SSA Frostbite Results: March 11

It felt a bit windier at times, but the CBIBS buoy said the steady breeze was about 12-14 and the gusts were around 15-17. Probably says something about unscientific wind speed estimates in Annapolis (and my inability to hike hard for more than 2 minutes at a time). We sailed 6 quick races, and I think 4 of them were triangles with nice fast angles, so everyone got their fix of fast reaching. The waves were a nice change from the flat water of most offshore-breeze frostbite days.

Those who have done more than a couple of TESOD’s probably noticed that the conditions were almost an exact copy of a windy summer Tuesday night. The only difference was that we were in dry suits instead of bare feet…. The similarities were almost uncanny – I used embarrassingly simple tactics the entire day. I started near the left end of the line and sailed to the left in each race. I tacked at, near, or beyond the layline depending on traffic on my windward hip. On the runs, I avoided sailing close to Eastport (to stay in the breeze), which meant staying relatively close to the rhumbline. On the last leg (upwind), sailing all the way to the right often paid, as there is often a geographic right wind shift down in that part of the harbor.

Upwind points: Unlike some recent frostbite days with wind, the chop made it unwise to pinch when overpowered. In flat water, its more acceptable to pinch through the puffs, but today the wind was much steadier so there wasn’t a need to quickly dump power. I was careful to keep the bow down (away from the wind) to keep the boatspeed up, unless the boat to leeward of me dictated otherwise. I used a ton of Cunningham and kept my vang quite tight so that I could ease the mainsheet for extra speed, or to dodge a bad wave. The Cunningham keeps the draft forward but also allows the leech to twist off. This allow the bottom of the sail to be trimmed with more power in the front of the sail. Without the Cunningham, the back of the sail is the only part of the sail pulling, which just makes the windward helm worse. The vang keeps the mast bent when you ease the mainsheet and bends the lower mast much more than the mainsheet alone. I didn’t need to ease the main to dump power very often, but being able to ease sheet and accelerate is a good thing, and I was often sailing below closehauled after going over the port layline. The waves were really only a problem on starboard upwind as the waves were oriented further left than the wind (exactly like TESOD).

On last week’s reaches, it seemed like the boats that made the effort to sail high were rewarded with lots of opportunities to get over the top and make a pass, so I was resolved to stay in the high lane today. I went way too far in one instance when Bryan and I got way off the rhumbline. Today’s waves probably made the difference here – when the angle is right for bearing away onto a wave on the reach, the boat to leeward has an extra opportunity. Some of this week’s reaches were unbelievably epic.

On the runs, the mismatch in wind/wave direction make it relatively easy to sail too far left (looking downwind) because you can sail straight down the wave by the lee (on starboard). Therefore, I worked very hard to catch waves and then surf them towards the right. I took almost every opportunity to do so because it was always easy to bear off by the lee and go fast to secure the inside overlap. This led to lots of big downwind turns (hey, it’s fun when it’s done right).

It was easy to stick the bow into the waves, whether you were going up, down, or across the wind. It’s important to minimize this, though impossible to avoid entirely on a day like today. It takes a long time to drain the cockpit when it fills up and its surprisingly heavy. Upwind, I try to steer around the steep waves when I could, and when you have to go through one, having a bit of heel will allow most of the water to fall off the leeward side of the boat. For those new to the laser, try to learn how to kick water out of your cockpit – it’s faster than waiting for the bailer. You might have to pinch for a second in a stretch of flat water to allow yourself to slide your body inboard. On the runs and reaches, the best thing is to move weight back, and to steer out of the wave. Sneak your weight aft when flying down a big wave, or when you know you’re going to be a in the upcoming moments.

Last point is that nothing helps downwind technique more than getting out there sailing. So try and get out there and do it with others, especially when it’s windy. And talk to others about their experience to learn the little tricks that make you feel comfortable so that you can figure it out.

