Ariel Casaretto on the USA I420 Worlds Team

A huge congratulations to Ariel Casaretto and Maddie Rice from New Jersey for being selected to represent the US at the I420 World Championship in San Remo, Italy this July. They are one of seven female teams selected nationwide to be part of TEAM USA.  We are so proud of all her diligent training and hard work both on and off the water.  Ariel's success is a testament to our Opti program. Ariel joined the sailing program very late- a summer camp, a fall season in green fleet- then spring in Red fleet then straight to HS sailing! This proves that our Opti sailors shouldn't feel discouraged if they feel too big or too old. The basics learned in the Opti will help in every other boat our sailors choose to sail later.

Texts from Coach Bobby - a review of skills from last weekend's Practice

As I was off Sniping, I asked LYC Opti coach Bobby Noonan for a synopsis of last weekends Gold/Silver Opti practice. As we didn't have time to talk, he sent it to me as a text message (definitely not while he was at work!!) that I think should be helpful for sailors to review as well! Enjoy!

We worked on:
1) Downwind sailing in big breeze and huge waves (using body weight to surf, and steering across the wave to stay surfing as long as possible without smashing into the bottom of the trough).

2) Also worked on sail trim, Daggerboard height and hiking on long reaches. As Pili (Opti Coach Pilar Callabresse) said "on reaches, we want Daggerboard up as much as possible --just to the point where the boat keeps from slipping sideways."  Having the Daggerboard up will keep the bow from Plunging!

3) Making sure you have plenty of boom vang and sprit tension for reaches will also help a lot! We told the kids to make sure they were paying attention to the leech of their sails. If the boomvang is too loose, the leech will flop open and dump the wind out. AB Note: Also more twist leads to a downward vector for the top of the sail that can submarine the bow! 

4) Starts. Too many of the kids were worried about being the leeward boat and trying to draw a penalty on the windward boat, but not focusing on their starting position and keeping a hole to leeward. At the end of the day, you have to be able to accelerate. AB: Agree completely (see my last regatta debrief). At Wednesdays practice we had 16 boats on a line and I called the Black flag rule. 3-4 Gold and Silver Fleeters were getting DSQ'd every start. We will continue to practice the black flag rule, using line sights, and keeping time. 

5) If you do get a bad start, you need to focus on getting a clean lane as quickly as possible. That  means tacking out if you are getting covered -- BUT sticking to your game plan! (If you wanted to go left don't duck the entire fleet to go right).

6) Being a Sportsman (or Sportswoman). If you foul, Spin! No questions asked. Spin right away and get back into the race as quickly as possible. At the end of the day, your reputation is all you have, and it is better to finish mid fleet by being a good sport, than to finish first by being cheater.


Looking forward to practice Saturday, we are off for Easter!
-Arthur Blodgett

Team Photos

Gold and Silver Fleet

 

 

Lime and Green Fleet

 

2016 Summer Race Team Clinic Dates and Sign Ups!

The sign up sheets for the Clinics are up and linked below!

Race Team Clinic #1

Race Team Clinic #2

Race Team Clinic #3

State Champs Debrief - Arthur Blodgett

10 minutes before the start of the biggest race of their season to date, I got some final words in with Lucy and Bobby. We all knew the stakes - a trip to USODA Team Trials in San Francisco - where all sailors who grow up in this South-Florida hotbed of sailing talent hope to one day make the National Teams representing the US in international sailing competition. Both Bobby Reilly and Lucy Meagher had risen to the challenge throughout the day, posting mostly good finishes off of safe starts. We had both gone about our homework and were ready for a discussion - they reported that the boat end was favored...but only by about 5 degrees. I had done a current check - tossing a water bottle into the sea next to the committee boat, timing it for a minute, and noting the distance and direction it had traveled before carefully retrieving it (to avoid breaking the rules and sinning against the environment). I found some surprising information: the current was still running strong from left to right, despite it being scheduled to change at the present time, 2pm.

