Rochester J/24 Sailor- Scott Snyder Interview

Scott Snyder- Winner of the J/24 Class at Bermuda Race Week- has an interesting interview about sailing his first regatta in Bermuda: "Being invited to Bermuda International Invitational Race Week is a tremendous honor as the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club truly knows how to organize a world class international event.  What we've learned from previous visits as both crew and captain is that the week-long regatta guarantees to dish up a wide range of conditions, competition and unfamiliar water that will challenge the metal of even the most seasoned team.  With that in mind, we approached this year's invitation by assembling a team that would first be lots of fun to sail with, and second, included crew with great versatility and experience.  I wanted to put together a team that was unselfish on the water, and fun off the water.

Having discussed this regatta for some time with my good friend and world-class sailing Photographer, Tim Wilkes of Rochester, NY, together we put a team together that consisted of Brian Simkins of Long Island, NY, Michael Dannecker of Denver, CO and Greg Schertz of Denver, CO.  Interestingly enough, all five team members are great drivers in their own right.

Despite our attempts to get a practice regatta in a month prior to the regatta, knee surgery for Brian Simkins kept him on crutches until just a week before the regatta.  It's also cementing his role as driver for the week as we had originally planned to co-helm the regatta.  It's a decision that paid off immediately as everyone on the crew really focused on their role for the week.  Even our practice day before the regatta was blown out due to winds in excess of 40 knots.  We dedicated a few hours the evening before the regatta to verbally review roles and team work process verbally before heading out to the course on the first day of the regatta without ever taking a single tack together as a team.

I've never been a part of such an unselfish team before.  The entire week was full of great communication, clear lines of decision-making, proactive crew work, and great fun.  As our victory was such a great team effort, we've decided to participate in this interview as a team as well."    Read more about their team's sailing experience here.  

Argentinean J/24 sailor- Fernando Gwozdz Interview

Argentinean J/24 sailor Fernando Gwozdz- Fernando's five-man J/24 team from Buenos Aires was among the competitors in the J/24 North American Championships in Seattle, hoping to land one of their nation's spots in the 2011 Pan-Am Games while encouraging sailors to join them in Argentina for the 2011 J/24 Worlds. The team, three of whose members sailed a J/24 to a second-place finish in the 2007 Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro, sailed well in this year's regatta.  Here's an interview of Fernando just  before the start of the J/24 NA's:

"We think it's going to be pretty hard,"said Fernando Gwozdz, the helmsman, who has finished his degree in business management and currently coaches sailing, mainly 470 sailors, in Argentina. "I am new to the team, but our trimmer has done a few regattas already and knows some of these guys, so we expect the fleet to be pretty competitive." Other members of the team are tactician Sebastian Peri Brusa, who is studying meteorology and sails 49ers, trimmer Gustavo Gonzalez, a builder, owner Sergio Armesto, a lawyer, and bowman Joaquin Duarte, who is studying naval architecture and spends a lot of time in sailboats.

They have nothing but good things to say so far about the sailing venue at Shilshole Bay Marina and on Puget Sound.  "We love it," Gwozdz said. "The setting is beautiful, the mountains are fantastic, and the hospitality is great as well. The people from the club have given us a hand with what we needed so we were impressed in a good way. The facilities are good as well. This club has everything you really need to sail."

Their home club is Yacht Club Argentino, which will host the World Championships for the J/24 class next year. The top four finishers in Seattle will qualify. The Seattle event will produce two qualifiers for the Pan-Am Games.  "Our venue is great, the Rio de la Plata is a great place to sail," Gwozdz said.  

California J/24 Blind Sailing Regatta

Sailing in the dark (e.g. sailing blind)- "Up two degrees ... hold it there," says tactician Al Spector to Mitsuhiro Iwamoto, steering a J24 race boat sailing a beeline toward another boat.  "Tack on a long count. Three... two... one... tack!"  "Good call," says Danette Davis.  "Good call to avoid collision?" answers Al. "Right. Hiro, beautiful  driving."

It sounds like typical regatta chatter. But these tactical calls are especially important. Iwamoto is blind. That boat they just missed - with four other boats bearing down? All driven by blind crew members.

The event was the first California Invitational Blind Sailing Regatta, organized on the Oakland-Alameda Estuary by the Marin Sailing School and Island Yacht Club. Teams represented Boston, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors and Iwamoto's team, called California 1.

Under international blind-regatta rules, the person at the helm is blind. A second blind or vision-impaired person handles the mainsail. There's a fully sighted tactician and a fully sighted crew member handling the foresail, but neither can't touch any other controls except in an emergency.

Crew members build a mental map of the boat with a systematic, hands-on tour, and they race on virtually identical boats loaned for the occasion. They turn their heads to feel the air on their nose and ears to tell them which way the wind is blowing. Despite maneuvers just feet apart, collisions are rare. There's not even extra insurance required, though the boat owner or a rep was allowed aboard for this regatta. -- SF Chronicle, read on here.  

Race For The TWO Cases of Rum!

