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July 2010 - Learn to Sail/Race seminar, July 24

We had the second event in our Learn to Sail/Race seminar on Saturday. It was another successful event with fantastic weather for sailing. It may have been sweltering on the beach but it was nice on the water. Once again, we covered a few rigging tips, followed by a short chalk talk session, and then some on water drills. This weekend we concentrated on learning how to back up your boat which is an important skill to learn to help you get going when you blow the tack. Drills were also run to help with tacking and jibing and we actually managed two short races that were won by the team of Tom Helstern and Phil Danbe. I want to thank, my expert volunteers who helped out this time: Phil Danbe, John Lamont and Commodore Vic. If you missed this one, we have scheduled another seminar for Aug 21st. So mark that on your calendar and come on down. If you are still not sure about attending, here is a testimonial from one of the participants. "I've been a recreational sailor and club member for over 20 years. Still, I feel that I learned more in 3-4 hours Saturday as I have in the last 3-4 years. I would highly recommend the clinic to anyone interested in improving their skill. Thanks again." An excellent free learning resource can be found on the Hobie Class Association website. Hobie Class Assn website It is called Hobie University and can be found under ther training tab. It is a downloadable pdf file. There are also some other good resources available there.

And then the Rain came, Fleet Race #7
Well, we certainly had some excitement at fleet race #7 but it took a few hours of light wind sailing to give way to a fast moving rain squall for the action to get started. After completing the first race in just seconds before the time limit of 1 hour was reached, the rain began to fall. As the boats began reaching to the beach, the rain became heavy and some reported being pelted with hail. Bob and Joe flipped two times and a Prindle 16 with a skipper who shall remain nameless capsized and drifted into the old beach. Gary and Wayne (and Don wading in from the beach) carried out the rescue mission and ended up having to trailer his boat back from the old beach when his rudder system blew up. The GoPro camera caught Bob and Joe'"'s capsize on video and is posted on the SHBCC facebook for all to see. Also, you can see the light air start and see some bumper boat action as Matt bumps Bob and Mark. Unfortunately, this race does not count because we need to get two races in for it to count. Next race is on a Saturday, not Sunday (8/7). Please make note of this. Bernie and Mb are on Race Committee.

Hobie Families Battle at the Junior Olympic Festival, July 9-11
Nine youth teams competed on Hobie 16's this weekend at the Junior Olympic festival hosted by the Rock Hall Yacht Club in Maryland. This was the first time that Catamarans were invited to a Junior Olympic (JO's) festival. US Sailing holds these regional events every year throughout the country and anyone involved in youth sailing in Opti's, Lasers, or 420's knows what they are all about. There were 4 courses spread out all over the Chester River and on Sunday, we had the special treat of seeing the international log canoes racing. If you have never seen them in action, I recommend you get down to the Chesapeake and watch them sail. The JO's are a big event in the dinghy and yacht club scene. There were vendors set-up selling food and sailing gear and a giant moon bounce thing set-up for the smaller kids as well as a dunk tank. It was so hot that there was a line to sit on the dunk tank seat rather than to throw the balls. John Casey was there showing off the new Viper Club . It is the same as the Viper F16 with a smaller sail. Some of the kids took it for a spin on Friday and Saturday. There was also a parade of yacht clubs, where the Hobie youth marched together under the Hobie Class flag, but basically the kids came from SHBCC, Fleet 54 in Maryland, Fleet 204 in Syracuse, Fleet 443 in Wildwood and Sail Sand Point in Seattle WA. All of the teams were from long-time Hobie families. For the closing ceremonies, Gary Jobson was the guest speaker and handed out the trophies.

As for the racing, it was extremely close racing that occurred in light and shifty conditions that included several rain squalls on Saturday. Despite the rain, racing went on and it all came down to the last race on Sunday. After 6 races Eric Raybon, sailing with Nikki Laporta was tied with his brother, Matt and his crew Katie Appel from Syracuse with Eric holding the tie breaker. Trey James and Jamie Flanigan were only 1 and 2 points behind respectively. Eric, Matt and Dan Tarleton from Seattle led into the first gate rounding despite sailing off into a hole on the left side of the course on the first leg. After that experience they were not going back that way the second time, so they headed off to the right. . Trey and Jamie went opposite (to the left) and a 60 degree left shift hit the course and Trey, Jamie, Ryan Flanigan and Dan Rodrigues moved in front of the 3 lead boats who went right. After that, small changes occurred at the front but for the most part the race was over right there. The race ended with Ryan Flanigan edging out his older brother at the finish. This ended up costing Jamie the overall first place in the regatta. The regatta ended in a 3 way tie for first between Eric, Ryan and Trey. Matt would have been in the tie also but had to retire after finishing for hitting a mark in the last race. It was captured on video by John Casey who was in the water at the weather mark. Trey James and his crew Erika Korzienewski won the tie breaker, Eric and Nikki were second, Jamie Flanigan and Michael Gorman were third and Matt and Katie finished 4th.

