42 Marine

Over the Horizon? »

January 11, 2011

When I was just a young, Junior Bear Cub in my first week at Melges in January 2005, I had been assigned my first Tyvek suit and was preparing to crawl into the nose of an E Scow to install some hardware when I was given the news that instead of spending 2 weeks in the frozen tundra of Zenda, I would be joining Andy and Harry in Key West to support the large fleet of Melges 24s, and help debut the brand new Melges 32. The caveat of course was that I would be driving the Melges van from Zenda to KW, and for those who have not driven a stripped out sailing van full of tools and spare parts, it basically sounds the same as jumping in an empty drier with some wrenches, forks and spoons for 24 hrs…but what did I care…I was going to Key West to race a Melges 32 in the highest profile regatta in the US…I was as happy as…well…a bear cub with a jar full of honey.

At the time, Key West was the winter destination that was on every sailors’ dream list of regattas to attend, and while this post will not be able to capture the essence of this event, the feeling when arriving in KW made every sailor feel like they had reached the big leagues. What was not to love?  Racing on clear blue, Carribean-like waters in the middle of winter with boats and sailors that were regularly featured in sailing magazines, reliable breeze with big seas, warm temps, great onshore fun, and in the center of it all, the massive, fully packed, Premiere-Racing tent with an endless supply of Mount Gay Rum, and Top Gun music blasting as rewards were given out on a big stage for the top daily performers.  With over 300 different types of racing boats at the height of this longstanding event, Key West truly was where the best sailors in the world came to race, and the event that weekend warriors planned for at the end of their summer sailing.

Blame the economy, decisions by race organizers, decline for sailing in general, or the longstanding belief that a good thing cannot last forever, but whatever the reason, the 2011 version of Key West Race Week will be a fraction of its former self, and the talk amongst longstanding KW veterans is that it may be the last KWRW as we know it.  The tent is gone (cue the tumbleweed), entries are hovering around 135 boats, and with Premiere-Racing recently canning its other revenue generating event, Miami Race Week which was scheduled to take place in March, the writing seems to be on the wall; unless KWRW and Premiere-Racing get a few shocks to the chest in the ER, North America’s top drawing event is on track to become the latest “remember when” story.

But while some of the toppings on the Sundae may be missing, the guts of Key West are still in place; the wind and the waves don’t get weaker because KWRW is a much smaller event, and the racing itself is still run with a professional Race Committee.  Premiere-Racing has made a huge effort to reduce costs of attending, and with a few high profile Maxi and mini-Maxi teams racing, a strong Melges 24 fleet, and the addition of the RC 44s to the mix this year, there are plenty of top level teams coming to the southern most point in the U.S. to race. The Melges 32 fleet continues to carry momentum after its 30+ fleet at the Worlds and 21 Melges 32s will be competing, including 2010 KW Champs and Boat of the Week, John Kilory’s Samba Pa Ti who will be tough to beat with current World Champ trimmer Federico Michetti and 2009 World Champ Nathan Wilmot as tactician being added to the team. Warpath, Goombay Smash, Red, and Leenabarca will all be looking to start 2011 on the right note and add to their impressive track records.

As for myself, I will be joining a new team from the Caribbean, INTAC Racing, and while we have plenty of talent on board, there are always some initial challenges when getting started in the Melges 32 fleet…like gybing in 25 kts of breeze while doing 18kts of boatspeed.  But I am confident we’ll be able to accelerate our learning curve and with guys like Peter Holmberg, Anthony Kotoun and a boat full of talented amateurs, we should be able to get into the mix and throw some elbows around (I know I have used this link before, but it just gets better every time and is worth incorporating this type of mentality into your daily life).

Besides looking forward to de-thawing from what has been a harsh Minnesota winter, I will be taking in the full KW experience since this may be the last we get of this longstanding, very well run, Premiere-Racing event.  It is uncertain where we will go from 6-8pm every night which was normally occupied by going to the main tent, enjoying Mount Gay Rum and rehashing the day, but I am sure we will find a suitable establishment.  Stay tuned for daily reports from the Melges 32 course, and from the mean streets of KW.

Kiss ‘Em Goodbye »

December 12, 2010

The final day of the Audi Melges 20 Miami #1 started out rough for the M and M team.  While getting the boat prepped for the day, the keys were locked in our car with all our gear, water, gatorade and a few other essential items.  Thankfully, we did get our mainsail out before the snafu, otherwise Mary Anne’s 3 hr car ride home to Cocoa Beach would have been noisy with a busted out tailgate window in her SUV.   After grabbing some drinks from the Red Sky team, and being left with no bibs, spray tops or additional gear, we set out for the final day hoping the big breeze that was forecast wouldn’t have too much bite to it, and that we could build on our 2nd place position from Day 1.