Luke Shingledecker

Division: Laser (18 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	3	3	1	1	4	1	13	1
2	170058		Fishback, Bryan	5	4	4	2	1	2	18	2
3	701	Chitter Charter	Brady, Christopher	1	2	5	4	3	6	21	3
4	92		OHare, Gavin	7	1	3	6	7	3	27	4
5	183826		Tan, Robert J.	4	9	2	3	5	4	27	5
6	157905		Maxwell, J.R.	2	7	7	7	6	5	34	6
7	9 A		Burley, R. D.	6	5	6	5	2	19/DNF	43	7
8	187741		Clifton, Tip	8	8	9	10	8	9	52	8
9	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	9	12	8	12	11	10	62	9
10	155315		Whitacre, Hal	19/DNS	6	13	9	9	8	64	10
11	200369		Petty, David	10	11	10	13	10	14	68	11
12	200405 /184472		Parramore, Michael	14	10	11	11	17	7	70	12
13	194547	Liana Laser	Caruso, Jeffrey	11	16	12	8	16	12	75	13
14	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	12	13	17	15	13	11	81	14
15	185776		Smith, Jerry	13	14	14	14	12	19/DNS	86	15
16	213072		Wrangle, John	16	15	16	16	14	13	90	16
17	172523		Goscha, Jason	19/DNS	17	15	17	15	19/DNS	102	17
18	192031	Samba	Linares, Carlos	15	18	18	18	18	15	102	18

Division: Laser Radial (2 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	191513 (13)		Beigel, Reid	1	1	1	1	1	1	6	1
2	186519	TBA	Haldeman, Dorian	2	2	2	2	2	2	12	2

SSA Frostbite Results: March 4

Great conditions greeted sailors this past Sunday, March 4th, in the shadow of the one large construction site that our little corner of Eastport has become.  San Fransisco sailors would have called it 12-14 with flat water.  Most east coast sailors would have called it 16 with puffs to 20 and some chop.  Life-long Annapolitans would say it was 30 with waves…

A couple of quick things:

1.  Regardless of the breeze, it was flat water, so if your outhaul wasn’t pegged, you made life hard on yourself.  When I watch OCR footage or study the habits of the top sailors in other classes, I find that they are always sailing with flatter foots in their main, especially when it is windy.  I’m starting to think that it should be a default setting for most flat water conditions like those that we sail in.

2.  Upwind technique in breeze:  I know what it looks like…  I can even do it for 10-12 second bursts.  However, I gave up on ease-hike-trim on the first beat and replaced it with ease-sit-pinch-sit-trim-sit.  Now you’re thinking, “Yeah, he’s 205 lbs… mostly in that big head!” and you’re right.  The truth is that no matter how hard you hiked, you still needed to find a comfortable medium between ease and pinch so that you could keep the boat semi-flat and moving forward.  If your boom was consistently hitting the water upwind or you were really slow and high all day, you need to find this compromise.

3.  The vang needs to come off before the windward mark.  It was so obvious when you didn’t do it, to the point where people would yell at you because you were jamming up the works.  I did it once, and I think I’m pretty lucky not to have broken anything.  Luke said that if there had been waves, I would have.

4.  The cunningham needs to come off down wind!  This moves the draft forward and stabilizes the boat for reaches and runs.  You want the deepest part of the sail as close to the mast as possible.

5. Weight back off the breeze, especially on the reaches.  On the second reach, I was essentially holding the tiller and sitting on the stern.

6.  When the boat starts rocking on the runs, TRIM IN THE MAIN!

7. You could pass people by sailing high on the second reach.  Especially, if you timed it correctly with a puff and create enough separation to windward that you couldn’t be challenged without causing a capsize.  I found that I could always get back down to the mark, so I never had any fear of adding another jibe to the leg.

8. This brings us to leeward mark roundings…  Each one I participated in was terrible.  Most of my competitors were equally as bad.  Three basic trends developed. Jibe right at the mark and flip.  Round up around the mark and flip.  Round up around the mark with the main all the way out, go into a death roll, and try to save it with desperate main sheet trim.  I got nothing for you here folks, I was the worst..  Ease a little vang before the rounding?  Wide turns?  Better planning?

9. My board was up six-eight inches off the breeze, mainly because it is loose in the trunk and drives the boat too much when its all the way down.  Someone smarter than I would know if it was one of the days where it could have helped to be a couple of inches up going upwind.  My inclination is to say no, because these boats don’t plane upwind.

