en-us Copyright 2006-2010 Flocasts Inc Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:16:57 -0500 /assets/portal/simple30/images/logos/sailgroove-logo.gif http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/1612-erik-storck Chalk Talk Season 3 continues with a look back at the Navy Women's and St. Mary's Team Race regattas. This weekend is St. Mary's Women's and the biggest fleet race regatta of the season: the Truxtun Umsted.See more detailed results of these past regattas in the results section of the site. For more info on this season's schedule visit collegesailing.orgMusic:Jupiter One - Fire Away Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/1612-erik-storck Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:00:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1797-sailing-worlds-college-rankings-31710 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 (March 17, 2010) Coed [#] = first-place votes received Total Points     01. Boston College [8] 273 11. Hobart/Wm. Smith 117 02. Georgetown [6] 269 12. Tufts 109 03. St. Mary's 249 13. Washington College 98 04. Yale 238 14. South Florida 96 05. Roger Williams 206 15. Boston Univ. 78 06. Brown 198 16. Old Dominion 74 07. Charleston 190 17. Salve Regina 61 08. Harvard 188 18. Stanford 44 09. Navy 185 19. Connecticut College 33 10. Vermont 136 20. Miami (Fla.) 32 Also receiving votes:  Eckerd (18 points), SUNY Maritime (15), Rhode Island (15), MIT (8), Dartmouth (2) Women [#] = first-place votes received Total Points     01. Charleston [10] 191 09. Georgetown 99 02. Boston College [3] 180 10. Hobart/Wm. Smith 89 03. St. Mary's 169 11. Eckerd 80 04. Brown 140 12. Tufts 38 05. Yale 136 13. Dartmouth 36 06. Old Dominion 112 14. Rhode Island 34 07. Connecticut College 107 15. South Florida 24 08. Harvard 102   Also receiving votes: Navy (16), Coast Guard (2)   14 Coaches submitted votes for this poll: Coast Guard, MIT, Rhode Island, University of Miami, Brown University, Boston University, SUNY Maritime, Boston College, Hobart and William Smith, Navy, Charleston, Eckerd College, Salve Regina University, and Portland State.  Sailing World's college rankings are determined by an open coaches poll. For more information on the poll, or on how your team's coach can become a part of it, click here. The number of first place votes a team received is in brackets. These rankings are the second national rankings for the Spring 2010 season. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1797-sailing-worlds-college-rankings-31710 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:04:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319122 Optimist team racing both here in the United States and the rest of the world should switch to 3 on 3 racing. The current 4 on 4 approach is bad for the kids, the event organizers, the umpires, and the spectators. Switch to 3 on 3, and everybody will be better off. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319122 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:00:27 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319117 A downwind windward leeward situation between the Williford brothers. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319117 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:58:37 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247848 Photos from...It's the West Coast's only intercollegiate big boat… Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247848 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:41:01 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319110 Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup Cal Maritime Invitational Intercollegiate Regatta. Day Two, Saturday March 13, 2010.(10 races; skippers noted) 1. USC, Chris Vetter, 5-3-2-6-1-6-3-3-3-2, 33 points. 2. California Maritime Academy, John Gray, 4-8-1-2-6-2-1-4-9-1, 38. 3. Chapman Univ., Max Moosman, 2-2-4-5-8-4-8-1-4-7, 45. 4. U.S. Naval Academy, James Prieto, 1-1-6-3-4-11-6-5-6-3, 46. 5. Maine Maritime Academy, Matt Bourque, 3-4-5-7-3-1-4-3-11-4, 47. 6. Univ. of Hawaii, William Petersen, 7-5-7-4-5-3-5-2-5-8, 51. 7. U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Eric Johnson, 6-7-3-8-2-6-5-8-1-6, 52. 8. Cal State U. Channel Islands, Nick deRoulhac, 8-6-8-1-7-7-2-7-7-4, 57. 9. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Gary Taylor, 9-10-9-9-9-8-7-6-2-9, 78. 10. Univ. of California at Davis, Chris Hagerman, 10-9-10-10-10-9-10- 10-9-10, 97. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319110 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:30:10 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319109 Port of Los Angeles Harbor Cup Cal Maritime Invitational Intercollegiate Regatta, hosted by the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Ten sailing teams from the East Coast, West Coast and Hawaii are competing in the 3rd annual regatta. Beautiful weather and 9-12 knot breezes provided for great competition right off Angel's Gate for Day One, Friday March 12. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/319109 Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:29:27 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236778-port-of-los-angeles-harbor-cup Copy/photos by Rich RobertsVideos by Jim Gregson and Rick Wicker of LAYC Official site Facebook page Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236778-port-of-los-angeles-harbor-cup Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:24:17 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1794-simon-payne-wins-puma-moth-worlds Photos by ThMartinez/Sea&Co March 14, 2010- Today was the final day of 2010 PUMA Moth Worlds.  