The first race was got underway after 1 general recall, and just like locking our keys in the car, our first start made me think our time might be better spent suntanning with the Euros and MTV wannabees on South Beach, instead of being on the racecourse for what seemed to be a doomed day.  On the starting line, there is a very fine line between pulling the trigger at the right time, and being a second late and getting rolled. Being the first race of the day and surrounded by some fast teams, I was a too eager to have our team trim in the sails and go. We did a good job of getting going before the boats to windward and leeward, the only problem was we were early.  And as we tried to stay below the line, we fouled 2-3 boats to leeward, than we were called over early on top of it.  I felt like opening the front hatch, crawling below and getting into the fetal position.  After a few apologies to some angry competitors, we spun, re-rounded the committee boat and made our way upwind with the fleet well ahead.

The breeze was trying to fill, but was hovering in the 10-13 range.   Our boat was set up well, and by the second upwind, we got close to the middle of the fleet and into striking distance for the downwind.  Mary Anne and Coye Harrett, who was filling in for Mary Anne’s husband, did a great job of getting the boat moving downwind and we managed to hook into a few shifts and take a respectable 11th place after a horrifying start.  A good, hard fought comeback for the team.  We were also comforted that some of the top teams in the standings were over early or had bad races, so we were still looking ok for the regatta.

With a 15 minute break to grab lunch and get organized, the breeze was actively building and by the next start, we had 15-20 from the southwest and planing conditions.   Like a pendulum, we swung hard by being over early in the first race, and once the gun went on the 2nd start, we were late to round up with the boats around us and found ourselves barely hanging onto a thin lane on starboard.  With a few boats clearing out on our hip, we tacked to port, ducked 1-2 boats, than blasted off to the right side of the course in clear air. It wasn’t pretty, but we were off and moving.  Shortly after the tack, we must have done a good job of mixing in good rig and sail settings because USA 43 came to life and we were noticeably faster than the boats around us.  After legging it out to the right corner, playing a few shifts back to the mark, we rounded in first, hoisted our kite, and blasted off to the gates on full plane with the weight in the back of the bus.

Just on our tails was Michael Kiss and his team on Bacio.  They did a good job of sailing fast downwind and getting inside of us for the gybe, and eventually getting around us at the leeward mark.  The next upwind, we tried to position ourselves to lead the fleet back to the left side of the course, the only problem was the left did not come back like we had hoped and our 2nd place turned into a 3rd.  With another nice set, we pulled off a quick gybe and split from the 2 boats ahead of us. This would turn out to be a nice gain as we reclaimed 2nd place and some distance on the eventual race winners, Bacio.

The final race of the day saw the breeze increase further with puffs gusting into the low 20s, and with the top 7 boats seperated by a few pts, we were looking forward to some fun, tight racing, and knew if we could keep it together on the downwind legs, we would have a very good chance to finish in the top 6 or 7 in race, and have a good overall finish.  As the breeze picked up and clocked further left, the line was very port favored, and once again, we tacked shortly after the gun, took a few transoms and found a clean lane headed to the right side.  We struggled to find our speed like we had in the previous race, but we were still going well and established ourselves in the front group.   The team on Bacio got launched on the after the start and were gone, but from 2nd to 10th, it was very close and as we approached on port tack into the top mark, we were faced with dillema of ducking a train of boats on the starboard tack layline, or trying to stick a nice leebow without fouling or hitting the mark.

Im not sure at what point in my life I will realize that sometimes playing things safe is actually better, and more fun in the long run than going with the risky call and having it not work out…but it certainly was today.  Thinking we could stick a tight leebow and get a little help from current which was not moving as fast as we would discover, once we got on our close hauled angle, we were pointing at the mark and clearly did not have enough speed to try and shoot it.  We hit the mark, went to leeward of it, did our 360 and watched the boats that we were duking it out with for the regatta blast off downwind.

After a tough downwind and wiping out during a gybe, we still managed to hang tough and were pecking away at boats in the middle of the fleet.  The great thing about racing Melges 20s in big breeze is the race is never over.  Just like the previous race, we set on the final downwind, gybed immediately into nice pressure, and smoked away from the boats ahead of us.  As we got close to layline, we pushed just a bit farther to get into more pressure and once it hit, we wound up about 10 degrees and it was looking good for big gains on 8-10 boats to the right of us.  After a great gybe from Mary Anne, we hit our new angle and while it is always nice to gybe into a header, we were now aimed about 15-20 degrees below the committee boat in a huge shift and the gains we had just made might have been all for naught as we were well overstood.

