JibeTalk

2013 Dennis Conner - Ed du Moulin Junior Match Race

Ed du Moulin, the founder of the Knickerbocker Cup, and Dennis Conner, America’s Cup skipper of Stars and Stripes, thought it would be a good idea in 1992 to set up a match race for the junior sailors on Manhasset Bay and offer the winner a trophy to be presented as part of the Knickerbocker Cup.

Called the Dennis Conner - Ed du Moulin Cow Bay Match Racing Trophy, the purpose is to promote match racing to young sailors, and to identify skilled young people who may continue match racing as an adult. Jack Parkin, with crew James Westerberg & Cooper Yeager, won this event in 2012.

This year, the Knickerbocker Cup Foundation and Manhasset Bay Yacht Club are pleased to extend an invitation to all junior sailors on Long Island Sound to apply for acceptance in the regatta, which will be held Saturday, June 1, 2013 (rescheduled from May 11).  Awards will be given during the 2013 Knickerbocker Cup Awards Ceremony on Sunday, September 1, and the winning team will get a chance to meet match racers from around the world that competed in this year’s Knickerbocker Cup.

Six teams will be accepted and will sail Ideal 18s provided by the organizer. The NOR and Application are available on the JSA website www.JsaLis.org.

 

2013 Carl Van Duyne Advanced Racing Clinic

American Yacht Club is proud to announce that it will be the host to the 2013 Carl Van Duyne Advanced Racing Clinic presented by the Long Island Sound Youth Sailing Team (LISOT) and the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound (JSALIS) from May 25th through May 27th.

Named for legendary Finn sailor Carl Van Duyne, this is the premier racing clinic for youth sailors on Long Island Sound and in New England. The clinic is aimed at experienced racing sailors who aspire to raise the level of their performance through three days of intense training both on and off the water.  Areas of focus will include boat set up, sail trim, mechanics, boat handling, tactics, rules, fitness and nutrition by elite coaches and winning sailors.

Headed by 2012 US Sailing Development Coach of the Year Steve Keen and organized by American Yacht Club’s Kevin Broome, the clinic’s coaches include Pepe Bettini (29er), Dave Dellenbaugh (420), Skip Whyte (420), Nikos Drougkas (420), Rob Crane (Laser), Anna Tunnecliffe, (Radial), Richard Feeney, (Nacra), and others.  Additionally, the clinic will include after sailing speakers who will address critical topics such as Rules, Strategy, Tactics, Fitness and Nutrition.

The clinic is open to any junior C420, I420, Laser, Radial, 29er or Nacra sailor from anywhere in the country who wants to raise their skill level through interaction with the best sailors on the planet. You are welcome to come join us on Long Island Sound and to sail with the best, on a first come first serve basis, (space is limited). It is an “open” clinic for advanced racing sailors – leave your resume at home and prove yourself on the water!  To be clear, this is not a “learn to sail” event. It is aimed at sailors who have experience in their particular boats and at racing in multiple events.

This is a bring your own boat clinic. Steve Keen can help arrange a limited number of charter boats from private owners for the I420, C420 and 29er. Additionally, Oakcliff Sailing has kindly offered to lend some of its Nacra 17 fleet for use by US Sailing Development Team Sailors. If you require housing, please contact Steve or Kevin and we will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Additional information is on the CVD Facebook page and will be posted as we near the event. If you would like to speak with Coach Keen about this event, charter boats or whether or not this is right for you please feel free e-mail him at keenracing@hotmail.com

If you would like to attend this clinic, please sign up now. To sign up please log onto the LISOT site. You will need to create an account, if you have not previously done so, after which you simply click on “create or delete sign up”. Use the pull down menu to select Van Duyne clinic, (make sure to select the appropriate boat class) and fill out the appropriate information. The fee for the event is $330 per person (not per boat). 

16-24 year old Match Racers

Activity in match racing and team racing in the U.S. has never been stronger.

Dave Perry, who is an active match racer, as both participant and coach, provides his perspective on this shift in this article from Scuttlebutt. 

Also check out the list of all the youth match racing opportunities in the USA during 2013 that Dave has prepared and posted on the US Sailing website.

We lose a lot of kids in the sport from 16-24 years old. I see those years as a "bridge" from junior sailing to adult sailing. College sailing is one of the "bridges" for sure, but many don't have the college sailing experience for whatever good reason (often their size is an issue, and of course where they go to school and what they choose to do with their time there, etc., etc.). So they need other "bridges" they can do and afford.

