| |
| When you want to sail low and fast without a spinnaker pole, ask about UKH's new A2 Runner. It makes your life easier for you to win. Shown above Marcel Liedts’ Beneteau 50 BLAUWVOET on her way to winning the Cruising Division of the 2009 China Coast Regatta. Guy Nowell photo. |
| |
| SUPER-SIZED SAILS MAKE THE MALTESE DIFFERENCE |
 ELUSIVE 2 Arthur Podesta's Beneteau First 45R won both IRC and ORC Class 3 in another stormy Rolex Middle Sea Race. Like the 2007 race, this edition of the 606-mile race that circumnavigates Sicily and Malta was a rough. During the four-day race, intense squalls rolled through and rolled-out boats in the middle of ink black nights. After battling the frequent squalls, Arthur's crew had to fight their way to the finish line in a light morning breeze to grab the victory away from Klaus Diederich’s and Grant Gordon’s Swan 45 FEVER.
 UK-Halsey France built a full set of MatriX Titanium sails last February, which was complemented by a very last minute extra-large Tape-Drive mainsail and a double-extra-large spinnaker made almost over night. The extra sail area gave ELUSIVE 2 the power that made the difference in the light-air push to the finish. Podesta said, “The shape of the new main totally transformed the performance of my First 45R, particularly in lighter airs.”
Podesta’s daughter Maya summed up the highs and lows of distance racing perfectly in this report from the boat on the last night of the race. "We're up two fish but down one spinnaker, two halyards, and one sheet, as well as being down two metres of our spinnaker pole. Despite all that we're still at it! We've managed to jury rig our broken pole well enough to fly a chute. Last night was frustrating as the wind died and changed direction. We went from a medium kite to a light, to a code zero, to the wind seeker and finally to the light No. 1 in a short matter of time, but finally we settled into the light southerly beat. Eggs and Bacon this morning helped keep our morale up, as we were surrounded by about 300 dolphins close to Pantelleria."
Podesta has now completed thirty races -- an unparalleled record and one unlikely to be matched for many years. His enthusiasm for the race continues to shine through, even when he has been in a battle, “This was as tough as the 2007 race, though perhaps not as treacherous. We hit our first major squall after Capo Passero and suffered an enormous broach. We recovered… eventually… and continued pushing forward. We had another enormous squall at Stromboli and then, all the way to Palermo, we had squalls every two or three hours. That made the race most tiring.” As reported by Maya Podesta during the race, much of the problem weather occurred during the pitch black of a moonless night and Podesta senior confirmed the added peril of hail and temperatures cold enough for a snow shower. A couple of hours after the finish and a good meal, Podesta laughingly confirmed that he would be returning next year.
This race is a family affair for the Podestas. In the crew were Arthur’s three children: Maya, Aaron and Christoph along with two cousins besides other regular crew.
|
|
|
| WHY YOU SHOULDN'T TACK IN THE ZONE |
 The following two-picture sequence provides visual evidence of why tacking in the zone at a windward mark is such a dangerous thing to do.
In the first picture, the boat on the left is on starboard tack and the boat on the right is either on port tack or has just passed head to wind and is tacking. (Her angle of heel would indicate she's still on port tack but her genoa seems to indicate that she has reached or passed head to wind.
In the second picture, the port tack boat has probably completed her tack or is just above a close hauled course and the starboard tack boat has luffed above close-hauled and the boats appear to be overlapped by a reasonable amount.
Let's look at the situation rule by rule.
THE RULES:
If the right hand boat is on port tack, Rule 10 ON OPPOSITE TACKS applies and states that …"a port tack boat shall keep clear of a starboard tack boat".
If on the other hand, the boat on the right has passed head to wind, Rule 13 WHILE TACKING applies. It says, "After a boat passes head to wind, she shall keep clear" of other boats until she is on a close-hauled course"
Right here it's worth looking at the first part of the definition of KEEP CLEAR. It says "One boat keeps clear of another if the other can sail her course with no need to take avoiding action…".
Clearly, given the proximity of the boats to each other and the apparent speed of the boat on starboard tack, "avoiding action" on her part is going to be a necessity. Whichever rule applies, the right hand boat is in tough shape!
So far, the presence of the mark and the fact that both boats are in the ZONE has had no impact on the situation. However, Rule 18.3 TACKING WHEN APPROACHING A MARK puts the nail in the coffin of the boat on the right.
Rule 18.3 applies when:
A. Two boats are approaching a mark on opposite tacks.
B. One of them changes tack and is subject to Rule 13 in the ZONE.
C. The other boat is fetching the mark.
Since all these conditions have been met, Rule 18.3 applies here. The rule goes on the say that the boat that tacked;
(a) shall not cause the other boat to sail above close-hauled to avoid her or prevent the other boat from passing the mark on the required side and
(b) shall give mark-room if the other boat becomes overlapped inside her.
The left hand boat appears to have overstood the mark but still had to luff above close-hauled to avoid the boat that tacked. Note that had she decided to duck under the boat that tacked (certainly a possibility), she would be entitled to mark-room.