    We knew both sailors had to have a good race, but didn't know how good - the scores on my iPhone had not been updated since 3 races ago. Given my initial prognostication for the regatta -that an average of less than 40 (in the 2 one-hundred boat fleets) would net a top 67 (qualifying) finish, I told them they just needed a top 25. We thought Lucy still had a throw out- to spend, but were not certain of this. Bobby had been Black Flagged in the 3rd race Saturday, and had no such room for error! Given that it was their conditions - light/medium wind with lots of waves, I urged them to start at the downwind, but up-current pin end, get off the line with a lane, and play the left side that had been paying all regatta. Lucy had been pursuing this strategy all day, and was very comfortable with it. Bobby had disagreed with me before the previous race, saying "I think I can start nearer the boat end," but after getting buried in the second row (again, he had to avoid the first row if there was any chance of the fleet being over) was ready slide down the line. Lucy started a little late, but had enough of a lane to go left and came away with another solid finish. Bobby was set up for a great start at 15 seconds - he was 2 boat lengths below the line with a hole to leeward. Then the boat to windward accelerated first and as it began to roll him, Bobby thought he could get to the next hole to windward...and jybed. He wound up ducking most of the fleet on port before fining a lane in which to work back left. Undeterred, he passed 5 boats each on the reach and the run through sheer effort, and benefited from 10 boats being black flagged (I began to feel better about his chances when I heard this on the radio) to finish 57th and take the penultimate qualifying spot overall. Not the regatta he is capable of having, but the result he needed, and once you get into the dance anything can happen! 

    

Strategy should always be a discussion, and the best sailors will always think for themselves - after all they can't talk to coaches for the 5 minutes before the start, so blindly accepting a coaches strategy can be a fools errand. The boat being favored by more than 10 degrees, or the current switching (as it did halfway through Saturdays racing) were both great reasons to slide towards the boat end. However, I really liked the pin third start all regatta for a number of reasons:

1. The left was mostly favored. Key Biscayne was too far to windward to give us much of a shoreline lift, but the bend in the breeze it induced created a "convergent zone" where more breeze came together above the left of the course, resulting in more pressure. Oh, and it was the same breeze direction and course location as Orange Bowl, so we had had experience with this! 

2. The line was too short for the size of the fleet. This made starting in a "thinner" area a much higher percentage move. Also, the short line minimized the advantage of the favored end. When a couple pairs tested the line on Sunday they found that the right boat crossed the left by 3-4 boat lengths. We felt like the advantage of getting left was at least this much. 

3. Most of the boats getting Black flagged (and there were a lot at this regatta) were caught in a mid-boat end line Bulge. The current was pushing boats over the line - from the lee bow when the tide was flooding, and from behind when the tide was ebbing. This coupled with the habitually boat favored end (why they did this I could not fathom) meant it was risky starting in a pack. 

Illustration: when the boat is favored sailors are always over  - the boat to leeward tries to gauge off the boat to windward, and is over: 

4. Experience! While I personally love the thrill of fighting to win the favored end (I'm pretty good at it and can usually recover ok when I don't), I still won't try it if the current is going to plaster me to the committee boat!  And my two top J24 skippers (Robby Brown and Rossi Milev) have really shown me the virtues of starting cleanly down the line when the boat is favored. Here's a picture of J24 Midwinters - same situation, boat slightly favored, Left side of the course paying.

That's us with 799 barely visible on the Jib, 3 boats up from the pin, and just getting clear air! While John Molicon/Tim Healy in the Blue Helly Hansen boat won this particular race, we finished 3rd and took the regatta. We incurred zero risk, and were able to use our speed to hold a lane all the way to the left corner. This was basically Lucy's strategy the entire State Champs Opti regatta and she had the speed for numerous top 25's! 

A couple more things on starts: its come to my attention that Opti Kids really have no frickin clue where the start line is. While we can blame the Race Committee for the plethora of black flags at this regatta, here's a picture of a practice start with the LYC and CERT teams from Friday:

With the current sweeping us under the line in this case, everyone is late! My solution is always 'get a line sight!" Connor asked me at this regatta: "why should I get a line sight when I don't usually get to use it." Here's why:

*Even if you can't see it in the last minute, you can usually see how over/under you are when initially setting up with a group of boats, and extrapolate based on breeze strength and current.

