51: It was the last day of frosbiting today and we finally had a cold and windy day. I had the wrong gloves on and my hand were so cold I had to sail in after the first race to warm up and switch to heavy neoprene gloves. I had a bunch of 1’s and 2’s but finished third for the day with a DNS. I won the season which was the real goal.

50: Another fantastic Laser Sunday with beautiful weather. The wind was out of the south west at zero to twenty knots with 20 degree shift. Current was running slightly upwind but mostly right to left. Starting was tricky with the current. I had a good day. Stayed consistent and probably won the day. I had to leave before the awards to get some work done, exams next week.

49: We had a beautiful day on the river today. The wind was only ok, about seven knots, but the weather was nice. There wasn’t too much current so we could get around the course with no problem. The best part was that we had 17 Lasers on the line. I managed to have all top three’s with some good comebacks and won the day.

48: No wind and no Laser racing in Essex today. We went out and sailed a little untill the wind compoletely dies and the current started taking us down river.

The Result of our Hobie 16 North Americans Appeal is at the link below.

http://www.ontariosailing.ca/media_lib/PDFs/Appeals_History/OS_Appeal200902Final.pdf

Snow and Satisfaction Regatta
Yale Corinthian Yacht Club
November 6-8

The regatta began on Friday in a strong northeasterly with puffs in the high teens. 4 races were sailed with the Zach Brown/emmet Smith combo putting in a dominant performance with only 10 points. Saturday morning greeted sailors with an 8-10 knot southerly that lasted until about 3:00 when racing was called for the day and the festivities began in earnest. Sunday's 9:30 report time was painful for many, especially when LIS showed its glassier side. The postponement was short-lived, however, as the southerly re-emerged and allowed for four races before completely shutting off around 2:30. The Race Committee's undue faith in the breeze unfortunately led to no remaining pressure for the crew race. Congratulations (and awkward handshakes) to Michael and Marla Menninger on their strong performance over three very different days.

Many thanks to all the competitors who make the Snow such a fun and memorable event. Thanks also to the many Yale sailors and alumni who made the event possible through their work both on and off the water.

1. Menninger/Menninger 9 10 11 1 9 6 1 2 9 3 1 4
9 19 30 31 40 46 47 49 58 61 62 66

2. Storck/Anderson 5 13 2 2 10 5 4 3 13 10 8 3
5 18 20 22 32 37 41 44 57 67 75 78

3. O'Reilly/Jackson 11 2 15 8 2 3 8 4 3 7 6 11
11 13 28 36 38 41 49 53 56 63 69 80

4. Brown/Smith 3 1 3 3 11 7 OCS 8 7 14 3 2
3 4 7 10 21 28 49 57 64 78 81 83

5. Farrar**/Kinsolving 7 4 5 16 1 14 16 10 2 4 2 7
7 11 16 32 33 47 63 73 75 79 81 88

6. McNay/Hession 4 6 1 5 5 10 OCS 1 18 5 11 6
4 10 11 16 21 31 52 53 71 76 87 93

7. Morris/Beck 10 8 14 17 3 2 2 13 5 9 4 17
10 18 32 49 52 54 56 69 74 83 87 104

8. Hughes/Martin 13 5 17 14 4 9 9 5 11 6 5 14
13 18 35 49 53 62 71 76 87 93 98 112

9. Ingham/Gardener 12 3 8 4 16 8 15 16 1 11 14 5
12 15 23 27 43 51 66 82 83 94 108 113

10. Ferrarone/Killion 1 11 13 15 17 1 5 9 8 8 15 15
1 12 25 40 57 58 63 72 80 88 103 118

11. Law/Gibbons-Neff 6 12 16 7 12 11 3 18 10 2 13 9
6 18 34 41 53 64 67 85 95 97 110 119

12. Eweing/Seibert 2 17 9 12 6 12 17 17 14 19 7 10
2 19 28 40 46 58 75 92 106 125 132 142

13. Carapiet/Fernandez, DNSDNSDNS10 8 18 12 12 4 13 9 1
Zimmerly, Foreman, Warner 21 42 63 73 81 99 111 123 127 140 149 150