Taken in sequence, there are a string of rules that the port tack boat could be protested for breaking. In each case, even if the issue was in doubt (obviously there is no doubt here), a Protest Committee is likely to come down in favor of the boat on starboard so this is truly a "no win" scenario.
What should the port tack boat do?
1. Don't go to the port tack layline. It's just asking for trouble.
2. If you find yourself there anyway (the wind does go left from time to time), consider bearing off and sailing fast so that your tack to round the mark will be outside the zone.
3. If you're on the layline and can do it, duck the starboard boat or boats. Giving up a couple of boatlengths is better than a DSQ.
4. If you're on the port layline and clearly crossing the starboard boat (s), don't tack at the mark. Continue on port tack and let the starboard boat(s) round inside you. Once again, you'll be giving up a little distance but that's better than the alternative.
Another factor to consider here is Rule 14 AVOIDING CONTACT.
The starboard tack boat is required to take avoiding action if he thinks the port tack boat is not keeping clear. A Protest Committee is going to listen carefully if the starboard boat says, " I altered course to avoid contact".
Even if his judgment of the distance between the boats is questionable, the PC is likely to give him the benefit of the doubt because he avoided contact.
|
|
|
| LIFTED TAKES 2009 J/80 NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP |
 (Lakewood YC, Seabrook, TX , Oct 23-25) This year’s 2009 North Americans did not lack for competition as the fleet includes four North American champions and three world champions in the 26-boat fleet. Past J/80 World Champion Kerry Klingler won the North Americans for third time in the last four years sailing LIFTED. His team included Doug Lynn, Bob Miller and Chris Fortin. This regatta was the end result of a racing program that started in the spring regatta at the Annapolis NOOD, and continued to the Buzzards Bay Regatta, Lake Winnipesaukee J-Jamboree, and finished at the North Americans.
For Kerry it was fun to compete at all these events. “Our dominance this year is the evolution of our sails and the fine tuning of our rig. We are faster than ever, and enjoy a slight speed gap that puts us on top of the fleet. One of the nice things is how well our sails hold up over time. We used the same sails over the whole year. I think our jib is just as fast now as it was when it was new.”
For the record 5 out of 8 races were won with UK Halsey sails. This is Kerry’s third North American Championship in 4 years, Kerry has won the regatta 4 times.
The series was fortunate with a great weather window, and had three good days of sailing. The first day was sailed in a 12 to 21 knot northlery, which is a shifty breeze on Galveston Bay. Staying in phase was the name of the game. The second day started with a high pressure system and no wind. The committee was smart and postponed in the harbor until noon. After the sea breeze filled in, three races were sailed in light winds that built to 10 knots. The final day provided a great sailing breeze with winds 10 to 16 knots. Overall the committee did a great job race management: good courses, square lines and fair beats.
|
|
|
| WE DID IT! |
We beat the boats we had to beat at the Sheldon Clark Regatta and we finished the year as the "Best Beneteau First 40.7 on Lake Michigan" and won the Boat of the Year award.
It was an extremely hard fought battle all weekend, primarily against TURNING POINT, LA TEMPETE and COLLABORATION. It came right down to the last few seconds of the final race on Sunday when EXCALIBUR beat COLLABORATION and only one boat (LA TEMPETE) was between COLLABORATION and VAYU. That did it!
After the racing on Sunday I received many calls, emails and texts from competing skippers and crew with their congratulations to the entire VAYU team. Notable among these are the very special and warm greeting from Dave Hardy, skipper and on behalf of the entire crew of TURNING POINT, who up until the very end were our primary rival in these series competitions. (Somewhat sadly, TURNING POINT, with their finish of 7th on the last race, was knocked out of the top three position in both series.)
 |
| Vayu crew Ed Radzikowski, Amy Becker, Wojtek Wolantkowski, Paul Molenda, Rob Rafson, Ron Buzil, Jenna
Herhold, Jason Navota, DS, Steve Zorn, Melissa Farrell. Not pictured: Lior Cohen and Nigel Brownett) |
What a great crew we had this year. Everyone did a great job, starting at our spring crew meetings in March and April, all of the boatyard and harbor work on VAYU through April, the practices in May, and all of the racing this season. I only wish that Nigel and Lior could have been there this weekend for the finale. Many thanks to Wojtek for delaying his trip to Poland so he could do bow and to Jenna for pitching in over the weekend. Of course, in many ways, Ben and Andrew were there with us, so thank you Ben and Andrew.
|
|
|
| COLUMBUS DAY REGATTA |
Rowing is Jim Green’s number one sport and he has rowed competitively since his teen years. So when he moved to Miami and took up sailing he promised himself that he wouldn’t get the sailboat racing bug.
