Local Knowledge

Now There's a Foul
It was during a Sonar Team race between Southern Yacht Club and the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Club. SYC had a 2-3-5, leaving RNSYC with the 1. Unfortunately, their 1 boat fouls and continues sailing. One umpire on the course flags him at the moment of the infraction, and when realizing that RNSYC isn't complying, throws the throttle down to remind him.

Unfortunately, at the same time he's accelerating, he hits a wave and is thrown from his RBI. SYC's boat in 2 sees this, swings back immediately, and pics up the umpire as the unmanned RBI flies into a dock, around the piling, and finally rides up on the beach. From a few boats away, even my adrenaline was pumping. Skipper Wade Tornyos and crew wasted no time in turning around and were awarded their pre-incident, 2nd place positioning. (Would not a kill cord would have been a good idea here? -Ed)

Boston YC's summary:
The Jackson Cup was won by the team from the New York Yacht Club, with the Larchmont YC in 2nd place and the BYC team in 3rd. There were many exciting moments both on and off the water, with the entire series being raced on Saturday due to the promise of inclement weather on Sunday.

Clare

4/17/07

Local Knowledge

Kid Rock
San Diego's Etchells fleet continues to produce fresh champions. Their own Bill Hardesty and his young and very talented crew sailing four-up won the Etchells Midwinter West Championship in San Diego convincingly while leaving a cluster of strong and experienced teams to compete for second place. Tom Hughes of Seattle won the battle for second, coming in just ahead of Chris Busch (also sailing four-up), Vince Brun, and Brian Camet. For complete results, click here.

Three full days of excellent, racing took place under the classic sunny skies and light-medium winds that San Diego has become very well known for. West Coast Etchells fleet participation was 31 boats strong and spanned from as far north as Bellingham, Washington all the way down to San Diego. Some of the San Diego fleet members even commuted from Valencia, Spain!

The 8 race regatta was flawlessly run on the water by SDYC's Chuck Driscoll and Jeff Johnson, and the highlight for many was the memorable party on Saturday night hosted by Kara and Chris Busch.
- Ron Rosenberg.

03/28/07

Local Knowledge

Calema Style
100+ windsurfing competitors from around the U.S., South America and Europe came together in Merritt Island , Florida for the 22nd running of the Calema Midwinters. 5 classes raced 7 races over 3 days with conditions varying from tornado warnings on Day 1 to sub-planning races on Day 3.

Frenchman Antoine Albeau won the formula fleet with 40 competitors in front of Danish sailor Jesper Vesterstrom in 2nd and US sailor Micah Buzianis in 3rd. This years regatta also served as the inaugural Kona Class north American Championship with Dave Stanger taking the podium.

The 2 classes represent the polar opposite with the Kona class being a throwback to the simplicity of the original windsurfer – 1 long board and 1 - 7.5m2 rig while the formula class allows sailors to choose 1 board (no bigger than 100 cm wide), 3 fins-( no bigger than 70 cm) and 3 rigs- (no bigger than 12.5m2.)

A complete regatta report can be found here and results and photos here.

Steve Bodner

Local Knowledge

OD/DU
One Design, Down Under

In perfect conditions last Saturday (turning wet and windy on Sunday) we held the Careel 18 Nationals at Wangi Wangi on Lake Macquarie (home to the HCW 24 hour race). In true 4kSB style these well built (and well patched up) old tubs (most are in their 30's) can represent some of the best one design racing at a cost that would make a Mumm skipper go weak at the knees. Accommodation is also provided within their spacious cabins thus saving the need to find hotels etc.

Sailed like a big dinghy they don't use spinnakers and don't really respond to such sophistication as 4th mode (although not for the want of trying). One of the participants had to resort to a bit of anchor chain and a turnbuckle because his foredeck was separating from the hull - for the first time in an age they (Clockwork (as in orange)) had a stiff rig and scored an equal 3rd!

We had 19 boats on the line and while the results look one sided (we got four bullets) the racing was exceptional, covering four to five boats at a time, close tacking and ducking and quite a bit of karma (in return for dodgy start-line barging and questionable port/stbd incidents). This year there were no tbones either.

The Wangi RSL (Returned Servicemens League) sailing club hosted the racing and there were few moments on the Saturday night when I didn't see my son without a large jug of beer in hand (prices being somewhat more workmanlike than the inner city prices he's used to).

KnobblyOldJimbo

03/02/07

Local Knowledge

Fine Fifty

We have to say that the Farr designed Cookson 50's look great to us. We of course would name ours Fitty (props to 50 Cent), but back to reality....here's a little belated report on the US based C 50 privateer. Enjoy. Btw, we would like to hear from your part of the world. Send in a local knowledge report and get a canvas SA gearbag - that's how we roll.

Back from the first race onboard Privateer, the new Cookson 50 and we had a great regatta, besides breaking the main halyard in less than 10 kts of breeze during our first race,ending up with a DNF. We ended up winning our second race. We had a few teething pains as with any new boat, but sailed it reasonably well, and had great tactics and crew work which put us in 3rd place overall (which included the DNF).

Our competition mainly was against other 50's Wingz and Outsider, both with pro crews. Not a bad showing from a mostly amateur crew.

Paul J. Berdy Jr.
US Merchant Marine Officer

02/16/07