14. Hogan/Fernandez DNSDNSDNSDNS7 4 6 6 6 17 10 12
21 42 63 84 91 95 101 107 113 130 140 152

15. Merrick/May 17 7 4 9 20 13 10 15 17 12 19 13
17 24 28 37 57 70 80 95 112 124 142 156

16. Combs/Dorfman 8 9 10 18 19 17 11 19 OCS1 18 8
8 17 27 45 64 81 92 111 132 133 151 159

17. Vrolyk/Elliman 15 18 12 6 15 15 7 14 19 20 12 16
Kurzrok/Warner 15 33 45 51 66 81 88 102 121 141 153 169
Struckett/Benedict

18. Rabin/Tombari 18 16 6 13 18 16 14 7 20 16 17 DNF
18 34 40 53 71 87 101 108 128 144 161 182

19. Enright/Emhiser 16 15 7 11 13 29 13 29 15 15 29 DNF
16 31 38 49 62 82 95 115 130 145 165 186

20. Macky/Macky 14 14 18 19 14 19 OCS11 12 18 16 18
Kurzrok/Schuyler 14 28 46 65 79 98 119 130 142 160 176 194

**Saturday record holder: 36 sec.

47: Snow and Satisfaction
Friday: We had nice breeze out of the North West and had four races.
Saturday: Wind was out of the South West. We had for more races and lots of general recalls.
Sunday: I think we had three races. Wind was light out of the South.
We didn’t sail very well. I’m a bit off the pace in a 420 these days.

44: We spent the day bucking the current in Essex. The day started with a nice 10 knot + North Westerly but was dying all day. In the first race I got out right and to the shore (out of the current) before anyone else and never looked back. I won the next race but it was more of a fight around the track. I went low on the second reach (triangle) and got past Matt and Dave.
In the following races I kept loosing boats on the last beat. I’d get around the windward mark first and be way ahead as soon as I got around because of the current. But when everyone got to the leeward mark we were barely making it upwind so there were big opportunities to pass on the last beat. Dave Price is racing with us this season and won a race today. Good to have another fast boat out there.

43: Laser Frosbiting in Essex started today. We were blown out last week.
The wind wa out of the NW at 10 to 15 with less than normal current. I had a good day winning a few races. I havn’t sailed a hiking boat since the Spring so my legs are a little sore. Fortunately the wind died a bit for the last few races.

Geoff gave a rules seminar at Rock Hall this year on rule 18.3 and posted it on Youtube. Check it out.

42: Sharkey’s Cup:
Saturday started off with light air out of the south but was building all day. We had four races and the last 2 and a half were in about 15+ knots. Finally we had some good double trapping and de-powering. 2o boats showed up with some great competition. We had two 3’s a first and a 7th for the day to stand in second behind Mark and Sandra counting three firsts and an OCS.
Sunday started off light and built a bit for some on and off double trapeezing. We had three races. Our first race we had a great start but went to the wrong side and had a terrible result. Race two we had a terrible start and messed up again. Finally in the third race we got a good start at the pin and managed to win the race.
Mark and Sandra won the regatta, and high points for the season. We finished second winning a tiebreaker with Geoff and Krista.

40: Roton Point
Saturday: Wind was out of the North and shifty/puffy. We had about 12 Hobie 16's in the fleet. There was also a F18, A cat, Hobie 21 and open start. We had not so good starts but worked our way through the fleet to win most of the races today. We had 5 races in all.
Sunday: No wind no racing. We won the event. Ken and G were second and Cliffy was third

39: An uneventful drifter. We drifted poorly.
results

37: Barnegat Breezer
We had three light air races over the weekend. So much for the hurricane.
Results

Michael Bagley should have some pictures on his blog

Some recent pictures.

35: Well we won the silver fleet. Woopdy freeking doo. I guess that's just the way things go some times.

