The second toughest domestic Opti regatta of the year is the Spring Team Qualifier regatta. Bi-annually the Opti Midwinters (a New Orleans Thanksgiving tradition) bears this designation, but this year it was bestowed on the St. Petersburg Yacht Club to host in early October. The regatta - officially the “USODA Southeast Championship” - determines which sailors are invited to the US National and Development Teams, and the order in which they are asked to represent Team USA in International regattas scheduled for Urugway, Italy, Spain, Belgum and the Netherlands this spring. With all the top sailors turning out the competition was great and with only 1 month to prepare since the start of the fall season we were prepared for a range of outcomes!
Training
Pilo and I arrived Wednesday morning and began on-site training daily as more and more sailors took off school to practice! With yet another Hurricane making its way up the Gulf of Mexico there was big breeze - up to 35kts Wednesday and 25kts Thursday. After numerous swamps the sailors had an epic ride in - Wednesday it was too rough for me to get the camera out, Thursday I took this picture of Kevin Gosselin ripping on a reach leg. While we give some breeze specific tips to the sailors for big wind (flattening the sail with less cunningham and more vang, pulling up the daggerboard BEFORE you try to head down) Pilo stresses to the sailors that the routine is really the same for all conditions. You tune for the conditions, balance the boat, and analyze the course and start line in the same way. You are racing, not just surviving! I think it is really important to train on the 35 kt days - then you have the confidence to race on the 20 kt day like it is no big deal.
Kevin Gosselin rippin' Photo: Arthur Blodgett
Friday brought medium - light wind and with 20 sailors from LYC practicing together we had decent Start-line-in current practice and worked on the sailors technique and patience sailing a longer course. You are not going to radically change or fix your technique (or boathandeling) at a regatta (that is what practice is for) but I stressed a couple things for St. Pete chop.
*Sailing with the outhaul a little extra loose for the chop - hint of vertical wrinkles through the first seam in light - medium conditions.
*Making sure to be far enough back in the boat that the bow was not dragging - in addition to chop vs swell the water was a little fresher in St. Pete than Lauderdale, so the boat sinks a little lower and the bow drag is a big consideration.
*Always sail with your front foot locked into the boat (when not hiking you can kick your ankle into the hiking strap), exerting upward pressure on that foot, and downward pressure on your back thigh as you work the boat. This, along with good body position, vision and timing is how you should work the boat through the waves.
Robby Brown joined us to meet the sailors as they were measuring in Friday afternoon. When I told Eric Bardez Robby was coaching with us he said “no one has won more races on this bay than Robby Brown, except maybe Ed Baird.” Robby was my college coach at Eckerd and I would not have been an All American without him and I think the kids benefited from his on the water coaching and insights in the briefings. For me it was great to have a former mentor as a colleague and be able to bounce ideas off him on the radio as the conditions were changing.
Racing - Current
“This regatta is going to be all about the current” said Mauricio Galarce Friday night, and for the most part he was dead on. The current changed to begin coming in at 10am Saturday, 11am Sunday in the racing area, so we sailed most of the races in a fooding current, which was with the wind direction. The wind gods found rare favor with St. Petersburg and blessed us with 2 great days of racing in 7-15 Kts of wind from the SE to SSW direction. 2 miles out in the Bay the water sparkled and the waves and fair conditions made it a fair test of who the best sailors were. People were inconsistent only because there are soo many good sailors. You have to do something extra to not just be one more of the fleet.
Sara Schumann and Lulu Hamilton (far left) racing around the gate. Photo: Tom Barnard
The easiest way to get a great race when the current was ripping with the wind was simply to beat the line sag. Even with a U flag, one could safely stay above the middle of the fleet but still under the line for the last minute, and start on top of the fleet. Optis are slow boats upwind and very susceptible to current, and kids don't always fully grasp how much they are being swept. With the fleet being swept into a big banana shape under the line, it was not enough to be even with the front row, you had to maintain a position with the front of the fleet, then accelerate early and start punched out. Stephan Baker had a race where he started in the middle of the line 3 boat lengths ahead of the next boat, covered the fleet and won by a horizon. The incredible thing was he risked nothing to get such a good start! Middle of the line when starting in adverse current is the safest place to be! It was soo bad that 2nd Place finisher Peter Foley won a race here he started on Port in the middle of the line - you should not be able to do that but such was the line sag. While the pin was favored, the current also caused a pile up on the pin boat for those starting line 1b and below - again - take the easy money and start middle to mid-pin above the fleet!
photo: Tom Barnard
On the first day I was a little disappointed with my Silver Fleeters for not taking better advantage of this - I think they were a little intimidated by the regatta at first. O the second day we were first to recognize the change and in lighter airs most of them sailed their best race. Here’s Jake, Connor K and Kevin at a the windward mark:
Jake extended on the downwind and held on on the last beat to win the race! Cody and KJ also had solid finishes. We have a lot of current in Ft. Lauderdale and I expect these sailors and others to start well more consistently when the current affords these opportunities.