*If the current is pushing you under the line, you can use it to start ahead of everyone (free top 10!)

*If you are over the line on a prep flag start, you can use it to know when you are clear. 

Thus, I get to use my line sight only about 50% of the time, but get one every time. For the picture above, I would say to myself: "My line sight is the middle of the small island just below (downwind of) the small bridge to the key. If I am under, the pin will line up with the bridge or the main key. If I am over, I will see all of the tiny island."

5.) For Ryan:

6.) With the inappropriately short start line, sailors this past weekend had to "set up" - make their final approach to the line on starboard - EARLY. If was too difficult to sail through 3 layers of boats and get in the front row. My colleagues Pilar Callabresse and Bobby Noonan took special care to discuss the maneuvering nessicary in this final approach with sailors. The key is to protect your "hole" to leeward - the space needed to bear off and accelerate. With a leeward boat too close (they have rights on you!), you can never gain the speed and flow on your foils to explode off the start line. 

   *Once you set up (2min to 45 seconds to start), protect your hole from trailing boats trying to take it by bearing off, letting your luffing sail out, physically and verbally discouraging them from sailing in to leeward of you. 

    *When there are no prowlers sailing by to leeward looking for a hole, look to work your boat to windward (make your hole bigger at the boat to windward of you's expense). Do this by:

1. Trimming the sheet and heading up to get a little speed 

2. Shooting head to wind.

3. Quick backwind to stop you (also slides you a bit to windward). Stop before you get too close to the line! 

4. Tiller to windward, then scull back down to a close hauled course (no more than 2 pumps on the tiller should be necessary, although unlimited sculling is allowed to "turn the boat down from above a close hauled course." 

5 Let the sail out as you turn down so you don't accelerate (at least not yet). 

Through all these steps the skippers weight will need to be further to windward than when luffing.

When you think its time, accelerate by sailing as fast as you can on a close-reaching course. In light air, rock to leeward one; in heavy air, just hike! 

 In most boats the only danger is the boat to leeward, but in Optis the boat to windward is a real concern, as most sailors have only a general grasp of the Windward/Leeward rule (RRS Rule 11). In most situations, if the boat to windward goes, GO! Don't let them roll you, and role the boat to leeward of you. Make them pay for sailing down on you by pinching them out AFTER the start and AFTER you have MATCHED their speed. 

Results (click here for full results) : LYC regulars and drop ins (we had a number of talented sailors joining our group of coaches and sailors for this event) had a number of awesome finishes: Justin Callahan 2nd, Hayden Earl 4th , Mitchell Callahan 5th, Bella Cassaretto 8th, Ryan Satterburg 15th Jonathan Siegel 19th, Giulio Zunino 28th, Connor Bolland 31st in a 209 boat Fleet!!! We (by which I mean the coaching staff; sailors will have the opportunity to  consider their own goals this coming weekend) hope these top finishes will be a prelude to all these rock stars making the National Team. Current National Teamer Garret Dixon probably belongs in this group -  Garret's scores which counted were 4,6,6,10 - averaging between a 7th and 8th place finish overall - but were bracketed by 2 Black Flag penalties. Bella was BFD'd on the same start as Garret Sunday, and though she had led the regatta up to that point, had to be too conservative from there on out. 

The top 10 overall finishers ordered from left to right. 

Qualifying for the team trials were Lucy Meagher in 43rd and Bobby Reilly in 74th and they join a second group of LYC sailors who all can realistically can make the Development Team!

Regatta MVP's:
*The Judges. I saw very few yellow flags for 42 Infringements, and I think the judges exhibited an enlightened view that in steep chop and medium wind, a lot of body movement is a necessary part of guiding boats through the waves. Downwind and on the start line, competitors seemed to be pretty good at pumping just once per wave and sculling only to turn down to close hauled from above.

