Jesse wins Team Race College Nationals!

Jesse bookended his collegiate sailing career with another Team Race Title in Madison, Wisconsin today. Jesse had previously won Team Race Nationals his freshmen year at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. St. Marys has now won this Championship 5 times and is a testament to the program's status as one of the perennial powerhouses in college sailing. Jesse and the St Mary's team have been working hard all year for this event and are excited that they executed on this lofty goal.

While aspects of team racing are not highly correlated to 49er sailing, many of the same principles remain: good coaching, staying calm under pressure, seamless teamwork, effective goal management, hard work, good boat handling, and managing the ups and downs of the championship. Winning championships is not easy to do and the more practice the better! Jesse has now won three collegiate national titles - 2 Team Race Titles (2007, 2010) and the Dinghy Championship (2009). This extremely successful collegiate career is a great foundation for international sailing as it has made Jesse tactically sharp, a confident starter and very knowledgeable in the rules department.

Jesse's last collegiate regatta starts tomorrow as St Marys sets out to defend its 2009 Dinghy Championship. He then returns to Bermuda on June 4th and we head out for our first summer in Europe of 49er training/racing on June 10th.

PRESS RELEASE:

ST. MARY'S COLLEGE WINS
2010 ICSA/APS TEAM RACE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP


Madison, Wisc. (May 31, 2010) - Over the three-day Memorial Day holiday
weekend, the top 14 schools in the nation - as determined by their
performance in one of the seven Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association
conferences to which they belong - were in America's Heartland racing for
the 2010 ICSA/APS Team Race National Championship title on Lake Mendota.
And for one team, St. Mary's College (St. Mary's, Md.), it was a reversal of
fortune from 2009 when the Seahawks lost this championship on a tie breaker,
to come back and win this year's contest on a tie break with the same team -
Boston College.  Proving that they are a powerhouse in this format of
sailing, the win marks the fifth time the Seahawks have clinched this unique
championship which pits each college's three-boat team against another's in
a round-robin series of matches. 

The competition starts with the 14 teams divided into two groups; the first
hurdle for the teams was finishing top four in their group.  In Group 1, St.
Mary's (6-0), Tufts (5-1), Yale (4-2) and College of Charleston (4-2) moved
on to the Gold Round.  Northwestern University (2-4), Texas A&M Galveston
(1-5) and the University of Hawaii (0-6) were out of contention for the
national title at the conclusion of that round.

>From Group 2, Boston College (6-0), Georgetown University (5-1), the U.S.
Naval Academy (4-2) and the University of Wisconsin (3-3) progressed to the
Gold Round, while Eckerd College (1-5), Stanford University (2-4) and the
University of Washington (0-6) were also out of contention. 

At the conclusion of the Gold Round, also known as the "elite eight," the
"final four" race to determine the champion.  The goal of the championship
is to have the top four teams meet each other three times, which also allows
for a tie break.  This year's event was a light air contest, and credit goes
to the Race Committee for giving the sailors every opportunity to get races
completed especially on the penultimate day of the championship (Sunday, May
30) when competitors were out sailing at 9:00 a.m. and finishing up about
8:00 p.m.

"When teams make the 'elite eight,' each team is capable of beating everyone
else," explained Adam Werblow, Head Varsity Sailing Coach at St. Mary's.
"There is no easy win.  Every team has worked damn hard to get here and
they've accomplished a lot by the time they get to the championship round.
That's what makes it fun.  There are simply no gimmes once you get into the
elite eight."

"What helped us is that we have a team who has worked together for a very
long time," said Werblow.  "This team has been perfecting the skills of team
racing and Bill Ward (Varsity Sailing Coach) has been exceptional on
coaching the details of how to team race well.  The level of consistency
that they've had is remarkable.  With the support of our alumni we set the
bar really high and we had a goal at the beginning of the year to win this
championship. "

On the water for St. Mary's were senior skipper Ted Hale (Annapolis, Md.)
with junior crew Francis Kupersmith  (Alexandria, Va.), junior skipper
Michael Menninger (Newport Harbor, Calif.) with senior crew Kelly Wilbur
(Ipswich, Mass.) and senior skipper Jesse Kirkland (Warwick, Bermuda) with
junior crew Madeline Jackson (Bainbridge Island, Wash.).   For the last race
of the championship, senior skipper Mike Kuschner (San Francisco, Calif.)
sailed with Kupersmith, and Hale sailed with Wilbur. 

"We have such a proud tradition and we are thrilled to be able to represent
the school and one another," summed up Werblow.  "There are 30 kids on our
team and 2,000 in the school.  The 10 kids sailing here are representing the
rest and feel really proud to regain the national title we covet so much."

Final standings for the final four:  St. Mary's 12-5, Boston College 12-5,
Georgetown 10-7 and Charleston 9-8.  Complete results are available at:
http://2010nationals.collegesailing.org/page/Team-Race-Results

Sled on her way to Europe!

