*Important-Winter Banquet Rescheduled to January 8th

LYC Sailing Families,

After a long discussion and look at the calendar,the winter banquet date has been changed to January 8th, due to the rescheduling of the Sailing Foundation dinner. I hope you all can be there to join us in celebrating the fall season!

5:30 Cocktails
6:00 Dinner
6:30 Awards Ceremony

Thank you!

Julia Melton

Practice Debrief 11/15-16 - Arthur Blodgett

This past weekend we focused on improving the biggest issues from Naples: consistent speed, and starting. We watched a couple video's on Saturday morning, and I asked sailors to push their technique through waves as well as their pumping downwind. 

Scott Norman's 2002 tacking video shows how comfortable sailors should be steering behind their backs out of tacks (for reasons dating back to learn-to-sail some of our sailors are not), then doing a 'hip check' forwards as you switch hands, which propels the boat into foot mode (you should foot before and after tacks). 

This second video of an Kiwi opti sailor shows great hiking technique, as well as the forward and aft movement needed to get on, and stay on a wave downwind. Move back as you are getting ready to pump, then slide forward as you are surfing. This keeps the hull trimmed properly so the bow and stern don't dig in as the wave rolls by. The video first shows the "pump then slide" technique from 0:28-0:30, then from 1:18-1:26 in slow motion. 

We went out and practiced this, and here's a compilation of some of the better technique exhibited, set to the New Orleans music of Dr. John to get us in the groove for Midwinters next week! 

Sailors should watch a couple times and evaluate themself and teammates on the following questions:

   * Is the bow staying in contact with the waves

   *Is the hull trim correct (bow neither 'poppin' a wheelie' nor digging in) 

   *Sail trim/pumping good? 

   * Is there too much rudder movement?

   *How does my technique look - feet/knees together (anchored to the boat), shoulders angled out and back, front elbow slightly up,  movement amount and timing matches up with waves? 

Technique + Willingness to work the boat all the way around the course = Speed! Repeat your best techniques until they become habit! 

   

Naples 2014-Green Fleet Regatta Report

Naples Cup November 7-8^th 2014

Green Fleet Regatta Debrief- Julia Melon

The venue was quite challenging and exciting for some of our team members. Our green fleet team is used to practicing in light, variable, shifty conditions in the intracoastal filled with vortexes of current intermingling in every channel. In contrast, the beautiful Naples venue offered our sailors a new experience of sailing in big waves on the open gulf.

The Green Fleet sailors who accompanied us for the Naples trek were Stephan Tate, Michael Morley, Bobby Rielly, Kevin Gosselin, Skye Johnson and Co., Lucy Meagher, Isa du Plessis, Jake Burgess, Miles Wolff, Simone Moss and a special guest appearance from Jack Carroll!

On Saturday, we focused on body kinetics sailing through waves. I learned this technique from sailing with world champion sailor Augie Diaz. Augie relates it to salsa dancing with the hips. Basically, you propel the boat with your hips through the wave crest (hips forward) and as a result, you angle your shoulders back. Then, as you ride down the wave, you hips smoothly return back and shoulders forward.

This motion should feel and look natural and will propel the boat through the waves rather than slapping the bow into the waves. Depending on the size and type of waves, the timing and amount of motion from the sailor will be different.

In addition to kinetics (movement in waves) we focused on the other elements of speed. It is critical that the Opti is up to full speed, and when the boat starts to slow down, you make adjustments accordingly. This includes “switching gears” in the light spots easing the sail, weight in.  I tell the sailors to always feel connected with their feet – whether in the boat or hiking. Being connected can help sailors transition in again (“changing gears”) as the breeze dies.

On Sunday the last three races had the windward mark skewed to the right side of the course. I told my sailors to look at the committee boat flag and point directly upwind, and then compare it to the windward mark 20 degrees to the right. It just makes sense to always be working in the direction of the windward mark, or any mark of that matter. It also is good to split away from a pack of boats. There were only a few of my sailors that actually sailed the long tack out right  - in the last race Jack Carroll and Isa ended up 2^nd and 4^th going right. With most green fleet regattas there are gains to be made by identifying the bias of the course and following your own strategy (take a chance!).

     Thank you to all the parents who made our team dinner a success; to our towers: Stacy Moss, Valerie Rozzo, the Tates, Coach Sharon Johnson - and to Phil Riley for grilling on his birthday!