DOUBLE VISION = Double Case!

(Lloyd Harbor, NY- May 22-23)-  Leave it up to the creative characters at Lloyd Harbor YC on Long Island to come up with a "down island" themed regatta and, with pirates lair, gear and all start their summer sailing season with the annual "Race for the Case".  A nice fleet of 24+ boats showed up for the event with ten J's represented, ranging from the J/80 and J/105 one-design classes to the PHRF handicap division that saw J's range from the J/24 to the J/44! 

Winner of the "Double Case" was DOUBLE VISION, for this J/24 had two owners that sounded like your regular high street law firm- Walters & Suss.  Their record of 1-1-3-1-1 was sufficient to beat out Don and Rick Rave sailing their beautiful J/44 RESOLUTE with a 2-2-1-2-3 tally.  Rounding out this PHRF Spinnaker racing division were the US Merchant Marine Academy Sailing Team racing their J/35 HYPNOS, tied for third with nineteen points, but winning the tie-breaker over Bill Maher's J/29 RIFT.

In the cruising canvas division, Daniel Montero's pretty J/34c BODACIOUS took third overall on a tie-breaker with another boat.

In the one-design classes, John Storck, Jr along with Mom and the gang won the J/80 class, sailing their well-traveled RUMOR to a four firsts and one second.  An outstanding performance!  Second was Richard Rubel's SOUL REBEEL with a 2-1-2-2-3 score, followed by Ansgar Chorhumnel sailing KIA ORA to third with a 3-3-3-4-2 record.   In the J/105 class, the master campaigner himself, Damian Emery on ECLIPSE, sailed to an unbeatable perfect score of five firsts!  Second was Jordan Mindich sailing SHAKEDOWN.  For more Race for The Case sailing results and information.  

3 BIG DOGS Win J/24 North Americans

Invasion By Santa Barbarians Successful!

(Seattle, WA - May 23) - Thirty-five teams competed in the BITBURGER J/24 North Americans hosted by Seattle's Corinthian Yacht Club. It took solid, consistent sailing to finish well in this year's event sailed on the tricky waters of Puget Sound with lots of shifty winds and plenty of current to contend with over the course of the three days of racing.  The ultimate winner, Pat Toole's 3 BIG DOGS, were sailing well enough on Sunday to win over local Seattle favorite Keith Whittemore sailing TUNDRA ROSE.  It was the first victory in a major regatta for "The Dogs" who sail out of Santa Barbara Yacht Club.

"It was a great day of sailing, it's our best ever," Pat said after the win on Sunday.  What was the key for 3 BIG DOGS? "It wasn't our starts", Pat said, "In fact, the last start was horrible. But even when we got bad starts, we were able to duck sterns and get in phase with the wind shifts right away and sail a long, correct board. That was it."  The 3 BIG DOGS finished the regatta with a total of 27 points in 10 races sailed over three days. His finishes were 3, 1, 4, 5, (15), 1, 3, 1, 5, 4. Finishing second was Keith Whittemore of Seattle and his crew on TUNDRA ROSE with 33 points, third was local Scot Milne sailing TREMENDOUS SLOUCH, fourth was Argentinean Fernando Gnozdz skippering LUCA, fifth was Mike Ingham sailing BRAIN CRAMP.  What was nice to see was Japan's Hideyuki Miyagawa have his practice pay off from sailing the weekend before in the J/24 NW Regionals, they finished 8th overall!

Both Scot Milne on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH and Keith on TUNDRA ROSE were in the hunt going into the racing on Sunday.  In fact, Milne and team on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH were leading going into the races on Sunday after winning all three races on Saturday.  However, both teams hurt their chances by getting out of phase with the wind shifts and the current on Sunday and bombing a few races to drop out of contention.  The wind Sunday was from the south and shifty at 8 to 15 knots. 

Whittemore congratulated 3 BIG DOGS for their victory and said the competition was tough throughout the regatta.  "At the top of the fleet, getting by people was almost impossible," he said.  "You had to have a good start and go the right way, and if you didn't do that you were back a ways. The three leaders were all up and down, but the 3 DOGS guys sailed the most consistent series."

Tom Niccoli, TREMENDOUS SLOUCH trimmer (rounding the mark at right), said the of the racing: "It was phenomenal. I thought we did well, but it was harder today (Sunday) to get the settings right. It was up and down and there was a lot more wave action that made it harder for us to find a groove and get settled in. The DOGS were always going the right way with great boat speed and great sailing."

Toole's previous high finishes in big J/24 regattas included a third in the 2008 North Americans in Marina Del Ray and a third in the Nationals last year on San Francisco Bay.  His crew included Les Wolff (bow), Chris Stankevitz (mast), George Witter (pit), and Dale Turley (trimmer-tactician).  "This yacht club and these volunteers did a spectacular job," Toole said. "It takes a lot of work to put on an event like this."

