JibeTalk

2015 Season High Point and Jr. Big Boat Awards

Patricia Leicht presents the Marlinspike Contest trophies

The JSA of LIS held its Annual General Membership Meeting at Larchmont Yacht Club on October 21. The first item on the agenda was the awarding of trophies for season performance based on high point scores at specified qualifier events, which in 2015 were the Eastern or Western District Regattas, Larchmont Junior Race Week and JSA Race Week. 

The awardees and their high point percentage of perfection are: 

Clinton M. Bell Trophy for junior open events winner in any class and Thomas W. Fowler, Jr. Trophy for junior doublehanded open events winner in Club 420:  Julia Reynolds (skipper) & Hobi Lew (crew)  Pequot YC  97.863%. Julia and Hobi join a select group of sailors who have won these awards in two consecutive years. 

Christopher Goodyear Neff Trophy for junior open events runner-up in any class with high score in Laser Radial Nicholas Chisari  Sea Cliff YC  97.005%

Junior Singlehanded Open Events Laser Radial Runner-Up:  Lindsay Powers  American YC  94.010% 

Junior Doublehanded Open Events Runner-up in Club 420:  Cameron Nash (skipper) and Brooke McGoldrick (crew) Pequot YC  92.913% 

Junior Singlehanded Open Events Laser Standard High Score:  Richard O'Leary  American YC 90.541%

 Timothy Sinclair Memorial Trophy for Pixel open events winner: Devin Hart (skipper) & Madeline  Dwyer (crew) Noroton YC 90.826%
 

The awards for junior big boat sailing events held in August were also presented: 

Warren G. Dellenbaugh Junior Navigation Trophy: Jake Schinto Riverside YC  106%, with extra credit
Junior Navigation Runner-Ups: Peter Sauer  Cedar Point YC and Kyle May  WaterFront Center, each with 94% 

Marlinspike Seamanship Contest Trophy
1.  Emery Wallace  Cedar Point YC
2.  Connor Thompson  Larchmont YC
3.  Corey Sabia  Norwalk YC 

Junior Big Boat Sailing Regatta presented by Black Rock YC
1.  Noroton YC High  Noon
2.  Cedar Point YC  Cabady
3.  Cedar Point YC  Expresso 

Dorade Trophy Regatta presented by Stamford YC
J105 Division  
1.  Centerport YC  Trifecta (and Overall prize)
2.  American YC  Echo
3.  Black Rock YC  Playstation

PHRF Division
1.  Riverside YC  Finale
2.  Noroton YC  High Noon
3.  Pequot YC  Libertas 

Everett B. Morris Memorial Trophy for the Beach Point Yacht Club Overnight Race
Division A
1.  Riverside YC  Finale (and Overall prize)
2.  Noroton YC  High Noon
3.  Cedar Point YC  Expresso

Division B:
1.  Black Rock YC  Playstation
2.  Centerport YC  Trifecta
3.  American YC  Young American 

Awards for the Twilight Keel Boat Regatta hosted by Port Washington Jr YC had been earlier presented

1.  WaterFront Center  Inevitable
2.  Port Washington YC  War Horse
3.  Larchmont YC  Privateer 

 

MBYC Pixel Open Bic Regatta

 

Manhasset Bay Yacht Club hosted its Pixel and Open Bic Regatta in Manhasset Bay, with 69 competitors on Thursday and Friday, July 23 to 24.

Competitors arrived Wednesday evening for inspection and registration. Harbor starts began Racing around 10 am on Thursday and around 9 am on Friday. A dance took place after racing on Thursday. Manhasset Bay served dinner on Wednesday and Thursday evenings and provided housing to participants.

Top five Pixel finishers and top three Open Bic finishers won prizes after racing on Friday. Results summary:

Pixel Class
1. Devin Hart and Madeline Dwyer (Noroton Yacht Club)
2. Eric Dowd and Nicholas Hein (American Yacht Club)
3. Tyler Gilman and Charles Keating (AYC)
4. Amelia Jessop and Clara Kruijtzer (AYC)
5. Skyler Risom and Niall Sheridan (Norwalk Yacht Club)

Open Bic Class
1. Riley Carroll (Manhasset Bay Yacht Club)
2. Sean Jacobs (Port Washington Yacht Club)
3. William Feldmann (PWYC)

Kimberly Kuester served as the Regatta Event Chairperson, William Siener as Principal Race Officer and Douglas Wilson as Chief Judge.

See full results here.

View photos here.

Dodging Storms at Larchmont Junior Race Week

Larchmont Junior Race Week takes place for Laser, Laser Radial, Club 420, Pixel and Blue Jay classes. This year is Larchmont Yacht Club's 117th Race Week and 89th annual junior regatta. The competitive event is part of the summer series that determines winners of the JSA of LIS High Point Season Trophies.

