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Zim Sailing Responds to ICSA Championship Boat/Sponsor Agreement

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This letter was published this morning on the ICSA List-serve and sent directly to Sail1Design. It follows our earlier publication here

 

Earlier this fall, the NEISA Executive Committee approved a directive that has forced the ICSA President to convene a special meeting of the ICSA Board of Directors to discuss the sponsorship contract with LaserPerformance (LP) and the manner in which it was negotiated.  Notice of this meeting was sent out to the NEISA list serve on December 4th.  The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow December 11th.

It has been offered that the new sponsorship agreement mandates the use of LP brand boats in the spring semifinal and championship regattas and that this constitutes a ‘change in conditions’ for ICSA championship.  This means that a host venue that does not have LP brand boats can’t host these events. Each of the schools affected (MIT, Fordham, Columbia, SUNY Maritime) have been sent a direct email from the President of the ICSA stating this.

It does not seem apparent that all regional conferences have received public notice of the upcoming meeting. Zim Sailing would urge those that have an opinion on the matter to send an email as such to their respective board members (http://collegesailing.org/contacts/) in advance of this meeting so each board member can act in the best interests of their representative conference. 

Although the specifics of the agreement are confidential, the ICSA have shared the following salient points:

  • LP will provide ICSA with fleets of new Lasers and Radials for the Singlehanded Championships
  • LP will provide a cash contribution to ICSA
  • LP will provide media support (i.e. video coverage)
  • LP will now be the Official Boat Supplier for all of ICSA championships (including semifinals) except for match race. This new agreement requires all of these championships be held in LP or Vanguard built fleets of boats.
  • The agreement is for eight years

There has been some opinion exchanged via the Sailing Anarchy (http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=139886&hl=%20college%20%20sailing&st=) Sailing Scuttlebutt (http://forum.sailingscuttlebutt.com/cgi-bin/gforum.cgi?post=14539) as well as the Sail1Design Airwaves ( https://www.sail1design.com/airwaves/high-school-college-news/971-controversy-in-the-icsa-the-future-of-the-college-sailing-dinghy) forums. 

Of interest is LP’s response offering the following: 

“LaserPerformance has nothing to hide and should the ICSA decide that the contract is not in the best interest of its members, we would be happy to still continue our support for Collegiate sailing by providing the 36 Laser or Laser Radials to the ICSA at our own expense.”

Obviously Zim Sailing is in not in favor of this agreement. While the intent may not have been to create a monopoly, it certainly has.  We believe the ICSA has a great opportunity to rescind the agreement as LP has offered to do.  Singlehanded’s would still be supplied boats and Double handed hosts would be free to buy and use whichever equipment met their needs the best.  The media coverage could be easily sought by another sponsor.  College sailing offers a fantastic demographic to many large companies with “real” marketing dollars.  I believe energy drink companies, bank and insurance companies would be very attracted to the college sailing market. 

Zim Sailing has worked very hard to support our growing customer base by building high quality durable boats and having the replacement parts needed to serve our customers.  If there is an opportunity to further support college sailing we are eager to participate.  The ICSA is your representative body, please ensure they have your thoughts and feelings in mind as they act on your behalf.

VIDEO: The American Youth Sailing Force is San Francisco’s Team in the 2013 RedBull Youth America’s Cup

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Submitted by Vince Casalaina, Media Coordinator, American Youth Force Sailing Challenge

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A year ago when RedBull announced their sponsorship of the Youth America’s Cup, five of us began planning for this day. We started with good sailing resume’s but little else.  Today we stand as one of the teams competing in the RedBull Youth America’s Cup where we will represent Oracle Team USA and the City of San Francisco.

I can’t begin to describe the emotions running through all of us in the American Youth Sailing Force as we waited for the results of the tryouts. We knew going into them two weeks ago that it was a “win or go home” competition. So now that we have our spot in the regatta assured, the most important question is what’s next for the AYSF? Two big words, Training and Fundraising.

Over the past five months we’ve done a lot of cross training in big fast catamarans to develop some basic boat handling skills. Now that we know we’ll be competing, we can focus on training both on and off the water. We’ve seen the level of physical fitness we need if we want be the best prepared team come September 1st.  We’ve also seen how much there is to learn about team mechanics and crew positions on the AC45 boats.

