Though the season has just begun and not much team racing has taken place yet, teams are already thinking through the season and preparing for their conference qualifiers for Nationals! Two weeks ago, down at Eckerd the Mendelblatt Team Race took place, Stanford, with a strong showing, came away with the win. This past weekend, the Bob Bavier Team Race held at Charleston shed a bit more light on some of the teams to look out for on the team racing course this season, Georgetown besting other strong squads like Yale, Charleston, and Stanford for the win. Yale will certainly be out for blood this season, having dominated much of last year’s spring season (even considered a favorite to win it all by many) but missing a qualifying spot. Other teams who have not yet entered the ring but will be worth watching out for include BC, Roger Williams, and Brown. [Read more…] about ICSA Team Race Rankings, February 27 2013
Blog
Meet the Byte CII, the Next Great Singlehanded Class
Brought to you by ZIM SAILING
If you follow Olympic sailing, the push toward high performance, more technical, and faster classes is more obvious than ever. The sailing world is quickly pushing once great classes like the Star and Yngling to the side in order to make room for faster, lighter, and more aesthetically pleasing boats like the 49er FX and the Nacra 17. Following the 2012 London Olympics, sailors, sailing organizations, and online forums around the country all started taking a closer look at the system in place for up and coming sailors to hone their skills. With this push toward more technical boats that utilize highly tunable rigs, light frames, and demand a greater understanding of advanced racing principles, there is a growing need in the United States for boats that can deliver these attributes to sailors at an affordable price. [Read more…] about Meet the Byte CII, the Next Great Singlehanded Class
2013 505 Midwinter Championship Final Results
College Race Management 101, by Ken Legler
“Quality and Quantity.” College race management is the MASH unit of race committee work. It’s fast and dirty with a minimum of formality. One person with one small and nimble boat can run perfectly good and efficient college races. A second boat is needed for team racing, big fleet races that require a Port-line boat, and windy days that require an extra safety boat. The trick is to start the first race the moment the fleet gets outs and run the second race the moment the last boat finishes the first. During the race, this nimble “committee boat” (“crash boat” is probably a better term) blasts around moving marks one and a half legs ahead of the fleet to keep the course square for the likely variable wind. Right after the start, cast off the start boat anchor and adjust the gate so it is directly downwind from the windward offset mark, the proper length (about six boat lengths), and square to the wind. Once the fleet rounds the windward mark, adjust the mark and the offset, then go back down to the start/finish line and adjust for a good final leg. [Read more…] about College Race Management 101, by Ken Legler
Venue Profile: St. Mary's College
by Ken Legler
St. Mary’s College of MD, Horseshoe Bend on the St. Mary’s River
The sailing conditions of St. Mary’s College of Maryland on the St. Mary’s River are superb for college sailing. The river is lined with scenic estates and farmland. The area is best described as bucolic. The river runs seven miles North from its mouth on the Potomac to Horseshoe Bend where the river turns West, then Northwest to its head another two miles up. The Bend creates a circular sailing area directly in front of the Teddy Turner Waterfront with a nearly one mile radius. As such every wind direction allows for ample space but with protection from any large waves. The current is gentle with a bit more at the entrance to the Bend on the south side of the racing area. An additional course area is just around Church Point at the opening to the South and can see more waves and a steadier wind in Southerlies. This South course in Southerlies can have some geographic shifts toward either shore but not too close to shore where it gets lighter. This area also gets used in Southerly winds but in any other wind direction they prefer to sail inside the Bend for great viewing from The James P. Muldoon River Center. If the course is set just outside the opening formed by Church and Pagan Points, the current can have enough push and variation to be worth noting and playing. Otherwise current is rarely a factor this far up the narrowing river. [Read more…] about Venue Profile: St. Mary's College
Downwind Boatspeed, by Clinton Hayes
Sail1Design would like to welcome the newest member to our Airwaves team, Clinton Hayes. In College, Clinton went north to attend the University of Vermont. While there, he lead the team as they qualified for their first ever National Championships and was their first Coed All-American in 2008 and 2010. In the summer of 2008 he was fortunate enough to be a Lightning Boat Grant Recipient where he sailed all the major regattas and gained valuable knowledge about sailing opportunities after college. [Read more…] about Downwind Boatspeed, by Clinton Hayes
