by Airwaves writer Elizabeth Dudley
Winter Sailing Opportunities
It’s December. Depending on where you are living, the air is getting cold and the water temperature will soon follow. It’s easy to pack your sailing gear into the closet and wait until May to pull it back out and realize you forgot to wash it. [Read more…] about I Miss Sailing: Winter Sailing Opportunities
Some sailing things to think about when choosing a college…
Bill Jorch, Airwaves Writer
Editors Note: Sail1Design would like to welcome Bill Jorch to the Airwaves team. Bill is a Georgetown grad, was a member of the sailing team there, and now lives in Annapolis, MD with his wife. We look forward to Bill’s contributions and enjoy his first piece:
As a high school sailor looking to continue sailing at the college level, the group of schools has already been narrowed. Each school’s sailing program is unique and there are many criteria to consider when making your decision. While this list is not exhaustive, I present a few items that I, and many other college sailors, scrutinized when analyzing collegiate sailing teams.
– Coaching: Many colleges have full or part time coaches to run practice and work at regattas. Knowing the coach’s commitment and the program and understanding the coach’s philosophy regarding the team will help you see where you fit in at that program.
– Team dynamic: While each team is trying to sail their best, their approaches differ. The size of the team can range from just a handful of sailors to upwards of forty. The makeup of a team can be important as well. Is the team loaded with seniors or will you be joining a large freshman class? Does the team compete at national events or regional regattas or both?
– Venue / facilities: College sailing venues vary in many ways from school to school. One factor is the proximity to campus. Many schools offer on campus water access, and those that don’t usually only require a short drive. In almost all instances where schools sail on campus they have their own facilities, while those that drive to practice usually share a marina or yacht club. Each school’s venue produces different conditions. Some offer open water while others are located on lakes and rivers. There are locations that have traditionally big breeze while others have lighter and shiftier wind.
– Climate: College sailing has two distinct seasons, fall (September – November) and spring (February – May). Schools in warmer climates can extend their seasons on both ends in more mild conditions, while the northern schools will have slightly shorter practice seasons and colder temperatures around winter. However, most schools will sail in cold weather, if not at practice then at events in the late fall or early spring.
These are just a few things to think about sailing-wise when looking at colleges. Each program has its own unique identity and it is up to you, the sailor, to choose what is best. There are some aspects of college sailing that I failed to mention that may be essential to your search. Each category has a broad spectrum of possibilities and I purposely did not endorse any one criterion over another because this is such a personal decision. I will, however, advocate for one piece of advice; visit the schools you are interested in. Take a tour of the campus, check out the sailing venue, talk with the coach, and maybe even watch a practice. This will be a great way to learn a lot about the program and determine what is important to you.
Questions? Please email Zach Brown: [email protected]
–too late for press, but Connecticut College will be there too!
For more information please email Zach Brown: [email protected]
The J/70 – It’s about Expanding the Pie
By Airwaves Writer Dan Rabin
Editors Note: We’d like to welcome and introduce Dan Rabin to our readers as our newest Airwaves writer/editor. Dan was a standout All-American sailor at Boston University, and since then, along with a MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School, has won many regional and national titles in the Lightning and J/24 classes, topped off with a world championship in the J/24 class. Dan also finds time to help coach the Brown University Sailing Team. We are excited to welcome Dan to the team. Enjoy his first piece:
In the business world, product introductions and competitive strategy are often categorized as a “share game” or a “rising tide”. In a share game, the overall market has very little growth, and a company can only have relevant growth by stealing share from its competitors. In a rising tide, companies participate in a high growth market, and just by holding their market share, experience strong growth. In introducing the J/70, J/Boats may have done something quite rare, expanding the pie – meaning that, they might be increasing the size of the market, capturing that growth piece, and doing it without significant share losses to other one design fleets. Early indicators look promising for the J/70. The Eastport Yacht Club hosted the Fall Brawl the first weekend of November and saw 21 boats on the line – pretty impressive for a boat in its infancy. In addition, Key West Race week currently has 36 entries, more than 60% greater than the next largest fleet.
The Newly Introduced J/70
Courtesy J/Boats
I was recently asked if I thought that the introduction of the J/70 might be the demise of the J/24 and the J/22. If we look at recent history, though, I think the introduction of the J/80 serves as a good data point in measuring the robustness of the stalwart J/24 fleet. The J/80 hit the market in 1993, and at that time, I expect some people were predicting that J/24 regatta participation would eventually dwindle down to irrelevance. However, if you look at some of the recent major regatta results, you see the J/24 and J/80 still coexisting with healthy fleets:
To get more insight into the potential effects of the J/70 introduction, I spoke with J/24 World Champion and new J/70 owner, Tim Healy:
Do you worry about the J/70 cannibalizing the J/24 Fleet?
The J/24 isn’t going away, and in fact, you can see from the 2012 participation there’s been a bit of resurgence. There are 5700 of them scattered across the globe, they’re well built, and it’s relatively inexpensive to pick one up. Boats have come and gone during the 24’s lifetime (introduced in 1977). Some people will buy a 70 and keep their 24. Some might want to sell their 24, but there will be a buyer for that boat.
