Written by: Cole Allsopp, Evan Aras, & Dillon Paiva
This article is written in response to the Airwaves piece done by John Storck: Are Provided Boats Really the Answer?
Changes are occurring rapidly throughout the sailing community: the Volvo Ocean Race is now One Design, the Americas Cup is in foiling catamarans, and sailing clubs across the country are expanding their offerings to include club-owned fleets. Many sailors are voicing their opinion on what exactly a club should offer their membership. To offer a well-rounded program, clubs should consider providing access to a fleet of evenly matched and accessible boats. If we accept that sailing is primarily a leisure-time activity, steps towards encompassing a broader range of participants while allowing sailors to spend more time and less money participating should be the hallmark of any good sailing program. Incorporating club-owned boats into a sailing program serves all these ends.
Sailing is inherently a leisure time activity. Regardless of how serious the competition gets, most of us engage in sailing because its enjoyable, and we choose to use our off hours to sail. Although our sport plays host to a growing number of professionals, these sailors are predominately sponsored by funds earmarked in personal budgets for leisure-time; as opposed to those for investment activity or other personal uses.
Competition in club-owned boats is a natural step towards cutting out travel time and increasing time spent on the water. It follows naturally that clubs and sailors alike should gravitate towards ways to improve the sailing experience. Obvious improvements most will agree with: increase the amount of time spent sailing, decrease the cost of doing so. Why take a Friday off to drive the boat somewhere, when you can just as easily jump on a plane to arrive at the same time with the boat rigged and waiting? For those sailors who can’t afford a professional to handle those types of things, a plane ticket to a venue with club owned boats is the greatest thing since sliced bread. For those who have already burned up all their leave days, the plane ride offers a way to go sailing without further sacrifice. Provided boats are one of the best ways to keep our leisure-time leisurely, and reduce wasted hours spent on the road or behind a sanding block.
Expanding the club-owned boats model makes economic sense, and will provide more value to the average sailing enthusiast. Yacht clubs and sailing clubs are picking up on that fact, and starting to diversify their programs towards providing club-owned boats. Many fleets, including those in Annapolis, play host to an interesting combination of weekend warriors and weeknight racers. Both groups have their own boats, but why? Wouldn’t it be more reasonable for the two parties to coordinate and split the boat? Even the weeknight racer can’t race every night. What about those who want to use a boat for the occasional sail and would happily do so when the boat is not being raced? An owner may be willing to charter-out or loan their boat, but the opportunity cost for loaning a personal boat is high. Consequently, the charter fee is high, and the interested participant is less likely to engage. A fleet of club-owned boats resolves all of those issues. We can easily spread the cost of a fleet over a significant number of people. Not only can we then spend more time sailing and less time maintaining, but participation costs for the average Joe drop significantly. It’s a well-known fact that when you are ordering 18 suits of sails, you get a much better price than a single suit. Ordering a fleet of boats rather than singular boats is less expensive for the manufacturer, and by extension less expensive for the consumer. When a club can host more members with fewer boats, it’s not even a stretch to conclude that a club fleet can operate on less real estate, with a lower boat-footprint per member. Real-estate is a major expenditure for any growing club, so why not use space as efficiently as possible? A potential burden associated with a club-owned fleet is additional administration requirements. Those are most likely already in place, or would be necessary to manage storage for privately owned boats. If additional staff is needed, the net savings and additional membership revenue could easily be redirected towards funding additional personnel requirements. When factoring in the economies of scale gained from buying fleets in bulk and the usage-efficiency gained per member, the financial benefits to a club-fleet are clear.
For those readers having attended business school, the technology cycle will be all too familiar. For the rest of us, here’s a refresher: a small niche market first adopts a disruptive technology or practice. Improvements are made as its adopted into the mainstream market. After some time, the product becomes a commodity and is sustained by the late adapter market until it becomes obsolete. Every CEO is familiar with this cycle and how it applies to their business. In order to prevent their entire business from going away with their initial product, a company must diversify into other markets with the revenue they gained early on. Obviously there are differences between sailing clubs and Silicon Valley, but it’s not a stretch to apply the process to any entity looking for sustainability. In sailing’s case, it seems that the Hobie fleet, ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association), ISSA (Inter-Scholastic Sailing Association) and a few other forward thinking organizations managed to work themselves into the early adopter category of the new club-owned boat format. They have paved the way for mainstream sailing to explore the idea of the club-owned fleet. It’s important to keep in mind that cycles of this nature often occur over decades, and can be hard to imagine without broadening one’s time horizon.