Big thanks to the RC!  Great races!  Big thanks to Ashley Love for chartering me the boat! (Ashley, stop reading the email…) – Chris Brady

Division: Laser (14 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	701	Chitter Charter	Brady, Christopher	3	3	1	2	1	4	14	1
2	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	2	5	4	1	3	3	18	2
3	157905 A		Field, Jack	1	1	6	4	6	1	19	3
4	170058		Fishback, Bryan	4	2	3	3	2	5	19	4
5	182815		Reinke, Eric	7	6	2	8	4	2	29	5
6	183826		Tan, Robert J.	5	7	5	5	5	6	33	6
7	200405 /184472		Parramore, Michael	10	4	7	6	7	7	41	7
8	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	6	9	9	7	10	8	49	8
9	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	8	10	11	9	9	10	57	9
10	194547	Liana Laser	Caruso, Jeffrey	15/DNS	11	10	10	8	9	63	10
11	178857	Second Life	Glass, Adam W	9	8	13	11	15/DNS	15/DNS	71	11
12	200369		Petty, David	11	12	8	12	15/DNS	15/DNS	73	12
13	192031	Samba	Linares, Carlos	15/DNF	15/DNF	12	13	11	11	77	13
14	185776		Smith, Jerry	15/DNF	15/DNS	15/DNS	15/DNS	15/DNS	15/DNS	90	14

Division: Laser Radial (2 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	191513 (13)		Beigel, Reid	1	1	2	2	2	1	9	1
2	175592	sailregattas.com	Gebhardt, John	2	2	1	1	1	2	9	2

SSA Frostbite Results: February 26

Division: Laser (17 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	182814		Key, Jonathan Ramsay	5	5	2	1	2	2	5	2	24	1
2	157905		Maxwell, J.R.	1	6	3	3	3	3	2	5	26	2
3	182815		Reinke, Eric	2	3	15	2	1	1	1	3	28	3
4	170058		Fishback, Bryan	3	2	9	4	5	4	3	1	31	4
5	183826		Tan, Robert J.	6	1	6	6	4	6	4	4	37	5
6	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	8	11	8	8	10	5	8	7	65	6
7	200405		Parramore, Michael	15	4	4	11	7	10	9	9	69	7
8	194547	Liana Laser	Caruso, Jeffrey	11	7	10	5	9	9	11	10	72	8
9	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	9	8	14	9	11	11	6	12	80	9
10	168447	Yertle	Merz, Greg	18/DNS	10	11	7	6	7	7	15	81	10
11	178857	Second Life	Glass, Adam W	10	12	13	12	8	8	12	6	81	11
12	173641		Wilson, Leo	4	13	7	14	13	12	13	11	87	12
13	185776		Smith, Jerry	13	16	12	10	12	16	10	8	97	13
14	172523		Goscha, Jason	12	14	5	13	14	13	16	14	101	14
15	155315		Whitacre, Hal	7	9	1	18/DNS	18/DNS	18/DNS	18/DNS	18/DNS	107	15
16	213072		Wrangle, John	14	17	17	15	16	15	15	13	122	16
17	192031	Samba	Linares, Carlos	18/DNS	15	16	16	15	14	14	16	124	17

Division: Laser Radial (5 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	191513 (13)		Beigel, Reid	4	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	13	1
2	175592	sailregattas.com	Gebhardt, John	3	2	2	3	2	1	1	2	16	2
3	186519	TBA	Haldeman, Dorian	1	4	3	2	3	3	3	3	22	3
4	153006	Flight Risk	Westphal, Sandy	2	3	6/RAF	4	4	4	6/DNS	6/DNS	35	4
5	176087		Gibb, Victoria	6/DNS	5	4	5	5	5	4	4	38	5

SSA Frostbite Results: February 19

The two Radials started with the full rigs and that made it even more of a challenge. I wanted to get left but couldn’t avoid getting spit out the back if I started near the pin, and kept getting forced to the right to keep clear air. The left seemed to be pretty consistantly favored, at least near the top of the course, but I had trouble getting there. The middle of the course had to be avoided especially when behind. The boats ahead would create lots of disturbed air.

So, I just started at the boat and tried to keep clear air as best I could.

