Sailogs

Photo Bites: Mark Foy Trophy

Jennifer Langille — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 18:01:00 +0000

A few parting shots from the Mark Foy Trophy from Christophe:

Additional reports and results....

More Skiff Bites: Mark Foy Trophy 2009

Jennifer Langille — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:13:00 +0000

Just In From The Mark Foy Trophy:

Day 4 of the Mark Foy championship started after a 1 hour delay under overcast skies and building wind. A small amount of rain was a fair price to pay for 15 knots of westerly wind.

After two tries race 5 got away on a boat favored line. Good starts were rewarded as a backing wind brought the boats from the left side of the course to the windward mark in front. Archie Massey, steering Asko led round with a commanding lead, although later to find out he was OCS. Behind him a battle between Grant Rollerson(AUS) on Slam, Rob Greenhalgh(GBR) on Benny and Howie Hamlin(USA) on Macquarie took shape. With the wind at 15 knots, the skiffs were off downwind faster than the wind making short work of the course. Jarrod Simpson(GBR) on TMF and John Winning(AUS) on Yandoo gave chase but were unable to close the distance. The oscillating breeze created many passing lanes and place changes for the middle of the fleet, but at the front it was all about experience. Slam came home in front to secure their 4th victory in 5 tries. Macquarie led home Benny making the top of the championship leaderboard a clear battle between them.

After waiting for a storm cloud to blow through, race 6 got off to a false start in 16 to 18 knots of breeze. Hoping to get the aggressive fleet under control, the Carnac race committee brought out the dreaded black flag. While the approach to the line was more subdued, down at the pin end a crash was taking place. Overnight leaders Slam tacked onto port into Yandoo, who were forced into TMF. Slam capsized to windward while yandoo's pole went through TMF's jib, breaking in the process. Slam, once upright, with TMF and Yandoo out of action, retired from the race. Meanwhile, back on the course Mason Woodworth(GBR) on Investec had stepped out to the right side of the course and found a favorable shift with Trevor Barnabas(AUS) on Road Service and John Whitty(AUS), coming in from the left after a great start. Road Service and Panaosonic just led Investec around the top mark with a hard charging Benny and Asko just behind. While sailing in the with this pack from the left, there was more drama on Appliances Online where a broken forestay sent their rig crashing down. Quick action by Rob Greenhalgh avoided a more serious collision while the stationary pirate ship made an obstacle for the boats behind.

Down the run Greenhalgh made his move on Investec jumping up to third just before the leeward gate. The lead boats split with Road Service and Investec going out left and Panasonic, Benny and Asko headed right. At the top mark, Road service held a clear lead while Benny and Investec moved up to second and third. A spinnaker sheet failure at the hoist saw Panasonic slip further allowing Asko up to fourth. With the breeze clocking well right, the lead four opted for the right side. Up the final beat, Roadservice tacked left early and with the wind shifting further left, Benny made their final move into the lead. Across the line at 17+ knots it was Rob Greenhalgh stamping his authority on this championship with his second race win. Road service followed with Investec holding off Asko to finish a welcome day of windier conditions.

With two days left to go and with at least 3 races scheduled, consistent top 5 finishes leave Rob Greenhalgh in commanding lead with Archie Massey and Howie Hamlin as the closest competitors. But once 9 races are completed the second discard comes into play and Grant Rollerson currently forced to count an OCS will move right back into the frame. As today shows, anything can happen and the racing is always exciting! Plenty of action left so stay tuned!

Report : Mason Woodworth
Pictures : Christophe Favreau

If I can't have the Volvo Ocean Race...pretty content to carry on with my affair with the 18 foot skiff!

2009 San Francisco Classic videos

Jennifer Langille — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:40:00 +0000

Some great video footage from the SF Classic.

At the start:

And finally form the kiters perspective:

+ SF Kite racing development:

Lessons in Log Canoe Racing

Andrew Campbell — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:17 +0000

After more than my fair share of overseas Starboat competition, traveling around the country to match-race, or race on the Melges 32 circuit, I lucked into being in the US during the first Log Canoe race of the season hosted by the Miles River Yacht Club on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. For those who haven’t seen Log Canoes in action this will give you some indication: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFjZlWnGBs

The boats are essentially 100-year-old, 35-foot canoes that have two 50 foot masts and rediculous amounts of sail area spread among three upwind sails a spinnaker and a “kite,” demanding up to twelve crew that scramble out removable planks in lieu of trapeze wires. They are international canoes x 10! They are constantly unstable, requiring the crew to run in and out of the boards all the time responding to the call “Weight!” every time a puff or lull hits the boat. Maneuvers are a mission. Every tack and gybe means nine people have to slip down their respective boards into the center as the boat heads into the turn. They have to pull the boards out from under the old leeward rail, throw them across to the new side, stuff them under the new leeward rail and start running out to the end without slipping off, dragging a board in the water, or any delay in order for the boat not to teeter over an capsize.

