©Copyright Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club (Fleet250)
Webmaster, John Lamont
Surf and Offshore in Point Pleasant, your local Hobie dealer is running a spring boat special and a gift certificate giveaway. To enter the raffle for the gift certificates, you need to send them your contact info. See the details below. The offer expires this weekend.
Greg
This past Saturday Robert Charles and I attended the Around Shelter Island Race hosted by Southhold Yacht Club. Incidentally they also hosted their 40th annual \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Worlds Longest Sunfish Race\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" the same day. We started the affair on Friday afternoon with a missing spinnaker sheet. Quickly we located a marine store called Preston's in Greenport harbor that could help us with our missing line. We landed on the dock with full sail and picked up what we needed, in the hustle my waterproof cell went to the bottom of the harbor. Never fear, I'll be featured in a Long Island boating publication retrieving the phone with scuba mask, and it still works! We left Preston's in style... With a shove off by Robert, I steered around the transom of a 30 something foot sloop missing it by inches. Robert began to run down the dock and as I swerved back in in front of the sloop leaped six feet or so off the end of the pier landed on-board and we sailed away laughing. Needless to say we prepared well for the race the night before, not rigging the spinnaker but hydrating ourselves at Sunset Beach.... a scene that can not be described with words. The next morning we awoke to a dead calm and a skippers meeting in 2 and half hours. After mulling it over we decided to get over to Southold and at least be ready to race if we felt like it. The boat couldn't sail without wind though so we flagged down a Hinckley picnic boat that reluctantly but gracefully pulled us to our destination, apparently they were sailors and appreciated our situation. We made the skipper's meeting and quickly rigged the spin sheet with moments to spare. The downwind start quickly revealed that in our haste we had rigged it wrong.??!. I climbed out on the bow and with only one 'fall off the boat incident' got it working properly. I now can appreciate the difference that a midpole would make in such a dilemma. We ended up finishing Third overall and I'm pretty sure the same with corrected time, but missed the finish which was not well marked or even 'there' as far as I could tell. I'm not sore or anything, I just don't know how it happened. Many other racers suffered the same fate. Unfortunately we had to head back to Shelter Island before the results were in, so we missed our opportunity to protest. A great experience overall! Southold Yacht club had food and drinks and smiling faces. I'd encourage our members to attend this race in the future. The destination is well worth it!
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.
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.
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
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
North Sails Seminar – March 16, 2010
Do you think the North sails used by Alinghi in the latest Americas Cup race were legal? Well, we can’t tell you because you had to be there last night to find out. Henry Bossett and Ron LaNave hosted about 20 club members at their loft in Point Pleasant. Those who made the trek were treated to an hour and a half tour/seminar. Ron and Henry talked about how sails are designed and fabricated both at their place and at the huge 3DL factory in Nevada. We saw a couple of short videos, one of which you can find here: video on 3DL They were also recently featured on the Discovery channel show, How it’s made.
Are you thinking of getting into A-Cats or a new main for your old cat? Henry is currently working on a super cool sail for one of the top A-cat sailors using their newest technology called 3DI. The new process produces a sail that is almost as smooth as a sheet of paper but way stronger. Ron also gave us some tips on how to temporarily repair some minor rips and tears. His biggest suggestion was not to use Duct tape if all possible but to use a Dacron fabric with a sticky back. For example, you can find material like this at www.sailrite.com. And then, of course, bring it in to the experts for a more permanent repair. Just remember to leave your battens at home. The seminar was followed by a post seminar debriefing at Harpoon Willy’s on the Manasquan River where good fun was had by all.
Pictures to be posted on the faceebook site soon.
Race Meeting, March 11, 2010
OK, we changed all the fleet racing rules last night. No, just kidding. First, the Keyport Yacht club is a great place to hold meetings and the folks at KYC are happy to have us. A special thanks to Noel Biller for hosting us.
We had a lightly attended race meeting last night at the Keyport yacht club where we went over the upcoming race schedule and mostly talked about ways to improve the racing program particularly aimed at encouraging participation from new sailors. With that in mind, we plan to hold two Novice Race days where members can come out and race in a non-intimidating environment. I encourage anyone who is interested in racing to come out to one or both of those events and give it a try. You can choose to either team up with an experienced racer as their crew or their driver and get a first hand experience on the water. You can also choose to sail your own boat or just hop on the boat of one our experienced racers. The “on the water” days will be preceeded by a “Learn to Race” seminar held at the clubhouse during the week. Here are the dates to remember:
Please Contact Greg Raybon at graybon@verizon.net if you are interested in participating in any of these events. We also will need plenty of help from the experienced racers.
I am looking forward to another great racing season. In addition to the always great giveaways that you get just for participating, (winning is not necessary), we have a couple of ideas that might spice up the racing. First we are going to have a waterproof video camera that will rotate from boat to boat each race. Hopefully we will be able to have post-race video available for everyone’s entertainment. The audio may require “bleeping” for the general public. Also, we are going to try and use multiple GPS units to follow the tracks of some of the boats while they race. I know, these are big ideas that require time after racing in addition to doing scoring, and cleaning up, but let’s see what we can do. Obviously the more people who can pitch in, the easier it will get.
The biggest change from last year is that we are going to move the starting time for the races held in the warmer months. So the skippers meeting for the first two and last two races will be at 11:00 AM with races starting at 12:00. The rest of the time, excluding the statue race and the one Saturday race the skippers meeting will be at 12:00 and start at 1:00. This change is being implemented in order to try and take advantage of the prevailing summer seabreeze that develops later in the day.
Time to Sign up for race committee. The first two races are covered, but let me now which race you want to sign up for. I will give priority based on the order of finish in last years race series if there are any conflicts.
Rules Seminar at AHYC -- March 3rd:,
The Atlantic Highlands yacht club held a racing rules seminar featuring rules expert Butch Ulmer from UK sails. Even with last minute notification, 4 fleet members were able to attend. The seminar was taught by having us first take a quiz on some basic and not so basic rule situations. Then we went over each question and graded our tests. Butch said that the average score is in the 55% range and I am proud to say that our four, Rory, Peter, Dave H and myself scored over the average and not only that Peter and I were tied for the highest score in our group. Great job guys.
NJYRA meeting
I attended the recent NJYRA (North Jersey Yacht racing Association) and we will be hosting both the Hobie 16 and Portsmouth Catamaran NJYRA championships this year. The points regatta will serve as the championship event for the Hobie 16 and the Statue Race will serve for the Portsmouth Handicap winner. The championship is among the sailors who belong to clubs that are members of NJYRA. For catamarans this typically includes Spray Beach Yacht Club and Shore Acres yacht club. In general the race ends up being a race among our club members since most people from the other clubs do not compete. In a new wrinkle this year, we should have the trophy in hand to award at the respective events. The winners are also invited to a reception after the season is over which includes a guest speaker to be determined.
| Race | Summary Results | Corrected Results | Elapsed Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summary Buoys | 1996 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 1997 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 1998 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 1999 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2000 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2003 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2004 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2005 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2007 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2008 | - | - |
| Summary Buoys | 2009 | - | - |
| Statue | - | 2010 | 2010 |
| Fleet 9 | 2010 | - | - |