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Riverdale Yacht Club in New York City is Hiring!

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The Riverdale Yacht Club, is located 20 minutes from midtown Manhattan, on the Hudson River, in the Bronx.
We are looking for experienced US Sailing Level 1 certified instructor for our Junior Sailing Program.
Started 8 years ago, our successful program continues to expand. In 2020 we will offer youth sailing classes on Optimist, Laser, 420 and 29er dinghies. Adult sailing classes are offered on 420, and Laser dinghies, and on a Capri 22. To learn more and apply click  HERE
Courses will be held from June 15th to July 27th, Tuesday through Saturday, 9am-3pm.
We offer competitive compensation, and will provide housing.
We look forward to hearing from qualified candidates who will make a major contribution to our Sailing Program.

+Sailing instructor must be able to teach safety, boat handling, sailing theory, and respect for currents, tides, and commercial vessels, to students in Optis, Laser, 420’s and/or 29ers who are beginner and intermediate sailors.

+Develop lesson plans for classroom, hands-on rigging, on-the-water sailing exercises, and fun on-shore activities.

+Teach basic racing theory and techniques as the junior sailors develop their boat handling skills.

+Organize a mini-regatta for the students toward the end of the program, with emphasis on completing the course safely.

+Instructor candidate must demonstrate strong leadership qualities, and encourage mutual respect.

Regatta Report:  SEISA Singlehanded Championship October 23-24 Houston Yacht Club

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This was the third attempt at the SEISA Singlehanded Championship.  Originally scheduled for Lake Pontchartrain Yacht Club (LPYC) September 10-12 to coincide with the ILCA Gulf Coast Championship, when LPYC was damaged by a hurricane the event was postponed.  Rescheduled to coincide with the Houston Yacht Club’s (HYC) HOOD Regatta September 18-19, a hurricane blew through early in the week and as high pressure settled in the wind shut off, so no racing.

The third attempt found us back at Houston Yacht Club with just the SEISA regatta scheduled  October 23-24 and no hurricanes.  The US Sailing Mallory Cup and Harvest Moon Regatta took all the local race officers, so the regatta chair brought in Tom and Elaine Conlin from Bellport, NY as PRO and scorer.  Parents and coaches helped run the Signal boat and move marks.

The organizers scheduled a late start so competitors from northern Texas and Colorado could travel that morning.  Competitors meeting was at 1230 and we launched by 1 PM.  When we launched, the partly sunny morning was now overcast.  We did a beach launch with 3 ILCA 7s and 8 ILCA 6s.  We had pretty good wind in the 12-17 knot range out of the southeast with building waves.  Located on shallow northern Galveston Bay, the biggest waves we saw were 2-3’, good enough to surf.  Photos show boats hull down from time to time:    https://www.flickr.com/photos/191992072@N07/sets/72157720072033241

You had to work it upwind to keep from getting stopped, especially in tacks.  After a race or two, the lake sailors got used to sailing in waves again.  Light rain showers brought a few pulses of southerly wind closer to shore.  Those of us who got on the wrong side of those pulses dropped back.  Race committee set a square line and course but the line was bigger than necessary, maybe 175’ long.  The wind was strong enough that the lighter sailors were at full hike most of the time and had sheets cracked off a foot, maybe more, in the puffs.  Most sailors spent a lot of time extended and working the sheet off two-blocks in the waves.

In the first ILCA 6 race, I didn’t see the offset mark until looking back saw other boats rounding it.  Going back to round it correctly, I had dropped to 7th.  Ava Anderson (‘23), from Clear Falls, had great downwind speed and great hiking form upwind.  I made up a lot of distance but couldn’t catch her, and finished second.  She won the first two races.  Tony Slowik (‘22) from West Lake High School swapped places with me in the first two races.  Ava was chasing the leader downwind in Race 3 when she capsized to weather but righted quickly and regained 2nd place before the finish.

In ILCA 7s, Aston Atherton (‘22) of Rockwall-Heath High School had really good upwind speed and led every race from start to finish Saturday.  In these hiking conditions he quickly jumped ahead usually by the first tack.  Alex Horne (‘22) from Stargate made a good show and closed the gap on downwind legs.  He pushed a little hard and capsized on race 3.  Alex would win race 6 on Sunday and place second in the event over Zach Aronson (‘23) from Vista Ridge High School.

Just as the last ILCA 7 was finishing Race 4, a loud crack of thunder broke across the race course.  Race Committee and coaches sent us in at 4:40, well before the 5:30 cut off time.  Ava Anderson led the ILCA 6s with 6 points, Barclay 7 points, and Slowik and Lucas Tenrreiro (‘23) of Cedar Park had 15 points.  In ILCA 7, Atherton with 4 points led Horne with 8 and Aronson with 12 points.

Saturday’s thunderstorms kept going till late in the night.  The cold front cleared early Sunday morning.  Unlike in the northeast when a front blows through, it remained warm, just less humid, and the breeze was still out of the southeast.  Sunny, and with wind at 18-20, there were big whitecaps on the course.  We launched and reached out to the weather and offset marks.  Before Race 5, the wind dropped to 12-14.  With the earlier start and more westerly wind the water was flatter but still required lots of body movement in the waves.