Capsizing is a race-ending situation. The sails have to come off and the masts have to come out while the boat is turned over. Then the boat has to be righted, bailed out and then the masts have to be put up again. It’s a wild scene to say the least!

Eight boats raced this weekend in St. Michaels on the Miles River. Berry Kurland was at the helm of the Silver Heel this weekend with a crew of former Georgetown sailors, and other DC-ites, but otherwise rookies to the Log Canoe circuit. Berry’s grandfather owns the boat and the regular crew handed over the boards to us for the weekend with a snicker, I’m sure, enjoying every moment of our pain and joy learning the ins and outs of the boat. Needless to say we had three wonderful races. The first race on Saturday afternoon was actually going quite well until our fourth gybe got a little squirrely and the boat went on its ear in a hurry! I think only 4 boats finished of the 9 who started. Wipeouts were abundant, keeping the spectators happy. We had an ugly go in the first race Sunday, thanks to very fickle breeze and a couple of unlucky shifts, and were 6th across the line in the 9 boat fleet. But we pulled off four gybes and more than our fair share of tacks on the 6+ mile course, so we’ll call it a moral victory. On the second race Sunday we decided to mix it up a bit and save ourselves a maneuver by starting on port. The long tack up the first beat was port and I was actually surprised more boats didn’t employ the same strategy, but I could not have been happier with my call when the rest of the fleet had to put two tacks in for our one. We rounded third and were fourth across the line. The boats slow down so much during a tack, it is very much like keel boat sailing in the sense that you need to plan your turns out literally minutes ahead to make sure that a) you’re doing the right thing and b) that your entire crew is on the same page. They a ton of fun to sail. What a weekend! We can’t wait to do it again.

Skiff Bites: Mark Foy Trophy 2009

Jennifer Langille — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 13:20:00 +0000

Press Release :
Célia Mas-Delfault
Chargée de communication

Strong heat and no wind on the packed parking of the Yacht Club de Carnac for this first day of competition. The 30 crews didn’t have the opportunity to confront one another in the bay of Quiberon and it’s really a pity! The teams brought together for this new competition which is to promote the 18 foot skiffs around the world is indeed rather exceptional. Among the helmsmen, there are no less than 4 winners of the JJ Giltinan International Championship, ran each mid-February in the bay of Sydney and considered as the equivalent of the world championship for this sport and nearly as much among the crewmen.

The Australian Trevor Barnabas, the most titled of them, has brought together with his family team two generations of champions on 24Hr Road Service. It’s his son Trent “the weapon” Barnabas, current titleholder, who is the front crewman. Daniel Philips completes this formidable crew. On the side of the Australians, among the five other boats another family is to be pointed out: the Winnings. John, the father (Yandoo), tireless veteran and generous sponsor of this amateur class and John junior (Appliancesonline), the son who has won several races during the last “JJ”, will be for sure two serious candidate for victory. If the winds are light, we should keep an eye on Grant Rollerson (Slam) and its team (Mike Coxon, double winner of the JJ on Fiat in 2006 and 2007). The three proud New Zealand crews who have come to Carnac should also give the Europeans a hard time.

Hopefully, the large number of boats from the English class have good arguments such as Robert Greenhalgh (Benny), only just disembarked from the VOR 70 Puma in the Volvo Ocean Race and winner in 2004 of the JJ. He has taken the most of this day to refine some very thin settings he has the knack of finding. The crew of Pindar, skipped by Andy Richards, actual European champions, those from Pica (Jamie Mears), Ronstan (Iain Turnbull), Investec Private Bank (Mason Woodworth), TMF Group (Jarrod Simpson) but also Gill/Wild Graphics (Ed Brown) are capable of winning a race and should be taken into account. The American Howard Hamlin (Macquarie), double holder of the precious trophy, coming at the last moment to defend the colours of the Stars and Stripes and the Danish Flemming Clausen, hardwearing competitor capable with his solid crew of astounding speeds as soon as the wind raises.

2 Hungarian teams, 3 French, 3 German and a Swiss complete the list which promises tight starts and very very hot buoy crossings! GPS have been embarked on the boats for a live broadcasting of the race on the website of the organizing club : www.yccarnac.com. Organized from the 28th June to the 4th July, this confrontation should find tomorrow enough wind to offer a real and virtual impressive show!