The Race Committee was forced with an early onshore postponement for lack of wind.  After a morning on shore, the breeze in Dubai filled in nicely to get Race 13 off at 12:45 local with a reported wind of 11 knots.    Simon Payne led the fleet going into the day. Being the last day of racing, with everything on the line, we saw an aggressive start from the fleet; it appeared that a slew of boats could have been over but only one recorded OCS. Day seven showed the fleet the biggest breeze of the event. Bora Gulari (2009 World Champion, USA) won the pin at the start, showing he still has what it takes.  Gulari’s start resulted in him winning the first race of the day. Simon Payne (GBR) had a disappointing first race, opening the narrow gap for Brad Funk (USA) or Andrew McDougall (AUS) to make something happen in the final race, Race 14.  Going into race 14 with a bad race, Payne felt the pressure.  “When it dawned on me that I hadn't actually won, I put the hammer down” said Payne Race 14 brought a steady 10 knots of breeze. Fighting a battle for the top spot, Payne was able to stay in the top five, clinching the 2010 PUMA Moth World Championship.  Payne’s victory was more than he expected from the event; “I didn't think I had a chance here, I just came to see my mates.” McDougall, with his experience, knew what he needed to accomplish to bump him into the number two spot.  Winning race 14, McDougall put six boats in between himself and Brad Funk, who was second on the leader board.  “In many races I made small mistakes,” sail McDougall, “but in the last one I put it all together, I knew I had to get a first in the last race to break the tie with Brad.”  The distance was enough to create a tie at 42 points, and having won the final race McDougall won the tiebreaker with five first place finishes in the regatta. “As a laser sailor the moth is the most exciting class to jump into,” said Funk.  “You can sail the Moth for a lifetime and never get it all perfected, there are just so many little things you can change and tweak.”   Funk, who is relatively new to the Moth class improved on his 2009 eighth place world finish. PRO David Campbell-James has been impressed and challenged by the Moth class.  “The grand prix style racing was fantastic and exciting,” said Campbell-James.   "The difference in speed between the boats creates a challenge as how to be a good PRO and create fair racing for all.  I have been impressed with our gracious host the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club and all they have organized here for us and all the sailors, including a slew of volunteers." The top five finishers for 2010 PUMA Moth Worlds are: 1. Simon Payne (GBR) 2. Andrew “Amac” McDougall (AUS) 3. Brad Funk (USA) 4. Arnaud Psarofaghis (SUI) 5. Dalton Bergan (USA)   Moth Worlds 2011 will be held in Belmont Bay, Australia in February 2011. Official Site featuring results and video  Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1794-simon-payne-wins-puma-moth-worlds Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:34:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/235524-ilya-championship Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/235524-ilya-championship Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:59:29 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/7057-dave-porter Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/7057-dave-porter Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:28:32 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247540 Photos from...  Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247540 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:48:44 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/318190 Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/play/318190 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:47:21 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236759-st-marys-team-race   Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236759-st-marys-team-race Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:04:42 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/7029-suzi-reese Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/7029-suzi-reese Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:49:32 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/3118-katrina-williams Old Dominion's Katrina Williams expresses her feelings on the day so far. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/3118-katrina-williams Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:13:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/1610-chris-love Hopefully there will be more video from Navy Women's on Sunday, brought to you by the Midshipmen themselves, but Sailgroove will be at the St. Mary's Team Race so please check that coverage out out Sunday evening. Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/speaker/1610-chris-love Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:36:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247263 Photos from...The Navy Women's regatta is a great chance to see some of the women's teams who have been dominating early season competition face off against a slew… Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/photos/album_assoc/247263 Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:10:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236756-spring-cup Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236756-spring-cup Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:55:01 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1784-inland-lake-yachting-association-joins-the-sailgroove-network Sailgroove is pleased to announce the launch of the latest addition to the Sailgroove Network, the Inland Lake Yachting Association media website: ILYAMEDIA.ORG (Videos on Sailgroove marked with this badge indicate membership in the ILYA.) The Inland Lake Yachting Association is an association of lakes primarily in the Midwest dedicated to the promotion of scow sailing. Their 60 member clubs feature sailing in classes like A scow, E scow, C scow, MC scow, Melges 17, I-20 and M-16. Their strong youth program utilizes the Optimist Dinghy, X boat, Laser and 420.  Nationally known scow sailors include Buddy Melges (Olympic gold medalist and America's Cup helmsman), Sally Barkow (Olympian and Rolex Yachtswoman of the year), Jane Pegel (Rolex Yachtswoman of the year), John Ruf (Olympian), Bill Bentsen (RC of international prowess) and Peter Barrett (Olympian). One hundred and thirteen years old, the ILYA is known for its well-built crafts, healthy fleets and high regard for fair sailing and exceptional sportsmanship. Their new website serves as the media outlet for main ILYA homepage, ilya.org.  The new media site features photos and video of ILYA sailors around the country imported from Sailgroove and will soon house a library of new content created by ILYA members showcasing regattas and everyday sailing on their beloved lakes. Chris Love http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1784-inland-lake-yachting-association-joins-the-sailgroove-network Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:18:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236747-navy-womens-spring-intersectional Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/videos/coverage/view/236747-navy-womens-spring-intersectional Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:21:39 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1770-fire-strikes-unh-sailing-teams-boat-house From SeacoastOnline.com By Dave Choate dchoate@seacoastonline.com March 03, 2010 10:15 PM BARRINGTON — Equipment belonging to the University of New Hampshire's club-level sailing team was destroyed when the Mendums Pond boat house was struck by fire Wednesday night. Mendums Pond is a UNH outdoor recreation area located just off of Route 4 in Barrington, and encompasses some 200 acres, according to the school's Web site.   UNH spokeswoman Erika Mantz said the sailing team is due to start its season following spring break in just a few short weeks, and that boats, wetsuits and sails were lost in the blaze. “We'll be moving quickly,” Mantz said. ... Continues at SeacoastOnline.com   Sailgroove http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1770-fire-strikes-unh-sailing-teams-boat-house Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:42:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1764-sailgroove-flolive-coverage Sailing Videos on Sailgroove   Fill out my Wufoo form! Pat Hitchins http://www.sailgroove.org/articles/view/1764-sailgroove-flolive-coverage Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:38:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Chris Love/10552-americas-cup-usa-wins-race-1 After two cancelled race days and hours of waiting this afternoon in Valencia, the 33rd America's Cup has finally sailed its first race, and what a race it was! With such extreme and unique boat designs in this edition of the Cup, no one quite knew what to expect this afternoon (6am where I am) when the boats took the course. Out of the gate, the competitors--USA's Trimaran, BMW/Oracle (the challenger) and SUI's Catamaran, Alinghi (the defender)--showed the world what a spectacle this series could be. Alinghi entered on port, not required to round the pin as is usual for a match race, but a separate mark to leeward of the line, designed to make the maneuvering easier for the giant multihulls. BMW/Oracle entered from the boat, dipped the line and aimed right at their opponent. Just as thousands of match races over the years have begun, the first race of this year's series began with a dialup. Before Alinghi was able to complete the tack to avoid BMW/Oracle, the American entry rounded up to avoid and pulled out their Yankee flag. The umpires agreed that Alinghi did not avoid the right-of-way boat in time and penalized Alinghi. Then, with only a minute left to go and both boats luffing above the line, Alinghi bore away to round the pin and start on time. BMW/Oracle hesitated, apparently stalled due to the light breeze, and then tacked, losing control of Alinghi and positioning themselves to be very late to the start, giving up the advantage they had won for themselves at entry. Then the real race began. As everyone speculated, Race 1 came down to boat speed. The unconfirmed estimates were that Alinghi would be faster in the light stuff and BMW/Oracle in the heavy air. With much of the race sailed in the 5-8 knot "crossover zone," hopes were high that we would not see a blowout. But in the opening minutes after BMW/Oracle cleared themselves and got up to speed, it became very clear that a blowout was indeed a possibility. The trimaran, with its amazing monstrous wing sail, closed Alinghi's 600m gap in a matter of minutes, sailing higher and faster than their opponent. As they crossed the halfway point of the beat, BMW/Oracle dropped its jib and sailed on the wing alone. To my amazement the boat did not slow down. Instead, it harnessed the increased wind speed by trimming in and sailing even higher while maintaining its 20-knot clip that was steadily leaving Alinghi in the dust. As the boats approached the windward mark we had to wonder, "are they really out of it yet?" For a brief few minutes, in a very temporary wind state, Alinghi started gaining upwind. And then there was the downwind leg to the finish. Could the lighter boat with the traditional sail catch the leader? Would they have time to burn the penalty? It would be an amazing feat, but surely not impossible. It was. BMW/Oracle turned down, trimmed a few hydraulic winches, and took off. The whole way down the trimaran barely touched its windward or center hulls to the water. The beast gracefully weaved up in the lulls and down in the puffs. When Alinghi rounded about 3 minutes later the contrast was stark. The catamaran struggled to keep her windward hull up. Her boat speed and VMG were dwarfed by the challenger. After leading off the start by an impressive 600m, she quickly fell back to trail by more than 3,000m. As BMW/Oracle crossed the finish line you had to ask yourself, "Can they be beaten?" Alinghi's strength is supposedly in the light stuff, but with the race committee refusing to start in under 4 knots and Race 1 never seeing more than 8, what is it going to take for the defender to be competitive? The 2nd and possibly final race is scheduled for Sunday morning at 4am EST. Discounting the devastating possibility of a boat breaking, it seems highly unlikely that Alinghi will be able to accomplish any more than they did today. Without the drama of a prestart foul or major tactical error, the race is likely to be uneventful march around the course, one boat constantly legging out the other. But who cares? Watching the race today was like seeing the future of sailing. These magnificent machines are like nothing the port has seen before. I might just go set my alarm now. -Chris Love Sailgroove.org Chris Love http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Chris Love/10552-americas-cup-usa-wins-race-1 Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:08:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Chris Love/10452-americas-cup-time-to-finally-tune-in For a long time now, I have been intentionally tuning out much of the news surrounding the 33rd challenge for the America's Cup. If you have been following the saga at all, you'll know that for the past year the two teams set to compete in the Cup, BMW/Oracle and Alinghi, have been in and out of court on a weekly basis fighting over the terms of the race. For more info on the courtroom battles and propaganda coming out of each camp, go to another website. While I have turned a deaf ear to the off-the-water drama of this Cup, I can no longer ignore the drama of the race. On Monday, Feb 8 at 4am Boston time, the two most technologically advanced racing sailboats ever built will take to the water and race each other. And at that moment, though I will likely be asleep, I will allow myself to forget about the battles over who, what, when and where that have plagued the New York State Court of Appeals over the past year and simply marvel at the idea of these two magnificent creatures finally facing each other head to head in a match race. Millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man hours have gone into the design, construction and testing of each boat and each is a modern wonder. The technological innovations that have been created for this Cup will likely define the sport of high performance sailing for the next decade. Articles, documentaries, books, maybe college courses, will explain the science behind each feature onboard both machines. Sea lawyers will debate the details of this Cup, and Alinghi and BMW/Oracle may be back in court themselves. But for one week in Valencia, next week to be precise, the only things that will matter are the two boats sailing on the horizon, which one crosses the line first, and which team will lay claim to the most prestigious trophy in all of sailing, the America's Cup. Live coverage will be shown on Americascup.com and Sailgroove will be sure to point you to the recap. Chris Love Sailgroove.org Chris Love http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Chris Love/10452-americas-cup-time-to-finally-tune-in Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Genny Tulloch/10406-miami-olympic-classes-regatta-wrap-up Hi all, We had a good but tough time racing in the Miami OCR this week. Sailing with my team of Karina Shelton on main and spinnaker trim and Alice Manard on bow, we knew we’d be facing a tough fleet of competitors, especially given our limited time together as a new team! With a forecast for 8-15 every day, it looked set to be a good week of racing; and, after a 3-day (very light air) clinic last week and two practice days on Saturday