The top three finishers in the regatta win spots in the 2011 World Championships in Buenos Aires.  Bitburger, one of Germany's largest brewers, which wants to expand its U.S. market share, was the title sponsor of the J/24 North American Championship. Other sponsors include Fat Bastard wine, Kvichak Marine Industries, Northwest Yachting Magazine, Quantum Sails, Cheap Diver, Shilshole Bay Marina, Skyweb Express, Harken, Team McLube, North Sails, Web 1 Marketing, CSR Marine and Seattle Yacht Club.

In this picture at right during the awards ceremony- from left-to-right- regatta director Joy Okazaki, Jim Florio of Click Wholesale Distributing (representing title sponsor Bitburger Beer), the crew of 3 Big Dogs, George Witter (tactics), Les Wolff (bow), Chris Stankevitz (mast), Pat Toole (helm) and Dale Turley (trimmer), and regatta racing director John Mason.   For more J/24 North Americans sailing results and information.  

Good Guys Do Finish First- J/24 Skipper Michael Johnson

J/24 Skipper Michael Johnson along with crew (left to right) Joy Okazaki, Bob Pistay, Peg Pritchard, and Justin Fallstrom won overall honors at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Seattle NOOD Regatta racing their J/24.  Organizing a major championship is often a thankless job. And to add insult to injury, the distraction of wondering whether everything is going according to plan rarely helps on the racecourse. But Michael Johnson and wife Joy Okazaki, who have critical roles in the J/24 North American Championship this coming weekend, were able to shake off any effects of a lot of short nights and long days of late and sail HOT PURSUIT to the win in the 21-boat J/24 class at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Seattle NOOD Regatta. Depth was a hallmark of this fleet, which featured top competitors from Japan, Canada, and up and down the West Coast of the United States. Ten boats won at least one of the 14 races; going into the final race the top three boats were within two points of each other.  The win netted Johnson the J/24 Northwest Regional Championship and a chance to compete against the top boats from the other eight NOOD regattas this coming November in the B.V.I. in identical charter boats provided by Sunsail.  Read more about Stuart Streuli's interview at SW.
  

Blustery Stone Cup Regatta

J/120 DESDEMONA and J/105 JAM SESSION Win

(San Francisco, CA)- Under grey skies and blustery winds the St. Francis Yacht Club's Stone Cup event was held this past weekend of May 15-16. The racing was tight in each of the J one-design divisions.  Typical San Francisco Bay weather greeted the Stone Cup sailors for two days of racing hosted by the St Francis Yacht Club. The Marine Layer that had been missing all year showed its presence over the weekend ensuring the fleets would have plenty of wind for racing. With a strong flood tide providing flat water, at least flat by San Francisco standards, and 15-25 mph of wind from the first gun, each day of racing would have been perfect it wasn't so darn cold!

The 16 boat J/105 class was missing local scratch boat GOOD TIMIN' but the competition was still fierce in this hotly contested one design class. Three different boats each won one of the four races held, but it was Adam Spiegel's JAM SESSION that came out on top. Bruce Stone's ARBITRAGE took second and Scooter Simmons on BLACKHAWK took third. Each of these two boats also won races individually with BLACKHAWK winning race 2 and 4 and ARBITRAGE winning race three. Simmons probably has a story to tell about his 10th place finish in race one. With a 10-1-3-1 scoring line something dramatic happened, gone shrimping?

In the 40ft J/120 class DESDEMONA owned by John Wimer took the victory while MR. MAGOO helmed by Steve Madeira from Northeast Harbor, ME took second. The podium was rounded out by DAYENU in third but only by the narrowest of margins did the Donald Payan boat miss second place. It went down to the last race in which MR MAGOO took the bullet and put two boats between himself and DAYENU (fourth) and even then it went to a tiebreaker with MR MAGOO taking second by virtue of that low score first place finish.  For more St. FYC Stone Cup sailing information     Photo credits- H20Shots.com/ Erik Simonson  

J/Fleet Enjoys NW NOOD Regatta

J/24 HOT PURSUIT Wins Overall

(Seattle, WA)- Sun, wind, one-design racing. Who could ask for anything more sailing in the Pacific Northwest? That would be awesome, but that's rare in Seattle!  Organizers of the third annual Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD regatta got more than what they wished for-- beautiful weather.  Regatta Chief George Brengle's praying were answered in spades (what vintage wine was offered to Neptune and the weather Gods?).   The J fleet certainly took advantage of this year's conditions, especially the J/24 fleet whom were sailing their Northwest Championships and were also preparing for their upcoming J/24 North Americans this coming weekend.

Winning the J/24 class was HOT PURSUIT, well sailed by skipper Mike Johnson from Corinthian YC in Seattle (see his story below in J/Community).  With the exception of a 15th and Z flag  penalty in races 3 and 5, Mike's team basically sailed an extremely consistent series finishing mostly in the top three, setting the tone and pace for this weekend's J/24 North American Championships.  As expected, Pat Toole from Santa Barbara YC sailed his THREE BIG DOGS into second place just ten points back.  Third was Team SELF ABUSE skippered by Harry Dursch from Corinthian YC in Seattle.  The big surprise for the regatta was the strength of the performance from Wakayama Sailing Club's Hidetuki Miyagawa, from Wakayama, Japan, sailing SIESTA to fourth place even after having to score two DNFs in races 1 and 6.  Had Hidetuki-san maintained his pace in these two races, his WSC team was easily on contention for a podium finish-- we wish him better luck in the J/24 NA's!  Rounding out the top five was another anticipated top finisher, TMC RACING skippered by Mike Whitfield from Berkeley YC on San Francisco Bay.