32: The mast stayed up today. Race 1 was light and we got stuck behind a pack of boats before the satrt and were dead in the water. We had to tack out to the unfavored side. We had good runs and got to the left on the next beat passing boats. We finished 23rd. Not so hot.
The next race, was still light, we started at the pin but had another bad start. Fortunately we were able to foot left and tacked before the group getting a clear lane. We rounded in the top ten. On the run we passed some boats and rounded the gate first. We headed out left but some boats got their own puff and lifted inside of us. We were third at the windward mark and the course was shortened. So we got a third. Unfortunately the wind shut down for the day and that was it. Not enough to make the Glod fleet. We needed four races today after not finishing any races yesterday.

31: Day One Qualification Round
Rain all day and we didn't get out on the water until about 4:00. Race 1 we had a good start at the boat and were going well but to the wrong side. We rounded in the top ten. The run was good and we passed a few boats. We were forced to the wrong gate and went the wrong way on the beat again but were still around 10th. On the starboard layline we noticed the bridle shackle was coming apart so we quickly headed down wind but the mast dropped anyway. We got towed in and were done for the day. They ran 2 races so we are in a tough spot to make the Gold fleet.

We leave for Italy and the Hobie European Championship tomorrow. I just counted 118 Hobie 16's registered for the Open event.

http://www.hobieuropeans.com/

30: A difficult week for us. We got thrown out of another race Friday for room at a leeward mark. We finished 17th. I’ve sent an appeal in to the CYA on our first DSQ so it should be interesting to see how that goes. I’ve never appealed a decision before.
Mostly it was upwind speed that we were lacking this week.
We get to try it all again next week at the Europeans.
Lots of great pictures here.
Results here

29: Another bad day going slow up wind. We sailed the second race with one rudder up even though it wasn't quite windy enough for that and it went a little better. I'm thinking our rudders are not set up correctly. We checked them after sailing and took out some of the toe-in.

28: Well not a good race and we got a DSQ to boot. I still don't feel like we fouled after looking at the photographs but c'est la vive.

Here's the picture from the Facts Found by the jury. We are the green boat found to be tacking to close to the yellow boat.

27: A little better today. The wind was light from the east. First race we had a good start and got out left to the favored side but our speed was not good. We got rolled 3/4 of the way up the leg and had a bad position at the windward mark. We had a good run and raked a bit more to help us point. We managed a 6.
Second race was difficult. We had to tack out after the start then had to do a crash tack to avoid a starboard tacker. We were in about 40th at the windward mark. There was a big left shift and so the run was a fetch. on the next beat we got hard left and got a good left shift and puff to get us back into the game. We finished 21st.
Last race for the day we were set up for a good start until someone luffed us on the line at about 20 seconds. Both of us ended up in irons at the start. We tacked out and went right and rounded in about ten. We jibed on some good shifts on the run and got into first. We managed to hold our lead for the next lap but the Guatemalan kids got us at the finish and we got a second.

26: A difficult first day at the North Americans. Race 1 we won the pin in single wire conditions but way up and down. Our speed was not great so we fell back a bit. Liza fell off the boat and we lost a few there. We got it together on the last two laps for a finish in the teens.
Race 2 was better. We won the boat end but and worked left but our speed was not great and we could only manage a 6th.
In the last race of the day we were set up for a great start at the pin when someone tried to win the pin via dip start and crashed into the pin boat. We had to pinch around them and were way deep before we got going again.
Tomorrows another day to try again.

Getting the boat ready and weighed. Maybe get out for a short sail this afternoon.

Getting on the road to Kingston at about 11:00

Packing the car. Open Championship starts Monday.

25: Newport Regatta
I stepped onto a good F18 with a great crew for the weekend. The results are here. We had speed to burn and that was all we needed. Thanks to Trpp Burd for the invite and for talking me through all the moves.

Pictures



Even More Pictures

23: More practice at Pettipaug.

22: A good day of practice at Pettipaug today. The wind was good but shify and puffy so we had lots of in and out work on the trap.