Most young adults don't have a dime to their name. If they are active, it's often with crewing on boats at their club or in their area. I doubt many are buying boats. So when clubs and other associations have programs where people can have access to their boats, that really helps.

We have seen a resurgence of 20-something sailors at my club (the Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, CT) since we began owning Ideal 18's back in the 90's. A dozen or so other clubs around Long Island Sound and elsewhere have similar programs. It is not uncommon for these sailors, as they get older, to want their own boats. We have a bunch of J Boats in our harbor now that race regularly. And in turn they take the younger kids as their crew.

Match racing and team racing are not usually ends unto themselves, but are other disciplines in the sport that excite sailors, accelerate their learning, and provide a "bridge" for that 16-24 year old group so they remain active in the sport.

At a recent North U match racing clinic in San Diego, the participants were sailors of all sorts of boats from Etchells to Snipes to Lidos to Lasers, etc. They won't stop sailing those boats if they enjoy match or team racing. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, these kinds of clinics are invigorating in my experience, helping what can become stale become interesting again...everyone benefits.

I encourage anything that raises the excitement level and expertise of 16-24 year old sailors, as I think those are the two ingredients to having a great experience in anything we do....and will provide the best "bridges" into adult sailing.

Check out the list of all the youth match racing opportunities in the USA during 2013 that Dave has prepared and posted on the US Sailing website. 

Train Your Own Trainer for Safe Powerboat and CPR/AED/First Aid Courses

There are various methods to assure your club’s junior instructors and coaches have the proper certification of important safety skills, such as Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, First Aid and Automated External Defibrillator (CPR/FA/AED) and Safe Powerboat Handling (SPH):

1) Delegating the task to the individual coach may be the most expensive, if your club provides reimbursement as a job benefit. Your coach must personally enroll in an available course before arriving for work in June. Typical prices for such individual training are $60-$130 pp for CPR/FA/AED and $175-$250 pp for a one-day Accelerated SPH.

2) More cost effective is hiring a qualified trainer to instruct at your club during instructor orientation in June. Typical prices for ten-person group training are $600 for CPR/FA/AED and $800 for one-day Accelerated SPH.

3) Most cost effective may be training your own club staff, or members, as in-house safety trainers, which can also allow more flexible course scheduling and be ideal continuing education certification for members of your professional staff.

There are two opportunities in March for training your own trainer:

- CPR/FA/AED: A course to gain certification as a CPR/FA/AED Instructor is being organized by Oakcliff Sailing Center, Oyster Bay NY, during two days in March to be determined. Oakcliff needs ten participants from LIS area programs to make this feasible, for a cost that is expected to be around $375 pp. Participants must have current CPR/FA from a real-life course, not online. Please contact Jay Kehoe, Oakcliff’s Training Program Director, to suggest dates for this course and get further information: jkehoe@oakcliffsailing.org or 410-320-3241 (cell).

- Accelerated SPH: The next course to gain certification as a Powerboat Instructor will be March 1-3 at SUNY Maritime College, Bronx NY. Sign up at this link, The training fee is $275 pp. Please contact Rob Crafa, Waterfront Director at SUNY, for further info: rcrafa@sunymaritime.edu  or 718-409-7460 (office).

Cost Summary: Here is a summary of the costs for each of these three methods of training, which shows how cost effective group training can be, especially the train-your-own-trainer method:

Type of Training for 10 persons     CPR/FA/AED                          SPH  
   1) Individual off site                      $600-$1,300                 $1,750-2,500
   2) Hire a trainer at your site                $600                             $800
   3) Train your own trainer                     $375                            $275
Note 3): Individual student study materials and allocation of salary for the staff trainer’s time will be added costs for each class your trainer teaches after becoming certified.

Race Management Seminars in US Sailing Area B

US SAILING is offering Race Management Seminars this winter and spring. The One Day Race Management Seminars (ODRMS) listed here provide the training and test for certification as a Club Race Officer, which is a new requirement for clubs hosting JSA sanctioned regattas in 2013.

To register, please use the Seminar Schedule on the US Sailing website: www.ussailing.org | Rules & Officials | Race Officers | Certification & Training | Race Officer Seminars, or this link.