Having the support of Oracle Team USA allows us access to all their accumulated knowledge about getting the most out of sailing the AC45s.  Their two boat training program gives us a jumpstart on what it takes to race them competitively.

At the same time we are in the gym and on the boats, we will be moving forward on raising the funding our program needs. While we have received early support from both sponsors and donors that helped get our campaign to this point, we are now kicking our fund raising into high gear. We need to raise a lot more money since this will be our “job” from March through early September next year.

We are looking at corporate sponsorship to raise significant dollars and individual donor contributions to supplement that.  We also have plans to hold fundraising events both in the Bay Area and Seattle to broaden the base of our support.  Crowd source funding sites like Kickstarter will give us the opportunity to reach out to much bigger groups of people to find our needed cash. As you can see we

Our team has partnered with the non-profit Skiff Sailing Foundation so we are able to accept tax-deductible donations. You can find out more about how you can help us at www.americanyouthsailingforce.com and clicking on the donate tab.

I want to wholeheartedly thank everyone who has helped AYSF to this point. The success of this team cannot be solely placed just on the sailors. The guidance and backing from numerous people and businesses have been the true backbone of this team. We know that with your support we will keep growing on that.

Keep following the team as we take the next big step forward.  You can stay tuned in by following us on our website, facebook page and video site for more exciting news as we pave the way towards the 2013 RedBull Youth America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay.

Ian Andrewes

Team Manager

 

Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanYouthSailingForce?ref=ts&fref=ts

 Video page

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1B649F56C67CB086

 

 The American Youth Sailing Force – Team San Francisco

Ian

Andrewes

23

David

Liebenberg

21

Michael

Menninger

23

Matt

Pistay

22

Tommy

Pstalka

22

Mikey

Radziejowski

21

Evan

Sjostedt

19

 

Media Coordinator

Vince Casalaina                  VinceSail@aol.com             510-841-8524

 

Still Photographer

Erik Simonson                      h2oshots@gmail.com         650-355-1080

 

Lightning Boat Grant Program – Now Accepting Applications!

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By Airwaves writer Martha Pitt

Attention sailors:  Want to experience high level sailing in a competitive boat, have all of your sailing paid for this summer while receiving mentoring from a class veteran? The International Lightning Class Association has just the opportunity!

            The Lightning Boat Grant Program offers sailors age 19 and older the opportunity to sail a race ready Lightning for the season.  Recipients receive a championship condition boat, practice and race sails, a mentor, and funds to cover the sailing related expenses for the 2013 summer racing season (May-September).

Spring Classic Regatta, Lake Pymatuning, PA. 39 Boat Start. 

            The program started in 2007, and is entering its 7th season.  It began as an opportunity for both the class to expand by drawing in young talented racers, and for aspiring young sailors to break into the circuit, those who may not have the funds to buy their own boat and pay for a racing program; it is geared towards college students and recent graduates looking to race in a competitive one-design fleet at minimal cost.  The recipients receive a boat for a season and set up their own program for the summer season for almost no cost. As a testament to the success of the program, multiple boat grant recipients have purchased their own Lightnings after their grant summer was over.  Past recipients include, Bobby Martin in ‘07(Boston University ’08), William Brown ’08 (Brown University ’10), Clinton Hayes ’08 (University of Vermont ’10), Caroline Patten ’11 (HWS ’11), James Simmons ’12 (URI ’12), . Though generally new to the boats, with the great equipment and guidance from other Lightning sailors, the grant recipients have faired well racing with top-ten finishes at major regional events and top-thirty finishes at the North Americans. James Simmons used his grant boat to qualify for the World Championships next summer in Italy; he has recently purchased a boat and will be headed to Italy in June 2013 to compete. The Class’s strong international presence also assures the Boat Grant teams a chance to compete against athletes from around the world during the summer season.

            I was able to speak to Will Brown who was a grant recipient back in 2008 and has since remained involved, now acting as the co-chair of the Lightning Boat Grant Committee. To Will, the program has been a success in large part because of the mentors and the great members of the class. For him, “one of the more challenging aspects was learning how to properly tune the boat, but every member of the class was more than willing to help. The fleet is one of the deepest and most talented fleets I have sailed in which leads for very serious racing but it also has a great off the water atmosphere with tons of sailor camaraderie.” Though some might be intimidated by the strength of the class and its deep field of competitors, for Will, that was one of the greatest benefits; “I mean — forty plus boats on the line at a dozen regattas each summer? That’s pretty amazing. And with this much talent, your team absolutely gets better at each regatta.” 