We held the kite as long as possible living on a very slippery slope, and once we hit a good tight reaching angle, we did a nice whether douse on the right side of the boat, trimmed the sails, and jib reached to the finish.  6-8 other boats were blasting in with their spinnakers and just as we were about to get passed, we snuck around the pin end of the finish line for a very hard fought 11th place, and a 6th place overall with a scoreline of 2, 11, 2, 11.   On the sail in, we felt pretty good about our overall performance and we were encouraged that what kept us out of the top 3 overall was not a mystery;  we made some very blatant mistakes that cost us some big points. For myself, I need to be better about putting us into some safer spots and make the realization that while we have a chance to pick off 1-2 boats, we can also lose 5-6.  Risk v reward.  I was very happy with how hard we fought for every point when the chips were down, and we have made some huge improvements on several big items over the past few months.

Michael Kiss and his team showed some serious dominance by winning all three races today and really smoking the fleet in the last race to take the first series title.  What a great first event to start off the series for the Melges 20 fleet.  Ripping breeze, it doesn’t get much better.  Photos can be found at melges.com as well as the Melges 20 Facebook page. Results here.

And for those who want proof of the theory that everything comes in cycles…our day started with locking our keys in the car, and it has ended with my flight back to Minny getting cancelled.  Having some great sailboat racing in the middle of the cycle certainly makes the downswings more tolerable. Thanks to Mary Anne and Bill Ward for another great weekend of racing, and some seriously fun and really good dinners.  Thanks to Coye Harrett for filling in at the last minute and being an excellent Junior Bear Cub…those are big shoes to fill!

The Calm before the…calm »

December 11, 2010

The Melges 20 fleet made way to the racecourse around 930 am on Saturday, a nice NW breeze at 9-12 kts was blowing on Biscayne Bay and it looked like it would be a perfect day for sailing with blue skies and sunshine.  As we got closer to the RC boat anchored 5-6 miles from shore, it was clear the breeze was not extending very far offshore, and what breeze was reamaing, was dissipating fast.   As the breeze hovered around 2-3 kts at 11am, PRO Bruce Gollison had no other choice than to put the Audi Melges 20 Fleet into postponement with the hopes of a Northerly, or Easterly Seabreeze filling.  Just as teams were starting to fully kick back in relax mode, the Northerly started to show and a starting line was set.

With the breeze hovering just above class minimums, the RC dropped the postponement flag and gave us a warning signal around noon.  As we lined up for the start, keeping speed on was critical since whatever breeze was on the racecourse was hard to come by, and being in a crowd on a start meant you needed to pull the trigger early to get up on the line and establish yourself on in the all important front row.  On the M and M, we set our selves up around 1min, and Mary Anne did a great job of getting the boat rolling at 30 seconds and hitting the line at full pace when the gun went.  Halfway up the beat, it was clear the breeze was not filling as we had hoped, but there was still enough to race and we worked hard to make the most of our solid start.

After losing our lane a few minutes after the start, we got bounced around in the middle of the course, than finally found ourselves with a clear lane headed to the left side.  While we were not sure if this was ideal, we at least had a clean lane and were able to keep up good boat speed.  As we slogged left, the breeze started to look a bit better and with the majority of the fleet on the right side of the course, we decided to roll the dice and really send it to the left side.  With only 1-2 other boats with us, we tacked onto port and had the nice view of watching the boats on the right trying to get back to the mark with very little pressure and a bad angle.  Thankfully we got around the mark with pressure in 3rd place and made our way downwind before our gamble turned to mush.

At the bottom gate, we made some nice gains on the leaders, split gates and we headed to the right side on the next upwind and hoped that the pressure we saw was not just an illusion. we continued on port tack until layline for the new whether mark approached and flopped on to starboard looking like we might have a shot at the lead.  As we approached the 1st and 2nd place boats, we had made some nice gains, but not enough to be clear ahead.  The 2nd place boat, Ryan DeVos with Morgan Reeser lee bowed us and managed to hang 1/2 boat length to leeward, until 1st place boat Scott Nixon and his skipper John Arendshorst leebowed them and would eventually saw them off.  Some seriously tight racing for 3.5 knots of wind! We managed to hang on Scott and John’s hip in 2nd place on a long starboard until the whether mark, and once around the mark, we all set, gybed immediatly and layed the finish line to end a very light air race. Our goal for the day was not to put up a big number, and we survived the only race on day 1 with nice 2nd place.

Regardless if the race was good or bad for a team, everyone stuck around for cold beers and grub at the Coconut Grove Yacht Club which has a very good understanding of what sailors want at the end of a hot, light-air day of sailing…beer and food.

The forecast tomorrow is for nice breeze in the 15-20 range and the goal of the RC is to get off 4 quality races.  Stay tuned to 42marine and melges20.com for up to the minute reports. Results here.