I got all new rigging from Murrays and didn’t specify the lengths which was a mistake. The bridle dimensions where fine 3 ft 8 inches. The forestay was too short and the shrouds were on the long side. The longer forestay required that I put the second adjuster-plate back on the bridle (like on most 16’s). This drives me crazy. Of all the places to add extra weight the bow is probably the second worst, second only to the top of the mast. My old forestay was exactly 19 feet long, and it was perfect (no extra adjuster required). The old shrouds were 18 feet 11 inches and I had them pinned three holes up from the bottom of the adjuster plate. The new ones need to go all the way to the bottom which makes me uncomfortable because I can only adjust them in one direction.
What I do like about the Murrays rigging is that they use less weight aloft. The trap wires only use one ring for each side and the forestay doubles up with the jib halyard tail in the same way.
The moral of the story is if you order new rigging go with 18’ 11’’ on the shrouds and 19’ on the forestay.

21: We put all new riging on the 16 and set it up at Pettipaug YC for the weekend. Not much wind today but we drifted around for a bit. It looks like we will have some wind tomorrow.

20: Sonar race at Sachems Head today never happened. We sailed out in good breeze but it died before the first race.

19: Slow motion sailing tonight, but we did get 13 Lasers on the water.

Spray Beach Pictures

18: Spray Beach. Tough weekend. Right before the first race our mast fell down when the bridle shackle came open. We got a tow back to the beach and got out for the second race. The wind was about 15 knots and our speed was great. In that race and in the third race we had bad starts but won the races by picking our way back through the fleet. The last race of the day we finished 5th but withdrew after a miscommunication about room to tack.
Day two started out light and very shifty. In the first race we had another bad start but worked our way through the fleet to win. The breeze picked up for the next two races. In race three we were doing ok when Liza fell off the boat because her trapeze ball came out of the harness. We got back in there and finished 9th. We got a fourth in the last race.
Mark and Gladice had nice consistent scores to win the weekend.
Full results here.
Should be some pictures on the way also.

16: Laser Thursday. Light and rainy afternoon. 4 races up and back. Marcus came out of the hard right to win the first race. Second race I lead at the top mark but got ground down and passed by Mark on the run. I won the third. In the last race I was winning half way down the run but Marcus passed me at the finish from the other jibe. Nice work.
Three two's and a one for he night.
Spray Beach this weekend.

15: Sandy Hook Catamaran Club Regatta
Race 1 on Saturday was light out of the North West. We had a bad start and tacked out right then tacked back short of layline. We got left in the last quarter of the beet and got a left hand shift that got us back in the top group. After a good run we got up to second and held that for the finish.
Race 2 started light out of the North West we had a good start and went left. We tacked to port on Modermans hip but had trouble holding our lane. We rounded in third. On the run there was a 180 degree shift and we were beating to the gate. The RC shortened course and one boat rounded the gate wrong so we moved up to second.
We got in an additional two races in the seabreeze. I forgot what happened exactly but we had the boat going well and got a 1,3 to finish the day.
Sunday looked like it was going to be a no wind day but the sea breeze filled in at about 10 knots and we had two god races. We won the first race of the day going fast upwind and down wind. On the second race we had a bad start, rolled at the pin. Good speed got us back into third at the top mark. After that we started making a lot of risky moves and kept doubling down on our losses. We finished 7th. our throw out.
We won the regatta.
Full results are here.

13: Thursday night Laser sailing has started at Niantic Bay YC. We had two very light air races with seven boats. I managed to drift to the front of both races.

Madcatter Pictures from Michael Walker

12: Madcatter
We sailed out to the course this morning and started to get tuned up but the wind was so strong I didn't think they would even get a race off. We sailed back to the beach along with most of the fleet. They did get one race off with about 9 finishers total.
Mark and Sandra won the race and the regatta on a tiebreaker.
Rich and Bev were second.
Team Bisesi was third.

Results

11:Madcatter
Only one race today before the storm came through. We had a good start but Cliff was pinching below us. The Korz team rolled us to windward so we tacked. We did ok on the right side but were a bit too raked. We rounded the top mark in about fifth. We had a good run but didnt pass anyone. On the second beat we found some holes and lost a few boats. Towards the end of the second run there was a big right shift. We rounded the starbord gate behind a pack of boats but we were able to tack before the group. By this time the shift was bringing lots of wind and we were close reaching towards the windward mark. We rounded in second and had a nice trapeeze reach to the finish. A lucky second. Figueroa/Burrios won the race. Cliffy and DIane wereg right behind us in third.