Don’t forget that our third and final fall series racing is on Sunday!!!

Have a great weekend :)

Regatta Debrief Naples Cup - Arthur Blodgett

Great racing at this years Naples Cup, held out in the Gulf of Mexico with a 111 boat Championship fleet. Saturday was picturesque with a 5-8kt breeze from the South-West, while Sunday was cold, rainy, and started breezy from the North, before shifting right and dying (from 15 all the way down to 3 kts!). Several of our top sailors were hurt by an OCS on Saturday, while pretty much the whole team improved Sunday – Garret finished 24^th, Denver 28^th and Joey 29^th. Nevertheless, the results were less than I as a coach was hoping for - less than our sailors are capable of. We still have a tendency to get down during a bad race, and the long 5 leg courses were a test of sailors focus and commitment. Try to set goals for yourself as a sailor for each regatta, both qualitative (I want to outwork my competitors downwind) and quantitative (I want to finish in the top 15), and remind yourself of the individual goal for each race (top10? 20?) and how you plan to get there (it doesn't just happen!) Correct Strategy + Execution + Speed will always net you a good race; execution meaning getting a good start and being patient enough to follow your strategy.

Different conditions bring out different strengths and weaknesses in each sailor. One of the ways I try to be good in all conditions is by re-prioritizing what I will be looking at and focusing on. For example – if it's not shifty, stop looking around for windshifts!! There is certainly a difference between sailing in a big or small fleets, which Stewart Walker notes in his book Positioning; you should always prioritize clear air in a big fleet, covering specific boats in a small one. Instead, i've made the following two tables to factor in the conditions and venue. First a review of some standard definitions:

Strategy: The fastest way around the course in the absence of other boats. The best way to play the shifts and current.

Tactics: How you sail specifically with relation to other boats – to stay out of bad air from boats ahead, and cover/lead

back the boats behind.

Boatspeed: How fast you are relative to your competitors, as a result of technique, sail trim, boat preparation, weight, and

helming. We always want to be as fast as possible, but some conditions put more of a premium on it than others.

For the first table, 5 is most important, 1 is least important. The conditions we had at Naples are highlighted.

Keys to Winning by Breeze Type

Conditions:	Strategy	Tactics	Boatspeed
Light, Steady	3	5	4
Light, Shifty Venue	5	4	3
Medium, Open Venue	2	5	5
Medium, Shifty Venue	5	3	3 (everyone's fast!)
Heavy, Open Venue	3	2	5
Heavy, Shifty Venue	5	1	3

The common thread with these valuations is that speed is critical when there are waves + small shifts, Shifts are key when they are larger. To break these keys into how we might actualize them...

Estimated time spent looking at _____ while racing upwind:

Conditions:	Telltales/Sail	Waves	Windshifts	Other Boats
Light, Steady	83.00%	10.00%	2.00%	5% (remember where they are! Find sustainable lanes!
Light, Shifty Venue	83.00%	1% - just powerboat chop	10.00%	6.00% Clear air? Showing headers or lifts?
Medium, Open Venue	75.00%	15.00% Work on going fast!	2.00%	8.00% Clear Air!!!!
Medium, Shifty Venue	79% Head up when you get lifted!	5.00%	10.00%	6% Crossing?=Cross ½ way Loosing?=Lead back
Heavy, Open Venue	75.00%	17.00%	4.00%	4.00%
Heavy, Shifty Venue	80.00%	8.00%	10.00%	2% don't hit them, other wise, who cares?

Limiting extraneous head/eye movement is a quick and surefire way to improve ones sailing. Looking at the boats behind you upwind is useless and hurts your speed. Any time you look 'back shoulder' your are taking your head too far from the telltales, wind direction, and waves. Like a dog that needs a bigger flea collar, everytime you go outside the cone-of-productive-places-to-be-looking, you are making the wound worse!

Additional Notes from the weekend:

*Starts were a huge pre-requisite to good races. Joey improved immensely, while Michael and John had some issues. Work on both accelerations, and gaining hight without sailing too much to leeward in practice, and get a line sight, wind-shot, read on the current, and do a practice run before every start!