UP NEXT – Audi Melges 20 – Miami Winter Series #1 »

December 8, 2010

When Kevin Costner heard the whispers in Field of Dreams, “If you build it, he will come,” (often misquoted as “they”) there was probably some doubt in his mind that if he built a baseball field in the middle of a corn field, that the ghosts of baseballs’ greats really would come to play.  For most people, this type of thing is only achievable through some serious hallucinogenics, but just like most things in Hollywood, Costner was able to sculpt the perfect baseball field out of the cornfields in his backyard and, voila, his vision did come true of having the ghosts of former players play ball on his makeshift diamond.  When the Audi Melges 20 Winter series was introduced in Biscayne Bay just last year, it was uncertain if this fledgling one-design series would take hold.  With over double the amount teams registered for the 10/11 season, the Audi Melges 20 has not only cemented itself as a premier racing one-design boat, but it is providing some serious, fun, laid-back racing for the owners and teams involved, all while leaving class organizers of other one-design fleets scratching their heads.  And for the sailors who get to escape the frozen north and compete at an extremely high level in fun, high-performance boats, the Audi Melges 20 Winter series truly is a field…er…sea of dreams.

Think about all of the aspects that make up a great regatta: Fun laid-back racing, great competitors who don’t take themselves too seriously, a warm, picturesque carribbean-like venue with lodging steps from the boats, logistics that are easier than a family vacation, steady reliable breeze and a Race Committee with a true sailors PRO who’s main goal is to get off solid, quality races.   Maybe all these great aspects of putting on a good event just happened by accident, but chances are that Melges brass, Harry Melges and Andy Burdick, have seen countless good and bad events over the last 20 years, and they put together the perfect competitive cocktail and the Audi Melges 20 now has legs of its own.

After taking a 3rd place overall in last years Winter Series, our team on M and M racing will have our hands full with plenty of quality veteran teams and a host of new teams. Like most Melges classes, there is not shortage of talent and the racing will be decided on inches.  We will have a roster change on our boat for this event since Mary Anne’s husband Bill is normally our bow person, but since he suffered a broken toe just last week, we have had to replace him with a young, talented sailor in Coye Harrett.  Coye will be a good fill in, but Bill’s determination and hard fought attitude will be missed.

As for myself, I got in a solid 2 days at home to regroup with the family.  It is never easy to leave, especially this time of year when being with together with family is what the Holiday season is all about, but I also feel fortunate that when I am on the road, I am spending time with truly great people and getting to do something that I really enjoy.  No doubt, when I return my list of household chores will be long, and I will have to make few trips to the pool with Lily, but I am looking forward to returning home to the frozen north with a successful M20 event on the books.

Stay tuned to 42marine for daily reports. The list of registrants for Audi Melges 20 Winter Series Event #1 can be found here.

Gold Cup Fades to Black »

December 5, 2010

After 5 years of participating in the Melges 32 Gold Cup and putting up a big “donut” for victories in every attempt for myself thus far, it was looking like the 5th time might be the charm and 2010 edition was going to be the real thing. Going into the event, I felt we had a reasonable shot at the title since the Volpe is the current National Champ and we have a very well run program with talented sailors, but like any Melges 32 regatta on the circuit, just when you start to feel comfortable, you better start looking around, because a change in the standings is just a tough start away.

Headed into the final day of the event with 3 races remaining, we managed to carve out a nice 12 pt lead after 5 very challenging and shifty races.  Our team up to this point had battled back from tough situations that could have turned ugly, and through solid driving by Ryan DeVos and sure, low-risk tactics provided by Ed Baird, we were able to put up a nice scoreline of all top 5 finishes.  With a strong front pushing through on Sunday and a 12-18 mph westerly providing even more, flat, shifty conditions than days 1 and 2, we knew it was going to be tough to hold off our nearest competitors on Ramrod and Warpath headed into the final day.

Due to the deep water that is just a few miles offshore of Ft. Lauderdale, and a westerly breeze that was coming directly off the Port Everglades beach, the RC had no other choice than to set our weather mark a few hundred yards from land which made an already shifty breeze even more of a minefield towards the top end of the windward leg. And if you did not get a front row start, you immediately found yourself out of phase and playing a game that was not chosen by you, but instead dictated by lane management and the boats around you.  In the first start of the day, we got shut out at the boat-end by 2nd place boat Ramrod and did our best to hang in a thin lane, but eventually had to tack, only to watch the boats that were able to continue on starboard off the line step into a left shift and put distance on us, making the first race a tough battle with the middle of the fleet that we could not escape from.  With both Ramrod and Warpath having good races, we donated our 18th place as our throwout and took our fifth from earlier in the event as our result for Race 6.