Note: WE WILL BE HOSTING A Gold/Silver "PROTEST CLASS" WITH JUDGE MARTY OTTENHEIMER after sailing practice the next two Wednesdays! Please RSVP to Bob Meagher if you want to attend!

*The Winner, Mia Nicolosi, from the USVI. She closed the regatta with 3 bullets and showed some really impressive upwind technique, flicking nicely on each wave.

*Former Eckerd College coach (among many other things) Scott Norman for supplying Hayden who arrived on the race-course bailorsless, with his bailor for Saturday.



Pili and Bobby coaching practice this weekend while I go sailing (50th Don Q Snipe Regatta on...Biscayne Bay!). Hope you have a great practice and I look forward to this month of training looking to peak at Team Trials.

2016 Buccaneer Blast Green Fleet Regatta Report - Julia Melton

This past weekend we had 15 LYC sailors participate in Green fleet at the Buccaneer Blast regatta in Key Largo.  LYC Green Fleet was represented by Jake Burgess, Simone Moss, Stephan Tate, Rhys Pullar, KJ Hill, Kevin Gosselin, Max Maister, Luca Ehring, Skye Johnson, Ava Meshel, Graceanna Dixon, Valentina Agnese, Ana Smith, Danielle Smith, and Sofia Buchweitz. I had the privilege of coaching this group along with Coach Sharon Johnson. For some of our sailors this was their first regatta experience and the same goes for many of the parents. We had a very strong parent support group on the water and on shore and we were very appreciative of that. 

Our team focused on three things for racing in this regatta: 1.Positioning, 2. Sail Trim and 3. Direction. If you are able to master these three things in green fleet you are very likely to end up in the top 10. All it takes a lot of focus and practice to be able to consider all three things at once in a race. In this post I plan to break down each of the three topics:

1. Positioning.

Positioning is where your body should be in the boat in any given condition. I teach my sailors that you need to always be connected with your feet whether your weight is forward and in the boat for light air, or when your weight is out and the top of your feet are connected to the hiking strap when the breeze picks up. Your weight placement is essential to keeping the boat flat. Two examples of bad positioning: 1. A stationary sailors with no weight movement at all and the sailor doesn’t shift their weight in and out according to the pressure. 2. A sailor with their weight sprawl out everywhere, legs are wide and feet not together which makes the boat feel and look unbalanced and unsteady. Always keep your weight together (feet, legs, shoulders) and balance the boat to keep it flat.try to be one body with the boat, always connected. 

On Saturday the breeze died down after the first race. The fastest boats were the flattest from side to side as well as balanced from bow to stern for the entire race. When its light your weight should be in (on the balls of your feet, never knees or butt) and forward so the side of your front shin is touching the thwart. On Sunday, the conditions were windier and I think one area our team could improve on is endurance. I saw a lot of sailors not hiking hard or long enough in pressure to keep the boat flat. Body position is very important to consider in all conditions especially when sailing upwind because it keeps the boat moving forward and not dragging any sides or corners in the water. 

2. Sail Trim

Sail trim is equally important for maximizing your speed and minimizing your distance to the next mark. Upwind=sail should be trimmed to the corned. I noticed that when sailors have trouble keeping their sail trimmed correctly upwind it usually is because they aren’t holding and/or trimming the mainsheet correctly. Your grip for the tiller and mainsheet should be the same so that your thumbs are facing up around the line or tiller. To trim, feed the mainsheet from one hand to the other. Bring the line in your front hand to you back hand holding the tiller and use your pointer and middle finger to trim in the sheet. After your sail is trimmed properly, then it is time to fine tune your trim by watching your tell tales! 

3. Direction

The third main topic we focused on was direction. This was very important for this venue, especially on Saturday when the breeze direction was oscillating from the middle of the course to the left. This meant that for most of the races on Saturday it paid off to start at the pin end of the line and tack on to port in to the first left shirt. 

Direction is also important for general course awareness. You should always try to minimize the distance to the next mark. When sailing upwind you should consider whether you are lifted: pointed closer to the windward mark compared to the other tack or headed=pointing further away from the windward mark compared to the other tack. In general you want to be sailing on the tack that is taking you on a closer angle to the windward mark.  For downwind, the concept of direction is simple just make sure your pointing your bow at the next mark and set up for an inside mark rounding for the gybe and leeward mark.