The presence of a club-owned fleet in a yacht club or sailing club is far from the end of the traditional model of privately owned boats. It merely represents an organization’s wise move to diversify their operations into the new emerging category. Those who have had exposure to the labor of love that is boat ownership can appreciate the finer points of quarter turns onto an Etchells rig and the look of a freshly polished hull. It’s extremely unlikely that a 505 sailor would give up the tweaking and tuning that so defines them. High performance fleets may be best left to the care of private owners who are in no danger of converting completely away from the performance sailing that they love. In order to be well-rounded, a sailing club can and should accommodate both types of sailors. The joys of tinkering and finding small advantages in handiwork will never go away, and should not factor into the decision to include club-owned boats into our programs.
No matter what you enjoy most about sailing, it would be a shame to let the benefits of club-owned fleets slip away from a program. With a well-executed diversification strategy, a local sailing club can do a great service to the community by providing access to sailing, all for a reasonable price. Lets do ourselves a favor and take that next step towards keeping our leisure-time leisurely, and expand our boundaries to include club-owned boats.
What do you think? Add your comment below!
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One-Design Class Profile: A-Cat
By Airwaves Writer Tyler Colvin
In 1956, the International Yacht Racing Union (now the International Sailing Federation, ISAF) created a four-tiered developmental catamaran system with the categories as A-D. It was an attempt to split up the high performance catamaran world into classes and limited very little about each class. In the beginning, only length, width and maximum sail area were limited. The A-Class Catamaran (A-Cat) is the largest remaining of the classes. (See the A-Cat Class Association webpage HERE)
(First photo credit to Bob Orr)
The Boat: Taking to Flight
The International A-Class Catamaran (A-Cat) is an ISAF international development class. It has a length of 18’, a 7.5’ beam, a minimum weight of 165lbs, and 20 square meters of sail (Peter Johnstone). Power-wise, the A-Cat is among the leaders for its size. Upwind comfortably at well over 10 knots and downwind over 20 (knots), the A-Cat is one of the quickest boats around. All major components are carbon fiber allowing it to weigh in less than almost any other boat of its size or smaller, multi or mono-hulled. Larger than a Laser at nearly the same weight, the A-Cat is easily rigged and launched in less time than it will take to read this article.
The rig is a single square top main on a carbon mast with a single trapeze wire. Sails are usually made out of carbon or Kevlar fiber laminates to maximize stiffness while maintaining its ultra light status. Hulls are typically (on modern boats) with a carbon skin over a nomex honeycomb core. All of the current advancements, carbon fiber parts, square top mains and hull design, stems from the developmental nature of the class. Owners are encouraged to experiment with designs on the boat in an attempt to achieve even more speed. For these reasons, amongst others, the A-Cat is widely regarded as the fastest single-handed dinghy currently in production.
Recently A-Cats have followed the high performance catamaran track and started foiling. The trickle down effect of technology from the America’s Cup has resulted in the ability to consistently produce high quality, reliable foils that make foiling significantly easier than many other foiling boats (such as the moth).
A Class Worlds Video:
Set Up and Sailing: Too Easy
From a trailer to the water, the A-Cat can be launched in 20 minutes. From a dolly it can be done in less than five (minutes). Peter Johnstone on the boat, “The A-Class is really easy to sail. If you can sail a laser, you will find the A-Class to be easier to sail, and much more pleasurable. The trapeze works your abs so you feel great afterwards.” Peter is a huge proponent of the boat, having owned three hulls over the past 19 years and sailing them as much as possible.