March 2: ODRMS Indian Harbor Yacht Club ‐ Greenwich, CT (YRA‐LIS)
Fee: $55; Instructors: Lead ‐ Steve Purdy, Asst. ‐ Cynthia Parthemos
Club Contact ‐ Roger van Loveren: rvlarch@aol.com

March 23: ODRMS Manhasset Bay Yacht Club ‐ Port Washington, NY (YRA‐LIS)
Fee: $55; Instructors: Lead ‐ Steve Purdy, Asst. ‐ Sue Miller
Club Contact ‐ Rita Syracuse: ritasyr@aol.com

April 13: ODRMS Chelsea Yacht Club ‐ Chelsea, NY (Hudson River YRA)
Fee: $45; Instructor ‐ Steve Purdy
Club Contact: Mike Colucci: asax123@yahoo.com

April 20: ODRMS Milford Yacht Club ‐ Milford, CT (ECSA)
Fee $45; Instructors: Lead ‐ Steve Purdy, Asst. ‐ Ed Becker
Club Contact ‐ Candace McGovern: mcgovern.candace@gmail.com

April 27: ODRMS Stonington Harbor Yacht Club ‐ Stonington, CT (ECSA)
Fee:$50; Instructor: Steve Purdy
Club Contact ‐ Tamara Gorski: tamgorski@gmail.com

May 18: ODRMS Bay Shore Yacht Club ‐ Bay Shore, NY (Great South Bay YRA)
Fee: $45; Instructors: Lead ‐ Steve Purdy, Asst. ‐ John Mooney
Club Contact ‐ Glenn Schmidt: isailtuck182@optimum.net

June 1: ODRMS Larchmont Yacht Club ‐ Larchmont, NY (YRA‐LIS)
Fee: $55; Instructors: Lead ‐ Steve Purdy, Asst. ‐ Cynthia Parthemos
Club Contact ‐ Cynthia Parthemos: cparthemos@gmail.com

For questions not answered on the US Sailing website, contact Steve Purdy, Area B Race Officer,  areabraceofficer@comcast.net

New Year's Frostbite Regatta in Manhasset Bay

If don't have warm-weather plans for the holiday break, head over to Manhasset Bay to race InterClub dinghies on Dec 30 and Jan 1 (no racing Dec 31).

Ideal 18, Lasers and other frostbite one-design class sailors are also invited. Whatever you sail, you’ll be able to say that you ended 2012 and started 2013 in a boat! 

You’ll be part of the original regatta that started winter sailing back in 1932. In the 82 years since, this regatta has been among the most competitive in the country, attracting many of the best amateur and professional racers.  

These winter regattas led to massive growth in dinghy sailing and ultimately the start of collegiate dinghy racing. Frostbite sailors may take an occasional wintry bath, but they outrace the hibernators when spring and summer arrives, because their summer talents are sharpened by the multiple starts and short courses of winter sailing. 

The InterClubs are doublehanded, cat-rigged, roll-tacking boats that provide excellent short course racing that some say is the best dinghy sailing you can do outside of college. Borrowed ICs may be available, or you may find an opportunity to crew, if you reach out early enough to Peter Beardsley, commodore of the Frostbite Yacht Club, or Pedro Lorson, regatta chair.

 

Frostbite Yacht Club burgee

 

See the NOR with full contact and registration information on the Manhasset Bay YC website.

 

Helping After Super Storm Sandy

Yesterday we saw a notice from the Connecticut Red Cross encouraging volunteers to email if they would like to help in the aftermath of super storm Sandy.

And today we saw Facebook notices from Dinghy Shop in Amityville and Oakcliff Sailing in Oyster Bay asking for volunteer assistance.  

So we wondered if JSA LIS could use our media channels as a clearing house to connect the various junior sailing sites in our area that have cleanup needs with willing volunteers, including youths who are out of school this week.

Although many restoration activities will need to be done by professional workers, there may be simple tasks that are perfect for an enthusiastic volunteer working party, such as cleaning up flotsam, sand and mud from the premises.

Here is an example in which a high-school sports team helped a homeowner return sand from the front yard to a Westport CT beach.

If you know of a sailing program site in the Long Island Sound area that may be able to use volunteer labor, please email or phone the JSA LIS office so we can discuss how to inform our members about that service opportunity.

Bob Whittredge
JSA LIS Office
info@jsalis.org
914-834-4202       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parkin wins Junior Match Race Again

Jack Parkin (Riverside YC) triumphed for the second year in a row in the Junior Match Race series held at Manhasset Bay YC in late May of this year.

