Saturday, October 30, 2010

Keeping it Fun!

FUN DAY!

So while Jesse was working hard coaching St Francis Yacht Club's Opti Race Team, I decided to go for a sail with one of my best buds, Davo Siegal. We went to Tabor and Tufts together and have done tons of sailing together, but never in the same boat. It was Dave's first time in a 49er and it was my first time sailing the 49er with someone other than Jess. So a day of firsts for sure and I was a little worried about how we and the boat would hold up, especially given the stormy, SF afternoon which created variable wind around the bay. I mean Davo's no slouch in a boat, being a two-time All-American and all, but I remember Jess and I's first day in a 49er and there's plenty of scar tissue around from the amount of flailing and swimming involved. I can remember that day so clearly, we were so clueless, we were lucky we didn't break anything major or hurt ourselves. What Dave and I concluded was that it really helps to have someone who has an idea in the boat.

You can evaluate two photos below, one from Jess and I's first day and then one from today with Davo. Pretty funny. I was joking that Dave was insulting the 49er by not capsizing during his first session. He was focused the entire session and was taking my comment to heart that "Its full on from the moment the boat leaves the dolly to the time it gets back on the dolly." He also got lucky that the variable breeze was light in the beginning, while he was getting a feel for it and then it built for the end. Dave's good luck I swear...

Jesse and Zander's first day...December 2008

hmmm...where's Jesse?

Davo and Zander's first day...Nov 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010

Photos from Saturday's racing

Photos from St. Francis YC Fall Dinghy - Saturday


Cruising Downwind across the finish line (altered because out of focus)


Powered Up at the Finish


Close Up across the line


Off the line and staying warm in the rain.

more photos can be found by the same photographer at:
http://ultimate-yachtshots.smugmug.com/ST-FRANCIS-YACHT-CLUB-REGATTAS/fall-dinghy-olympic-class/14331603_ceiPB#1060957013_JEA3B

Sunday, October 24, 2010

No racing today

We did not race on the final day of the Fall Dinghy as the weather did not quite cooperate with blistering rain and a howling 20-40knots. So we ended up 3rd in the event, and feeling optimistic about how things are going right now! This past month of training has certainly been beneficial, and are looking forward to finishing off our training in the Bay area with a good week of training with an additional team showing up(mexicans).

Saturday, October 23, 2010

1st Bullet!

We won the last race today in the Fall Dinghy at St. Francis YC in a stormy south wind off the city! It could have come in more glorious circumstances, but at least we got it over with! We were winning the race off the line and extended from there. It was nice to be able to race and have good speed. Our windward mark results for today were 2, 2, 1, so nice 1st beats, we just need to hold on better. We are tied for 3rd at the moment out of the this small 7 boat fleet. Stay tuned for photos and results tomorrow. follow the racing at: http://www.regattanetwork.com/clubmgmt/applet_regatta_results.php?regatta_id=3347

-Zander

Friday, October 22, 2010

Santa Cruz Video

Here is a little clip from sailing in the big breeze and waves in Santa Cruz...a couple bear-aways, couple of average gybes, one wrapped kite and Erik and Trevor's epic reverse pitch pole! Looks way more tame on video than it really was. The windiest day went undocumented. At least we got something on video to bring it to life on the computer.
-Zander

Sunday, October 17, 2010

SF Training update




Well this coming week we will be moving base camp across the bay to the St. Francis Yacht Club, as we prep for the St. Francis Fall Dinghy regatta next weekend. It should be a relatively informal regatta (only 5-6 boats), but it will be nice to get back into some real racing and put up our nice sails. Also sailing at the city front increases our odds for good breeze this late in the sea breeze season. It has been great to dedicate all this time to training and being able to focus on a few things. Lately we have been working on acceleration coordination, gybing in big chop, tacking in big chop and managing the spinnaker efficiently at mark roundings. Our main trim is improving upwind and we are starting to hike harder (get lower and straighter) off the wire.

With our training partners, Alex and Val we have done a ton of small course racing and after us crews get knackered from the high intensity cardio work out, we work our way upwind, tacking and crossing intermittently and then bomb downwind trying to land all of our gybes. We have noticed a large difference between the 10yr old boat and the new boat, it is way stiffer and everything is more difficult on the older boat because it is all moving a little. We call it 'Nike Air Cushioning' out on the old wings...

Our sailing on the bay to date has been productive, but has taken a toll on our gear. The short, current (ebb) induced shop is tough to sail in and put lots of pressure on the boat. Since we have been here, we have broken a tiller, ripped the mainsail clew, ripped the bolt rope on the mainsail, broken down the centerboard lining and cracked the centerboard on the trailing edge. The lessons we are learning on boatwork (working with carbon fiber, west system, 5200, etc) are invaluable and the knowledge gained will help keep our campaign as self-sufficient as possible. We are happy to say that the boat is now watertight, after leaking gallons in Santa Cruz.

Our camera has been out of batteries for a while, but now it is reloaded and hopefully we will get some media to you ASAP. We had video of us from our friend's camera, but are still chasing it up. stay tuned.

-Zander

Friday, October 8, 2010

Back to the Training

After our FULL-ON windy and wavy training camp in Santa Cruz concluded, we drove the boat up to Richmond Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay where we will sail till the end of October. But before we began our second training camp, we took a break from 49er sailing to compete in the US Team Racing Nationals in Seattle. It was refreshing to get in another boat (Zander helming for the first time in 12months!). Though reaching 5th place on the second day, we fell back a bit on the final day seeing our team end up 7th in the highly competitive, invite only field including two World Champions.

On Monday we flew back to the Bay area, and since have commenced our training with a few American boats. We have put some serious TLC hours into this older boat over the last few days and she is finally looking and feeling good and staying dry! The sailing here can get especially gnarly as on our first day there was a 12-18knots in some severe ebb current-induced chop. As you could imagine, the sea gets very messy making for sailing this boat rather tricky. Yesterday was a little tamer, which allowed us to get out further in the Bay. We actually made it beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, out to the beginning of the Pacific- such a cool place to sail with the dramatic landscapes!

So as we forward with our training here, we will continue to work on our boat handling in waves and breeze, whilst also doing some speed work with our training mates.

Keep posted as we will hopefully have some new video clips thanks to some friends coming out and filming!