Courtesy of North Sails

The Lipton Cup here in SoCal is a fairly Big Deal among various yacht clubs and sailors. After being sailed in IOR boats (won once by your faithful Ed with a vastly superior boat) then Schock 35's, and now in J-105's, this year's defending club is SDYC with Chris Snow as Skipper. A nicer guy could not be found, and those who have sailed against him certainly know of his abilities. Chris gives us a quick preview of his team's effort, which will be held May 17-18 in San Diego. The Ed

Chris, now that you are defending the Lipton Cup, there is probably more pressure on you to win this time than last (you know that whole 'god and country club' thing!). What have you done to prepare?

CS
Yes, there might be more pressure but it's just a boat race and we have done a nice job of getting ready. We have basically the same guys as last time, who are all good friends and great sailors. We have had fun putting the thing together and are really trying to view it as an opportunity to get better as sailors. We have been practicing once a week for a couple of months and also have spent some days testing and tuning with Dennis Case on "Wings". Dennis has been very helpful.

You have a different boat this time, why?

CS
When SDYC asked me to do this again I thought what we could do better and it was obvious that we could really prepare the boat even better. The owner of a new boat Kent Harman was gracious enough to let us take over his new boat and really get it ready the right way. It was basically an opportunity to be well prepared that was too good to pass up!

You made a change at tactician. Last year it was Craig Leweck. Who is it this time and why the change?

CS
Craig has life like the rest of us and just did not have the time. Drew Friedes has stepped in and fits in with our guys well. He is a very calm influence and has a lot of big boat experience where most of us are smaller boat sailors. He knows how long it takes for the boat to accelerate, etc. and is a really good guy to sail with.

What is the latest in North Sails for you guys this time around?

CS
We have worked really hard to make our J/105 sails better and even faster. The main was redesigned this winter and is slightly flatter. This makes the sail easier to trim and set up on the relatively straight rig the 105 has. We have changed away from North's Sharkskin cloth to a Contender 7.5 oz. cloth that really makes a nice sail.

Our jib now has vertical battens which clean up the leech nicely and we have upped the yarn count, which will improve the durability of the sail.

For the spinnaker we are using basically the same design as we developed last year, with some minor changes to make the sail easier to fly. We made the luff of the sail a little rounder which makes a nice forgiving sail.

Who do you reckon will give you the most competition?

CS
We have a great group of boats, really the same good guys as last year. I think the teams from Balboa, BCYC and St. Francis will all be tough as well as the gang from Coronado Y.C. Another really good boat is the boat from Southwestern Y.C. with Geoff Longnecker.

Good luck Chris and understand that you will be asked to resign your YC membership should you fail. Good times!

CS
No worries. Thanks!

05/15/2003