After seeing our nice overall lead get cut in half, spirits were a bit down on the Volpe, but we were still leading, and after a few energy drinks and fist pounds, we regrouped and knew that we were one good start away from securing the event.  With the shifts boiling off the beach at a very fast rate, it was important to keep a fluid starting position on the line to put yourself in-line with the best pressure.  Seeing that the middle might be the place to be, we got into our hole around a minute and it looked promising to get off the line cleanly.  After a big left shift and watching our nice 2-3 boat length hole dissipate into nothing, we quickly got sawed off and luckily, we were able to get a clean lane on port tack and it looked like we were going to be playing in the front group.  Just as we started to feel ok, the boats in front of us started to wind up, and the pressure they had was clearly not getting to us, and thus began a slow, painful 1st mark rounding.  The top 3 boats extended from leeward and ahead to clearly in front of us, the boats on our left hooked into huge left pressure, and the boats that we had put away on the right side came screaming in on right pressure that once again put us in the middle of the pack, leaving us to catch the boats that were catching us for the Gold Cup title.

After rounding the 2nd top mark in the high teens with Warpath in the top 3, and Ramrod a few boats ahead us, we continued to fight hard and were able to have a nice set, gybe in pressure, pick off Ramrod and finish 11th to maintain a 4 pt lead over both Ramrod and Warpath who were tied for 2nd headed into the last race.  Sure, it wasn’t pretty, but none if this would matter if we could hang on to win.  After 2 tough races, we felt ok that we were still leading and according to the law of averages, a few of us quietly assumed we were going to get a good start, get off cleanly and get the job done.  We were soon going to find out that who ever wrote the Law of Averages, was a pretty average lawmaker.

With a 2pm time limit to get off the final race, the RC quickly reset the starting line and sounded the warning signal at 1:20.  We managed a nice clean start at the pin end and our biggest challenge of the day looked conquered, until two horns sounded and the RC came over the radio, “General Recall.”  The line was reset, competitors hurriedly re-pinged the line, and the next warning was sounded at 1:30…another clean start for us at the pin end, and another general recall. With no restraint shown by the fleet and the time limit fast approaching, the RC hoisted the black flag with the next warning at 1:40.  The pin end was once again wide open and as the time ticked down, we turned up later than the nearest boats around us just to be conservative and off we went, fighting hard to save our lane with the boats to leeward and to windward.  The RC came over the radio to annouce the boats that would be DSQ’ed due to being over early….”Bow 32…(pause for 15-20 seconds)….Bow 18.”  “That’s us,” said our tactician Ed.  Surprised and a bit miffed, I replied, “What. No way.  Check our bow number.  Are you sure we are bow 18?” After a quick check in vein at our bow number, we asked the RC for confirmation of the numbers hailed, than slowly eased out sails, tacked behind the fleet and continued a long, frustrating sail back to the Bahia Mar.  Rod Jabin and his team on Ramrod would hold off Warpath by 1 pt to defend their title from 2009 as Gold Cup Champs.

There wasn’t much that could be said on the way in.  We had put ourselves in a great position to win headed into the last day, and even after 2 tough races, we still had a chance to win going into the last race, and at the end of an event, that is what you hope for.  We can look at the bright side and know that this will be a good lesson learned for an up-and-coming program with a good, young driver, but there is nothing that can take the sting away from having the event in your sights, and watching it slip away.  Thanks to the team on Volpe (Ryan DeVos, Scott Nixon, Ed Baird, Drew Wierda, Mike Hill, Marty Kullman and Adam Burns) for a great weekend of sailing and good times.  Thanks also to John Taylor on Ninkasi for free Heineken and Heineken Light all weekend, and to the CT and the Bronco team for the nice tailgate party on Saturday afternoon.  Melges 32 racing is seriously fun.

Reports and photos can be found at Melges32.com as well as a bevy of photos and videos.

TOP TEN RESULTS (FINAL, After eight races)
1.) Rod Jabin | Chris Larson, Ramrod; 4-2-1-12-8-2-[18]-3 = 32
2.) Steve Howe | Morgan Larson, Warpath; [8]-8-1-5-4-8-3-4 = 33
3.) Ryan DeVos | Ed Baird, Volpe; 3-2-3-1-5=14=11=[22/BFD] = 39
4.) Joe Woods | Paul Goodison, Red; 6-[11]-5-9-6-5-6-7 = 44
5.) Jeff Ecklund | Harry Melges, III, STAR; 15-6-8-8-7-1-1-[22/BFD] = 46
6.) Dalton DeVos| Chris Rast, Delta; 11-9-12-3-[12]-7-2-2 = 46
7.) Lanfranco Cirillo | Michele Paoletti, Fantastica; 7-19-4-2-14-[22/OCS]-4-1 = 51
8.) Alex Jackson | Rob Greenhalgh, Leenabarca; 1-7-7-15-1-12-[17]-11 = 54
9.) Joel Ronning | Bill Hardesty, Catapult; 5-15-13-6-10-4-9-[17] = 62
10.) Jason Carroll | Dave Ullman, ARGO; 10-10-6-7-9-[18]-12-8 = 62