and Sunday, we were rearing to race. With 24 competitors and only 8 boats, the groupings and rotations get complicated, so there’s not a lot of leeway for mistakes as you have to advance early on to get through to the later stages. It all started with thunderstorms on Monday, which meant that our group C didn’t get any of our scheduled four races off. That left us sailing 7 races right off the bat Tuesday morning, with the top two advancing into the Gold round robin of 6, and the second two making it into the Repechage round robin to decide the final two spots in the 8-team quarterfinals. Unfortunately for our team, with a loss to current World Champion Aussie Nicky Souter, we had to win our final race of the seven to make it into the gold round. Sailing against a team I had beaten twice before (Sam Osborne, NZL), we led off the line and out to the right side, only to make a silly tactical error that cost us the race. On the upwind, assuming she would hunt us if we tried to duck, we leebowed her from the left on port tack when we really should have ducked her and gotten to her right for starboard advantage. One mistake is all it takes in this close racing and we couldn’t regain the lead thereafter. So, with that loss we were relegated to the repechage round. In the repechage round we had 6 excellent teams, including the winner of the Sail for Gold event in Weymouth and three other top ten ISAF ranked teams, all fighting for the final two spots in the quarterfinals. We started our Wednesday well, defeating the currently 8th-ranked team in our first race and then the winners of the Weymouth event in our second race, then went on to have a very tight third race against Lotte Meldgaard of Denmark. Going down the run, with the advantage of being to leeward and on the starboard side of her, I flashed back to a race against her last year in April where we were in the exact same scenario. All we had to do here was force her past the finish line or draw a penalty, either by regaining luffing rights by double gybing, or by fake gybing and forcing her to gybe onto port while we were still on starboard. Unfortunately for us we tried to fake gybe, she bit and gybed onto port, but the umpires declared that we had double gybed and not given her time to gybe back. They gave us a penalty, effectively giving the win to her. It was a tough loss for us, and turned out that in the final three-way tie at the end of the repechage for second, Lotte would win the tie-break against us and advance through to the quarters. On Thursday we started with a close loss to Lucinda Whitty, and then were up against 5th-ranked Silke Hahlbrock from Germany, whom we had beaten in our group C round robin but who we know to be a very tough competitor. In the pre-start, I thought we had perfectly executed pushing both of us over the line, as the leeward boat we would then duck and clear while she was still over. Unfortunately as the line was so pin favored, the RC only called us over, and in the following attempt to clear the umpires penalized us for hitting the pin end. We thought what an awful end to our racing—to be over, not clearing, AND hitting the pin—giving Silke at least a 5-boatlength lead off the line! We were pretty much analyzing how to do better next time that scenario came up while on the upwind leg, before we regrouped and decided we could still make this race up. We got on her breeze downwind, rounded the leeward mark only 2 boatlengths behind, initiated a tacking duel on the upwind and successfully stopped a slam dunk by her, forcing her to the left while we got the right and starboard advantage. At the top mark we forced her to tack to port then rounded ahead of her, but still had a penalty to get rid of before we were free to race to the finish. Cue the terribly slow downwind to follow, where we both had sails sucked to centerline and skippers shoving our rudders back and forth as hard as we could—anything we could do to slow and get her to overlap, while she did anything she could to keep from overlapping us. We finally hooked her, forced her off to the right side of the course, discussed taking her miles past the finish line to then tack back on the way upwind to the finish (hence doing our penalty by tacking on the downwind leg), but she broke the overlap and forced us to our proper course. We lined up again, directly downwind in line with her, sails centerline again, and my biggest fear was crossing the finish line that way—inching forward ever so slowly still with a penalty and her directly behind us. Thankfully we were able again to slow a bit harder than her, force her to overlap us, luff her this time all the way to head to wind, with our bow clear we tacked through and bore away, clearing our penalty and hoisting our kite at the same time to race the 3 boatlengths to the finish line. Amazingly we were clear ahead of her with a kite up and going to finish ahead of her, when she came close behind us and hit our rudder as we crossed the line, thus getting a penalty on her as well. It was a great relief to cross the line, knowing that we’d been able to come back from a deficit so huge, finishing the regatta for us on a positive note and entertaining the spectators while we were at it. The tie between her, us and Lotte Meldgaard for the quarterfinal spot went to Lotte, so we ultimately finished the regatta 9th out of 24. It was a