Justin Coplan – 2008 Grant Recipient – winning race #6 of the 2009 World Championship, Burlington, VT (60 boat fleet, 10 Countries represented)

            2008 recipient Clinton Hayes had a similar experience; “the boat is a great introduction to the fundamentals of small keelboat sailing without having to own a keelboat. We learned a lot of basics of rig tuning that is transferable to all types of sailing. Everyone in the class is super friendly, always willing to help. They are known for competitive racing and fun times. I can say from personal experience that this is true.” The summer of 2008 marked the 70th Anniversary Regatta for the class with 125 boats competing in the event in Newport, RI, and Hayes insists that he will be back for the 80th! “Its a great boat,” commented Hayes, “so easy to set-up and travel with but a real challenge to sail well. The level of the top 20 at 2008 NA’s was ridiculous! I hope to get back into Lightning racing when I settle down a little.”

Will Tyner – 2011 Grant Recipients, Team Tyner – Bow 42, racing in the 2011 North American Championship, North Cape, MI (56 Boat Fleet)

          For Andy Camarda, who sailed at URI and was a boat grant recipient in 2010, insists that “the summer of the boat grant was the best summer of my life. The fleet was great, super supportive, everyone would answer questions and were generally a lot of fun.  The racing was tight and I learned a ton about close racing tactics and boat tuning.” Andy is from Chicago where there is no Lightning fleet, but if there was one he says that he would buy a Lightning in a minute! The highlight of his summer was going to the Pan Am qualifiers in Tampa, FL. The extremely tight 20 boat fleet made racing very exciting, and Camarda’s golden moment was winning one of the races!

Andy Camrada – 2010 Grant Recipients – Team Camrada sailing at the 2010 Spring Classic, Pymatuning, PA (39 Boat Fleet)

 

            L
ast year’s recipient, Jamie Simmons, has found a new passion for sailing in the Lightning class, and it has given him a new outlet to race now that he has graduated. “This is a good direction to go after college sailing” explains Simmons. “It was a great experience, the racing was exciting and everyone is easy going and super friendly. I look forward to sailing more Lightning regattas.”

Jamie Simmons – 2012 Grant recipients, Team Simmons – Bow 36, racing in the 44 boat fleet at the Atlantic Coast Championship, Atlantic Highlands, NJ. Photo: Arthur E. Petrosemolo

            If you are interested in this unique opportunity, the application can be found on the Lightning class website – www.lightningclass.org. 

Applicants are graded on the following criteria:

1. Plan for use of boat, including projected regatta schedule.  Applicants will need to provide a narrative describing who will be sailing, what they plan to do with the grant money, where they plan to go to practice and compete, when they plan to sail, and how they will get there. They should describe their transportation resources, options or needs, etc.

2.   Proximity to an existing Lightning Fleet

3.   Strength of sailing resume

4.   Recommendations

5.   Ability to care for the boat and where it will be stored.  

An interview of top applicants is also factored in. Applications are due on December 31st and applicants will be notified prior to March 15th. The ILCA will award at least two teams grants for the program.

Sail1Designer of the Month – Charlie Buckingham and Team America

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Sail1Designer of the Month – Charlie Buckingham and Team America for their Selection to the Oracle Team USA Youth Team

By Airwaves Writer Martha Pitt

Earlier in November, six teams of America’s youth sailors trained and competed in San Francisco for the opportunity to be one of two teams selected to represent the US in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup to be sailed in September 2013. The teams were selected out of a group of applicants and were all made up of accomplished sailors with a range of backgrounds but all with great expertise. Few, however, had sailed the AC45s before, and so the trails were not only about showing off pre-existing skills but were also about adjusting, listening to limited instruction, and learning how to handle and sail the boats. The trials consisted of just two days of rigorous sailing under the watchful eyes of Oracle team coaches Philippe Presti and Darren Bundock for a once- in-a-lifetime opportunity to train with a world-class team and compete for the US in such a prestigious event. Team America was selected to represent the US while skipper Michael Menninger and the American Youth Sailing Force will represent San Francisco.