“Last summer I learned how to foil, and it turned out to be much easier than I feared. To fly while sailing is simply incredible. It gets quiet, and really fast!” And fast it is, with speeds unlike any other boat of its size. One of the other benefits of the boat is the inherent stability of a multihull. “When I got tired, I could simply take a break, which is something that cannot be done while sailing a [foiling] Moth.”
As has been extolled, the weight of the boat is unparalleled. This means that it is quick to get going in light air and an absolute riot in bigger winds. The boat will lift (on its foils) in 10-14 knots of breeze and, “the sensation is like flying.” The A-Cat excels upwind and when foiling out on the trapeze it is hard to find a boat that can keep up.
Class Association: Growing Together
Although the A-Cat has been around for several decades, the class associations are constantly growing and changing to adapt to the new design innovations and the demographics that they attract. Recently the class has started expansion to South America to join large fleets in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America. The boat is an ideal size for a shipping container, so there is a core group who ship their boats around the world for European and World Championships (Peter Johnstone). In addition to expanding location-wise, the class has started to become more female friendly, but could use some work to expand the appeal of the boat to more women. Flatter sails and shorter rigs could make the boat friendlier for a smaller frame and are currently being looked into.
Why Sail? Speed, Speed, Speed
If you get a chance to go sail with someone in 12-15 knots of breeze, take it. “The A-Class is truly one of sailing’s best-kept secrets,” said Peter, “I know many renowned sailors who say it is simply the best all around sailing experience they have enjoyed,” lofty praise by an expert in the field. A combination of the ease of rigging, the user friendly set up and the pure joy of foiling in 12 knots of breeze make the A-Cat a tough competitor in the sport dinghy category. The A-Cat puts high tech, cutting edge technology at the hands of the every day sailor.
Thanks to Peter Johnstone for his extensive commentary on the A-Class Catamaran and all around praise for the boat.
Event Recap: Butler Cup 2014
By Airwaves Writer Tyler Colvin. Any chance I get to escape the weather in New England I typically take, so when I got the call to crew on a boat for the Long Beach Yacht Club’s Butler Cup (Grade 3) I didn’t hesitate. The event, running November 15-16 out of Long Beach Yacht Club, is named in honor of Frank Butler, designer of the Catalina 37 and president of Catalina Yachts. Frank donated a fleet of 11 boats to the Long Beach Sailing Foundation who continues to maintain and repair these boats two decades later. Also used for the Congressional Cup, the longest running match race in North America, the Catalina 37s have been sailed by world-class sailors since their inception.
Final Results here
My first time sailing the boat would also be with a crew I largely had never met. Skipper Shane Young, Long Beach Match Race Team member and former Cal State Long Beach Sailing Team standout had the helm with the assist from tactician Steve Flam. Main trim was another LBMR Team member Max Moosmann, with John Hill (former CSULB Sailing Team skipper) at primary trim and myself at offside trim. In the pit was Chase Young (brother of Shane) and on the bow was LBMR Team member Ben Wheatley.
Saturday morning dawned with a mild 4-6 knot southerly that built slowly throughout the day. We motored out of the harbor and towards the Long Beach Pier (same venue as Congressional Cup) to get some practice in before our first match. Format was a double round robin, meaning 58 races in two days, which, in the current wind conditions, was a formidable task for the race committee.
After a first race mishap in the pre-start against Justin Law (2014 Hinman Trophy winner), it was apparent we were out of sync. A late entry to the box and sloppy boat handling handed Law leverage that they maintained for the rest of the race. As the breeze built and our communication increased, so did our pre-start maneuvers, speed and decision making. Our first loss would also prove to be our last as we finished up the day at 6-1 with key wins over Bill Durant and Dave Hood.
Day 2 brought screaming Santa Ana winds that blew all hopes of an early start out the window with gusts upwards of 25 knots (above the Catalina 37 wind range, as specified by the Long Beach Sailing Foundation). After a brief meeting we sat on land until noon, hoping that by then the land breeze would have switched to a sea breeze with more manageable wind speeds. Due to the loss of time on the course, the race committee amended the sailing instructions to reflect a Day 2 format of semis and finals for the top four teams (first to 2 points) and a single round robin for the bottom four teams.