The J/105s saw a closely fought run for the gold between JADED and LAST TANGO withe outcome going up for grabs in the last race.  Nevertheless, Gerald Hirschler's JADED from Corinthian YC won by a slim one point margin over JP Petersen's LAST TANGO, also from CYC.  Lying third was Erik Kristen's JUBILEE from CYC, fourth was Robert Blaylock's USAWI from SBYC and fifth was Lorenzo Migliorini's ALLEGRO VIVACE from CYC.

It was only rockin' and rollin' in the J/109 class and after the dust cleared in the fourteenth (!!) race, it was Bob Arney's IT'S ONLY ROCK AND ROLL from CYC that won with thirty-two points, winning the last three races to seal the deal!  Second was David MacLean's ILLUSIONIST sailing from CYC and third was J-TRIPPER sailed by the Nordquists from Seattle YC.   Photo credits- Tim Wilkes Sailing Photography

For more Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD Regatta Sailing and Results info.
  

San Diego J/Fleet Having Fun!

Sailing Anarchy's Scot Tempesta continues his efforts to grow and "save sailing" in the SoCal 'hood.  Here's a quickie on what they've done with the local "paper" yacht club- Cortez Racing Association- to enjoy the gorgeous conditions often found off San Diego.  Says Scot, "We haven't done a local knowledge piece from here in Dago for a long time, and here's one about the Cortez Racing Association's Opening Day race. CRA is a 'paper club' that has been running fun, mostly bay races here and on ANARCHY, we have sailed a bunch of their races this (and last) year, because they, maybe more than any other SD club, have the fun factor nailed down.  This race was a 53 boat, 12 mile mostly light air bay/ocean pursuit start that was a kick because it had a little of everything long beats, long runs, actual need to navigate and the fun of passing boats all race long. (Is passing boats never not fun?).  As much as the multi-day, 5 or 7 race series are challenging, the CRA races are for us, just more fun and that's why we race sailboats, isn't it? It would be great to get more of the sporty-type boats out for their races - just six showed up for this one... In addition to their fun Beercan series starting May 26, there is the West Marine Challenged America - a great cause if there ever was one.  So this is the call out to get as many SD boats, sporties and otherwise, out for this event. No excuses. Sign up, be a part of a worthwhile event, and have some fun! Photo credits- Dennis St. Onge (Da-Woody) and story here.  

Gorgeous Sailing World Seattle NOOD Regatta!

J/24, J/105 & J/109 One-Designs Racing

Organizers of the third annual Seattle NOOD regatta are hoping this year's event differs from last year's in one key way - more wind. Last year's National Offshore One-Design Regatta (NOOD) in Seattle was hampered by light winds over three days of racing, prompting some races to be canceled. This year's  NOOD is scheduled for Friday through Sunday, May 14 to 16, on Shilshole Bay. "I'm praying for more wind than what we had last year", regatta chief George Brengle said on Monday. "I'm looking at the forecast and it looks like a carbon copy of last year's".

Northwest racers, familiar with the regions variable conditions, simply take it all in stride.  As many of them say, "if it ain't happenin' on the water, there's always the beer tent-- why do you think we have the world's best micro-breweries?!"  Enough said.  J/24s area gearing up for their North American Championships next week at Seattle's Corinthian YC.  A strong contingent of experienced J/24 sailors have assembled to sail their J/24 Western Regional Championship.  Amongst the teams sailing are Mike Whitfield on TMC RACING from San Francisco, CA, Scott Milne from Seattle, WA on TREMENDOUS SLOUCH, and Pat Toole on THREE BIG DOGS from Santa Barbara, CA.  It's already clear who'll win the Long-Distance Award, Hidetuki Miyagawa from the Wakayama Sailing Club in Wakayama, Japan-- they're taking this regatta seriously!  Other J One-Design classes have a good turnout, including seven J/105s and six J/109s.   For more Sperry Topsider Seattle NOOD Regatta info.  Photo credit- Tim Wilkes.  

Bermuda Race Week- High School J/24 Team

* Lance Fraser - Bermuda J/24 sailor, aspiring 16 year old racer still in high school, wrote an entertaining blog during Bermuda Race Week (note to Ken Read- he wants to race on PUMA!):

"We went into the week with a goal of top 3, but after the first day, we realized we could win the J/24 fleet.  Everything had fallen into place leading up to Race Week and we couldn’t wait to start sailing Sunday morning.

Thanks to RBYC, RHADC and BJCA our entry fee was covered as we are a group of students, all 16 years of age. Trevor Boyce (New Wave) lent us some sails and Jorge Chiapparro helped us get spoRHADiC race- ready.