No stranger to sailing success, Charlie Buckingham accompanied by his Team America crew set themselves apart from the competition and earned themselves one of the two berths in the event. Buckingham, a 23 year old from Newport Beach, CA, was recruited by teammates Jake LaDow and Nevin Snow who initially assembled the crew. Also on Team America is Jake Reynolds, Graham Landy, John Wallace and Matt Whitehead. Buckingham graduated from Georgetown University in 2011 with multiple sailing honors and championships, including two- time ICSA College Sailor of the Year and four-time All-American; Buckingham is also a member of US Sailing’s Olympic Development Team, competing in the Laser.

Read below as Charlie gives shares a little more about Team America, the tryouts, and what the months leading up to the premiere event in September will hold.

What were the tryouts like? Was this your first time in the boats?

The tryouts were interesting for a number of reasons, the first one being that none of us had really sailed together before and it was everyone’s first time on the boat. Luckily, we all knew each other pretty well and had a general idea of our positions going into it, but beyond that we didn’t really know what to expect. When we stepped on the boat, the Oracle guys aboard pretty much gave us the keys and said, “go for it.” It ended up being much more of a trial and error learning process than we thought it would be. The Oracle guys stepped in and gave us information when they thought it was necessary and we were able to ask them as many questions as we wanted, but they weren’t as involved as we thought they would be on the water. That said, getting used to the boat was a bit daunting at first, but through trial and error coupled with advice from the Oracle guys, we were able to get more comfortable with our roles, communicate more efficiently, and improve our performance.

It must feel pretty amazing to have been chosen – what does it mean to you to be selected and skippering?

Our whole team is so excited and honored to be selected! It means the Oracle guys saw potential in us and now that selection is over, we can concentrate on taking the right steps toward the competition under the guidance of the best team in the business. I am definitely pretty psyched to be at the helm too!

Who else is on your team?

Jake Ladow (San Diego, CA), Jake Reynolds (San Diego, CA), Nevin Snow (San Diego, CA), John Wallace (St. Pete, Florida), Graham Landy (Virginia Beach, VA), and Matt Whitehead (Panama City, FL). I’m lucky to have these guys as my crew because they’re all incredibly incredibly talented sailors that bring a wide range of sailing skill to the boat. They did really well during the trial and adapted to the AC45 quickly in two days, so I’m excited for what the future brings with them.

What do the next few months look like for training?

We’re in the midst of figuring it out since selection was so recent, and there are some things that are still unclear, but we have a general idea of what the future looks like in the short term. We don’t have access to the AC45’s for a bit, so a lot of our training and development will be on an individual level. First and foremost, we saw how physically demanding the boats can be, so we are all going to maintain strict, demanding fitness programs. Beyond that, the Jakes, Graham, Nevin, and John are all a part of college programs so they will continue with college sailing while doing catamaran and high performance sailing when time permits. Matt Whitehead doesn’t compete in college sailing, but is a keen multihull sailor and looks to campaign for Rio 2016 in the Nacra 17, so while he isn’t in school, he’ll be doing a lot of cat sailing. I’m campaigning full time for Rio 2016 in the Laser, so I will be resuming my Laser training while adding more time at the helm of catamarans or other high performance dinghies.

What do you think is going to be the most important part of your training? What will it take to win in September?

I think fitness and boat-handling are key points of focus for our team. If we know we are strong, fit, and have good enough boat-handling to get around the course efficiently in strong winds, we will be able to us our sailing abilities more effectively.

Any other comments about the trials or anything in particular you are looking forward to over the next few months?

I can’t give enough credit to my crew. They did an incredible job over the two days, which had the biggest effect on our performance. I also want to thank the guys at Oracle Team USA, especially Philippe Presti, Darren Bundock, Julien Di Biase, Rome Kirby, Kyle Langford, and Sam Newton for being welcoming hosts and showing us the ropes. Finally, I’m really excited to work with both my teammates and Oracle Team USA toward the RBYAC!