Barclay and Atherton won race 5.  In Race 6, the wind shifted 20-30 degrees to almost due south and dropped to about 8 knots.  Aston and I sailed to the wrong side of the shift and dropped back.  Alex Horne played the shift well in the ILCA 7 to win Race 6.  Tony Slowik did likewise in the ILCA 6 to win Race 6.  Aston Atherton earned his ILCA 7 berth to the Cressy Championship in Race 8.  In ILCA 6, all I needed was not to DSQ the last race.  This is the first time Aston or I will attend an ISSA National Championship.

Tony Slowik and Lucas Tenrreiro deserve credit for creating and registering their own school teams in SEISA.  Hayden McCready of Kingwood, the Horne brother-sister pair from Stargate School, and Nick Carew from McAllum also created their school sailing team.  I think Zach Aronson from Vista Ridge did too.  Stargate is the only high school sailing team in Colorado.  As a result of the sailors’ efforts, there are five or six new teams in SEISA.

The organizer said HYC will hold more of these events during the winter and spring.

The Houston Yacht Club provided a cookout buffet afterwards and as the results were announced and prizes given the sailors shared stories and ate before heading home.

-Hamilton Barclay (‘23)

Elite Sailing Fitness, 505-Style

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Written by 505 sailor Eric Anderson, photo by Ty Baird (originally appeared in the 505 Class Newsletter and reprinted with permission here)

There’s little doubt that strength and fitness are one of the many things that separate the front of the fleet from the rest of us. Sailing strength, and in particular crewing strength, requires a unique suite of abilities for which the typical Peloton or Zumba class might leave you shockingly ill prepared. One of the biggest adherents of good fitness is Eric Anderson, who’s able to keep going strong through a long day of sailing. Here he shares his thoughts and the basic routine he follows in order to make his maneuvers strong all day long. Great advice, thanks for sharing Eric! (David Kirkpatrick)

There are a lot of different opinions out there on the best way to physically prepare for dinghy sailing. When it comes to 5o5 crewing, here are a few of my own (non-professional) thoughts:
1) Injury Prevention: You can’t sail if you’re hurt, and it’s easy to get hurt if you aren’t strong. As a crew I’m most worried about hurting my core or back while on the wire or tweaking my shoulders swinging in and out. To prevent this I do a lot of banded shoulder exercises (rotator cuff extensions, I’s/Y’s/T’s/W’s, and standing/bent over rows), as well as core/stability (single leg RDL’s, prone/side/back planks, supermans, bird-dogs, and single leg hamstring bridges). I stretch every morning and then rotate through a few of these exercises- it’s a total of fifteen minutes each morning (including stretching) and I get through the full list about twice a week. I’m only using bands and bodyweight, so I usually don’t break a sweat, and it feels more like part of starting my day than an actual workout. For me it’s a great way to “sneak in the veggies.” Of course, the weighted versions of these exercises often appear in my workouts, too.
2) Go sailing: As long as you’re doing what you need to not get hurt, getting days on the water is a great way to build exactly the muscles you’ll need while racing. Plus, you get better at sailing. Also, it’s more fun. There’s no point optimizing your fitness if you can’t get the days on the water to make it worth it. One caveat: if you are sailing a ton (4+ days a week), you do need to add some real weight training to your injury prevention routine, as all your sailing will start building strength in an unbalanced way. In hiking dinghies/5o5 skippers this often includes deadlifts and other back exercises- your posterior chain is barely worked on the water compared to your quads and abs. For 5o5’s I’d mostly be worried about my core and back getting weak while on the wire and would be adding weighted deadlifts + planks.
3) Arm Strength: I need arm strength to swing in and out on the wire, and I want to feel confident doing it on the last race of a windy event. I focus mostly on pulling muscles (biceps and back) and only do pushing exercises to balance out and prevent injury. The main movements are front/lateral dumbbell raises, bent over rows, and pull ups. I don’t bench but will do push-up variants (foot-elevated, walkover, etc) to ensure my shoulders and pushing muscles don’t get too weak.
4) Arm Power: This isn’t about max arm strength but rather about how long you can operate at the intensity the boat requires. The bottom corners of the course are the most physically demanding of me- if we need to throw in two last jibes, douse (we have a crew douse), round the gate, and tack, arm fatigue shouldn’t be the limiting factor. To train for this I try to do high repetition pulling exercises while near or at lactic threshold. For example, I’ll do a 90-degree pullup iso hang until failure to get my arms burning and then immediately do as many inverted rows as fast as I can. Inverted rows are a lot easier than pull-ups, so you can go longer before failure. For me it’s a good approximation of the last sixty seconds of gate mayhem.
Hope to see you out on the water! Or, if there’s no wind, in the gym.
Notes:
– I do several other types of workouts as well (running, rowing, HIIT training, leg strength), but they’re more generic and less 5o5 specific. As long as I have the cardio I need for the boat I’m less fussy about how exactly I get it- mostly I do whatever feels fun that day.
– If the exercises discussed here aren’t familiar to you, just google them. Most of them have modifications to make them easier/harder based on what’s appropriate for you- also on Google.

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