Of course the more experienced you have as a sailor, the more things there are to consider such as advanced boat handling and tactics. Positioning, sail trim and direction are fundamental to learn and understand first when learning to race.

Results

Congratulations to everyone for a job well done! More important than the result is the process it took you to get there. Take something away or learn something from each race or regatta and apply it to the next one. You can find the regatta results here.

Winning Ways Continue for Gold/Silver at Buccaneer Blast - Regatta Debrief

At the risk of sounding braggadocios, I would like to point out the current run that the LYC RWB Opti sailors are on:

*1st and 2nd place at the last 3 Opti Fleet Race Regattas.

*A different LYC Sailor won each event!

While the big goal is strong finishes at Team Trails (April 19-22 in San Francisco) and we have events each of the next 2 weekends, the early results versus regional competition have been excellent. 

Jonathan Siegal scored Bullets in the first 4 races of the Buccaneer Blast to take the regatta, while Garret Dixon rebounded from a rough Saturday to dominate the final three races and finish second! Overall, LYC finished 1,2,4,8,11,12,15th, with Giulio Zunino 2nd in Blue Fleet, Connor Bolland 5th in Blue and Bobby Rielly 5th in Red. It was also a terrific showing for LYC's Green Fleet with 13 sailors in attendance, and awesome to have to RWB setting such a great example for the (relative) youngsters!

      Connor's future Christmas Card to his friends!: Connor (right) leads Giulio (center) and Jonathan (top right) 

around the leeward mark during the final race on Sunday. 

Conditions/Speed: 

Light wind on Saturday - 4-7kts,  and Breeze on Sunday of about 12-16kts. Given the shallow water of the Upper Keys, and semi-protected venue, the waves were small but choppy. This put a premium on upwind speed on the first day just so that you could punch through the chop, while big gains were made on Sunday off the wind by those who had the technique and effort to surf each little wave. 

    On Saturday the wind was light enough that maintaining flow on ones sail was sometimes difficult.  It's important to remember that if your sail is stalled, no amount of "kinetic" movement will drive your boat through the waves. When you feel a loss of speed, look first to you upper set of luff telltales, and try easing until you have them streaming. THEN when you have speed go back to watching your lower telltales and the waves. Jonathan and Connor both had superior speed in these conditions due to:

   1. Good flow on the telltales and appropriate sailtrim (.5 inch off the corner when really needing speed, 1 inch inside the corner once speed was established)

  2. Weight in the boat, but slightly back from the thwart so as not to dig the bow in. Most sailors are used to moving forwards in light air, but in the Opti chop means you must stay back.

  3. Good smooth fore-and-aft body movements (permitted under rule 42 so long as it is not an "ooch"), executed while keeping the tiller still (Bobby and Jack started the regatta with way too much rudder movement but both improved).  

Most of our sailors correctly set up with loose vangs (1/4" of sag when trimmed in upwind) and sprits after the first race. Set your sprit in light air so that wrinkles begin to show from the top of the mast towards the middle of the sail when in a puff. This will give you more twist, pointing ability and SPEED.

One Side Favored! 

Based on the vast experience of coaching one day of this regatta last year I expected and prepped my sailors for big random oscillating wind shifts. I was wrong! The wind did oscilate back and forth slightly all weekend, but the shifts were pretty small - only 5-10 degrees. Furthermore, there was a side of the racecourse that almost always seemed to pay off! - the left on Saturday and the right on Sunday. 

  

Saturday Pattern: most of the pressure filling from the left side of the racecourse. When the breeze would die, it would fill in on the left first. I don't know exactly why this was the case, but suspect that the seabreeze was trying to fight trough from down the key. On the friday Green Fleet practice, when the wind died completely, it came in hard from the left. 