And he hasn’t except that his Bavaria 44, BALI HAI, is a fast boat. When he got the boat it came with a roller/furling mast and the batten-less main kept it from sailing to its best potential. When it was time for sail replacement he went with an AirBatten main from UK-Halsey because he was told it would totally change the performance of his boat and add a knot of boatspeed upwind. Delivery of his new AirBatten mainsail did not disappoint; the improved boat performance was impressive. And when it was time for a new genoa, Jim offered to test a genoa with AirBattens. “The new genoa improved the boat’s performance yet again. The boat definitely points higher with the AirBatten genoa,” said Jim.
So much so that Jim decided to try just one race. The Columbus Day Regatta in Miami’s Biscayne Bay is more of a two day moving sailing party where everyone comes out for the camaraderie with other like minded but perhaps not so serious racing sailors.
After Saturday’s starting gun went off, BALI HAI cleared the line on starboard and tacked to port for a 10-mile fetch to the finish at Black Ledge. The wind was only 8-10 knots, but the boat took off. Not only were we were first across the line in our division, but we saved our time on everyone else as well. The overnight raft up was spectacular with hundreds of boat anchored off of Elliot Key in beautiful clear water.
The wind shifted to the north for the race back on Sunday and we had the same point of sail in less than eight knots at the start, but it built to 12 as the race went on. BALI HAI got rolling and never looked back and again was first to finish.
 |
| Pictured from left to right: Mitch Kernodle, Mark Wood, Ann Antonelli, and Jim Green receiving his trophy, (Jan Eller -- could not attend). |
The awards at Coral Reef Yacht Club were the following weekend and the Bali Ha’i crew is pictured with Jim Green accepting the Rookie Award for best finish for a first time Columbus Day Regatta Participant.
|
| |
|
|
|
| VELOCITY AND MATRIX VELOCE, A FAST COMBINATION |
Brian Carrick’s Beneteau 31.7 VELOCITY, racing with a brand new MatriX Veloce double taffeta mainsail and a MatriX Veloce carbon genoa, finished second in the Audi Winter Series on Sydney Harbour and recently won the PHS Overall in the Monica Geddes Sydney Harbour Islands Race.
Brian tells the story of winning the Geddes race:
By starting time the breeze had kicked in to 10-12 knots so realizing the fluctuations up-harbour we went with No 1. genoa. My strategy was to let the big boats go and then come in behind them to avoid being run over. That plan was soon forgotten in the run to the starting line. We found ourselves on the line above the 65-foot VANGUARD and ahead of the 66-foot BROOMSTICK. So we just kept going. We carried our masthead spinnaker from Sow & Pigs all the way to Snapper Island. For a while we were stuck under CAPRICE OF HUON and HP FARR LAP so after Fort Denison I slowed down, ducked behind and above the others to get away. On the final stretch to finish line the wind was around 18-19 knots. Not having time to switch down to a smaller sail, we eased out the genoa and moved back the leads to twist open the top of the sail to depower. We were able to hold this while close reaching until we finished. All-in-all it was a good result for VELOCITY & UK-Halsey Sails.
|
|
|
| COLLEGE OFFSHORE REGATTA SPECTACULAR |
 |
| Close racing was common throughout the two days of racing at the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta. Shown here is Miami of Ohio leading Cornell and Roger Williams. Andrea Watson photo, www.sailingpress.com |
UK-Halsey was a proud sponsor of the Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta run by the Storm Trysail Foundation and Larchmont Yacht Club in early October. This regatta has grown to become the largest college sailing event in the USA. Three hundred twenty seven college sailors from 31 schools raced on 40 boats that were divided into three one-design classes and two closely-rated IRC classes. The boats ranged in size from J/105s to J/44s.
The weather gods smiled, allowing six four-leg windward-leeward races over the the weekend in brisk 18-22 knot breezes one day and a more forgiving 10-15 knots on the second day.
The overall winner was the University of Rhode Island (URI) sailing on Richard du Moulin’s Express 37 LORA ANN in the IRC 35 class. Led by Jesse Fielding, the URI Sailing Team turned in a perfect score in all six races, which earned the team the Paul Hoffmann Trophy. “Our team enjoys this regatta because we learn a lot here,” said Fielding, explaining that his same team sailed together last year at this event, with “Professor” du Moulin helping them then, as well. The team used the knowledge gained to win the Kennedy Cup at the Naval Academy, and because of that victory, is the sole U.S. representative at the 2009 Student Yachting World Cup, being sailed this week in Marseille, France.
“This regatta could not happen without the generosity of the boat owners who not only lend their boats but lend their expertise onboard,” said Regatta Chair Adam Loory. “These guys come because we work hard to convince them that the regatta is a chance to give something back to the sport, but they return because they have so much fun with the kids learning from them and, at times, they learn from the kids.
When possible, boat owners are connected with the schools they graduated from or with the schools where their children are attending. Any school interested should contact Regatta Chair Adam Loory at adam@ukhalsey.com The regatta is open to all colleges and universities – anywhere in the world. There is no requirement that kids who attend are on an official sailing team; the participants only need to be undergraduates of the school they are representing. There are no other eligibility regulations.
For more information about the regatta, full results and pictures, go to: http://www.stormtrysailfoundation.org/intercollegiate.htm
|
|
| |
|