Good lesson in boat speed. Without it, it is almost impossible to execute your game plan. Everybody is always getting in your way. Make sure you have good speed, then good things will follow.

In the last race, Victoria sailed a nice weather leg, stayed ahead of me downwind, would have had a nice victory, except for a botched leeward mark rounding. I snuck inside, accelerated pretty well, and covered her to the finish.

Another “match racing” day for the radials. where are you guys?

Thanks to The RC for another fine day of racing. You guys had a lot of shifts to deal with and you did a great job of keeping the course square and the delays to a minimum.

Division: Laser (16 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	7		Davids, Keith	1	1	1	3	1	3	10	1
2	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	5	3	3	5	6	2	24	2
3	701	Chitter Charter	Brady, Christopher	3	7	14	2	5	1	32	3
4	92		OHare, Gavin	2	2	2	4	16	6	32	4
5	182815		Reinke, Eric	6	8	10	1	2	7	34	5
6	157905 A		Field, Jack	7	4	9	10	3	4	37	6
7	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	8	6	7	6	4	8	39	7
8	178857	Second Life	Glass, Adam W	4	14	5	7	9	11	50	8
9	200405		Parramore, Michael	9	5	13	9	7	9	52	9
10	156631	none	Johnson, Eric	17/NoFin	9	6	8	8	5	53	10
11	173641		Wilson, Leo	10	10	4	11	13	14	62	11
12	194547	Liana Laser	Caruso, Jeffrey	11	11	8	12	10	10	62	12
13	172523		Goscha, Jason	12	15	11	13	12	15	78	13
14	213072		Wrangle, John	14	13	15	14	14	12	82	14
15	196049 (168424)		John, Edward	13	12	12	16	15	16	84	15
16	192031	Samba	Linares, Carlos	17/NoFin	17/NoFin	16	15	11	13	89	16

 

Division: Laser Radial (2 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	175592	sailregattas.com	Gebhardt, John	1	1	2	1	1	1	7	1
2	176087		Gibb, Victoria	3/NoFin	2	1	2	2	2	12	2

SSA Frostbite Results: February 12

Division: Laser (4 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	Total Points	Pos
1	183826		Tan, Robert J.	1	2	1	4	1
2	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	3	1	2	6	2
3	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	2	3	4	9	3
4	173641		Wilson, Leo	5/DNS	4	3	12	4

SSA Frostbite Results: February 5

Standard Rig

A couple of quick notes on what I thought it took to be successful on Sunday:

1. A couple of weeks ago, I asked Ramsey to look at my Intensity sail, while I sailed upwind. His answer about the shape was, “really deep…too deep”. With the standard vang and cunningham settings, I never had a sail shape that would establish consistent flow and allow me to point with everyone. By sailing with more vang, cunningham, and even outhaul to flatten the sail, I found that I was faster and able to hold lanes. I don’t think you need to ask one of the top players either. We all have stepped into the power boat to do RC and compared the sails of the competitors in the race. It is much easier to gauge a good sail shape from outside the boat, compared to inside the boat. Plus, with so few variables at play while laser sailing, sail shape is the single biggest thing you can do to go faster in a straight line upwind.
2. It was a pressure over shift day. I was willing to sail through a slight header on the beats (especially the first beat) if it was going to take me to the best pressure on the course. This was even more apparent downwind. Boats that sailed in pressure the longest made the most gains downwind. As a large person, I would sometimes sacrifice pressure for separation from groups of boats, because I knew that I would be the victim if I sailed in a pack. The truth is that I got burned every time I didn’t try to get the boat downwind of the pressure on the runs.
3. Starts… Every time I had a bad start, it was a general recall. Mostly, I started like it was summer camp. I would use a big hole to leeward to reach down and then power over the first boat, until I established an upwind groove to keep my lane with everyone else. This is terrible advice! Do not do this! If it was a smaller line or a large regatta, that tactic would have failed miserably. Like many of us, I need to work accelerating in a limited hole and maintaining speed and point to keep a viable lane after the start.
4. 2 or 3 really lucky shifts always help. However, the top right of the course seemed to be consistent throughout the day.

It was a great day on the water! Great RC work! Does anyone want a Harry Anderson (sp?) course for this week?