The photos are all provided by Christophe Favreau:

They Have YouTube Channel Up As Well!

Learning to foot for speed in the flood

Jennifer Langille — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Sunday's course racing provided a building breeze and sunny skies with 15-20k by the 12:00 first start off the St. Francis Y.C.
We ran 3 triple windward leeward courses for plenty of upwind downwind racing in a building flood tide.
Racing was tight between 2nd and 5th- changing back and forth with CRad, Wells and myself all trading spots in most of the races.Thanks to Shawn Davis for the photos- more at his website.

In front, it was Al who took 3 bullets with amazing speed and no mistakes all day.
I learned so much about my VMG in the course of the day, that my upwind style changed completely by the last race. By running the sail a bit flatter than normal and much longer harness lines, I was able to really go from a pinching set up to a footing set up- which worked so much better in the flood tide and flat water.
Ben was dominating with this set up but he was left hung to dry at the windward mark- which was set just inside the windline and left the heavyweights watching the light guys pump away.
I struggled in my first 2 starts to get a lane off the line on starboard and maintain my position going into the seawall. After the first tack, the positions were pretty much set, baring any major mistake. Al and CRad both had great speed and found themselves in the top 2 positions. Wells- who is fresh on the F4 fin program- really stepped up the pace and was there at every mark rounding.
Photo credit: Shawn Davis
Race 1 started with a few guys on port tack and the rest on starboard. I was 1-2 seconds late pulling the trigger and fought for a lane. I ducked down taking some sterns to try to get to the wall first but was in 5th by the time we got the the top mark- set in a big hole. The fleet sat parked- exiting in pretty much the same order they came in.
A quick downwind and upwind saw the parade to the middle and we ended up in the same scenario- parked at the top mark. This time I saw Wells- escape by sailing deep around the mark and getting the a puff that wasn't even available 20 feet away.
Another quick down and up and I found myself in the same position, taking the rounding wide and keeping in the wind and catching up from 5th to 3rd on thet rounding.
Race 2 saw the wind build to 18-20k. A few more port tackers on the line this time with Ben and Al pushing the top mark again. I got screwed at the top mark in what can only be described as a hole from hell as the top 4 guys sailed away and I never got back in the game.

photo credit: Sergei Zavarin
Race 3 was run at 1:30 with the gust coming in a bit stronger.
Most of the fleet was well powered on the 10's.
I decided port was the way to go and got off the line well and had to match Ben's speed low angle in order not to get rolled. The difference was amazing as both our VMGs proved very fast upwind. At the top mark, CRad, Wells, Ben and I all came in hot just behind Al.
The lightweights escaped and got back to the breeze. 2 more upwind and down winds saw me putting everything I had to stay in the game with Wells and CRad and finally got the best of them on the last upwind by footing for speed with better VMG as the big puffs came down the course.
I managed to pass CRad on the last downwind and get off a better gybe and get going sooner to finish the last race in 2nd.
With Al clearly ahead taking all 3 bullets, it was a 1 point difference between 2nd and 4th with me getting the short end of the stick in 4th. Sometimes, that's how racing goes.
Overall, still happy with performance and new technique in the flood tide.
A huge round of thanks to the St. Francis Y.C for providing the resources and facilities to run 2 great days of racing on the city front. The race management is world class!

Almost forgot about Friday night racing at the club a few days ago.

Adam got some good video.
Enjoy

SF Classic

Jennifer Langille — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:13:00 +0000

The SF Classic is one of those races that gets me every time.
Billed as the oldest long distance windsurfing race in the World, it is a marathon endeavor putting competitors in some of the roughest spots on the San Francisco Bay.
The history of the race is almost more legendary than the race itself with the likes of windsurfing icons like Robby Naish, Ken Winner and locals Bard Chrisman, Steve Sylvester, and Mike Z all putting the names on the trophy over the years.
For a very interesting read on history of the event as well as development of the sport in it's peak years- check out the article Paul Henekin wrote about a mid fleet perspectice of the race from 1979-1989.
With 15 mark rounding from outside the Golden Gate Bridge, across the Bay 8 times and finally through the Berkeley pier AND BACK- there's always something that's gotten the better of me year after year.That is until this year.
Surprising even myself, I led around the course at every mark and took both the SF Classic and the UN Challenge- for the best upwind time from Berkeley to the finish line at the St. Francis Y.C.
Stoked is how I felt as I crossed the finish line nearly 5 minutes ahead of Mike Z and David Wells on the return trip home!
We had spend the previous week preparing for the Classic by running the top half of the course- getting down to Pt. Blunt and finally coming back home in winds exceeding 30 knots.
That training really helped me push the entire race- knowing to take each leg as its own race and concentrating on the feat in front of me.
Of course, when you're racing across the entire Bay- you cant forget about the big picture.
The tides played a huge factor in both the upwind and downwind legs of the course.