*Several heavier sailors have all mentioned to me their concerns about pointing. Chill out. In anything less than full hiking conditions, you are going to be pointing lower than a lighter boat next to you. By expecting this and committing to foot mode in light wind, you will have better flow on your foils and better overall performance/VMG. Even you sail is cut to not point as high – the deeper sails have a more obtuse entry angle. Tactically, try to set yourself up in wider lanes where there isn't a boat close to leeward. Remember, you are also more experienced and potentially smarter than your competition, embrace the challenge of sailing strategically and tactically well in light airs where you may not be the fastest, and rely on good boathandeling to keep speed out of maneuvers.

*We did a good job as a team with tuning at this regatta. Sprit inflicted creases were absent from the sails, and everyone went to great pains to get enough vang and outhaul at the beginning of Sunday. Always tune to the first leg of the race, regardless of what you think the wind will do. If it lightens, easing the Vang is one of the easiest adjustments you need to make – it opens the leach of the sail for fast twist upwind and downwind.

*The regatta was not judged, and other coaches as well as myself were wondering why sailors weren’t pumping and moving more downwind. Work your boat to the limit of Rule 42 – 1 pump per wave on every wave, aft then forward movement (not an ooch=legal) to accompany each pump!

*Good job by the whole team getting psyched up in the rain and wind Sunday morning. Other coaches had a number of sailors contract “windsickness,” and I was impressed to see our team's trip to New Jersey and individual toughness paying dividends.

Sunday Technique Practice - Arthur Blodgett

Check out the below video of Denver, John, B and Joey working the waves upwind this past Sunday.  The northerly breeze gave us smaller shorter waves - more like what we'll have on Biscayne Bay (Orangebowl, Team Trials) than the usual ocean swell. The basics we've discussed at length in past debriefs - work the bow down into the trough of the wave by moving hips forward and shoulders back as you punch through the wave crest. Remember: correct positioning in the boat, knees and feet together and locking you to the bulkhead in light air or the hiking strap in heavy air are key pre-conditions to effective movement! John looks really good in this clip but later in the practice his sail trim slipped killing his pointing.

In the next video, Bryce and B show the potential with some waves (big swells or boat chop) for upwind surfing. While waves generally slow a boat upwind, its important to remember that every wave has a backside which you can potentially surf to regain speed. Note the nice shoulder 'pop' by Bryce (2nd Opti shown). 

In preparation for Naples this weekend (please read Julia's post below on logistics, Gold/Silver Report time is 8:30am Saturday) sailors should visualize themselves sailing upwind with proper technique,  getting good starts then going fast! Looking forward to it! 

Naples Regatta Logistics

Coach Arthur, Sharon and I are very excited for the Naples regatta this weekend! After Wednesday and Thursday practices this week we will be loading boats on the trailer. If you are not at practice this week you will need to find a time to load your boat and pick up your equipment.

Trailer spot assignments will be posted on the truck window. We will have spots for both the truck rack and the Opti trailer.

With 21 boats signed up on the blog, we will need to conserve space so we ask that Silver & Gold fleet will need to take their own sails and dollies, and blades.

Green Fleet will again be assigned a dolly for the regatta and are responsible for assembling at the event and reassembling when the trailer/ truck return to LYC. Green fleet sailors can pack their blades, sails and dollies on the bed of the truck or trailer. Please let me know if your sailor has any boat repairs needed done this week by tomorrow.

I plan to leave LYC around 1pm on Friday, so I hopefully be getting to the park around 3pm. The coaches and I plan to stick around and help unload until 6pm. I’d like to have a team designated rigging spot. 

HUGE thanks to Tate’s, Stacy Moss and Valerie Rozzo for towing. We will be taking the 15’RIB, Lil’ blue and the 17’RIB.

Saturday a.m. Arrival

Ø  We will be launching coach boats Saturday a.m. The launch ramp is about a 45 minute drive away. I will need 2 volunteers to drive the coach boats in the morning. The boats need to get to the launching ramp by 6:30am. Please let me know if you can tow one of the boats in the a.m.

Ø  I plan to be at the sailing center by 7:45. I would like GF to be there by 8:15 or earlier. We will have our team meeting at 9:20am. The skippers meeting is at 9:45

Ø  Saturday night Team dinner will be a bbq at the Park shore hotel. Lynn Dixon has stepped up to provide marinated chicken and fish for the grill at $5 per person. We also would like each family to sign up for one of the items listed  in the Google doc. Lynn would like a head count so please indicate on the blog sign up if you are planning on joing us for dinner. Click here to sign up!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12J8BMYD_-vB9YEX4P2-uqVBAbGbjNyycHFgEC07bB1U/edit#gid=0

Ø  Other things to pack: (refer to opti survival guide attached) Sun block, sunglasses, refillable water bottle snacks, spray jacket or warm gear, life jacket, etc.