Pictures are posted on the facebook page and the results are here: JO Results

Statue of Liberty Race: Mark Moddermann and Sandra Tartaglino sweep
As always with the Statue we spend the week before it worrying about the weather - and the forecast this year wasn't good - temperatures hovering in the 90s and no wind. Saturday the 3rd was brutally hot and windless at the beach but we still had a pretty darn good pre-event party - this year we had a beach BBQ (thanks for all your work Mark and team) and then a live rock band with dancing on the sand.

Fortunately on Sunday there was a breeze - and that breeze hovered around 10 knots all day - perfect weather to go sailing. We ended up with 45 boats on the starting line with Hobie 16 and F18 as our dominant fleets. The first leg got us all out of Sandy Hook Bay in a pack but then the bigger boats were able to use their spinnakers and separate from the slower boats. My sister and I (kathy K,) were a little hesitant in putting up our spinnaker since we had never sailed with it before and we both had extremely limited spinnaker experience but once it was up and our heart rates got back to normal it was fun (unless we got close to another boat - then it got scary again). As per instructions from the hubby we spent our time with the spinnaker up singing a Neil Sedaka tune (you get extra credit if you can figure out which one). We do plan to work on our communication a bit so that when I am travelling out Mb doesn't sheet in the spinnaker and scare the living daylights out of me. ..

As usual, the Verrazano bridge did its fair share of damage to the fleet - you really need to experience the swirling winds there in order to believe how tough it is. One boat (a Hobie 21) flipped there - 3 of our chase boats hove to and got him righted but by then he was too tired to get back on the boat. So Bernie Villa (who at 74 had decided he was too old to sail this distance event) jumped in the water - swam to the 21 and sailed it home all by himself - his only complaint was that he couldn't find any beer onboard for the trip home.

Anyway - as the boats hit the beach we counted one totally destroyed main sail and 3 spinnakers that needed replacement - but it seemed as if everyone had fun. Next year is the 25th running of this event as a race (prior to that it was a fun sail) - come join in the fun. ..

Several Perpetual trophies are awarded at this race. Mark Moddermann and Sandra Tartaglino sailing a Hobie 16 took home both the Manhattan Cup for the best portsmouth corrected time and also the Wind Water and Wheels trophy for the winner of the largest class. Nine Hobie 16 were entered and Mark and Sandra finished the race in 4 hours 1 min and 44 sec. The winner of the Worrell Cup for Line Honors went to Chris Titcomb and Sam Adelman sailing an F18 and completed the course in 3 hours 28 min and 15 seconds. The Jackson Cup which goes to the first single-handed boat was awarded to Phil Danbe sailing a Hobie 17 with a spinnaker. Mark and Sandra also garnered the Founders Trophy and the North Jersey Yacht Racing Association (NJYRA) trophy that goes to the first place finisher from the host club, the Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club. Finally, the winner of the Little Miss Liberty Trophy awarded to the team that races to the Verrazano Narrows bridge and back went to Kathy Kulkoski and MB Villa on the Inter 17.

Of course, we would like to thank all of those who helped make this event a big success once again. The race ran very smoothly this year thanks to Mother Nature and our volunteers. A big thanks to the Chase boat owners, Chuck, Bernie K, Mike, and Gary Dean (chase and photos). A big thanks to Vic, Greg, Kathy, MB, Pegi, Dan, Bob P. , Al, Judy, Rory, Peter S, Bernie V. , Peter W (our aerial photographer) Laurent Apollon (on water photographer)and the tugboat operator who slowed down to allow the 21 to be righted.


Learn to Sail and Learn to Race seminar
On Sunday June 6th, we had a great turnout for the learn to sail seminar. Despite the looming thunderstorms and tornado watch, we managed to get out on the water for some exciting and valuable on water instruction. It was pretty gusty, so the main focus of the instruction was how to handle your boat in very windy conditions. We covered some basic topics like what are the points of sail and how to sail upwind and down, but the major emphasis was on important heavy air skills. We covered topics such as how to right your boat, how to slow down and control your jibes and backing up to get out of irons or help you tack. Gary and Curtis Butler showed us all how to right their boat. We were able to use 3 Hobie Waves and two Hobie 16's for the on water instruction and everyone went home a winner with a fleet race trophy. Don't worry if you missed this one. We plan to run a couple more this summer and hope to build on this very successful event. Thanks to all who participated to those guest experts who helped out. Greg