The Dennis Connor/Ed du Moulin Junior Match Race Trophy will be presented at the Knickerbocker Cup Awards Ceremony held today, September 2.

The winning team

Back in the 1980s, when the Knickerbocker Yacht Club was the organizing authority for the Knickerbocker Cup, Ed du Moulin, a past commodore of the Knickerbocker YC, and Dennis Conner got together and thought it would be a grand idea to have juniors match race for a special trophy. Please see www.knickerbockercup.org for more information, pictures and video.

Parkin bested Colin Kennedy (Port Washington YC) in the two match final. In the Petit Finals Tyler Justus Paige (Cedar Point YC jr. program) took three matches to beat Gregory Stebbins (Manhasset Bay YC) to claim third place. 

The junior match racers sailed a double round robin, with Kennedy and Parkin each scoring five victories in a puffy northeasterly breeze and cloudless skies. Parkin's crew were James Westerberg & Cooper Yeager. Kennedy’s crew were Howie Card & Jack Egan. Paige sailed with crew Zach Landeau and Stebbins raced with Madeline Simms. The match race series was sailed in MBYC’s Ideal 18 fleet. 

2012 Dennis Connor/Ed du Moulin Junior Match Race Trophy 
1.   Jack Parkin (Riverside YC), crew James Westerberg & Cooper Yeager
2.   Colin Kennedy (Port Washington YC, crew Howie Card & Jack Egan
3.   Tyler Justus Paige (Cedar Point Jr. Program), crew Zach Landeau
4.   Gregory Stebbins (Manhasset Bay YC), crew Madeline Simms

Special thanks to the Manhasset Bay Sailing Foundation and the Knickerbocker Cup Foundation for their sponsorship of this event. 

Photo credit: Ben Braden

A Reflection on the Beach Point Overnight Race

Casey Crowley is a Junior Instructor and Junior Big Boat Sailor from Black Rock Yacht Club.  Even before she started sailing Optis, Casey grew up sailing on her dad's boat and has ever since been particularly drawn to big boat sailing.  This fall, Casey will return to Ward High School in Fairfield as a junior, and plans to join the sailing team there in the spring.

Casey was at the Beach Point Overnight Race in August and thoroughly enjoyed her experience there!  Afterwards, she wrote this piece about her experience as a Junior Big Boat Sailor this summer.  Enjoy!

While the majority of my friends spent their summer poolside, tanning the day away, mine was spent on boats.  Junior sailing instructor by day, Junior Big Boat Sailing (“JBBS”) skipper by night (sounds exciting, I know), I had a thrilling summer on the water.  Weekly practices for Big Boats were held right outside our home port, Black Rock Harbor, where our team would participate in races against other (adult) boats from nearby on Wednesday nights. These races were in preparation for the Black Rock, Dorade and Beach Point Overnight JBBS regattas, which were all held in the past few weeks.  The Black Rock and Dorade were fun day races of course, however nothing extraordinary since they were just longer versions of what our team did on a regular basis.  The Beach Point Overnight, however, was a completely different story.

The Black Rock JBBS team of ten juniors, hosted on Chris Gill’s “Tenacious,” took to the Sound on Tuesday, August 14th in hope for an exciting and successful race.  For me and the majority of the crew, this was our 3rd year in the program, and none of the current members had ever taken home a medal, nor had anyone from Black Rock at all in several years.  We were all tired from the previous day’s Dorade race, but were still looking forward to the night to come.  We set sail around 3pm, and with me at the helm, we raced off to the first mark which was no more than two miles away.  Our start itself was a little shaky since we were almost early, and the start itself was at an odd heading.  However, we caught up with several boats upwind, rounded the mark, and set our spinnaker for the many hours to come.  We chose to keep to the middle of Sound and head straight for the next buoy.  For a change of pace around the second mark, we doused our spinnaker and headed upwind to Stratford Shoal lighthouse for a little bit.  Finally, we set the chute one more time and headed for the finish. But it’s never that easy is it?  With a generally clear sky we thought that, maybe, we had lucked out and got the good 50% of the forecast… “No no, that’s heat lightning…” “I don’t think we’re going to get hit…” “Maybe we’ll luck out…” “Oh… look… the lightning’s hitting ground now…”  And just like that, it’s pouring.  Now trust me when I say the weather would not make up its mind: it’s pouring and blowing 25 knots, then it’s pouring and blowing 0 knots, and then all of a sudden it’s not pouring at all.  Well played, New England.  At this point we really have no idea what place we’re in, but we think we’re doing decently.  Then finally, at about 2:30am (earlier than we’ve ever spotted it before), the finish line is in sight and the realization comes—only 4 other boats have reported that they’re nearing the finish, and only 2 in our division.  We were in line to do really well if we didn’t screw up in the next hour.  With more focus, determination, and not to mention the excitement that I’ve sailed with all year, I headed straight for the pin doing my best to never take my eyes off of it.  We finished at 3:18am on August 15th and took home 3rd place for the regatta.