Best of luck to Charlie Buckingham and Team America as they train to compete and represent the US in the Red Bull Youth America’s Cup! More information on Team America, Oracle Team USA, and the America’s Cup can be found at www.americascup.com

Staying Sharp in the Offseason

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Staying Sharp in the Offseason, Airwaves Writer Zach Brown

The fall season has concluded leaving most college sailors eager for some down time but motivated for the ever important spring season.  One of the most difficult aspects of college sailing for many teams is managing the winter offseason.  Some programs can sail all year while others cannot, but there are unique ways for any team to sharpen their sailing skills to come out swinging in the spring.  Warm weather Midwinter circuits, fitness, team race playbooks, statistical score analysis, team bonding exercises, and focused non-sailing activities are just some of the strategies college teams implement to maintain or improve during the offseason.

Sailing Cross Training

The best training for sailing is more sailing.  Yale sailor Graham Landy expanded on this point, “This year I am trying to find more ways to sail during the offseason, which should help a lot at the beginning of the spring season.” Many one-design classes have midwinter racing circuits in Florida such as the V15, the Snipe, and the Lightning. 

It is important to cross train in a non collegiate boat during the offseason to develop new skills that can be applied to college racing.  Sailing longer courses in general helps for big picture tactics and speed focus. The Miami Olympic Classes Regatta offers intense competition in non college boats.  The snipe is a great cross training boat because it teaches rig tuning and sail shape while still placing significant emphasis on tactics.  Sailors interested in the Snipe should get in contact with Augie Diaz or Brian Kamilar to plan a trip down to Miami for some snipe winter circuit racing on Biscayne Bay. 

The V15 challenges similar skills important to collegiate boats with a bit more speed in the game.  The V15 Midwinters is a fun event over the winter holiday that combines both fleet and team racing.  Interest in the V15 Midwinters should be directed towards Ben Spiller.  An alternate form of sailboat racing over the winter for those who have access to frozen bodies of water is ice boating.  Midwest sailing legend Gordy Bowers claims that ice boating teaches solid apparent wind fundamentals and boat feel, not to mention extreme speed and fun.

Fitness

Get to the gym.  The offseason is the perfect time to increase strength and control body weight.  Every college sailor has access to a school gym and free time due to the lack of sailing practice or regattas.  Create fitness goals and consult a trainer whether the focus is cardio, strength, or weight gain/loss.  Yale sailor Cam Cullman commented that fitness and health is a key component to “putting ourselves in the best possible position to win a national championship. That’s always the goal.”

Fitness and health doesn’t strictly mean spend hours at the gym and only eat salads.  College presents many opportunities to improve or maintain shape in intramural sports and pickup basketball or indoor soccer games.  Also, sailors can always benefit from increased flexibility, core strengthening, and spiritual relaxation at yoga class.

 

Team Racing Chalk Talks  

Print copies of the Team Racing Call Book, cut out paper boats, and go through scenarios.  The offseason is a great time to sit all the players of a team race team down and go through each play to get everyone on the same page. 
Landy reflects on Yale’s team racing chalk talks: “After we return for the spring semester we begin team racing preparation with around two hour-long sessions per week.”  Team race talks can be very effective if rules and scenarios are discussed, illustrated on the board with diagrams and boats, and then seen in video examples. 

Statistical Score Analysis  

Geek out with historical results.  It’s ok to use the classrooms skills learned in college to improve sailing results.  Use basic math and statistical proficiencies to understand if risk takers scores win out over conservative sailors’ scores at the end of regattas.  Two-time Olympian Stu McNay studied the Danmark Trophy results in his college years.  He looked at individual scores over a ten year time period because it was one of the most competitive regattas of the fall season and the wind was fairly consistent.  Historical regatta results tell a story and there are plenty of takeaways.

Team Bonding Exercises

Hangout as a team outside of mandatory sailing events.  Ski trips, team sports, and team dinners are great customs that keep teams united.  Team harmony is invaluable and there is no better time to mend competitively strained relationships than enjoying social activities together over the offseason.  Skipper-crew relationships can be strengthened doing yoga classes together or workouts that highlight team success over individual achievement. 

Non-Sailing Activities

Take time to be a college student and enjoy time away from sailing.  Landy offered great advice about the offseason being a great time to enjoy other aspects of what college has to offer.  Taking enough time off from all things sailing related is healthy and crucial to success in the spring.  It is important to start off the next season fresh and excited to go sailing. 

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