Day one started with a bang. Erin (Tim Lynch) had an amazing first upwind leg and took a huge lead around the first mark. We passed them on the next upwind leg and continued to duke it out right until the finish with only a couple of feet between us, with Erin coming out on top. It was a tough loss for us.

The second race was also very close as we finished in second just ahead of Erin. We ended the day tied for 1st place with 4 points.

Monday was tougher and we ended the day with a 2nd, 3rd, and a 7th leaving us in second place. In the last race we had our only horrible start and could not recover. This is evidence of the top-rate competition we faced throughout the week; one mistake and you’re out of it. Our crew work and chemistry was great - when we were doing well; but when we got 7th there were a lot of unhappy people onboard, including myself.  It was a long sail back to the club.

One tends to forget about Trevor Boyce, Bermuda’s top J/24 sailor, when he’s not dominant. When I was asked how Trevor did on the second day, I responded, “not that good. He didn’t have a good day, again.’ Well, looking at the results, he got a 1st, 3rd, and 4th. I would happily have traded my results with his that day! And day three he returned with 3 bullets! He was unbeatable and I have to give him and his crew credit for working very hard and going incredibly fast in the heavier wind. We just couldn’t keep up. A 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, were good enough to keep us in the hunt going into the lay day.

On Wednesday we had to go to school and there were a lot of people rubbing it in our faces Tuesday night at the party.

Thursday we came back rested and ready to go. The first race we took 2nd to Trevor, which was not quite what we wanted. We were also protested by the Canadian boat. Thanks to the advice received from seasoned Bermudians in other fleets and the fact that we were right, we came out of the protest victorious and kept the 2nd. The second race of the day was the biggest eye sore of our entire week. We went around the first leeward mark in first, and the next mark in last! I had tried to cover the entire fleet and of course, it didn’t work. I got caught in the middle and watched everyone sail by me. I was not at all happy with myself when we finished in 7th and I had only myself to blame. We rebounded in the next race with a convincing bullet, our first of race week, which provided a big boost for us mentally. We had led four of the first five races at one point or another and until now had not yet finished first.

That put us tied for second, 3 points out of first. With Trevor 3 points ahead of us, and the wind blowing about 15 knots, it was not easy to come back. Unfortunately, Tim Lynch (Erin) was unable to skipper the final day and was replaced by Rickki Hornet. I knew I had to put a boat between us and Trevor in both of the last two races to win the regatta. In the first race I had Trevor beaten, but there was no other boat between us. I also couldn’t let Erin pass us.  I gambled and let Trevor go to the right, and myself to the ‘Lucky Left.’  Not so lucky this time.  Trevor passed us and we settled for a third in the race and second in the regatta.

Going into the final race, we had 1 point on Erin, and New Wave had deservedly won the regatta. We had a little fun on the downwind with Erin, securing 2nd place in the regatta, a finish with which we were extremely pleased.

There are so many people to thank for putting this regatta together. Jay Hooper and his team ran a fabulous regatta on the water. Of all the race committee’s I’ve seen locally and internationally, Jay runs the best; Race Week was no different.

In addition to those already mentioned, I wish to thank our coach Luis Chiapparro, who sadly is no longer on the island, for teaching us how to sail and race. He was the biggest and best role model for me, and there’s no way I would be where I am today without him.  Also, full credit is due my crew, James Anfossi, Jason and Jordan Saints and Catalina Sposato.

Whoever picked up our spinnaker pole out of the water in the last race, THANK YOU, too!"  Read more about Bermuda Race Week events.  

J/80 SW NOOD Champion- Terry Flynn Interview

* Terry Flynn- a past J/80 World Champion had a great time in the recent SW Annapolis NOOD Regatta, in particular since he had long-time Texas friend Mark Foster sailing with him (a former 470 Champion with Mark Ploch and J/24 Champion, too).  Sailing World's Mike Lovett interviewed Terry, read on below:

With a first-time crew, Terry Flynn won the J/80 class—and the overall prize—at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD.  As the J/80 freight train rolls northward on its USA Tour, bound for the World Championships in Newport, R.I., in October, the class just keeps picking up steam. The 36-boat fleet at the 2010 Sperry Top-Sider Annapolis NOOD was the largest of the regatta's 16 divisions, and, arguably, the most competitive.

Over the course of eight races, four boats posted first-place finishes; Houston native Terry Flynn had just one bullet in his scoreline, but his team sailed with enough consistency to win both the division and the overall prize, which includes an invitation to compete in the NOOD Championship in the B.V.I. in November.

The Annapolis NOOD was the first time Flynn had sailed with his crew of David Whelan, Mark Foster, and Charlie Snyder, but the Quantum sailmaker had no trouble getting everyone on the same page. "Too many times, when it's your first time sailing together as a crew, everybody's real quiet the first race of the regatta, and you do terrible," says Flynn. "We made an effort to say, 'You start giving input, and if we don't want to hear it, we'll tell you."