Participating in the Beach Point Overnight for the past few years has been a terrific experience. It has opened a door to hundreds of opportunities in long distance sailing. It’s also made me realize how different long distance racing is from buoy racing.  For example, the day before the Beach Point Race, at the Dorade, a shackle broke, skying our spin halyard.  Luckily, a wind shift set us on a reach so we didn’t get killed for not having a chute, but we still had to send someone up the mast in between races.  However if this had happened during a distance race, every second spent fixing the problem would have been time taken from racing, while in short races the time can be made up by a better “next race.”

We welcome Casey as a contributing writer.  Do you have something to say and want to get it out to fellow junior sailors?  Contact us anytime throughout the year at news@jsalis.org or message us on Facebook, and we'll be happy to get you published here on JibeTalk!!

At Dorade, Sailors Look Outside the Boat

By Alison Brett, American Yacht Club

Cedar Point Yacht Club's crew on Expresso rushes to catch up with their competitors during the first race Monday morning.

Leave it to the Dorade to force sailors from western Long Island Sound to be on their game.

18 boats competed at the Dorade Regatta—the annual one-day junior big boat event hosted by Stamford Yacht Club where sailors compete for a trophy donated by Rod Stephens that commemorates Dorade’s win in the 1931 Transatlantic Race—last Monday, August 13.

For boats such as Shakedown from Centerport Yacht Club, the Dorade provided an opportunity for junior sailors to apply boat handling skills learned and to take those skills to a higher level.
In their first race, at the windward mark, Shakedown adult advisor Michael Sterflinger said that three sailors on the boat could tell they had started on the wrong side of the course. Looking outside their boat and paying particular attention to boats ahead, they noticed there were lifts and better breeze on the right.

In the second race, Shakedown approached the windward mark from the right, not the left. As a result, in the next two races, they finished first, allowing them to place first overall in the PHRF 2 division. Larchmont’s Peregrina and Morning Glory came in second and third in this division, respectively.

In the PHRF 1 division, where five of the faster boats raced, Noroton’s High Noon took first, American’s Patriot took second and Pequot’s Strategery took third.

Race Committee poses for a photo in between races.

For Shakedown, the win in the PHRF 2 division seemed to be a result of practice with boat handling as well as attention to boat speed during the race. As several boats had problems with sets and jibes during the downwind leg, team practice paid off.

“The CYC kids had the opportunity to do some drilling with the owner over days leading up to the race,” Sterflinger wrote. “They were comfortable with the boat handling and this gave them the opportunity to look outside the boat.”

Although adults were on big boats at the Dorade, it was junior sailors on the boats who ran the show.

“I think [the most memorable part] was how well the kids were working together. All of them were very much into it and paying attention,” said Sterflinger.

He added, “The kids are far better tacticians than I will ever be.”

Norwalk Yacht Club sailors on Bangarang sit on the windward side of the boat in an attempt to flatten it.

Not only did the Dorade allow junior sailors to take the reins racing big boats, but it also provided an extra day of racing experience for sailors racing in the Beach Point Overnight Regatta on Tuesday.

Winds ranged from 5 to 10 knots and shifted up to 40 degrees at times. The Race Committee ran three races for each division.

For full results, see YachtScoring.com.

Photos are in a Facebook album here.

Alison Brett is a freelance writer and photographer for several local publications in Rye, NY. She is currently a senior at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Greenwich, CT, where she is an editor, writer and staff photographer for the school's newspaper, The King Street Chronicle. Alison is a former Junior American Yacht Club C420 / Laser sailor who sailed in the Dorade last year. We welcome Alison as a JibeTalk author. If you also have a story and would like to contribute, please contact us and we'll get you published on JibeTalk!