JibeTalk

Big Winds and Fierce Competition Meet Sailors at JSA Laser/C420 Champs

Usually, it’s hard to find a good breezy day on the Long Island Sound, but at the 2014 JSA Laser/C420 Championship Regatta hosted by Shelter Island Yacht Club, the tides took a change with big winds, lots of waves, and fierce competition.

“It was really choppy out there,” Hector McKemy of AYC told me. “We had to get used to [the waves] fast when we got out there.” Conditions were fantastic, allowing the race committee to take full advantage of the two-day regatta, getting in 11 races for both Laser Standard and Laser Radial, and eight races for the C420 class. “We started late and ended late,” Connor Chapin, a sailor from Larchmont Shore Club told me about the first day of racing. “The race committee really knew what they were doing.”

Junior Sailors were grateful for the housing that Shelter Island Yacht Club members provided after a long drive out to Shelter Island by those who live in the western Long Island Sound area. At the end of the first day, sailors were drained from the grueling day of sailing, and most crashed into their beds before the curfew of 9:00pm.

The second day of races brought more wind and waves, with the race committee getting six more races in for the Laser classes.

“There was some great competition out there,” LSC sailor Alex Kirchgaesser said to me. “You’re racing against the top sailors in the JSA, so you know you’re going to have some good races.”

After heading back in on the second day, and after protests, food and ice cream sandwiches, the results were announced to a huge crowd on the main green of SIYC. 

In the C420 class, Will Gallagher and Jack Knowles from Larchmont YC took first place. In the Laser Radial class, Collin Alexander of American YC snagged the gold, and in Laser Standard, Will McKeige of American Yacht Club took home first place for the second year in a row. 

For full race results, please go the JSA’s regatta documents page.

 

6th Annual Jr C420 challenge regatta at SUNY Maritime

Patience was the key to the 6th Annual SUNY Maritime College Junior Challenge for Club 420 sailors. 

After a nearly four hour postponement the first of six races went off at 5:33 p.m. Thirty competitors representing Eastern Connecticut Sailing Association, Great South Bay Yacht Racing Association, Hudson River yacht Racing Association, Long Island Sound Junior Sailing Association and Peconic Gardiners Junior Sailing Association sailed in a steady 10 knot breeze. Each sailing association had three 420s representing them on windward/leeward courses in the East River between the Throgs Neck and Whitestone bridges. 

Typical of racing at SUNY Maritime College, race four was called off with one minute to go before the start to allow a barge to pass through the race course.  A special thank you to Maritime Sailing Coach/Bellport Bay YC Race Coach Zach Runci and The Waterfront Center’s Sailing Director Alicia Martorella for running efficient, quality races, including getting the sixth race off just minutes before the 7 p.m. deadline.

The Junior Sailing Association three-boat team from western Long Island Sound region won the day with best combined fleet race scores among the teams. Taegan Blackwell/Aisling Quirke of American YC received the best individual fleet score and Edward Lebens/Greta Farrell of the Waterfront Center were only three points away as second individual score. In the final race Julia Reynolds/Chase Reynolds of Pequot YC finished their best race of the day in the #2 position, gaining a 1-2-3 finish sequence for the JSA of LIS boats in that race.

For full race results, go to the JSA website regatta results page.

U.S. Junior Sailing Championships 2014 Preview

A talented collection of the top young sailors in the country have arrived in Northern Michigan and are eager to test themselves this week in single-, double-, and triplehanded competition on the waters of West Grand Traverse Bay. The Chubb U.S. Junior Championships is US Sailing’s most historic junior regatta. Racing at this US Sailing National Championship, hosted by Grand Traverse Yacht Club and Traverse Bay Community Sailing, gets underway Wednesday, August 6 and concludes Friday, August 8.

First sailed in 1921, the championship is recognized as one of the preeminent youth sailing events in the United States. Almost 900 sailors compete regionally to win a place at this championship in one of three fleets. Competing sailors range in age between 13 and 18. Each Area is eligible to send at least one sailor / team to compete in each of the fleets.

US Sailing Area B sailors participating in the event are:
- Triplehanded: Dwight Greenhouse, Collin Alexander and William Gallagher 
- Doublehanded: Matthew Kaplan & Sean Walsh and Timothy Greenhouse & Oliver Parsons
- Singlehanded: Jared Gaynes and Sam Morrell 
and we wish them the best of luck over the next three days.

Racing will take place in the Interlake, Club 420, and Byte CII. The equally matched Club 420 and Byte CII are supplied by Zim Sailing, one of the sponsors of the championship.

There are 2015 U.S. Youth Championship implications on the line this week. The top two single- and doublehanded teams not already qualified and finishing in the top 30% of competitors will receive early acceptance to the 2015 U.S. Youth Championships in a doublehanded boat of their choice. Teams must apply for the 2015 U.S. Youth Championship to be eligible. 

There is much more to this championship than racing. A one-day racing clinic led by US Sailing’s Junior National Coach Richard Feeny will be held prior to the start of the championship on Tuesday, August 5. Feeny will be joined by an impressive roster of coaches from around the country, including Cappy Capper (University of Minnesota Head Coach), Matt Lindblad (MIT Co-Head Coach), Mike Kalin (MIT Co-Head Coach), and John Pearce (George Washington University Head Coach). Instruction will cover charter boat assignment, rigging and handling of the boats, starts, and practice races. 

 

A College Sailing Night, sponsored by Gill, is scheduled for Thursday, August 7. This is a special opportunity for these young sailors to learn the ins-and-outs of college sailing and what it takes to race at the next level.  

For more about the Junior Championships, check out the US Sailing event website. 

 

Day-In-The-Life of a Junior Instructor

Name: Adriano Atallah 

Age: 15

Teaches at: Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club Junior Sailing Program 

Resides in: New Rochelle

Sailing Experience: Two Years 

 

"All of our consulers in training are perpetually helpful to have as sailing instructors. Not only can they lend us a second pair of ears, eyes, and hands, but it also helps prepare them for the responsible role which they will presumably endow." Says Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club Head Instructor Caroline Farina. 

For this article, I took a look at a day for Adriano Atallah, a Junior Instructor at Horseshoe. 

Adriano Atallah usually wakes up at 6am. Not because he’s he needs that long to get ready for the day, but because he’s studying Latin for school and Arabic out of interest. After an hour of studying, Adriano eats breakfast, packs his lunch and heads out. Commuting by bike, he leaves his New Rochelle house at around 8am to get to Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club at 8:30. Then his work day begins. Campers arrive at 9am, so for the half hour before kids are at the club, Adriano and the other instructors get ready for the day. This could consist of planning the day’s events, cleaning boats, preparing sail parts, etc. When sailors begin to arrive, Adriano welcomes them, and then goes down to the docks with them to help prepare their boats. At Horseshoe Harbor, only Optimist and Pixel dinghies are available to sailors, and Adriano helps out with campers in the Optis. After a morning on the water, sailors and instructors come back in for lunch, which is usually spent just hanging out with the kids, playing Ping-Pong, cards, or foosball. After lunch, the sailors re-rig and head back out. “Out on the water, we’re usually practicing maneuvers and doing mock races,” Adriano told me. “Of course, we still leave time for fun. It’s not uncommon that the day ends with a follow-the-leader game, or something along those lines.” After derigging and cleaning up the dock area, sailors leave. However, Adriano and the entire instructor staff clean up the deck at Horseshoe, lock up the sailing equipment for the night, and after the clean up is done, he heads home.