Out in the harbor the course was set further out than Saturday to take advantage of as much breeze as could possibly fill. As luck would have it, our semi-final match up was with Law, a revenge match of our only loss of the weekend. Taking advantage of our starboard entry, we forced an early penalty and started clear ahead, leading by several boat lengths at the first mark. A spinnaker mishap and some ill-timed jibes saw that lead squandered and by the final run Law had a good-sized lead. Luckily for us a combination of a poorly timed penalty turn and failing to completely exonerate gave us a late victory in match one.
Match two was light and shifty with Law yet again winning the start. We stayed close and made our move on the last run pulling off a clean hoist and jibe to new breeze. Letting us split to course left, Law and company parked themselves in a massive hole on the (course) right while we marched on into the finish. Just like that we were on to the finals. “No worse than second overall!” joked Ben.
Unfortunately, this was about the time that the wind decided it had had enough and quit entirely for the day; nothing but random puffs scattered across an otherwise glassy bay. Without a full set for the top four boats, the medal rankings came down to the previous day scores. Both our boat (Young) and Durant had 6 points, but with the tiebreaker we scored first overall and winners of the 2014 Butler Cup.
The Butler Cup Race Committee deserves ample recognition for the job they did pulling off the first round robin on Saturday in less than ideal conditions. They were quick to adapt to the situation and their quick thinking allowed all 28 of the first days races to be completed. Additionally a thank you to the other skippers and their respective crews, Bill Durant, Dave Hood, Justin Law, Wendy Corzine, Sandy Hayes, Lisa Meier and Stephen Ashley, for making the event competitive and fun.
Full results can be seen here or on the Long Beach Yacht Club website. Thanks to the LBYC for facilitating this event and the Long Beach Sailing Foundation for providing the boats.
Team Training Practice Sessions: Making the Most of Your Time!
By Andrew Kerr
As we know, practice is a critical element in any sport and yet time is seemingly becoming more and more limited as people juggle with the demands of modern life!
Here are some ideas on practice elements & content that can make the most of this limited time. In this article we look at practice sessions both fully crewed, short handed and how evening/ beer can races can be utilized for training as well. For the vast majority of teams there is the need to incorporate a new crew member as very few of us are lucky to have the same team at every event. These practice sessions can help integrate that new crew member into the teams system and subsequently help get the team up to speed in a shorter period of time.
A big thing to key in on is practicing a lot of time and distance work; pick a marker and see how long it takes to accelerate to get there and do this over and over again. This will really help with consistency on the starting line and help avoid the issues of being very early to the line being forced to either run the line, luff, or late and in bad air. The great thing about this acceleration practice is you can do it shorthanded. Even if your team can only practice a couple of these drills or has time to incorporate one element ( a beer can race as a practice for instance) you will see the value both in more consistent sailing and general team comfort level with boat handling. The following are thoughts that might help you maximize your time and effort:
- Practice weekends & after work/ evening sessions (with daylight savings time), or well before the race starts – fully crewed.
- Either set a starting line or find two marks and line them up with an available upwind mark that is less than a quarter mile away.
- Do a 10 minute rolling clock with a practice start at 5 minutes and then a race at zero – race up to the windward mark and then finish downwind by rounding either the RC end to port or the pin end to starboard with a spinnaker take-down and a tactical rounding up to close-hauled.
- Try all sorts of starting approaches increasing your repertoire: port tack approach, starboard tack approach, full speed approach, hang back approach etc. And really work on time and distance and acceleration and holding position.
- Constantly evaluate lay lines to the starting line and to your upwind and downwind mark so that you start to internalize the angles in different conditions.
The more approaches you develop the less predictable you are to your competitors. If another team would like to come out and join in, it would be very beneficial for boat to boat tactics and mark rounding’s and advantageous to both teams. It is more fun too!!
This system gets two starts in a race and also simulated practice with gate marks and leeward mark rounding’s. Some additional team skills to build on are:
- Roll tacking and roll jibing – particularly before the start in light air for max power & speed. Lots of tacks in general, with critique of speed loss & speed build after each one. Take time to really work on the perfect time to release the Jib sheet and steering smoothly through out the turn.