Do you have different thoughts in regards to the J/22?
I’m not as close to that fleet, but again, it’s a well built boat with global adoption. If people want to sell a 22 and buy a 70, they will find buyers for their boat.
You participated in the April sea trial of the J/70, initial thoughts?
It’s quick and responsive. The layout is simple and easy to handle for both men and women. You really only need 3 people in any wind condition. What really struck me was how much bite the rudder has, the steering is amazingly responsive.
You went ahead and bought a boat and have signed up for Key West Race Week. What do you think will attract others to the boat?
Expanding on my point about the ease of handling – the jib is non-overlapping and it has the modern asymmetrical spinnaker design. Costs can be kept relatively low – the main and the jib have to be Dacron. The beauty of the boat is really that you only need 3 people.
Tim Healy participating in J/70 Sea Trials, Newport RI
Courtesy J/Boats
In order to gain more insight into the strategy behind the J/70, I reached out to Stuart Johnstone, who helps J/Boats in their marketing strategies and business development:
What’s the target market for the J/70?
It’s aimed at a market that J/Boats has never been able to expand upon since its inception in 1977 with the J/24: in short, an easily trailer-able, performance boat that can be ramp-launched anywhere in the world. As such, all previous models J/Boats built required a slip, mooring, or a dry-sail facility with a hoist, thus eliminating several thousand lakes, bays and ramp access points near water around the world.
How do you think you’re approaching this market differently than some of the other players?
95% of the sailing market that are interested in one-design sailing cannot sail a boat like a Melges 24 competitively. The next group of similar, smaller designs in the 20 foot range has many of the same challenges and end up filling a small niche and struggling for broad adoption. The net-net is that women and kids end up being disenfranchised the most
.
What are some of the design aspects that you think allow for reaching a broader base?
The basic parameters were less than 8.5 ft beam, draft of 5 ft max, less than 1,700 lbs for easy trailering by a 4 cylinder engine car/ truck/ minivan, easy launch / retrieve off a ramp and be sailed by Mom and the kids with ease – in other words a controllable, fun boat to sail. This meant the keel lifting mechanism and the keel hull box had to be robust, easy to use and that even an 8 year old wielding a portable power drill could raise and lower the keel. It also meant the mast /boom had to be built cost-effectively out of carbon-fiber, be light, and easily raised/lowered by women/ teenagers. This generated a performance boat with forgiving sailing characteristics, so it was balanced upwind and could knife through waves, but more importantly, could sail downwind without feeling skittish and wipeout instantly while not having to pile people on the transom.
Do you think this boat will take away sailors from the older J designs?
The J/24 was designed in 1976, over 35 years ago, and has enjoyed a healthy participation rate across four continents. The same can be said about the J/22 and J/80. The J/70 will certainly attract some sailors from current J one-designs since convenience, cost of sailing, ease of transport are all major factors in today’s sailing. For those fleets with large dry-sail facilities and mooring/slip access, there will be continued participation in the J/22, J/24 and J/80 classes since they naturally settled into areas where they could easily exist as one-design fleets.
What kind of early appetite are you seeing for the J/70?
The J/70 is dramatically expanding fleet development in areas that have had limited or no J one-design fleet development because ramp-launching capability is a necessity. By way of example, we’ve signed on nearly a dozen new J/Dealers in the USA alone because of the J/70 – it’s creating enormous demand in sailing areas that could never use our older one-designs and none of the competitive lifting keel boats met the needs of 95% of the sailors—those boats were too extreme, impractical and too intimidating for most sailors. I think the J/70 is bringing old and new J sailors who either haven’t been sailing recently or simply need a boat that fit into their style of sailing in the new economy.
Sailors tend to develop emotional ties towards the designs they are engaged with or have history in. Perhaps that’s why so many classes dwindle, but don’t die. When I look at the one-designs that enjoy longevity and broad adoption, though, I see a balance of a quality boat and matching it with the right market segment – for example the Lightning introduced in 1938 still regularly attracts over 50 boats in North American and World Championships. From what I can see on first inspection of the J/70, J/Boats may have done an exceptional job in targeting and addressing an underserved segment of the market, and in doing so, expanded the pie.
To learn more about the J/70, please visit: http://jboats.com/j70/
13 December 2012, Annapolis- Heading down to the launch site in downtown Annapolis to meet the Farr team of Ian Gordon and Keith Carew, as we crossed the bridge we saw a light northerly and flat water. Since the temperature was not much above 50 degrees, this was going to be just fine.
The Farr Bavaria One (known as the B/One) is a new boat being built by Bavaria Yachts in Germany, and designed by the Farr Yacht Design team. The design parameters were set by Bavaria, and our sail test sought to get a feel for how well they did: [Read more…] about First Impressions: Sail1Design Test Sails the Farr B/One
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:
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.