-Brady

 

Radial Rig

This past Sunday we only had two participants in the Radial fleet, so it was much like a match race event. John Gebhardt is always fast and tough to beat, so I knew it would be a challenge. Since there were only two of us, the RC elected to start us with the Standard fleet but score us separately. Sharing the starting line with rigs slightly larger is a challenge. Several times when I attempted to start at what appeared to be the “favored end” I found myself spit out the back into the second or third row. John and I quickly learned that it was better to start as far away from the standards as possible to get clean air and maintain a clear lane going upwind. For this reason, John and I often ended up on the right side of the course on the first upwind leg (which did not particularly seem favored, especially judging where we ended up compared to the standards, but it did allow us to cover each other.)

In the early races there seemed to be some fairly large puffs followed by long lulls, so I felt like I was constantly changing gears. Later, the wind got progressively weaker so I found myself pulling on lots of vang (which you do in the Radial in light air), sitting as far forward as possible and trying to keep the boat moving. Downwind, I sailed by-the-lee with slight windward heel. A couple of times on the downwind there was a right shift that caused me to accidently jibe, then I would sail downwind on a broad reach.

Tactically it was an interesting day. I constantly had my eye on John, and we were neck and neck most races. He is incredibly quick upwind. One race I managed to pass him going over to the right side of the course on the downwind leg, catching a puff. Other races, I made attempts to overtake him downwind and he managed to defend against my advances. In nearly every race we were within 2 to 3 boat-lengths of each other at the finish. We both won three races and lost three races, and I managed to win the last race by sheer luck. I had an early lead in the race because John was OCS, and I thought I was home free. I rounded the leeward mark at the back end of the Standard pack, still with about a 6 boat-length lead. As I was gathering speed on port tack after rounding the mark, I was forced to tack by someone on starboard. After that I was temporarily pinned on the left side of the course. I attempted to break free of the boat to windward of me by pinching him off. Once I was ahead of him and free to tack, I tacked back to port only to find John had scooted way ahead. (And I think NOOOOOO, how did I blow that lead!!). The next time we crossed tacks he was several boat lengths ahead of me. We had a small tacking duel, but he ended up tacking onto port ahead of me as we sailed to the finish. Then, just before the finish, John was in a crossing situation with a Standard rig. By this time the wind had died almost completely and he elected to duck the starboard-tacker, which closed the distance between us. I managed to cross behind the starboard-tacker without changing course and won by inches. Had John tacked instead of ducking, things might have ended differently. What a fun day!! Thanks John for the great competition, and thanks to the RC for running the races. See you all when I get back from Florida!!

Dorian

Division: Laser (18 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	701	Chitter Charter	Brady, Christopher	5	1	3	1	5	5	20	1
2	92		OHare, Gavin	4	4	6	2	4	1	21	2
3	183826		Tan, Robert J.	1	5	2	3	9	3	23	3
4	157905		Maxwell, J.R.	2	7	5	5	8	9	36	4
5	152814		Alexander, Ramsey	19/OCS	2	1	4	3	8	37	5
6	182815		Reinke, Eric	6	3	11	9	2	11	42	6
7	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	3	8	8	15	7	6	47	7
8	155315		Whitacre, Hal	19/DNS	6	10	10	1	2	48	8
9	170058		Fishback, Bryan	9	13	4	8	11	4	49	9
10	200369		Petty, David	13	9	7	6	6	10	51	10
11	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	11	10	9	13	12	7	62	11
12	200405		Parramore, Michael	7	14	13	7	15	16	72	12
13	173641		Wilson, Leo	10	12	14	12	13	12	73	13
14	156631	none	Johnson, Eric	19/DNS	11	12	14	10	13	79	14
15	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	8	15	16	16	17	17	89	15
16	196049 (168424)		John, Edward	12	16	17	17	16	15	93	16
17	152989 (3889)		Futcher, JR	19/DNS	17	15	11	14	18	94	17
18	192031	Samba	Linares, Carlos	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	18	18	14	107	18

Division: Laser Radial (2 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	186519	TBA	Haldeman, Dorian	2	1	1	2	2	1	9	1
2	175592	sailregattas.com	Gebhardt, John	1	2	2	1	1	2	9	2