photo credit SERGEI ZAVARIN
The Formula fleet started around 2:15 in a raging flood tide.
My goal was to start on port and get out to any ebb- well at least out of the flood!
I won the start, having to duck 1 starboard tacker and taking the rest of the fleet.
Both Al and CRad had better speed on the first leg and sailed from below me to get outside the bridge first. We all tacked on what we thought was the layline to the red nun but it was apparent, the flood was going to get the best of us.
Al hit the flood tide first and immediately both CRad and myself tacked back once we realized it would take a few more tacks to windward to get around the windward mark- set in a huge patch of raging flood tide and voodoo chop. We both overstood the top mark- knowing quite well that once we hit the flood tide again, any progress to weather was in vain.
Again, I think being familiar sailing in the crazy voodoo chop helped.
I knew that you had to keep your power going through or else you were done.
That meant really bagging the sail out to get the most power and keeping the board moving.
I made sure to overstand the port layline again- making sure not to get swept down into the mark.

As I made my way back through the voodoo chop and downwind, I saw most of the fleet struggling in the first of many tests that would put some separation from the leaders and the rest of the fleet.
The mark boat set at the north tower was unusually deep and I had to make 3 gybes to get around it.
It too was set in a tide line made up of boiling, stood up waves with no easy spot to gybe.
Leading the reach to the Presidio shoal bouey, I knew I had to put some money in the bank so that I had some room to heat things up as it got lighter near shore.
Sure enough, the plan worked as I came screeching to a sudden stop in a few hundred meters from the next mark as the wind whittled down to just a few knots of breeze.
My nearest competitor- Al- was well to windward facing the same scenario but having to go dead downwind to reach the mark.
I got in and out as fast as I could and back up top outside the Gate.
This time, we had some company as the kiters were making their first attempt at rounding the top mark.
With considerably less upwind angle than the formula boards, it was a maze of sorts to find my way to the layline again ducking and pinching through the kite fleet.
I used the same strategy of overstanding and spending as little time upwind as I could in the flood tide.
It worked and I was off again in the lead.
I decided to gybe early to get back into the flood downwind and made my way to the mark set way inside the north tower.
Reaching down to Anita Rock, the flood tide made a velvety smooth water state where I really sent it deep- again making sure to compensate for the lighter breeze near shore at crissy field.
At this point, I had a pretty good lead but it was still early and anything could happen.
Soheil, Al and Wells were all pushing hard coming down from the bridge as I made my way across the Bay towards Angel Island and the next mark- Harding rock.
It was all pretty routine from there- if you can call beam reaching in 15-20k with a formula board routine.
I went from chicken strap to the double chicken- trying to find a comfortable position in each one of the reaching legs that sent us from Blossom Rock to Blunt to R2 to R4.
I tried to keep on eye on David and Al behind me but still had at least a half leg advantage but knew the pressure was on.
Going deep after R2, I kind of stumbled upon the Berkeley pier and the next rounding.
Mark X on the Olympic Circle lined up perfectly with the camels hump on Brooks Island.
Baring disaster, I knew I had it wrapped up and took the last leg easy to gain some needed strength before the next upwind.
Wells caught up considerably and was only 7 seconds behind at the finish gate.

I put the petal to the metal again and never let up the next 1 hour and 2 minutes it took me to reach the finish line at the St. Francis Y.C.
I knew I wanted to protect the right side where there would be less adverse flood tide and maybe even some ebb so I tacked with Wells and Al as it began to lighten up on starboard tack at the bottom of the course.
I had good angle on both of them lost track of them as we sailed up upwind towards Angel Island. At this point we were going through several conversing tide lines but I managed to spend the most time in the ebb- taking a route tacking back and forth between Angel Island and Alcatraz.
I was forced to tack earlier than I wanted with an inbound freighter coming down through raccoon straights but took another hitch back- almost all the way up to Harding where it really looked like I overstood the finish line but as I sailed across the Bay for the last time, I was well positioned for the adverse flood as well as one last obstacle- a red and blue ferry headed upwind straight in my line to the finish.
Should I cross or duck?
Not wanting to blow the lead I had worked so hard for all race, I took the conservative approach and ducked and squeezed past the finish line to take the bullet.