- Simulated late (opportunistic) gate mark selection with the pole down & stored and the chute free flying with the jib up.
- Coming in to the leeward mark on starboard tack and executing a pole down, jibe, chute down and tactical rounding. All types of takedowns and roundings.
- “Thin Building” on the starting line – i.e.: holding position about three lengths off the line, maintaining a good gap to leeward and then accelerating accordingly to top speed.
- If you need to slow down and hold position – try easing the vang to dump the wind off the leech and then re trimming it as the boat gets going. This is particularly effective when it is windy as there is a lot of vang on and even with the mainsail eased out the tight vang will drive the boat side way’s and forward.
- Practice weather mark roundings so that in a breeze you dive down hard and pin out competitors ahead from jibing and in light air you assume the correct angle immediately with the spin trimmer talking pressure on the sheet immediately. Conversely, in light air that you round and stay high enough to maintain pressure on the spinnaker sheet and keep the boat going fast exiting the mark. A good trick is to have the mast person ease the vang an inch or two before the weather mark – this will help the boat bear off more easily and also help the mainsail leech assume the correct shape (top baton parallel to the boom) immediately.
- Practice staying within the lay lines to the starting line and building a team awareness of where the safe starboard tack lay line to the RC and Pin end is.
- A rudderless drill with the team – hold the tiller in the center or tie off and have the team sail the boat with sail trim and weight placement. Try doing a rudderless downwind leg – either hold the tiller in the center or tie it off and do a series of jibes with the spinnaker up. Typically after this drill the skipper will use less rudder on the jibes and the crew will be more in tune with steering the boat with there weight. A great challenge for the team is to see if you can do a start without using the rudder! This exercise is great for team understanding of roll tacking and jibing and helps the trimmers a lot with understanding the dynamics of starts and leeward and windward mark roundings as well as overall boat balance.
- In light to medium air – with a symmetric spinnaker – jibing without the pole numerous times to get the spinnaker rotation perfected, with an A sail – jibing the mainsail before the A sail to keep the spinnaker filled longer.
- On the light air sessions a good one to really go at is reach to reach jibe practice – making sure there is sufficient pressure on the spinnaker to be able to get the spinnaker around the head stay for an A sail – with the crew rolling the boat – or properly rotated on a symmetric sail. A team can never get too good at this! It’s a challenge to keep the spinnaker flying on a light air reach to reach jibe so lots of practice needed. If not enough pressure on the spinnaker – head up and get the pressure before jibing. This is really important, if the team tries to jibe the spinnaker in light air with insufficient pressure on the sheet then it is sure to collapse. A good thing to practice is the dialogue before the jibe – the skipper asking the trimmer how the pressure is and getting a confirmation back on if it is sufficient or not.
- Heeling to weather downwind to rock the shoulder of the spinnaker away from the mainsail and to induce a little lee helm to encourage the boat to bear away in the puffs. Try moving crew members from side to side to balance the helm perfectly and try to encourage the crew to sit as low as possible and to the sides of the boat to dampen the rolling of the boat and to maximize the helms visibility.
- Man over board drill both going upwind and also down wind with the spinnaker up – excellent for seamanship, team awareness and practicing maneuvers.
- A great one to try later on in lighter air is a silent practice – a start, upwind & downwind leg and a leeward mark rounding – this is great for team anticipation skills. The only communication allowed is for safety related reasons. My wife Stephanie tells me this silent practice was an instrumental element of their team (America 3) training for the 1995 America’s Cup.
- Continue the starts and races until the team is tiring out and then head in and debrief by having each team member talk about their position and what they need to improve on for next time. While this debrief session is going on it is good to have a person jotting down notes on a Wet Notes book for future reference.
Ideas for after work during evening session with a skeleton crew (shorthanded):
For this session it’s good to focus on starts, & windward & leeward mark rounding’s with no spinnaker. You could have a shorthanded crew (bare minimum) and this proves to be a great opportunity to do numerous starts with a rolling clock and focusing on time and distance, acceleration speed building and slowing down and holding position. Get in as many in as you can.