Melges 32 Gold Cup – Day 1 »

December 3, 2010

Success on the first day of the Melges 32 Gold Cup was all about managing the big oscillations in shifts, and more importantly, catching the last shift into the top and bottom marks. With a nice NNE breeze at 10-15 kts, and 30-40 degree shifts, there were plenty of lead changes and it was very common to have the fleet on top of you, then step into a shift, tack over and have your position flip flop with the boats on the other side of the course.  We did a good job on the Volpe identifying the incoming shift and putting the bow down and getting to it as fast as possible.  Our tactician Ed Baird put us underneath the new incoming pressure and kept our risk low with the rest of the fleet, and our helmsman Ryan DeVos did an awesome job of keeping the boat grooving all day.  Our goal for the day was to sail clean and have 3 “keeper” races and we did good of doing both on day 1 with scoreline of 3,2,3.

The leaders of the event Ramrod also did a nice job of getting off the starting line cleanly and getting into phase immediately after the gun went.  The shifts were coming so fast and with such big angle changes that if you spent anytime getting out of phase, you were instantly losing boats.  The real shockers for some boats were on the downwind legs.  It seemed if you got caught in the middle, boats on either side that extended to the corners were able to touch into pressure and make some nice gains.  Warpath, who won the last race by a mile was in great position in the first 2 races, but fell victim to having the pressure fill in from behind on both sides while they got stuck in the middle.  Laylines downwind were a bit tough today also, as you would often find yourself gybing on a good angle into the mark, then getting new pressure and being wound down 20 degrees which resulted in being over stood which is never a good look.

The forecast for tomorrow is for much lighter conditions out of the same direction which should the make the racing a bit more painful as it will be the same tough, shifty breeze, but we will all be moving much slower.  There will be a premium on getting off the line clean, sailing fast and taking a look up the track to put yourself in the best position to take advantage of the new pressure.

Results can be found here, and real time updates and results can be found at a new site…Sailing Updates which seems to be pretty nice for people trying to get real time info.  There is also some video and interviews on the Sailgroove website. And of course, stay tuned to 42marine.com

UP NEXT – Melges 32 Gold Cup »

November 30, 2010

The Vikings are 4-7, the snow is flying, Minnesota is experiencing one of the coldest Novembers on record, and Santa Claus isn’t coming for another 20+ days…its a perfect time to head to warm Ft. Lauderdale for some sailboat racing.

Over the past 4 years, the Melges 32 Gold Cup has evolved from a 12 boat training event where the fleet shared a coach, had video sessions at the end of each day, and owners were just getting their feet wet in this new class, into a 20+ boat annual event that features top level amateur and pro sailing talent.  Although the event takes place at the end of the calendar year, the Gold Cup signifies the beginning of the next season since there is typically a 2 month hiatus between the Gold Cup and the last major event.  Teams have a chance to regroup, reorganize and apply the lessons they have learned from the previous season to the start of the next.

For the 2010 Gold Cup in particular, having 23 boats is not only surprising, but a very good indicator of how strong this class has become.  The assumption was that most of the 30 strong fleet at the Worlds would be taking a few events off and that the 32 winter series might see a drop in attendance.  With several teams like Star, Ramrod (2009 Gold Cup Champ), Warpath, Leenabarca, Red, Arethusa coming off strong World Championships and hoping to carry that through this winter, along with new teams like Dawn Raid and Catapult, it is clear that fleet veterans are ramping up again, and new owners with talented teams are continuing to jump into the fray.

When it comes to events that have a good vibe and a great feeling, it is sometimes hard to put your finger on what exactly gets the job done, and the success of the Gold Cup cannot simply be attributed to the great competition it has drawn over the past few seasons.  First, the Gold Cup has a great venue located at the Bahia Mar hotel and marina where all the teams are housed together and the boats are a 30 second walk from the lobby.  Sure, the hotel itself needs a little touching up and you often wonder if the elevator is going to make it to your floor, but not having to get in a car all weekend is certainly a plus.  The free Heineken Light provided at the end of each day by 32 owner of Ninkasi (Goddess of Beer), John Taylor is also a nice perk.  John has been doing this for several years, and it not only gets him some crossings, but keeps the fleet mingling and in good spirits at the end of each day.  Lastly, the best feature of the Gold Cup occurs on the last day which is take a Junior racing day.  Each team is paired up with a junior sailor from the Lauderdale Yacht Club and it is always priceless to get a glimpse of the junior when they are handed the tiller and get to drive the boat on the way out to the race course.  We get to provide the juniors with a great experience, and it keeps the teams from taking things too seriously and helps each of us to remember why we got into the sport in the first place.