At Larchmont Yacht Club, over 400 junior sailors and instructors came from across Long Island Sound to compete on Monday through Wednesday, July 13 to 15. Larchmont Yacht Club provided housing for competitors who came from widespread East Coast areas. Excitement arose for three days of racing and for Larchmont Junior Race Week Dance.

Competitors brought their boats beginning at 5 pm on Sunday, July 12 and in full force on Monday morning around 9 am. They launched their boats from trailers and dollies onto the water using a hoist.

The Skippers’ Meeting followed registration and rigging, and the race committee chairman discussed details from racing instructions, including racecourse mark colors for each fleet. Sailors continued rigging and waited for wind to fill, when the race committee announced harbor start.

Monday started out with lighter winds, which averaged at three miles per hour and reached a maximum of ten mph in the afternoon. Temperature averaged at 74 degrees Farenheit. The 37-boat Pixel fleet finished four races, while 79 Laser Radials and the 113-boat 420 fleet finished two races, and 15 Laser Standards finished three races.

Tuesday, wind stayed light at three mph, with gusts up to 16 mph after noontime. Pixels, 420s, Laser Radials and Laser Standards all finished one race. After, sailors returned safely before rain and thunderstorms began. That evening, Larchmont Junior Race Week Dance took place at LYC’s Pandemonium.

Wednesday, sailing did not happen, due to weather conditions. Sailors left the harbor and came in at the first sign of thunderstorms. Following, they received complimentary ice cream treats and a barbeque, including hot dogs. Junior officers led the awards ceremony in early afternoon.

Read more about this year's Larchmont Junior Race Week on WindCheck.

View Laser and Radial results here.

View 420 results here.

View Pixel results here.

See photos from the event here.

Wind blows at Western Districts

Western District Regatta, open to sailors who represent JSA member clubs in New York State serves as a qualifier for JSA Championships in C420, Laser, Laser Radial and Pixel classes.

This year’s Western Districts, held at Sea Cliff Yacht Club brought East winds averaging nine miles per hour and gusting up to 20 mph. This wind speed represents a high, compared with previous years.

158 sailors came to compete, including 30 C420s, 46 Radials, six Lasers and 23 Pixels. Race Committee ran three races for all four classes. C420s and Lasers divided from Radials and Pixels, as two Race Committee boats held races on separate courses.

In C420s, Michael Benacerraf and Daniel Reich (Shelter Island Yacht Club) won first, Gabriella DelBello and Madelyn Ploch (American Yacht Club) won second and Stefan Brechter and Charles Bresnahan (SIYC) won third.

In Radials, Nicholas Chisari (SCLF) won first, John Patrick Panarella (SIYC) won second and Matthew Priebe (Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club) won third. In Lasers, Hector McKemey (AYC) won first, Gavin Anderson (Centerport Yacht Club) won second and Richard O’Leary (AYC) won third.

In Pixels, Amelia Jessop & Clara Kruijtzer won first, Nicholas Jessop & Timothy Stoker won second and Alexander Morgan & Kyle Raker won third. All three boats came from AYC.

Results here.

Facebook photo album here.

Eastern Districts shows slow breeze, smiling sailors

Open to all boats of the Laser and Club 420 classes from JSA member clubs in Connecticut, the Eastern District Regatta at Noroton Yacht Club is a qualifying event for the 2015 JSA Laser and Club 420 Championship.

Eastern Districts at Noroton this year showed slow Northwest winds, averaging three miles per hour and reaching a maximum of 10 mph in the afternoon on July 2. Temperature stayed around 69 degrees Farenheit.

Noroton’s Race Committee held two races for 420s and Lasers. Simultaneously, in similar wind and weather conditions across Long Island Sound, Norwalk Yacht Club’s Race Committee held three races for Laser Radials and Pixels.

View Noroton’s Eastern Districts results here. 

View Norwalk’s Eastern Districts results here. 

See photos taken at Noroton Yacht Club here. 

Windless Conditions Meet Sailors at the 2014 Larchmont Junior Race Week

Competitors at the 2014 Larchmont Yacht Club Junior Race Week were greeted with rain and windless conditions this past Monday. The 375 sailors came into the club Monday morning looking forward to what is considered the most exciting regatta of the summer. However, it soon became apparent that the storms coming in would prevent the day of racing. “Bummer” was the general consensus of the sailors at LYC. The rain getting heavier and heavier, sailors were forced to retreat to the tents.