For Leeward Mark Roundings:
Try to do as many leeward mark roundings as possible and critique each one practicing all approaches; on port, on starboard, having to jibe & round simultaneously and starboard approach with a jibe drop (Jib up, pole down, jibe, chute down), then the tactical mark rounding. Really work on the jib being perfectly trimmed to every point of sail and the crew moving to leeward in light air and pressing on the leeward rail to help the rounding. On the jibe rounding the tricky element is to perfectly trim the mainsail in a jibe and do a great rounding. Do this repeatedly with no spinnaker. There are big gains to be made by executing this well. This is also a really good opportunity to practice pinching up (or “check luffing”) to use the VMG gained by the leeward mark rounding to translate in to pointing and a resultant clearer lane from the boat who just rounded ahead. Any helm will tell you that it is critical to have everyone hiking super hard out of the rounding so that the team can maintain a high, clear air lane out of the mark. Really work on this and the orchestration of the timing of the spinnaker take down.
Time & Distance:
Now lets try some time & distance work; find a marker and see how long it takes from a slow position to sheet in, accelerate, and reach the marker. Try this over and over again and it will help a lot with time and distance. In my experience coaching, this proves to be invaluable to nailing their starts, particularly early in the season.
Spare weekends (if any!): find a tuning partner for races & regatta’s
Any combo of the above would be valuable practice (sequenced from prior practices) on non race days. For regattas it is very beneficial to get another team ( if available) to be a tuning partner. Go upwind with them for 5 to 10 minutes before the start and fine tune the set up.
If the other team is faster ask yourself why? Check the critical settings: Jib halyard tension, forestay sag, mainsheet tension, jib lead position, jib sheet tension and what “mode” of sailing they are in? (“Point mode”, ‘Fast forward mode”). Once you have made your adjustments go upwind with them again and see how you go with them with the new settings. Now how are you doing?
A great part of practice with your tuning partner will be going upwind on opposite tacks before the start (or in practice) for 5 minutes or more, then tack back and converge to see who crosses first. This will give you an idea of the initial shift and the initial favored side of the course. I have found the above very helpful when traveling to new venues and attempting to counter the advantage of local knowledge going into the event.
Make sure to write it all down and to review and share any onboard camera footage as well as pictures taken of the team sailing.
After each regatta, and race and practice session, record in your Wet Notes book what went well and what needs to be practiced for the next team session. These notes are best recorded right away when everything is fresh during the sail in, at the dock, or at the yacht club after the race. It is quite revealing to review these notes particularly; wind patterns, geographic effects, and the effect a frontal system may have had on the course. This also highlights intuitive tactical moves that worked at the venue!
The tactical mind and the chess game:
On the drive to the event I have found it really good to review these notes and also go over hypothetical tactical and strategic situations with other team members. An example of this would be: “Ok, starboard end of the line is favored by 7 degrees on a long starting line with 50 plus boats. The I flag is in effect and the race course looks even velocity wise. What do you think we should do?” This gets the discussion going, gets people visualizing situations, and gets the team together on almost “scripting” the plays.
Beer can race and have fun!
This is a great opportunity to try some things; starting approaches, jibe drops, etc., that you may employ in the regatta format or for bigger events on your schedule. This is also an excellent time to train a new crew member and integrate them in to your team’s system as well as introduce them to the local fleet. Take the time to teach and coach, and make it fun. Very often new crew members are also potential new owners and fleet members. Over the years I have seen teams take on a new person who really enjoys sailing in the class and then later proceed to buy a boat and participate in the fleet.
A big thing to be aware of is the tendency to want to practice moves the team has already mastered. I have experienced this in the past and it doesn’t help the team grow their skill. To counter this trap, make a note of weaknesses at a prior event, and put them front and center in the session. Focus on the “chinks”, for example: If there is a tendency to get up to the line early and be slow at the start, focus on time and distance and acceleration.
A nice aspect of a post practice session debrief is to have a nice social time as a crew. This makes the whole event more enjoyable for everyone. Making it fun keeps people coming back for more. A good sense of humor keeps it light and everyone looking forward to more sailing! Being part of a team that practices, tunes, and is consistently improving, whether at the local, regional, or national level, is a really enjoyable experience for all involved.