respectable finish, but one that we know we can better. We were happy to have learned a lot, had some very close racing, and grown immensely as a team in all aspects of our game throughout the week. Our speed, boathandling, and communication are massively improving every time we step in the boat together and we can only continue on this vastly upward trend from here! We’d like to thank US Sailing and the Rolex Miami OCR for hosting such a great event, the weather for mostly cooperating and letting the match racers get 7 races in on a day when many of the other fleets didn’t even go out, our coach Dave Perry for his wonderful insight, and the many volunteers that make events like this happen. I’d also especially like to thank Alice and Karina for their efforts—they’re both incredible sailors and I can’t wait to spend more time with them. It's important for me as well to thank the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics, they've done a phenomenal job here supporting their team members with the number of coaches, staff, and physical training support on water and on land. And I'd like to thank St. Francis Yacht Club for helping me, and tell them how proud I am that so many members of the club are here competing and working in this event! Until next time, Genny Genny Tulloch http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Genny Tulloch/10406-miami-olympic-classes-regatta-wrap-up Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:23:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Genny Tulloch/10201-usstag-qualifier Hi All, Our team competed in the US Sailing Team AG Qualifier in Key Biscayne this weekend, which was somewhat confusing as I had actually already qualified for the 2010 USSTAG team with my international results last year. But this event was still important as it determined the top three US teams for Miami OCRs and other World Cup events this year. My team was also new to sailing with each other so this event and the clinic beforehand were as much about getting time in the Elliotts and learning to boat handle and communicate as a team as much as it was about racing. After a few growing pains in the first round robin, placing third, we managed to win the second round robin on Saturday’s windy, cold and rainy day of racing, and were therefore very much looking forward to a windy (but cold) Sunday of semi-final and finals racing. Unfortunately for us though, the weather lived up to the forecast and the Race Committee abandoned racing due to the 21 degree windchill and 20+ kt winds. We were clearly disappointed as a team not to get to sail forward from our 3rd place round robin position, but still qualified for the Miami OCRs and three of the next 5 World Cup events. Having never sailed with Karina Shelton or Alice Manard before, I’m happy to say we got along quite well and came along really quickly as a team in a very short number of days. Both are great talents in the match racing world (and have both been at it longer than me!), Karina has more than 10 years in the field and a World Championship title under her belt, and Alice has been match racing for 5 years along with her multiple 470 campaigns and college All-American titles. We are definitely eager to get back together next week for some (hopefully warmer) training and then the Miami OCR event, to see how we stack up against the foreigners, as well as continue to get time together in the boat as a team. In other news, I'm headed to St. Francis Yacht Club tonight for the annual awards dinner to accept the St. Francis Yachtswoman of the Year award for 2009! It is an honor to receive this recognition for my sailing last year, and I'd like to especially thank all of my teammates who raced with me throughout the year as well as the St. Francis YC Foundation for their support of my sailing. Best, Genny -- Genny Tulloch getsailing.org Genny Tulloch http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Genny Tulloch/10201-usstag-qualifier Wed, 13 Jan 2010 10:10:00 -0500 http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Erik Storck/10159-24th-in-the-world Well, it was a roller coaster of a World Championship! In the end we finished 24th, which we are proud of. Just six months ago we finished 39th at the Worlds. In that short time we went from mid-fleet in the silver fleet to competing in Gold Fleet. This is quite a journey we are on, and it has only just begun. The final day of gold fleet racing saw more big breeze from the North. It was once again shifty and puffy. We sailed a decent first race, passing a few boats on each of the last few downwind legs to finish 19th. In the final race of the event we began strong but flipped on our first gybe in a very large puff. We ended up sailing around the course in 25th, poised for a pass that never came. The lessons we have learned this week, especially in gold fleet, are invaluable. By the time we sail our next Championship we will certainly be able to compete for the Medal Race. Slowly but surely we are getting there. The next time our boat gets wet will be at the North American Championship, hosted by Miami Yacht Club in less than a week. Until that time we will rest up and take advantage of a few short days off. Thanks to everyone for your continued support! Erik Storck http://www.sailgroove.org/blogs/blogger/Erik Storck/10159-24th-in-the-world Sun, 10 Jan 2010 07:33:00 -0500