With Foster and Snyder feeding information to Whelan, the tactician, Flynn was able to concentrate on steering the boat through the light wind and mixed-up chop on Chesapeake Bay. "I didn't do anything but drive," he says. "I put my head down, concentrated on keeping the boat moving, and listened to what they wanted me to do. I very rarely got involved in the tactical end of things. I'm pretty good at listening, and they're pretty good a putting me where we need to be.

"It's important for everyone on board to give feedback," continues Flynn. "I've been on boats where the tactician doesn't really share the information, he just kind of tells the skipper when to tack. But I think it's important that the skipper know the thought process. That way, it's not like, 'Why are we doing this?'"

Refined communication, uncharacteristically good starts—"I historically have terrible starts," says Flynn—and close attention to changes in wind speed propelled Flynn's team to victory. And, apparently, word is spreading that the affable Texan is a fun guy with whom to sail. "I've already had a few people come up and tell me they want to go to the B.V.I. to crew with me," he says.

Between now and November, Flynn will be competing in the J/80 North American Championships, the aforementioned Worlds, and the J/22 North American Championship. So there's a good chance that, by the time he hops aboard that Sunsail 39 in Tortola, Flynn could have a few more feathers in his cap—and a few more eager crew members.   More SW NOOD Regatta coverage.  

J/24 Champion Ed Baird Skippering LUNA ROSSA

* Ed Baird - Back on the helm with LUNA ROSSA for AC34? Like the Ken Read's, Terry Hutchinson's, Chris Larson's, Dave Curtis', Maurizio Santa Cruz's of the world, winning the World Championship in a one-design class like the J/24 is terrific training for sailors wishing to succeed at world-class levels offshore and around the cans.  There is NO substitute for starting with world-class one-design dinghy sailing, then jumping into world-class one-design keelboat sailing to learn what it takes to prepare boats, fine-tune the sails, practice perfect boat-handling and motivate the crew to work as a cohesive team with the ultimate goal in mind of sailing to win.  Few practicioners know how to do it well consistently.  Ben Ainslie comes to mind as a good example of a next generation sailor that is learning the art and science of it quite well.  Amongst the "old guard", Ed Baird is certainly amongst the best.  Ed was at the helm when the Alinghi team won the 32nd America's Cup in 2007, which led to him being honored that year as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year. Last week it was announced that the Italian fashion house PRADA was returning to the America's Cup scene, where team owner Patrizio Bertelli - a three-time America's Cup campaigner - had reassembled the LUNA ROSSA team for the Louis Vuitton Trophy regatta in La Maddalena, Sardinia next month.  Read more about Ed's interview and current sailing plans on Scuttlebutt.  

Bermuda Race Week Blustery & Fun!

Snyder Dominates J/24s, Williams Repeats in J/105s

(April 25, 2010) - This year's Bermuda International Race Week was not without its dramas and extraordinary weather.  With enormous fronts blowing across from the North American continent, sweeping across the North Atlantic, it seems that Bermuda fortunately only gets the "tail feathers" of most of them and not the brunt of the huge Lows whistling across to their North.  Race Week this year had its fair share of light to moderate winds as well as partly cloudy, very blustery days blowing 20-30 knots plus.  In the heavier conditions, it's interesting to see how well IODs, J/24s, J/105s, Lasers and what not handle the conditions.  Some handle it better than others, some not so well.  Every try hoisting a spinnaker in 30 knots with an inexperienced crew?  Not recommended.

Enjoying, if not reveling, in the blustery conditions were the experienced crew aboard Allan Williams' J/105 NOT MINE, co-skippered with Glenn Astwood.  For the fourth consecutive year, Williams' NOT MINE won the J/105 One-Design class at Race Week.  However, for the first time Williams had a strong challenge from former Sunfish North American and World Champion Chuck Millican (back in the old days, remember?) sailing ELUSIVE into a tie-breaker with Williams' NOT MINE, but sadly losing on the tie-breaker to finish second. Jim MacDonald finished five points back from the leaders to finish third.

The J/24s had a very eventful regatta this year.  For starters, a bunch of "colonialists from America" showed up and stole the show.    Scott Snyder from Colorado was the only international winner in all five classes. He and his crew from Colorado and New York took first place in the J/24 Class to win the "Wetty Gripper Trophy".  Snyder got off to an amazing start with five firsts in the first five races. Then on Thursday he got a 2,4,3 score. He and his crew computed the possibilities of anyone beating them if they dropped two DNS 12 point scores, so they didn’t have to race on Friday to win first place. Snyder’s team had 14 points.  Trevor Boyce also had two 12-point scores from earlier races in which he retired after finishing. With his dropped scores he moved back into second place with 18 points. Peter Rich finished third one point back with 19 points.  The big event of the week was the death-roll, sinking (temporarily) of Tim Lynch's J/24 ERIN on the last leg of Race 5. ERIN was flying downwind under spinnaker in 30+ knots of wind on Bermuda’s Great Sound when she took a knockdown and stuck her mast in the water.  Within hours, ERIN was floating again, and like a "Phoenix from the ashes," was ready to race the next day, ultimately finishing sixth in the closely fought J/24 class!   For more sailing information, videos and photos of Bermuda Race Week.  