Best of luck in your next regatta!
Whitecap Composites: New Kids on the Block
Sail1Design would like to welcome our newest team member and sponsor, Whitecap Composites!
By Airwaves Writer Tyler Colvin
On a grey New England day I pulled around the corner of yet another non-descript warehouse building to discover a rack of hulls and plugs and an assortment of familiar bumper stickers. I had arrived at Whitecap Composites, in Peabody, Massachusetts, for a tour and to see what these guys were all about. Partners Ben Parker and Paul Zimmerman have created buzz about their little shop in recent years with their ability to turn out extremely high quality, durable boats for organizations and individuals.
Stepping through the door I was greeted by the familiar fiberglass and resin smell of a boat shop, reggaeton cutting through the hum of a pump and buzz of grinders. Ben came out to meet me with a smile and a handshake, very excited to show someone their operation. We walked through the assembly area, which consisted of boats in several stages of completion, and he explained the process that makes them unique from the slew of dinghy shops in the Northeast. “We take large boat construction and apply it to the dinghy. These are built like a real boat,” explained Ben, “everything about the construction process is repeatable and consistent.”
What Ben was referring to is the construction process they have been using since their shop opened back in 2011. In dinghy construction, there is usually a trade off between weight and durability. Fiberglass is laid up with resin by hand, cured, popped from the mold and put together. Not at Whitecap. Using structural fiberglass around a thin foam core combined with a vacuum bag infusion of resin, they are able to balance weight and stiffness, and are ensured a consistent product and create a bulletproof hull.
“Would you ever take a sledgehammer to one of your boats?” asked Ben, “well you can take one to ours.” He proceeded to tell me a recent story of some Kings Point guys who came up to see the shop and process, were asked the same question and then given a sledgehammer to test it out. Long story short, the sledgehammer lost.
The amount of pride that Ben and Paul put in their work is very apparent from their enthusiasm about the fleets they are building, new projects coming in to them and the thought of expanding. “We are unique in that we are responsive. We are available to our customers,” said Paul. “You see him and I? He is production, I am sales. If someone needs to ask a question on the phone, I cover the mouthpiece and ask him. Eliminates the need to go from department to department.”
Whitecap Composites has worked in conjunction with several college teams, one-design classes and individuals in the past four years. They have built 75 boats that are sitting on MIT’s docks, including the new Turbo FJ, which were purchased by both MIT and Northeastern University. Other schools are ordering from Whitecap as well, recently Christopher Newport University took delivery of 18 Turbo 420s. Eckerd is awaiting a shipment of FJs and 420s from Whitecap and Tufts has a new fleet of Larks in the works as well. Outside the college world they have also produced several other boats on a sub-contract basis, including the custom wakeless coach boats for Community Rowing in Boston and are working with the Comet class to revitalize.
Ben and Paul pride themselves on quality and the ability to accommodate their clients. “Our boats don’t come off the water during your season,” Ben commented, “we value quality over quantity.” Whether it is for a collegiate fleet or a custom build, they want you to feel involved in the process and help you get exactly what you want.
We would like again to give Whitecap Composites a warm welcome to the Sail1Design family as our newest team member. Feel free to stop over to their shop in Peabody to check them out, or just call Ben or Paul, they are sitting ten feet from each other, so if one doesn’t know the answer to your question, chances are the other does.
Meet the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider – Caleb Paine
By Airwaves writer Martha Pitt
Approaching his 24th birthday this week, Caleb Paine is one of the bright young members of the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider on the hunt to win a medal for the US Team at the Rio Games in 2016. Since 2010, he has been sailing the Finn in the ISAF Sailing World Cup circuit full time working towards his goal, and he has certainly been making strides towards that goal! Currently ranked 1st in the country and 5th in the world, Caleb’s notable finishes this year include 1st at Finn North Americans, 5th at Sailing World Cup Hyeres, and an impressive 7th place finish at the ISAF Sailing World Championship in Santander.