Liza's plate. Now that's dedication.

The Speedy Ricans
I just like this video.

10: Four races today. I was winning by a point going into the last race then had my worst race of the series with a 6. I got third for the day. T Hotch won with D Peck in second. I won the series.
Can't wait for MadCatter!

9: Went for a nice harbor tour after work.

8:What a day. It was about 80 deg with wind. Dave Peck showed up and we had nice duels all afternoon. Race 1 had wind out of the North, puffy and shifty. Dave got a better start and got to the first mark well ahead. He got stuck in a few holes on the reaches and I closed the gap. After a last beat with lots of tacks I just got around him at the finish. Race 2 played out the same way but this time Dave held me off on the last beat. In race 3 Dave won the start but I got a little more wind to the right and rounded in first. He gained a bit when the wind shifted 180 deg as the seabreeze filled in but I held him off by a boat length.
Race 4 had nice wind out of the south. We rounded the windward mark overlapped with Dave ahead but I got inside at the jibe mark and won the race. Race 5 we were both over early and Doug took the win. I won for the day with Dave in second and Doug in third.

7: After drifting around for a while the wind filled in from the south at about 15 knots. I had a good start in race one and managed to hold off (the new guy) Dave Peck.
The second race was playing out the same way but I had a terrible leeward mark rounding and the tiller extension detached. I thought it was broken and started to head in until I realized that it just came unsnapped and could easily be re-attached. Last place for that race.
I won the next two races after some great battles with Peck. He got me in the last race of the day. Dave Peck won the day. I hope he comes back next week.
The RC took some pictures of the racing today.

6: Good day today. I won all the races. It was rainy but the wind was good.

5: Another beautiful day, over 50 degrees with nice wind but very shifty. I started off with two bad races, two fours. The rest of the day was a little better, two 2’s and a 1.
I think Matt Flood won the day. He sailed great winning more than half the races.

I got video of the first three races before the battery went dead. It's not too exciting but it's fun to play around with.

Working on the 2009 Regatta Schedule

May 3 Last Day of Frostbiting
May 16-17 Madcatter
June 6-7 Sandy Hook
June 13-14 Spray Beach
July 4 Statue of Liberty
July 11-12 Sail Newport Regatta
July 20-24 North Americans, Kingston, ONT
August 3-8 Europeans, Lake Como, ITA
August 29-30 Barnegat Breezer
September 12-13 Shore Acres
September 19-20 Roton Point
October 3-4 Sharkey’s Cup

4: No wind today. We went out for about a half an hour then canceled racing. I did get to check out a new camera mount I made for the Laser. I made some boring video.

3: Tim Hotchkiss takes the day by a point. We went back and forth all day and went one two in the last race with Hotch taking it. We were both over early in separate races Hotch ground back to a second in his and I only got back to third in mine.

Some bad footage below of my OCS race from the lifejacket cam.

2: Another beautiful day Laser sailing on the river. The wind was a little lighter than last weekend but still a bit over five knots. I only won few races but stayed consistent to win the day.

1: Great day on the water. Temperatures were in the 50's and the wind was about 15 knots out of the North West. The wind died out about half way though the day. I won most of the races but they were all close.

Laser sailing starts this Sunday and the weather looks like it will be nice.

There are bigger, faster, fancier boats. And we have bigger, faster, fancier boats too. But the 16 is tough to beat, and was the real key to everything.. If I was going to recommend a boat to a friend for he and his wife want to sail and maybe get into racing, I'd say “get a 16.” They’re easy, they’re not overly expensive, you’ve got a big class to race in – and you can use your wife or kid as crew. When you start getting a little bigger, you’re kinda taking the wife out of the crew thing. With the Tigers and those boats flying hulls and everything it's much more athletic, but the 16’ class is just perfect for couples. With the more modern race boats, unless you've got an old enough kid, you've got a bunch of guys racing against each other – it kind of breaks things up. With the 16, with you and the wife doing it, you spend the whole weekend together. That's what the boat did – it put people together.

- Hobie Alter