J/120 CC RIDER Wins SDYC YACHTING CUP

Nichols J/120 CC RIDER Wins! Big J's Sweep PHRF2!

(San Diego, CA- May 1-2) – Ninety-seven keelboats and over 700 sailors participated in San Diego Yacht Club's Yachting Cup this weekend. The J Fleet was well represented with 37 boats competing  (38% of the fleet)  spread across the one-design and PHRF classes.  The winner of the Yachting Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the most competitive fleet, went to Chuck Nichols and his J/120 team on CC RIDER. Said Nichols, "It was a difficult weekend because we rarely have a southerly on sunny days and we had it both days. The only way to win is with outstanding crew work and that’s what we have."

Racing in the J one-design fleets was so close that it was commonplace to have overlapped boats cross the finish line throughout the weekend in which sailors experienced the Catalina eddy. Cold air coming down from the north deflects north of LA and hooks back into the San Diego area as a southerly. It wasn't until well into Sunday’s racing that the wind started to shift right as a light haze burned off. Said Jim Dorsey of the J/105 WINGS, "It was a chamber of commerce weekend."

The big boats on the West Ocean Course off of Point Loma and the J/120's and J/105's competitors on the "Roads course" off of Coronado experienced an 10-12 knot SSW, a large swell, sunshine, temperatures in the low 60’s throughout the weekend. Even rail meat had an important job this weekend – spotting kelp.

J/80's and the smaller PHRF boats sailed in the flat waters of the South Bay. Said longtime J/80 fleet champion Curt Johnson, who steered his J/80 AVET to a very close regatta victory; "We had excellent conditions on the South Bay. Yesterday (Saturday) it was all left and today (Sunday) it kept going right. I like the waves outside, but my crew loves the flat water. We had really close racing among the top three boats," he emphasized, "within inches."

On the "Big Boat course", the big J's took a clean sweep of PHRF2.  Tom Holthus' J/145 BAD PAK continues on a roll, winning PHRF2 with a 2-2-1-1-2 record for 8 points over Fuller's J/125 RESOLUTE in second with 11 points and Mark Surber's DERIVATIVE in third with 14 points.

On the "Roads Course", Chuck Nichols' CC RIDER was low point in the 9-boat J/120 fleet on Saturday and Sunday. CC RIDER's victory in the most competitive fleet earned the team the 2010 Yachting Cup. John Snook's JIM and Peter Zarcades' MELTEMI were second and third overall. They were tied on points with 16.

The 15-boat J/105 fleet comprises the largest one-design fleet participating in Yachting Cup. Most of the fleet is from San Diego and they take no prisoners when they play. Three different boats won races during the regatta and Doug and Pam Werner's JAVELIN came out on top with 11 points. Everyone worked hard throughout the weekend and Hurlburt/Driscoll's BLOW BOAT moved into a solid second on Sunday. Rick Goebel's SANITY, Dennis and Sharon Case's WINGS and Gary Mozer's CURRENT OBSESSION2 finished 3rd, 4th and 5th with only four points separating them.

Over on the South Bay Course were the J/80s.  Curt Johnson's AVET won with a strong, consistent 1-2-2-1-1 record for 7 points.  Said J-World's Jeff Brown, whose team finished second overall, "Sailing on the flat water in the South Bay is fantastic. We have three J-World boats here and it is a lot of fun. We had very competitive sailing with second and third place finishes within boat lengths of one another." Bob Hayward and his crew on BLUE JAY were third in the regatta.

Finally, in the PHRF 4 division, Larry Leveille's J/29 Rush Street was third, with the last race determining their chances for a silver on the podium.  Another J/29, Greg Raines' MAC 5 finished fifth.   For more San Diego Yachting Cup sailing information  

Record J Fleet @ SW NOOD Annapolis

Flynn's J/80 Overall NOOD Winner!

(Annapolis, MD)-   The enormous 120+ boat J Fleet (nearly 62% of the entire NOOD fleet) were met with better than expected weather conditions, soaking in the sunny skies and gentle warm breezes from the southerly quadrant for most of the weekend and even the partly cloudy, extremely shifty winds on Sunday did little to diminish sailors enthusiasm for this remarkably well-run event.

The J/22s saw Greg Fisher's WHAT KINDA GONE establish an early lead on the first day and sailed a solid, consistent series with scores of 2-1-1-9-4-5-2-5 for 29 points.  Jeff Todd racing HOT TODDY was also in the hunt on the first day just behind Greg Fisher and fired off two firsts in the last two races to finish  second just four points back with a 8-7-2-4-5-4-1-1 score for 32 points.  While these two Annapolis teams showed their tail feathers to the fleet, the outsiders led by Travis Odenbach from Rochester, NY sailing INSTIGATOR fought hard over the three days to climb into contention to finish third with a 1-8-5-16-2-2-3-6 for 43 points, beating David Kerr racing SHARK SANDWICH on a tie-breaker.