Picking a winner is never an easy task in this fleet since there are plenty of talented teams and all it takes is for someone to get hot or find their wheels and they will be tough to beat. The crew list can be found here and feel free to take a stab at the top 5 in the comments section of the blog.

Stay posted to 42marine.com for daily updates and reports from the 2010 Melges 32 Gold Cup.

Un-American to Diet on Thanksgiving? »

November 21, 2010

As we approach the most gluttonous day of the American calendar year, most true patriots will be priming their stomachs for a mass amount of Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cheesy mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, yams, green-bean casserole, fresh baked rolls, gravy, pudding, apple pie, french silk pie, gravy, pumpkin pie and many more traditional family favorites, like gravy.  For Melges 32 sailors preparing for the Gold Cup which begins one week after our nations hearty holiday, they are faced with a weigh-in that will require a more modest serving of the tasty treats our Pilgrim friends brought to Plymouth Rock. While there is a constant debate over the nature of weigh-ins, their effectiveness, and whether or not to do away with them, the only concern I have is that it might be highly Un-American to partake in a crash diet over Thanksgiving; is this anyway to pay respects to the people who invented the Cornucopia?

The 32 class rules are not going to change next week, which means I will have to reach my target of 185 lbs for the Gold Cup and deal with the guilt of upsetting the Pilgrims, but such is life, and duty calls. While every sailor has their own routines for losing weight, below is mine and if you need to make weight, or look snazzy for a class reunion, it might help:

-Start tapering 3 weeks before the event – No beer, cheeseburgers, fries, pizza or anything that goes together with 6 hrs of football on Sundays.  Overall smaller portions and lower carb intake with much less bread, pasta and potatoes, and more fruit, veggies and water intake.  Basically just eating healthier while dropping the portions down, but continuing to eat meals and small snacks. This is also in conjunction with a fitness schedule that shifts away from weights, to only cardio and core body.  4-5 times per week completing a 1.5 hr workout – 10 mile interval bike (stationary), 3 x circuit of crunches, side crunches, back raises, push-ups, lunges, 2.5 Mile Run (treadmill).

-2 Weeks Remaining- Continuing to taper meals with smaller portions, low carbs intake and cutting out the dessert which was meant to be cut the previous week. Continuing with work-outs.

-1 week Remaining- Taper meals. Having oatmeal as the highlight of your day has become depressing.  Even though the meals are getting smaller, it is important to still eat something even though it is small to keep the metabolism going.  Continuing with work outs…I can’t believe the Olsen twins do this all year.

-24 hours remaining – nothing by mouth. Don’t talk to me unless it is an emergency, or if the Vikings are going to win the Super Bowl.

-If the team does not make weigh-in…off to the sauna to get out every last drop.

Again, this type of tapering routine has worked for me when presented with a weigh-in, and it usually prevents having to make things really painful the last few days.  I will be working hard for the upcoming weigh-in for the Gold Cup and will be doing my best to stay away form my Aunt Mary Lee’s cheesy poties, but being the holidays, and of course, for respect of the Pilgrims, I will most likely allow a sampling of what is on the table. Good luck to the other 32 sailors this Thanksgiving.

Make the Most of Your Practice »

November 16, 2010

This coming weekend will mark the beginning of the Melges 20 racing season as the M and M Racing Team heads to Key Biscayne, Fl for 3 days of boathandling, speed testing and practice races.  We will have 2 other teams to work with as Paul Reilly and his team on USA 414, and Kent Haeger and his squad will be in attendance to spar with.  Both teams will be great training partners and while we have a well laid out practice plan, the goal will be to keep things relaxed, and not let the competitive juices get in the way of our mission for the weekend.

Just like conducting a practice in any sport, it is important to put together a solid practice plan so you don’t end up taking a cruise around the harbor looking for Dolphins.  Whether you are training with a yourself, or as a group, it is important to identify the goals of the practice, and develop a set of drills that will allow you make improve by the end of your session. Having a well laid out practice plan will allow you to tick off the items that you want to work on and make the best use of what often is a limited window of time.  This will alos prevent you from staying on the water too long and burning out, or from coming in too early for a cold beverage!

There are hundreds of drills that can be done either on your own or with a group, and it is all a matter of what you like to do and what will help you improve the most.  Personally, I like to start out most practice sessions with some boathandling practice and slowly amping up the intensity as we go along.  2 staple drills that I like to do –  1). Setting up 2 leeward marks and simply doing figure 8s for a set amount of time in each direction.  This not only helps the driver get used to rounding leeward marks, but it also gets the crew warmed up and moving quickly across the boat.  2). Set up a small racecourse and complete a set amount of tacks, gybes and 360s on each leg.  If the boathandling becomes sloppy, than stop and restart, but if you can pull of 2 laps cleanly, that is the goal of this drill. Ideally, being able to take the same smoothness and demeanor of your boathandling from the practice, to the racecourse.

