April 2009 Sailing Articles

  By ICSA - CollegeSailing.org Norfolk, Virginia (April 28, 2009) – A year after its successful introduction of a semifinal round and “brackets” to the spring-time competition for the ICSA/Gill Coed National Championship, ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association) has announced the pairings for this year’s Western and Eastern Semifinals and has scheduled the two events to run concurrently from the Fan Pier in Boston, Mass., as part of the festivities surrounding the only North American stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race.  From May 2-3, 2009, 36 college sailing teams -- which have been seeded into the Western or Eastern Semifinals based… more »

US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics Member Anna Tunnicliffe Wins Gold at French Olympic Sailing Week in Hyères, France HYERES, France (April 24) - US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics member Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) has done it again: she has won another gold medal at an ISAF World Cup event. This time around, Tunnicliffe showed her dominance in Hyères, France, site of French Olympic Sailing Week. The 2008 Olympic gold medalist has now won her third ISAF Sailing World Cup event.  Tunnicliffe won the event after a week-long comeback in today's Laser Radial Medal Race. After a slow start in the regatta, Tunnicliffe… more »

The rankings are compiled by Sailing World Magazine and determined by the coaches of the ICSA.  Every coach gets 1 vote to rank all the teams.  Latest Rankings (April 22, 2009) Coed [#] = first-place votes received (#) = previous rank Total Points     01. Boston College [21] (1) 458 11. Hobart/Wm. Smith (9) 216 02. Georgetown  [3] (2) 455 12. Tufts (11) 188 03. Roger Williams (6) 403 13. Boston Univ. (18) 176 04. Charleston (5) 377 (tie) Stanford (10) 176 05. Yale (3) 375 15. Vermont 161 06. St. Mary's (4) 358 16. Brown (12) 126 07. Navy (8)… more »

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Generally, mark roundings can be sort of counter-intuitive because there’s a lot of boat handling but the goal isn’t necessarily boat speed. Overall, the main thing to be thinking about is where bow needs to be pointed. Rounding the windward mark in a team race is a lot more condensed than in a fleet race, which means just a little bit of good positioning can go a long way. Good crews tend to be great at looking around the boat and predicting combos, plays, etc..., but this article is focused on how a crew can still do the right thing… more »

This will be the first in a series of articles about team development and while the focus is on college teams the advice can serve just about any racing program.   The Problem: What kills club sailing teams, or at least keeps them from progressing? You could throw out a litany of things that answer this question; no coaching, no money, no equipment, lack of talent, lack of University or YC support, etc. But none of the things I just listed, or any of the others you may be throwing out there probably get to the heart of the issue.… more »

St. Petersburg, Fla. (April 13, 2009) – Genny Tulloch (Tiburon, Calif.) and her team won the 2009 Rolex Women’s Match, hosted April 9-12 by the St. Petersburg Yacht Club (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Sailing with Tulloch, who is ranked #1 on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, were crew members Liz Hall (Bristol, R.I.), Jamie Haines (Newport, R.I.) and Chafee Emory (Newport, R.I.). A total of 10 teams competed in the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 3 match-racing regatta, which was created in 2002 to improve opportunities for women sailors specifically interested in match racing. With the win, #43 world-ranked Tulloch, along… more »

Follow the start of leg six of the Volvo Ocean Race live on www.volvooceanrace.org, where there will be full coverage from the race course, including live commentary of the start, beginning at 1:45 PM EST. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is scheduled to start leg six from Rio de Janeiro to Boston at 15:00 local time (18:00 GMT) on Saturday afternoon. While the start port is home to Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael, the finish line represents the race coming to the hometown of the PUMA OCEAN RACING team. “I won’t lie, it’s good to be going home, I haven’t been… more »

From NYYC.org This is an open letter to the Société Nautique de Genève and the Golden Gate Yacht Club from the commodores of the five yacht clubs that either set the America’s Cup competition in motion: the Royal Yacht Squadron, or have been a former trustee of the Cup: the New York Yacht Club, the Royal Perth Yacht Club, the San Diego Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. We write to encourage you to negotiate together for a fair and equitable multi-challenger competition for the thirty-third defense of the America’s Cup. We believe that such an event, as… more »

Check out some of the Athletes' blogs in the blogs section! Portsmouth, R.I. (April 10, 2009) – US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics (USSTAG) member Paige Railey (Clearwater, Fla.) won a gold medal today in a competitive Laser Radial fleet of 62 boats at the Princess Sofia Trophy in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Railey, the 2006 ISAF Yachtswoman of the Year and US SAILING’s Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year, is starting her 2012 Olympic campaign off with a bang.  “This gold medal feels amazing because I just started sailing full-time again in January,” said Railey, who took most of 2008 off to… more »

The rankings are compiled by Sailing World Magazine and determined by the coaches of the ICSA.  Every coach gets 1 vote to rank all the teams.  Latest Rankings (April 8, 2009) Coed [#] = first-place votes received, (#) = previous ranking Total Points     01. Boston College [14] (2) 375 11. Tufts (9) 181 02. Georgetown  [5] (1) 354 12. Brown (10) 178 03. Yale (3) 332 13. SUNY Maritime (16) 160 04. St. Mary's (4) 327 14. Connecticut College (17) 91 05. Charleston (5) 300 15. South Florida (13) 86 06. Roger Williams (8) 267 16. Eckerd (15) 83 07.… more »

READY TO RACE IN RIO ***For live video, audio and boat tracking, go to volvooceanrace.org at 11:45AM EST. The Volvo Ocean Race fleet returns to sea this weekend for the 'Light In-Port Race’ on Guanabara Bay, just off the Marina da Gloria in Rio de Janeiro. Two races are scheduled on Saturday [April 4] , beginning at 13:00 local time (16:00 GMT), and they will be scored as a series. The winner on the day will be awarded four scoring points towards the overall Volvo Ocean Race leaderboard. A light to moderate sea breeze is forecast for Saturday afternoon, with… more »