Arnaud was on the race deck capturing racers as they came across the upwind finish.

I think having equipment that I knew worked was another factor of my success.
Im pretty confident with the 2008 north 10.0 to provide the best range in the conditions we faced. I had the sailed dialed. I was running a 67 cm kashy xs fin on my starboard 160.

The kites were not so lucky and never got pasted the presidio shoal doldrums and had their race abandoned.
Sunday is another day of course racing with al least 3 races on the schedule.
Report to follow

Stay Tuned: Mark Foy Trophy is About To Start!

Jennifer Langille — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:58:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've chased around the 18 foot boys and sure wouldn't mind delaying the trip home from Sweden to make a side venture to France...especially when goodfriends are about to rip it up on these impressive skiffs. The next best trick, make use of the virtual resources to stay intouch with the boys and keep you posted here on anything juicy. For now, check out the site.

Puma's Rob Greenhalgh, winner of the JJGiltinan in 2004 is scooting over to France from St. Petersburg Russia to rejoin the class. The sailing is going to be hot when talent like that flies in. Though, we'll have to see if the heavy celebrations in Russia hinder his recovery time...the Volvo Ocean Race is not a gentle feeder to a skiff event!

In the mean time, packing up and getting ready to head home to catch up on sleep (hard to do when the days are 22 hours long!) and continue work with Mark Chisnell and crew working on the Volvo Ocean Race Book "Spanish Castle To White Night." I've read up through Chapter 6 and pretty excited about this book. It's not just for the sailor at all. Not at all. My cousin, advid snowboarder who dabbles in sailing was blown away and ordered three copies just to give away as gifts! We are a supportive family, but that usually means buying one, not three!

Taking that as my family's "thumbs up" for the current project.

There will be some good Volvo scoop to come and will be great fun to see what the sailors embark on after a well deserved rest. There are a few who've kindly agreed to let me peak back into their lives from time to time to see what they are working on while we all wait to learn more on who's returning for 2011-12. It would be great to think next week there'll be some press release confirming rumors of teams ready to commit, but that would be too quick. All good stories have a cliff hanger...

Medal Race Live-track Link from Kiel

Andrew Campbell — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:10:06 +0000

Here we are trying to chase down Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube at the medal race Wednesday:

There is some video from the 23rd and the Medal Race on this page: http://www.world-of-sailing.info/olympic-classes/star/. Look out for us, we’re black numbers USA-8241

Here is the link to our GPS tracking from last week in Kiel. What a great a feature to be able to playback the entire race! The weather was so uniquely nice in Kiel, you might well have wanted to be there to see it. Congrats to Mark and Mark for a great five race series. Good luck at the Europeans.

Full results here: http://results.regatta-info.de/result_details.php?results=2009-06-24_Star_Wettfahrt_5_Extra.xml

3rd in Medal Race, 7th at Kieler Woche

Andrew Campbell — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:20:37 +0000

Kiel finished up today in fine form with 8-12 knots of northerly breeze under clear blue sunny skies. We had a medal race scheduled for 12:20 this afternoon only 150 yards off the Kiel harbor entrance. The conditions were choppy from spectator traffic and quite shifty as the course was in the lee of the local town of Strande.

Brad and I could conceivably move from our 9th position at the beginning of the day to as high as 5th if all went just according to the ideal scoreline. We had to depend on too many scenarios to play out to worry about that so our goal was to break out and win the race. We won the startabout two thirds of the way down toward the pin. When the fleet on our hip eventually tacked we consolidated and lifted off the group in a nice lefty while pinching off the boats still to the left of us. Mark Mendelblatt and Mark Strube, the other American team in the medal race crossed behind us to the left in the last 300 yards of the leg and were able to snag a nice lift into the top. We rounded close behind in second. In an attempt to pass those guys, we gybed away and split from the group, but that turned out to be a loss of about three boats and we spent the rest of the race clawing back to a 3rd in the race. We were happy to find out that the 3rd sent us two spots up the scoreboard to take 7th in the regatta.

What a funny series we’ve had here: Only three days of racing two of which were one-race-days. Brad and I are happy with the finish after so many teens to start the regatta. I’m looking forward to securing a berth to the worlds in Sweden next month and hopefully putting up a decent score there.

We have one more World Cup event on the schedule: Sail for Gold in September in Weymouth, and with three top sevens in three world cup events, we might have a good shot to be top five at the end of the season.

There should be GPS tracks of our medal race online at the KielerWoche website. I’ll try and get a link up when I get back to the States.