The second day did not present itself well to the junior sailors, either. While the race committee managed to get off one race, no wind and incoming storms prevented the sailors from staying out on the water.

However, while dissatisfying race conditions were a drawback to the day, most sailors knew there would be a silver lining that night at the “party of the year” – the LYC Race Week Dance. “Everyone knows about it,” LYC sailor Ryan Mattimore told me. “It’s even talked about during the school year.” The dance boasts a live band, great atmosphere, and nearly all sailors competing attend. The thunder and lightning did little to dampen the night, and everyone seemed to be dancing the night away.

Day three, 12 hours after the dance, sailors took to the seas for the first real-wind day of the regatta.
Most divisions got the chance to get two races in, bringing the total number of races to three. “It wasn’t the best conditions,” Austen Freda of AYC told me, “but it’s nice to get experience in all types of wind, even if it isn’t the strongest.” 

In the Laser Radial class, Collin Alexander of American Yacht Club took first place, while another American Yacht Club sailor, Will McKeige, took first in the Laser Standard class. In the 420 fleet, Edward Lebens and Greta Farrell from the WaterFront Center snagged first. In the Pixel fleet, the team of Harry Thompson and Matthew Viola from Manhasset Bay Yacht Club took first.

Full race results are posted on on the regatta documents section of the JSA LIS website (www.JsaLis.org)

 

Junior Sailors Take On Low Wind at the 2014 Western District Regatta

Junior sailors struggle around a mark in low wind

Though sailors were up and rigging this past Saturday at Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Sea Cliff, New York, most were weary of what the day could bring. “For the past three years here there has literally been no wind. Sometimes they’ll just cancel the day, but they’ve had us just floating out there for hours.” LSC instructor Nick McElroy told me.

When the harbor start was called at 10:15, instructors had to quickly tow their sailors out on the water, as the first warning horn was set to blow at 10:45. Sailors soon realized, however, that the start was going to be postponed thanks to the lack of the wind. Even when the first race was started around 11:20, junior sailors basically floated around the long course, and when they finally finished, were greeted to the fact that the next race was in postponement. This would last another two and a half hours, during which sailors got the chance to hang out and talk strategy with their coaches. “Of course we got to have fun during the delay,” LSC sailor Connor Chapin told me. “but we got to go over our strategy for the rest of the race.”

After swimming around a bit, lunch, and more drifting, a puff finally made its way into the harbor, allowing the Sea Cliff race committee to get in two more races for the day. “While it wasn’t the best day of sailing, we got some prep in for Larchmont Race Week, too.” Alex Kirshner, a fellow LSC C420 sailor told me.

At the end of the day, Hector McKemey of American Yacht Club took first place in the Laser class, Matthew Priebe of Seawanhaka Corthinthian Yacht Club took first in the Laser Radial class, Taegan Blackwell & Aisling Quirke of American Yacht Club got first in the Club 420 fleet, and Adeline Schoen & Alexandra Tillinghast of American Yacht Club finished at the top of the Pixel Fleet. Full results are posted on the regatta documents section of the JSA LIS website (www.JsaLis.org) 

 

Sailors End Summer on High Note at Alternate Regattas

Sailors derig their boats during Laser Radial/C420 Alternate regatta.

As the summer sailing season wraps up, there are opportunities for sailors who did not qualify for championships to compete in one final JSA regatta.  These events are known as the Alternate regattas.

There were two alternate regattas this year: an Optimist event at the WaterFront Center in Oyster Bay, NY; and a Laser Radial/C420 event at Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club in Center Island, NY.  Both were held last Thursday, and each one attracted about 20 boats.

At the Opti regatta, sailors had a great day full of quality sailing.  According to Dave Waldo, Executive Director at the WaterFront Center, the regatta “had ideal conditions with just enough breeze to get kids sitting on the rail without being over-powering.”  In total, there were four races in each fleet.   At the end of the day, sailors derigged and enjoyed an ice cream social with their fellow sailors and coaches.

At the Laser Radial/C420 regatta, conditions were very similar to those at the WaterFront Center, as the two clubs are very near each other.  Carter Shields, a Laser Radial sailor from Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, described the wind on Thursday as “shifty when the day began, but pretty steady by the middle of the first race.”  In total, there were six races in each division.

At both events, sailors enjoyed the opportunity to spend a final day on the water racing, and praised the phenomenal conditions that were present throughout the day.  Moreover, with a thunderstorm forecasted, sailors truly lucked out and the storm never materialized.

For results from these events, please go to the regatta documents page on the JSA’s website, and for photos from the Laser Radial/C420 regatta, please click here to view them in an album on our Facebook page.

Excellent Breeze Allows For 10 Races at 2-Day Pixel Championships Regatta

Sailors prepare their spinnakers as they round the windward mark.