A couple morning races were started in current pushing over the line, and this requires a different approach to get a decent start without being Black -Flagged (this means disqualified from the race if you are over the line anytime under 1 minute before the start. You are OUT even if the race is re-started!) I really like to approach late on Port Tack from below the pin end, tack on someones lee-bow anytime from 45-15 seconds and snake my way up to the line. This approach (“The Port Tack approach”) allowed you to look for “low density” areas of the fleet, and also to see if most of the fleet is over - in this case make sure you stay below!
We talked a lot with the sailors about the exact angle of the current. The up current end of the line is always low risk, the down current end where boats naturally drift too is high risk. On the run you should sail the jibe that takes you into the current!
The bay was actually deeper to the right of the course area - counterintuitive as the right was closer to the land from which we came! Thus, all else being equal, the current was marginally worse on the right side when sailing upwind. However, this disadvantage was sometimes negated by the windshjifts.
Racing - Wind
There were a couple notable things about the wind shifts:
*You could usually see the big picture pressure that was going to fill on the water by looking further up the course. Sailing to the pressure (darker, choppier water) was doubly important because it usually brought a shift from that direction. Always trust what you see more than what you predict! This applies to tuning your boat (changing the vang, cunningham, sprit and outhaul) for the wind that is present at the start as well (the pressure would drop and increase cyclically through the day)
*The wind clocked right throughout the day, but not radically. When it was shifting right, you did not need to bang the right corner to benefit. Instead it was better to get middle-right on the fleet, consolidate when you had a right shift, and tack a bit more than you normally would in a persistent shift. The way I explained this to the sailors on the water was to be rightish on the fleet, but not far right over the ground (because of the current). Earlier in the day (both Sat and Sunday) the left worked great on a number of races as well when there was superior pressure. (again, all together now… trust what you see more than what you predict!).
‘Consolidating’ is a key concept in fleet racing - it means: when you are ahead, cross the fleet to get between the majority of boats and the next mark. Differences in clouds, current or wind patters determine how much you should cross - either a little bit before playing your side, or all the way - you have options. But the basic principle is to get an initial advantage and then cash it in. If you are not ahead of most of the fleet, dig back to your side to not let them consolidate you! Wait for the wind to shift back to your direction, and then consolidate!
Monday was a return to normalcy on Tampa Bay - after a couple general recalls for the gold fleet (even they could not stay below the line with the current in max ebb), the wind died completely! Credit to PRO Tod Fedezyn for understanding that the light easterly was canceling the sea breeze and calling it at noon! 7 Races in 3 days was still a great regatta and the RC, markboats, judges and measurers all did a fantastic job.
Awards/Results
Stephan Baker and Jake Homberger aka "baby Stephan" at awards. Photo: USODA
Stephan Baker continued his dominance of US Opti sailing winning all 7 races in which he competed. The way 3 flight racing works, the top 3 boats never got to race each other, so for Stephan it was really about sustaining excellence and letting Peter and 3rd place finisher Vanessa Larkamp eventually make a mistake or two. Vanessa was Black Flagged in the 3rd race, Peter finished 2nd in the 6th, and probably could have been 2nd in the last one as well, but the pressure put on by Stephans ongoing picket fence forced him to go all-or-nothing and he finished 5th. LYC’s Connor Bolland had his best fleet racing finish to date and placed 5th out of 273 boats. No secrets for either sailor, just good starts, great boatspeed and playing the windshift/consolidation game at a high level. Connor has now qualified 3 times over for the National team. He is sailing in High School for St. Thomas Aquinas, practicing twice a week in FJ’s against 18 year olds and overall sailing 5 days a week when school allows! Oh and also won 2 Team Race National Championships, the Opti Team Cup and the Rizzotti as a less heralded member of LYC 1. Its great to see this hard work and talent taking him to the top level of fleet racing. For Stephan this makes 15 fleet races in a row won in US competition and the key is to stay motivated and continue to strive for perfection.
Lulu Hamilton (19th) Jack Redmond (21) and Tommy Sitzman (28) all made the National Team; Jack moving up from the Development team and Lulu making a team for the first time! Sara Schumann was 36th, on the edge of NT/DT after a check in penalty (!) and new LYC sailor Ludmilla Lira was 37th! LYC guests Connor and Michael Kirkman re-quallified for the Development Team (Michael will be on the edge of NT), and Jake Hamburger will be the first LYC Silver fleeter to make the Development Team! He finished 66 and was 3rd overall in White fleet! We wont know for a few days the full extent of International Team Invites, but Kevin Gosselin, Angus Renton and KJ Hill all had good regattas in the low hundreds. I think most of the silver fleet showed improvement by finishing about the same as Nationals - at a much tougher regatta 3 months later. With the STQ this early in the year, some sailors who are fast in practice were maybe a regatta or 2 away from having the experience to compete at a high level - I expect Truman Rodgers and Ty Lamb in particular to launch in the next few events. 3 Bronze fleeters competed and sailed solid regattas! Graceanna Dixon, Ava Meshel and Drew Lamb all got their first taste of a high level event, and I know this is the program their coach Pili wants for them - you always benefit the most from sailing against the best.
Next up: River Romp, the LYC Team Race and the Opti Team Cup Berlin. The next big fleet race test will be SE Dinghy Champs at Key Biscayne, but for now at LYC, its officially Opti Team Race Month ! Whoohoo!
-Arthur Blodgett
-Arthur Blodgett