Caleb has been sailing his entire life, and starting racing in the Sabot at age 7 in San Diego. By the time he was 12 years old, he was 6 feet tall and weighed 145lbs – a bit too large for the Sabot! He then transitioned to the Laser Radial and later to the Laser Full Rig at 15, quickly becoming one of the top junior Laser sailors in the country. He also sailed on his high school team at Point Loma High School, and became captain his senior year. Around this same time, Caleb started sailing the Finn. After graduating high school with a dream of winning an Olympic gold medal, Caleb decided to put school on hold and pursue his goal. In the spring of 2009, he bought himself a Finn and began training and competing full time. He joined the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider in 2011 and has since been climbing the World rankings in preparation toward his Olympic goal.
Read some more about Caleb, his campaign, and his journey below, and be sure to follow him at http://www.medalinrio.com/, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/medalinrio.
And be sure to follow the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider at http://ussailingteam.uberflip.com/h/!
S1D: When did you start sailing, and what kind of boats did you learn on?
CP: Sailing has always been a part of my life. My parents have pictures of me at 2 weeks old falling asleep in the gangway on my dad’s boat. He would suspend me in the backpack and it would swing around with the sea until I fell asleep. The first time I ever sailed on my own was in a Sabot at Mission Bay Yacht Club.
S1D: What got you into sailboat racing?
CP: I have always been competitive and once I realized I could combine that with sailing I started to race.
S1D: How long have you been sailing the Finn?
CP: I have been Finn sailing for 5 years now. I started in 2009 with my first event and first time traveling overseas being Kiel, followed by the world championships shortly after, I placed 56th.
S1D: Who are your favorite teams to sailing against?
CP: The British.
S1D: What is your game plan for the next 2 years leading up to Rio?
CP: To really refine my equipment and spend time sailing down in Rio. The conditions vary greatly from sailing in the bay to the conditions in the ocean. The Finns will be sailing in both so I’ll need lots of training time in each.
S1D: Which events are you most looking forward to in the next year?
CP: The Rio Test event in August and the Finn Gold Cup in New Zealand.
S1D: What advice would you give other sailors who are interested in Olympic sailing?
CP: It is an amazing journey where you meet great people and make lifelong friends. In terms of competition you couldn’t ask for anything more difficult, which I love!
S1D: What does it mean to you to be on the US Sailing Team?
CP: Being on the US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider means you are the best US sailor in your class. Being the best person at something amongst 319 million people is pretty sweet.
S1D: What are some of your favorite things about being on the team?
CP: Being a part of a team that succeeds together is a great feeling.
S1D: What has been the most challenging aspect about campaigning and/or your campaign?
CP: Money has always been an issue for me. It took me 5 years for me to get a new mast and boat made to my specifications.
S1D: How would you describe your relationship with other athletes on the team?
CP: I have known most of the athletes on the team for a while now and I would consider them all to be great sailors as well as people. I have a lot to learn from my fellow team members and look forward to working more with them the closer we get to Rio.
S1D: Who have been the most influential people in your sailing career?
CP: I would have to say my dad Doug Paine, who sailed singlehanded to Hawaii on a 25 foot boat.
S1D: What has been your favorite place to sail in international competition? Least favorite?
CP: San Francisco will always be my favorite, but a close second would be Santander where the past ISAF Worlds were held. Don’t have a least favorite, just a place I haven’t fully figured out.
S1D: Similarly, what has been your favorite place to travel to or visit?
CP: Tallinn, Estonia one must go to understand the beauty and culture of such a cool little place tucked away in the Northeast corner of Europe.
S1D: Do you have any rituals or superstitions relating to your sailing?
CP: Nope my fate is in my own hands.
S1D: Does your boat have a name?
CP: Yep, it’s a secret.
S1D: What do you like to do when you aren’t sailing the Finn, like for fun or to cross-train?
CP: I don’t know if you can consider it cross training but skeet and trap shooting.
S1D: If there was one thing that you would like the readers of this article to know about you, what would it be?
CP: I have always had the dream to sail in the Volvo Ocean Race.
S1D: If you were to reincarnate as an animal, what do you think it would be and why?
CP: An otter, they love the water, eat and play all day.