I am back in California and 'Sled' is on her way to Europe! We packed her up in early February and she should be in Barcelona in early March. I hope she will be fine on her journey! She is hanging in the container lashed down, between the boats of our friends from the States and Argentina. Check out the pictures of the pack job. She will live in the South of France, at our friend's house until we show up in early June for our exciting Euro-leg. We are in the midst of planning it all! Looking forward to it. Stay tuned...
-Zander

24th! Goal Met!

Goal for Miami OCR, top 70%
We finished 24/36 = top 2/3!

Rationale behind our goal (written Fall 2009):
We will put emphasis on error-free boat-handling in a pressurized environment. We will be watching the top players in the fleet, with the hope of picking up skiff sailing subtleties. This event will enlighten us to the different style of tactics that are employed in skiff sailing. This will be a big, tough regatta because everyone will be in the region because of the World Championship held earlier in the month in nearby Bahamas.

We are stoked to have achieved our goal and happy it was a realistic one. This past month of sailing has gone by fast and we are excited about getting into the class. It will be a lot of work, and it will not come easy, but we think it is realistic to slowly work our way in to the upper echelon of the class. It was refreshing in this event to finally be racing and not just competing against the boat! Yes, that was partly due to the fact that it was moderate air regatta, but we were starting to feel more and more comfortable in the boat.

Now we take a hiatus until Kiele Week - June 2010 - (Jesse back to finish up at St MAry's and myself back to California to coach) and then back on the campaign trial to get cranked up for our first mission in Europe this summer. I will be working on my fitness level all spring to get it ready for the top level Euro leg - lots of upper body work and cardio.

We are hoping to get "Sled" to Europe soon, so we will have her over there for our Euro-legs.

Kirkland Brothers checking out from the Bahamas/Florida 2010.
Thanks for your support and interest!

Finally we would like to thank the Florida Kirklands for their wonderful hospitality this past month! We have stayed in both Bob & Sharon's house in West Palm Beach and Whitney's house in Miami Shores. We are truly blessed to have such great family and to have their support is Huge! THANK YOU!

Day 4 OCR

Day 4 of the event brought similar conditions to the previous day with a shifty NE breeze off Biscayne Island. In the first race, with the Black flag hoisted, we were able to find an opening near the pin and have great start. With a clear lane and room, we were able to tack over and put the bow down on port. Before we knew it, we were racing against only a few other boats and despite a mishap during our tack onto the starboard layline, we rounded the windward in 4th! Unfortunately our downwind tactics struggled as we gybe setted to get into the righty from the upwind beat. But with the wind shadow from the behind boats, we lost ground and with the calibre of the fleet, we fell back to 12th by the leeward. Misf0rtune struck us again on the second upwind as we hit a clump of seaweed which saw us fall back, and with little luck passing boats on the final downwind we finished 21st.

Disappointed by the previous race we were fired up and ready to go for next race. With the breeze filling in from the right, we decided to start near the boat. We had a decent start and had the ability to tack off and put the bow down towards the approaching pressure line. After locking into the pressure with the French and Finns, we were able to cross the fleet and play a few shifts near the top. We again rounded in 4th, but poised not to let boats pass us on the downwind we were able to hold our ground somewhat and round 6th. Unfortunately, our leeward mark rounding was not ideal leaving us unable to tack off to the favored side of the course which ultimately led to us losing a few boats. Once again, we were unable to have a good downwind leg leaving us losing a couple boats but we finished 15th. Though our best finish yet in the regatta, it is frustrating considering our position at the leeward mark. If anything, these first two races prove how unforgiving the top of the fleet is, and how the slightest mistake can leave you losing boats all around you.

In the third race we were able to work our way into a nice hole right at the boat, however, we had a communication/timing error in the final seconds leading up to the start. The final seconds leading up to the start are obviously incredibly important, but also incredibly difficult as the teamwork required to get the boat up to speed is a delicate task. We have improved significantly at this since our infant days in the Bahamas, but increased time in the boat will allow us to master this. So, following our poor start, we were unable to find a clear lane upwind and found ourselves battling it out with the bottom half. Not only in the first two races, but also in the third race, we had difficulty playing the pressure/shifts which left us unable to make gains off the wind. We ended up finishing 28th.

On the whole, we felt pretty frustrated with todays sailing after having two top 5s turn into a 15 and 21. Though these results are fairly good for us, having "tasted the fruits" of the top of the fleet, we felt quite disappointed with being unable to finish the races how we wanted. If anything, we've seen the sheer quality of the top of the fleet and the consistency required on every rounding, every gybe, every tack etc. throughout the race. Another disappointment of the day was found in our downwinds where we failed to find any sort of rhythm and ended up losing boats on most downwinds. Having said this, we are pleased that we are able to find the top end of the fleet with quality starts, and hopefully with more time in the boat (fine tuning boathandling and getting faster), we will be able to crank out some top finishes!

- