The 2014, 49er US Nationals concluded a few days ago. We had a good showing from several sailors that have trained out of RYC and 2 of our coaches. Zach Brown who has been working with a couple of our 420 kids and Harry Schmidt one of our top summer instructors. Also crewing with a great showing a long time junior/collegiate sailor out of RYC David L.
Check out their results at this link:
http://www.yachtscoring.com/event_results_cumulative.cfm?eID=1057
Robbie sent this update below at the end of the 29er North Americans. Now the RYC teams are battling the qualifying series of the World Championships.
Two teams from RYC (Neil Marcellini/Robbie Englehart and Mike Pacholski/Haydon Stapleton) participated in the 29er North Americans at Portsmouth Olympic Harbor, run by Kingston Yacht Club. So far this venue has proven to be very tricky.
Day-1, The first day of Qualifying was light breeze with slight shifts and occasional puffs to 10 towards the end of the day. We started off in yellow fleet with a total of 34 boats. Fighting for clear air was the name of the game for the day, as well as the entire regatta. The races were twice around with gates above the start line. The first race, we rounded the top in the mid twenties and followed the fleet around the entire course for a 17th. The second and third race, we decided to go off on our own and find clear air. We rounded the top mark, again, in the mid twenties but jibe set for clear air. We rounded the bottom mark in 12th and held that position for the next upwind and weather mark rounding. On the downwind we picked up two more boats for 10th place that race. The final race of the day, we kept to that same strategy but rounded the top mark in the mid teens and the leeward mark in 6th. We held that position for the whole race and ended 17th overall that day.
The second day of qualifying was tougher. The fleets had been reshuffled and the boats that did well the previous day were put in our fleet, which was yellow. This day had gone much like the previous, same light breeze and same strategy for racing. We kept the jibe sets around the weather mark each race which still worked only not as many place gains. We ended the day with a 17, 14 and a 16 in our fleet which put us 24th overall and qualified us for Gold Fleet.
The third day of racing and first day of medal racing was really tough and we started with 24 points. With winds barely in the margin for racing at 5-7 knots, made it really hard to race for us. We are a light team, but all the teams in front of us were either lighter, or had more practice in light air than we have. The first three races, we had the wind out of the south at 5-7 with occasional rain squalls and had 18, 19, 21 as our results. As we were waiting for our 4th race and the silver fleet were doing their first, the wind went from 170 degrees at 5-7 knots to 340 degrees at 9-13 with puffs to 17. This made Neil and I very happy as we had been praying for wind all day. Our 4th race had a disaster of a start but we tacked out behind the fleet for clear air. We soon tacked back and went to the left side of the course where we were lifted and had more consistent breeze. We tacked back to go to the weather mark where we were lifted again and rounded the top in 2nd place. Unfortunately we picked the wrong side downwind and rounded the bottom in 10th. By the time we had rounded the top and gone back downwind to the finish we were in 7th which made us very happy and put us 23rd overall.
The final day of racing was less than impressive. We had 2-13 knots of wind and 70 degree shifts. It was anyones race. We had the only race that was run that day and got very lucky to even finish. Some teams were still on their third leg as we finished in 11th.
North Americans was a great event and we are pleased with resule: Marcellini/Englehart 22nd in Gold Fleet, Pacholski/Stapleton 7th in SilverFleet. We are definitely going to do this again next year.
Right now the 29er Wolrds are underway and the teams are in their qualifying rounds. Sounds like the wind conditions have been everything from light and shifty to the normal Kingston thermal breeze. A link to the results are below.
http://www.29erworlds.org/index.php/results/
Calling out to all junior sailors at RYC. Our next event is coming up quickly. If you are interested please let me know so we can work out boats and boat transportation.
BAYS #3, Svendsen’s Summer Splash
Encinal Yacht Club, July 19-20, 2014
2 ELIGIBILITY
2.1 The regatta is open to boats of the C420, CFJ (non-spinnaker), Laser Standard, Laser Radial, 29er and
Optimist (including Green fleet) classes whose crews have not yet reached their 19th birthday. The age
rules of the Optimist Class will still apply.
2.2 Fleets must have 5 boats registered by Wednesday, July 16, 2014 to qualify for a class start. Laser fleets
may be combined depending on number of entrants.
2.3 In order to compete for the BAYS Summer Series Championship, sailors must be: (a) 18 or under (19th
birthday must fall after the final BAYS series regatta of the year), except where individual class rules
dictate specific age eligibility, and (b) a resident of Northern California, or a regular participant in a
Northern California Yacht Club or Youth Sailing Program.
3 REGISTRATION & ENTRY
3.1 For C420, CFJ and 29er classes- $80 per boat; For Laser, Radial, 4.7 and Optimist Classes – $40
3.2 Entry fee provides prizes, a t-shirt, lunch both days, and Saturday night dinner. Extra lunches and
dinners will be available for purchase upon registration.
3.3 Eligible competitors may register by filling out the on-line registration form on the Encinal Yacht Club
Junior Page: http://www.encinal.org All entries must be received by Wednesday, July 16, otherwise, a $5
late fee per competitor will be charged.
5 SCHEDULE (all times approximate and subject to change)
Saturday, July 19, 2014 Sunday, July 20, 2014
10am – 12pm Registration /Rigging / Launch 10am-12pm Rigging / Launch
12pm Competitors Meeting (Mandatory) 12pm Competitors Meeting
12:15 pm Lunch @ EYC 12:15 pm Lunch @ EYC
1pm Racing Begins 1pm Racing Begins
~ 6pm BBQ & Pool Party 4:30pm No Start after this time
Great News!!!
Michael Marlett was asked to represent RYC at the CHISPA event at Encinal YC this past weekend and he placed 1st!!! Below are a couple words from him and a couple of photos from long distance.
Thanks so much for choosing me to do the CHISPA, and supporting me.
I had a great time, and did well which is even better.
The racing was really close between me and another laser from Washington lake yacht club.
I won the first two races and he won the next two races so it came down to the last race, in which I was barely able to beat him. So it was a lot of fun.
Regards
Michael Marlett
We arrived on Tuesday night and on Wednesday had a great day of practice to warm up for the clinic the next day. It was slightly misty most days with high cloud cover and unusually light wind for the Gorge. Most people arrived on Wednesday, and we had enough time to go out for a evening sail as the sun was setting. The wind was around 15kts making for an easy transition into the often difficult Gorge conditions. Thursday and Friday had similar wind, but it really started to pick up on Friday afternoon. The clinic focused a lot on boat settings as well as how we moved through the boat during maneuvers. Saturday was the first day of the regatta and it started off with very light wind. It was very tactical racing however in the afternoon the wind increased significantly and racing became more chaotic. At the end of the day we completed 7 races, however our (Neil Marcellini and Robbie Englehart) vang was constantly failing and Mike Pacholski and Haydon Stapleton’s boat developed a crippling crack. The final day of racing had similar breeze but slightly calmer. We quickly completed 5 races for a total of 12 in the regatta. Haydon and Mike did a great job but had many severe boat problems and finished in 7th. We had a very lucky and consistent regatta and finished in 4th. Overall it was a great experience and challenging but fun racing. Next we are headed for the 29er North Americans and Worlds in Kingston Ontario.
RYC Junior Program 