every day. Many college sailors, when they graduate, claim to be “burnt out”, and leave dinghy sailing, often never to return. How do you react to this statement?
College sailing is a really cool game and it was my life for 25 years. I’d keep it two seasons but delete the singlehanded and match race as national championships. They could continue as intersectional like the Kennedy Cup for those that are interested in those specialties. Then I’d make it fleet racing in the fall and team racing all spring.
We ought to make women’s sailing an NCAA sport. The amount of funding that poured into women’s crew when it became NCAA is unbelievable. Boat houses were built, coaches hired, scholarships provided, travel to nationals funded, and boats purchased. It’s time to reconsider scholarships for sailing.
The other challenge for college sailing is that high school sailing has exploded. Eight years of roll tacking an FJ is overkill. I don’t have solution for that problem because it’s hard to imagine skiff sailing in college venues. I would make some tweaks like extending the target time for college fleet races to maybe 25 minutes in breeze and 35 minutes in light air.
Overall, what is the weakest thing about college sailing? In other words, where, or in what realm, can the ICSA improve the most?
See above.
Photo, left: “Playing Hearts” at KP, ICSA Women’s Nationals, circa 1987. Ken Legler (Tufts), Brad Dellenbaugh (Brown), KC Fullmer (Northwestern), Gary Bodie (Naval Academy). I think the two women sailors are Northwestern team members. “Pretty sure I shot the moon and won in a walk off”
COACHING
College sailing is a sport where women can compete with men, on equal footing. This is rare. Did this affect how you coach?
Coaching women is different than coaching men. In general terms, women tend to personalize criticism, and guys tend to just blow it off. The art of coaching is to individualize the feedback to the athlete including gender as one of the variables, although I seem to have a knack for infuriating men and women about equally.
What problems, if any, can this create on a team?
Sometimes you have to act to prevent bullying or intimidation.
What positives, if any, can this create on a team?
As I said earlier, college sailing is a cool game and part of the reason why is that there are men and women involved. Coed is more fun than just a bunch of smelly guys.
What is your proudest personal moment as a coach?
Can’t pick just one.
PERSONAL STUFF
Do you remember the very first time you went sailing? If so, tell us about it.
On an Aqua Cat with a friend at age twelve in Hampton Roads. We had just moved to Hampton from Northern Virginia and I had no previous experience with boating or sailing. I was hooked.
How is adult team racing going in Hampton? Do you see this growing?
We’re still having a blast team racing in the Sonars, but it’s a struggle sometimes to get enough boats out to do 3 on 3. Between PHRF, cruising and one design, there are too many fun opportunities to sail at our club.
Do you still sail competitively? If yes, how, when, and where? If your answer is “I don’t”, then do you miss competing, or does it not bother you?
I’m only doing the adult team racing. We’re trying to do one or two actual regattas each year, but I’m also content if we just sail against ourselves at home. I think I’m done with serious campaigning. I do dream about getting a 505 and sailing the Worlds in Annapolis next year. Probably better to talk a good game though.
Tell us about the Ft. Monroe project. What/whom is it serving now, and where is it headed?
We’re a community sailing center and our major impetus is providing a venue for high school sailing. I’ve visited hundreds of yacht clubs and college sailing centers around the world and there are few that can match our venue on Mill Creek at Ft. Monroe. Protected water, no traffic and almost unobstructed wind. Actually reminds me a bit of team racing at West Kirby on Marine Lake in the UK.
We tried to start a community sailing center in Hampton 20 years ago and it was like pulling teeth. This time the reception from the City, the Fort Monroe authority, and other partners has been phenomenal. We’re going to add instructional sailing as our facilities improve. My 505 partner, Kevin Eley, really deserves the credit for this project at Ft. Monroe.
When you were young, did you dream about becoming a college coach?
No, my high school class voted me “Least likely to have a career in Athletics,” and then at our 25th reunion I won for “Most Improbable Career.”
Based on your experience in the sailing industry, what advice might you give to those seeking a similar career path?
Get a real job.
2016 KO Sailing High School Team of the Year Announced!
Sail1Design is pleased to announce the winner of this year’s KO Sailing High School Team of the Year Award: St. George’s School. Among many nominations it came down to three finalists: Newport Harbor, Point Loma, and St. George’s.
All three teams deserve this award. In the end, among many other highlights, it was St. George’s perfect, undefeated record at the Team Race Nationals that made them stand apart, along with an undefeated 22-0-1 spring season in the short but competitive and intense New England high school sailing circuit. Sail1Design would like to thank all the nominators, and their thoughtful letters. This was far more difficult than we expected. Here are some words from the nomination letter we received:
I would like to nominate St. George’s School of Middletown, Rhode Island for the High School Sailing Team of the Year. While there are numerous factors that would and could qualify this team for such an award singly, the combination of them all makes a very strong case. This is an incredibly deep team in terms of talent and experience. In a daily practice environment, Coach Roy Williams is able to have regatta caliber competition in both fleet and team racing. Both the Varsity and JV teams had winning seasons in a historically strong league, the V team finishing
with a 22-0-1 regular season record, and the JV team going 11-1.
The Varsity team continued their history of representing NESSA at both the Mallory and Baker regattas. The team finished 6th at Mallory, and capped an incredibly successful NESSA season with their third win in a row of the New England Team Race Championships. Finishing off the year was a trip to Anacortes, WA for the Baker Trophy where the team went undefeated, winning the event with an impressive 11-0 record to become National Champions.
Unlike many of the other HS sailing programs, SG does not offer sailing in the fall season. Yet SG sophomore John Kirkpatrick finished 2nd at the New England Single-Handed Championships and represented St. George’s at the Cressy finals in the Full Rig.
NESSA also supports a Women’s Championship, known as the Herreshoff Regatta. This year, the SG women won their regional qualifier with a sophomore and a freshman skipper and went on to finish 4th at the finals. This same team later represented SG at the Rhode Island State Championships, winning B Division and finishing 3rd overall.
Challenging early season conditions in Newport in March and early April make this team work hard six and sometimes seven days a week in the most miserable weather, and yet I rarely heard a complaint. Instead, the regular reports were of how much learning was going on each day due to the strength of the group as a whole, and the continued guidance and watchful eye of Coach Williams. While the team has been lucky to have several standout sailors over the years, it is the combined strength of the team as a whole and the
incredible depth of the group that has allowed its continued success.
Sail1Design supports high school sailing, because it is where future great one-design sailors, in may cases, are made. We are proud, with the help of KO Sailing, to present this award annually to the top high school sailing team in the country. Our panel of judges looks at the entire season of district events, and of course, the Mallory and Baker National Championship results. To win this award, at a minimum, the team must qualify for at least one of these events. We also look for participation in the Singhlended Cressy National championship in the fall. Finally, we encourage written nomination submissions. This award is presented annually, in June, after the preceding year’s full high school sailing season.
Says Mark McNamara, president of KO Sailing, “KO sailing is a major supporter for competitive sailors between the ages of 8 and 18, helping them to compete at the highest level. To us, the High School Team of the year award is a perfect way to recognize those teams for their success and achievements in their respective elements. There is a great synergy between what KO Sailing is doing on the ground, and at events, in support of what these recipients have achieved. This program is just a great way for the country to recognize those sailors as they grow. Sail 1 Design, with their expertise and as the information resource for all things one design, is the only team to work with.”