Other than two tactical memory lapses in races 2 and 7 (yes, does happen when we all get older), Tony Parker's venerable J/24 BANGOR PACKET "schooled the kids" in the J/24 class.  Tony's 2-10-1-2-1-1-9-3 for 29 points were a strong performance from this experienced team, leading second place finisher Paul Van Ravenswaay on MILLENIUM FALCON by eight points.  Paul's 1-14-2-1-3-3-8-5 record put him in a tie for second with Tim Healy's 7-5-7-6-2-7-2-1 record.  Third on the tie-breaker was Tim Healy from SailNewport, fourth was Club Nautico de Olives' Ken Johnson from Buenos Aires, Argentina on TEAM OJOTA and fifth was Pat Fitzgerald on RUSH HOUR.

With thirty-six boats, the J/80 was not only the largest, but the most competitive class at this year's SW NOOD Annapolis- the fourth stop of the J/80 USA Tour leading to the J/80 Worlds in Newport.  There were significant swings in performance for all the leading teams in the top ten.  Fairing better than most was past World Champion Terry Flynn from Ft Worth Boat Club winning with a 9-3-3-2-1-6-6-2 record for 32 points to overcome J/80 class newcomer Brian Keane (past J/105 North American and Key West Champion).  Brian's SAVASANA sailed a 3-13-1-7-13-1-1-10 record to hang in for second with 49 points.  Third was past J/80 champion Jay Lutz and Gary Kamins sailing for California YC, overcoming a very slow start to finish with a flourish, garnering a 14-19-4-1-2-5-3-9 record for 57 points.  Fourth was Jason Balich/ Matt Allen from Jubilee YC, another Marion/Buzzards Bay sailor like Brian Keane and fifth was Henry Brauer from New York YC.  For their performance in this large, closely fought J/80 class, Terry Flynn also received the Best Overall Performance for the NOOD, qualifying him for the SW NOOD Nationals in the British Virgin Islands!

The J/30s had a great regatta with many closely contested finishes with boats overlapped and finishing within seconds of each other.  After the smoke cleared, Bob Rutsch/ Mike Costello sailed a remarkable series after their modest first day performance to post a 4-1-2-5-1-1-1-1 record for 16 points!  Not to be outdone, Lawrence Christy posted a 1-3-4-3-2-2-2-3 series to finish just four points off the pace.  Ron Anderson from AYC finished third, fourth was National YC's George Watson and fifth was Glenmar Sailing Association's Phil Heldrich.

The J/35s also had a fun and incredibly competitive series amongst the top four boats with a tie-breaker to end all tie-breakers determined in the eighth and final race!  Bill Wildner's MR BILLS WILD RIDE from the Naval Academy Sailing Squadron took a 1-1-6-1-1-1-2-1 record to dominate the J/35 class, winning by 18 points! But, the real drama was taking place just behind them.  Chuck Kohlerman sailed MEDICINE MAN to a strong finish after a very slow start on Friday to win a THREE-WAY tie-breaker for second!  MEDICINE MAN's record of 8-2-4-9-2-4-1-2 was just enough to beat Jim Sagerholm and Jerry Christofel's AUNT JEAN (5-6-1-4-7-3-3-3 scores) and Barry Moss's BAD COMPANY (3-5-9-2-3-2-4-4 scores) to finish second, third and fourth, respectively!  After starting off the regatta strong on the first day, Maury Niebur on BUMP IN THE NIGHT completed the series in fifth.

The J/105s saw local hotshot Peter McChesney from Annapolis YC lead the series starting the first day and never relinquish his lead, sailing to an unassailable 1-1-5-1-3-5-2-3 record for 21 points over Royal Canadian YC member Jim Rathbun sailing HEY JUDE (Jim finished 2nd in the 2009 J/105 North Americans at American YC).  Jim's tally (3-2-16-3-12-4-1-1) with two firsts in the last two races were not enough to overcome a forgettable third race and a 40% penalty in the fifth race to challenge Peter's fast team for the series lead.  Third is Jim Coningsberg from AYC, fourth Arthur Libby from AYC and fifth Will Crump from NYYC.

The first stop on the J/109 East Coast Regatta Series Trophy (also doubling as the Mid-Atlantic Coast Championships) saw the two class leaders dueling for the top of the leader-board throughout the series.  A potent combination of good speed, local knowledge plus a bit of luck enabled Bill Sweetser's RUSH, the local Annapolis YC boat, to sail to an incredibly consistent 1-1-2-1-1-3-1-3 score for thirteen points.  Second was Rick Lyall's Block Island-winning STORM from Cedar Point YC sailing to a 4-4-1-3-2-2-2-2 record for twenty points.  Just behind this duel of the class titans were Steve McManus sailing his SAYKADOO very well to third place, just nipping Craig Wright's AFTER THOUGHT in fourth.  Fifth was Tony Syme's LOGOS.   More NOOD sailing news at Sailing World's site.   Photo credits- Tim Wilkes