Notes
⁽¹⁾Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2009-2012

SSA Frostbite Results: January 29

Division: Laser (18 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	157905		Maxwell, J.R.	1	5	5	2	4	1	1	2	21	1
2	183826		Tan, Robert J.	4	8	4	8	2	6	3	1	36	2
3	92		OHare, Gavin	12	3	7	5	1	4	2	3	37	3
4	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	3	6	8	7	5	7	5	6	47	4
5	9 A		Burley, R. D.	19/DNF	7	2	6	6	2	10	5	57	5
6	168574		Schofield, Matt	5	2	12	3	12	10	6	7	57	6
7	152814		Alexander, Ramsey	19/NoFin	1	1	10	3	3	4	19/NoFin	60	7
8	200369		Petty, David	8	4	3	4	8	16	9	8	60	8
9	155315		Whitacre, Hal	2	10	6	9	9	5	8	19/NoFin	68	9
10	200405		Parramore, Michael	14	14	16	1	13	8	14	4	84	10
11	178857	Second Life	Glass, Adam W	10	17	9	16	7	11	7	9	86	11
12	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	7	9	10	11	15	14	16	12	94	12
13	172523		Goscha, Jason	6	15	11	17	14	12	13	10	98	13
14	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	9	12	14	12	11	9	19/DNF	19/NoFin	105	14
15	173641		Wilson, Leo	11	13	13	14	10	19/NoFin	11	19/NoFin	110	15
16	152989 (3889)		Futcher, JR	19/DNF	11	17	13	16	13	12	11	112	16
17	196049 (168424)		John, Edward	19/DNF	18	15	15	17	15	15	19/NoFin	133	17
18	179458		Singer, Charlie	13	16	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	19/NoFin	143	18

Division: Laser Radial (5 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	191513 (13)		Beiger, Reid	1	2	3	2	1	1	2	2	14	1
2	175592	sailregattas.com	Gebhardt, John	6/NoFin	1	4	1	2	4	1	1	20	2
3	199585		Schofield, Phillip	3	4	1	3	4	2	3	3	23	3
4	153006	Flight Risk	Westphal, Sandy	2	3	2	4	3	3	6/DNF	5	28	4
5	33773		Esbensen, Gretchen	4	6/DNF	5	5	5	5	4	4	38	5

Notes
⁽¹⁾Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2009-2012

SSA Frostbite Results: January 22

Wind were very shifty and 5-10 knots out of the North… and yes, pretty cold at times!

What seemed to work was paying attention to the shifts on the starting line and picking the right end, then playing those shifts upwind. You typically had to sail into the shift for a few seconds to make sure you were actually in the new wind before tacking. Playing the middle of the first beat rarely paid and the left side usually worked well. Downwind was usually a long starboard tack run, but lengths could be lost by other boats going really low in the puffs and catching up and getting the inside overlap. I gybed onto starboard a couple of times on downwind legs to take advantage of puffs coming down from that side and re-establish the inside for the leeward mark rounding. The final beats were once again a game of keeping your eyes out of the boat for puffs coming down to wait for or shifts to take advantage of. Covering the competition was not as important as sailing smart legs on this shifty day!

Good sailing to you all. -Gavin O’Hare

Division: Laser (13 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	92		OHare, Gavin	1	6	1	1	2	3	14	1
2	2004		Vickers, Bill	5	3	3	3	5	1	20	2
3	200369		Petty, David	2	9	2	2	4	2	21	3
4	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	4	5	5	4	3	4	25	4
5	182815		Reinke, Eric	3	2	6	9	1	5	26	5
6	9 A		Burley, R. D.	6	1	7	6	6	6	32	6
7	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	7	8	4	5	9	7	40	7
8	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	10	4	10	8	8	8	48	8
9	173641		Wilson, Leo	11	12	11	7	7	11	59	9
10	200405		Parramore, Michael	8	7	8	13	11	13	60	10
11	172523		Goscha, Jason	9	10	9	10	10	12	60	11
12	185776		Smith, Jerry	12	11	12	11	12	9	67	12
13	196049		John, Edward	13	13	13	12	13	10	74	13

Division: Laser Radial (2 boats)

Pos	Sail	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total Points	Pos
1	180001	Dudley, Elizabeth	1	1	1	1	1	1	6	1
2	176087	Gibb, Victoria	2	2	2	2	2	2	12	2

Notes
⁽¹⁾Scoring System is ISAF Low Point 2009-2012

SSA Frostbite Results: January 15

15 January felt like the first real day of winter. I was very concerned as my hand grew numb on the first beat of the first race. I took off the gardening gloves and luckily the wind slowed, and I had my feeling back.