    Jonathan was rarely the farthest left boat, but still made sure he covered the left and got to the pressure. Connor came back from ~10th to 3rd on one beat where he banged the left corner. There were exceptions: Bobby, seeing that the left pressure had spread across the course at the beginning of a long upwind leg, chose to stay in phase and sail the lifted tack to the right of the fleet. The wind did shift back a little bit, and he was able to cross back to the left having gained 7 boats- some really smart sailing! Giulio had his typical excellent starts and good gameplan, but like pretty much every sailor over 90lbs that day, had trouble finding the speed to capitalize - light air and chop will always be the toughest conditions for heavier boats. 

Sunday Pattern: Strong winds from the east meant a long, slightly angled shoreline to the right of the course that promised shoreline lifts. The puffs from the right weren't "fanning" or visible on the water (as you would expect from shoreline lifts), but the right paid pretty consistently. Garret was the first boat to really test this advantage, and won his 3 races by over 15 boat lengths by continuing to go back to this advantage. Libby and Connor had generally plus second beats by trending to the right side of the course as well. You still had to be aware of the shifts and what your angle was, but designing a start-->first beat strategy to get to the right was important, as was using any left shifts to get to the right. A lot of stupidity was evident in some sailors who rounded the leeward mark, tacked, and sailed under the fleet (still coming downwind) to the left! 

While the waves will be very different in San Francisco, we expect a number of races where one side is consistently favored due to current. Check the tides, forcast, and topography of your racing venue and make a prediction on what the winning strategy will be. If something is working, keep doing it! 

Skewed Line: 

The start lines were not very square - mostly pin favored Saturday and Boat favored Sunday. After Garret and Libby both picked up a Black Flag in the 3rd race, coach Step Hudson stressed approaching the line "numbers covered"  - unreadable from both ends, then getting up to speed before  go. Overall, our team did an excellent job finding the favored end and a number of sailors (Nico!) improved their starts by the end of the event. 

Downwind Matters! 

The most impressive part of Jonathan's wins Saturday and Garret's wins on Sunday were they way they extended on the downwind legs. This was due to technique and effort. With a lot of really short surf able waves, you must have the effort to pump on each of them! As you pump, the shoulders (or for smaller sailors whole body) must be back in the boat to stop the bow from burying. As you surf and ease, you must slide forwards. This is because the crest of the wave is moving towards your bow, and you do not want the stern to dig in. These movements are LEGAL under rule 42 - provided the slide forward does not end so abruptly as to be considered an "ooch". You do not want the boat to rock side to side (at least in an Opti) because this will result in offsetting rudder movements (slow). 

Sailors who weren't able to make big gains downwind were guilty of at least several of the following:

*Board down too much or sail trimmed in too much (you are too afraid of capsizing). 

*Boat not balanced for-and-aft (you are too afraid of bow plowing)

*Not enough pumping (you are too tired from the upwind leg - get in shape!)

*Too much rudder movement (you need practice!)

* Sailing in a pack of boats (you need to find a clear lane at the beginning of the run.

Overally, our team is improving downwind and we now have at least 4 sailors (Garret, Jonathan, Bobby, Mitchell) who should be able to execute the Duncan Williford-School-to-winning-regattas: Round Top 10 at the windward mark, Round Top 3 at the leeward mark! 

Laying Up to the Windward Mark

Speaking of which...sailing to the lay lines too early will invariably cost you places at the end of the first beat (was a problem we did't solve at Buc Blast). Instead, "Lay up" to the windward mark by consciously approaching below the laying. Last weekend when I was trimming on the winning J24 for Midwinters in Tampa, our skipper (and top Canadian pro sailor) Rossi Milev would use this approach every time! Ill give the sailors more of a chalk talk on this in the coming weeks, but here's a sketch of the general concept:

By approaching 5-10 boat lengths below the layline, A always gains on B because B sails in more traffic, and can't benefit from a windshift either way.

Congrats to our sailors and I'm looking forward to more tactical, short course racing at Jensen Beach this weekend. 

Arthur Blodgett 

Jack after a great finish!

  All Photos courtesy of Francesco Zunino

Summer Sailing Registration is open!!!