Ø  Beth Reilly has picked up bars/ waters for the Green fleet boats. Silver and Gold fleet should designate a parent to get waters and bars for Arthur’s boat.

Ø  As always, you will be assigned a group text message group, which will be used to communicate to the team throughout the weekend.

Ø  Please do not forget to bring team gear! It is mandatory that all Opti sailors wear their blue polos at the awards ceremony.

You can find the Notice of Race here:

https://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/regatta_uploads/9163/notice_of_race2014.pdf#page=1&zoom=auto,-99,798

I think that covers most of the logistics. Looking forward to a great weekend!

Julia Melton

LYC Team Race Debrief-John Payne

IX° Lauderdale Yacht Club Trophy a Huge Success.

The ninth running of the Lauderdale Yacht Club Trophy International Opti Team race Regatta took place over the weekend of October 25 and 26. Twenty teams took part in four against four team races under the watchful eye of six umpires.  The twenty teams, each comprised of four or five young skippers, came from all over the eastern United States.

When originally begun, in 2006, the format of this regatta was unique in US Opti sailing. Because the area of water used for racing is rather constrained, it was decided to limit the number of boats on the water.  The best way to do that was for the Organizing Authority to provide all of the Optis, and not allow on the water coaching. 

As the regatta developed, brightly colored sails were added to the mix.  With six sets of four sails, this makes it easy for spectators on shore to follow the action.  No part of the race course is farther than 150 yards from the docks of Lauderdale Yacht Club. This aspect, when combined with not needing to bring or charter an Opti, has made the regatta a huge favorite among parents. The regatta format has become so popular that it has been copied for Opti team race regattas all over the USA.

For the uninitiated, in team racing, races are won or lost based on the cumulative score of each team’s boats in a race.  Points are assigned: one for first, two for second, and so forth.  (In the case of a tie, the team whose boat finished first LOSES. They weren’t team racing.)  All of the skippers try to keep their team in a winning combination while forcing the other teams’ boats into losing combinations. There is lots of jockeying for position.  Thus, in team racing, knowledge of the rules is of utmost importance.

This year, the weather conditions proved to be ideal with lots of sun, low humidity and steady breeze from the north-northeast direction. The race course we use is called a “Digital N” and features five legs in the shape of a digital N.  (Clever, huh?) After starting, the boats race up to a weather mark, then across to a reach mark, then downwind to a leeward mark, followed by another reach leg across to a reach mark, and finally upwind to the finish.  The course is laid out so that each race takes approximately six to eight minutes. There are usually two races taking place simultaneously, following one after the other.

Here is more about our scoring procedures. A Modified Swiss League, customized for this regatta, is used for placement or ranking.  All teams start out even and are randomly divided into five groups of four teams each.  Each group sails a round robin, and one point is awarded for each win.  The teams are then divided into five new groups based on points earned.  The four teams with the most points go into group Alpha; the next four teams go into Bravo, and so forth.  Our intention is to run three or four full round robins with all of the teams being re-seeded into the five groups after each round. Generally, this means that by the third or fourth round the top teams race against each other, while the less experienced teams race the other less experienced teams.  It is hoped that by the end of the weekend, every team will have won at least one race.  This year, over the course of the two day regatta we ran 97 races! 

Coming out on top, and winning the IX° Lauderdale Yacht Club Trophy was LIMA Yellow, a team comprised of sailors from Long Island sound and the Middle Atlantic States.   They were followed by Coral Reef Yacht Club Yellow, Coral Reef Yacht Club Pink, Team FOR Black and Team Lauderdale Yacht Club Terminators.  Trophies for the top four were made possible through the generous assistance of Atlantis WeatherGear and Magic Marine.  Atlantis has helped with trophies all nine years.  This year’s winners took home beautiful Atlantis Microburst jackets. Second and third received Magic Marine gear bags or backpacks.

This event would not be possible without the hard work of the Lauderdale Yacht Club parents, sailors and coaches.  A special shout out to Bob and Robin Meagher who, this year, took on the duties of regatta chair, allowing Jorge Agnes and myself to step back.  Jason and the LYC staff make sure everyone has a great experience.  Thank you to everybody who pitched in to help.