This day was very shifty and puffy – 5-12 knots from the West to Northwest. Some of the things I thought I did right were keeping an eye upwind to look for shifts and were the breeze was going to come from. This was key. Also, before the starts the wind would shift in the last minute & thirty and give rise to work down the line and start near the pin.

If I had better leeward legs than most, it felt like I was in tune with the breeze. I played my vang a lot and drove low when I felt I had pressure, I trimmed in when the wind shifted significantly, and I tried to keep constant heel… without flipping – I was successful.

It was a really enjoyable and competitive day. Thanks to all for the camaraderie and great race committee keeping things moving… and certainly Steve for opening his house for the fleet party night before.

See you on the water.

Gavin O’Hare

Division: Laser (15 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	92		OHare, Gavin	2	2	1	5	2	3	1	1	17.00	1
2	157905		Maxwell, J.R.	1	4	4	3	7	4	2	3	28.00	2
3	198025		Shingledecker, Luke	4	8	2	1	1	7	4	4	31.00	3
4	183826		Tan, Robert J.	3	3	5	8	5	1	6	5	36.00	4
5	9 A		Burley, R. D.	16/NoFin	1	10	2	4	5	9	2	49.00	5
6	155315		Whitacre, Hal	16/NoFin	12	9	4	3	2	8	6	60.00	6
7	152814		Alexander, Ramsey	6	5	3	6	6	11	10	16/NoFin	63.00	7
8	200405		Parramore, Michael	5	11	8	10	10	10	3	8	65.00	8
9	152989 (3889)		Futcher, JR	7	13	11	7	9	12	5	10	74.00	9
10	173641		Wilson, Leo	8	6	14	9	8	6	15	9	75.00	10
11	169781		Wesdyk, Russell	9	7	12	12	13	8	12	7	80.00	11
12	178857	Second Life	Glass, Adam W	10	9	6	11	12	14	11	11	84.00	12
13	180536	Cold Feet	Cofer, Steven	11	16/DNF	7	13	14	13	7	13	94.00	13
14	172523		Goscha, Jason	12	10	13	14	11	9	13	12	94.00	14
15	196049		John, Edward	16/NoFin	16/NoFin	16/NoFin	16/NoFin	15	15	14	14	122.00	15

Division: Laser Radial (4 boats)

Pos	Sail	Boat	Skipper	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Total Points	Pos
1	191513 (13)		Beiger, Reid	1	1	1	1	1	3	2	5/DNF	15.00	1
2	186519	TBA	Haldeman, Dorian	2	3	3	2	2	2	1	2	17.00	2
3	153006	Flight Risk	Westphal, Sandy	5/DNF	2	2	4	3	1	3	1	21.00	3
4	176087		Gibb, Victoria	5/DNC	4	4	3	4	4	4	3	31.00	4

 

SSA Frostbite Results: January 8

15 January felt like the first real day of winter. I was very concerned as my hand grew numb on the first beat of the first race. I took off the gardening gloves and luckily the wind slowed, and I had my feeling back.

This day was very shifty and puffy – 5-12 knots from the West to Northwest. Some of the things I thought I did right were keeping an eye upwind to look for shifts and were the breeze was going to come from. This was key. Also, before the starts the wind would shift in the last minute & thirty and give rise to work down the line and start near the pin.

If I had better leeward legs than most, it felt like I was in tune with the breeze. I played my vang a lot and drove low when I felt I had pressure, I trimmed in when the wind shifted significantly, and I tried to keep constant heel… without flipping – I was successful.

It was a really enjoyable and competitive day. Thanks to all for the camaraderie and great race committee keeping things moving… and certainly Steve for opening his house for the fleet party night before.

-Gavin O’Hare