Sailing with a group can be very beneficial as you can use them as a gauge for your straight line speed.  A couple things to keep in mind when speed testing is to give yourself a good line up.  If the leeward boat is already bow out when you start your line-up, it will not take them long to pinch off the boat to whether, even if they have a faster set-up.  If you do get a good line up and find yourself get punched, slow down and line up again.  The goal of speed testing (unless you dont like the people you speed testing with) is not to hammer the boats around you and sail off into the horizon.  Yes, you want to sail as fast as possible, but if you find yourself getting punched, don’t be afraid to slow down, and line up again. Most line-ups usually last 1-2 minutes, and if you can hold your lane more often than not, you can have reasonably good confidence in your settings.

Ideally when speed testing, if you can have a boat that remains constant while the other boat changes up their settings, this will allow for a better understanding of what changes to the rig and sail profile are doing to the overall performance.  If one boat changes jib leads and mast rake, and the other boat changes shroud tension at the same time, it will be tough to draw any solid conclusions about what is working well for the given conditions.  On the Samba last year, we did 3 days of extensive speed testing with Red and we spent 20 minutes each being the “base” boat, while the other either changed rake, shroud tension or sail selection.  This was very effective to discovering what worked well in the given conditions.

Lastly, whether you are training on your own, or with a group, get together for a debrief.  Whether this happens at the dock immediately afterwards, or at a restaurant later that evening does not matter, but be sure to review the days’ sailing.  If working with a group, try to have open lines of communication. This does not mean you need to tell them every little secret you have on board, but talking about things like shroud tension, jib lead position, etc. will help the group improve at a faster rate, and ultimately help your performance.

Simply going out on the water can help, but developing a solid practice plan and what you would like to achieve from the practice beforehand will allow you to make better use of your time and accomplish more by the end of the session.  Chances are if you are taking the time to participate in a weekend of practice you are hungry to get better, so take it one step further and be prepared to hit the water ready to improve.

Stay tuned for notes from the weekend.

2011 Shaping Up… »

November 13, 2010

When your primary source of income is through racing sailboats, there is a very delicate balance committing to teams that are planning to do a lot of events, have a chance of succeeding and hopefully will be a fun team to be involved with.  There can often be complicated calendar matrix that develops when trying to figure out the next season of racing, especially when involved with several different classes that have conflicting events.  Even though you have an opportunity to win a few events in one class with a particular team, the sailing days are much less than they are with a different team in a different class of boat and when the dates collide, there are some tough decisions to be made.

The other thing that is tricky is the all important “commitment”.  Committment is all you have.  There are no contracts.  You are banking on a commitment from the team you are with, and you are giving your commitment to them.  If they break theirs, you are left looking for a ride that will be very hard to find if you have turned other teams down already.  If you break yours, it had better be for a darn good reason…chances are that bridge is burned. It is always a tense moment when you sign on with a team, inform several others that you are no longer available, than you come to find out that what you had lined up has fallen through, and the teams that were interested before are no longer are.

Post Melges 32 Worlds, there has been some reshuffling going on within several Melges 32 teams and after spending all of 2010 with Samba Pa Ti, I will be sailing with 2 different Melges 32 teams for the upcoming season.  For the Gold Cup, I will get my first experience racing with Quantum Melges 32 sails and will be joining the DeVos family boat Volpe.  Volpe won the US Nationals in 2010 and with Scott Nixon, Ed Baird, and a solid, young helmsman in Ryan DeVos, we should be tough come December.  For Key West and a few Carribean events, a team from St. Thomas has emerged and I will be hopping on along with good friend Anthony Kotoun and Peter Holmberg.  It should be a great season of racing with the typical venues on tap and a good chance of success with both squads.

As for the Melges 20, M and M Racing is back in action for the 2011 season, and with a brand new boat and a hungry attitude, Mary Anne, Bill and myself are eager to improve upon our 3rd place overall series finish from last year.  Mary Anne and Bill purchased a new boat and have really made the effort to ensure we can be in the hunt.  We kick off the season with a weekend of training prior to Thanksgiving, than the first winter series event begins December 11-12.  The Melges 20 fleet is projected to double in size, so we will have our hands full.

After a few nerve racking weeks in October of trying to piece together the schedule for 2011, the upcoming season is looking promising.  Looking forward to providing some good race reports and antics from the front lines of the Melges 32 and 20 fleets…and whatever else pops up this winter!