This has been a fantastic year for junior sailors on Long Island Sound, with plentiful wind at many regattas and fine sailing conditions overall.  At the JSA Pixel Championship regatta Monday and Tuesday, the sailing conditions at the Norwalk Yacht Club were optimal; one sailor even described it as “the best wind of the whole summer.”

On the first day of the regatta, the wind was very strong and gusted frequently.  As a result, some of the lighter-weight boats capsized.

“It was really, really windy, there were many white caps” explained Taylan Selman, a sailor from Orienta Beach Club in Mamaroneck, NY.  “I’d say about a sixth of the fleet capsized… it was hard to keep the boat down.”

“It was really high wind the first day,” recalled Chelsea Parker from Northport Yacht Club in Northport, NY.  “A lot of boats were capsizing so the starting line was really hectic.”

On the second day of the regatta, there was also fine breeze, around eight to twelve knots.  On each day, the Race Committee ran five races, for a total of ten races for the entire regatta.

One aspect of this regatta that sailors found different from other Pixel regattas earlier in the summer was the level of competition.  Since sailors had to qualify to participate in the championship regatta, there was a more concentrated group of experienced sailors competing.  For participants, this gave the regatta a more intense atmosphere.

“It’s all the best people; the atmosphere is more competitive,” described Charlie Courtemanche, a sailor from Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT.

“It’s different because everybody’s at a certain level where you can’t waste anything,” explained Selman.  “You have to take all your opportunities and capitalize on them.”

An instructor reviews the sailing instructions with her sailors on Tuesday morning.

Because sailors had to qualify for the regatta, only the top few boats from the JSA competed, and the regatta was smaller than most competitors were used to.  There were only 18 boats competing, which sailors said made for a different racing atmosphere than most regattas.

“Usually fifth place is a good spot, but in this regatta, it’s not quite as good,” explained Selman.

“With only 18 boats, it was challenging,” described Nick Jessop, a sailor from American Yacht Club in Rye, NY.  “It was like you were either first or last.”

After the ten races, two were dropped for each competitor.  In the end, Luke and Matt Salditt from Sea Cliff Yacht Club in Sea Cliff, NY won first place, and were presented with their award by Bruce Kirby, the designer of the Pixel.  Kirby, who lives nearby, came to present awards to the top finishers on Tuesday afternoon.

For full results, visit the regatta documents page on the JSA’s website, and for photos, please click here to go to the album for this regatta on the JSA’s Facebook page.

 

Pequot Yacht Club Hosts Pixel Invitational Regatta

Sailors head upwind after a start.

Pixel sailors arrived at Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, CT on Monday morning, eager to sail around the beautiful Southport Harbor for the final championships-qualifying event of the year.

When sailors came on Monday morning, they were greeted by a light and variable breeze that built up a bit later in the day, allowing for the Race Committee to run a total of five races.

“I thought the wind did shift a lot Monday,” shared Charlotte Wittstock, a spectator from Roton Point Yacht Club in Rowayton, CT.  “They had to change the course a lot, but the wind was pretty good.”

On the second day, the wind was also variable, but still pretty strong for Long Island Sound, allowing the Race Committee to run the two races it had planned before noon.

“This year more than other years, favorable winds helped us put on seven good races,” explained Tim Clark, a co-chair of the regatta.

One of the aspects of this regatta that competitors found especially enjoyable was the scenic venue in which it was held.  The club itself, a three-story brick building, is located directly beside the water across the harbor from a golf course.

“It’s beautiful here,” described Megan Day, a sailor from Manhasset Bay Yacht Club.  “The club is smaller and easier to get around, so it’s a good atmosphere.”

“It was a picturesque place for a regatta,” added Corey Hausman, a sailor from Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT.

A sailor prepares to put her sails on her boat.

To add to the excitement, the club threw a party on Monday night for the sailors.  It included a DJ, food, and many fun games for the sailors.

“The dance was fun,” explained Cameron Kittell, a sailor from Belle Haven Yacht Club in Greenwich, CT.  “The DJ had a lot of awesome games.”

And for the second year now, the club has made intentional environmental efforts at this regatta.  Competitors received reusable water bottles at check-in, and refilled them as needed throughout the day.

“It’s a nice thing they’re doing for the environment,” explained Jonathan Mears, a sailor from Pequot Yacht Club.  ”It’s saving a lot of plastic.”

In the end, the team of Margaret Grace Costikyan & Camille Infurna form Noroton Yacht Club in Darien, CT won the regatta.  For full results, please go to the regatta information page on the JSA’s website.  For photos, please click here for our album on Facebook.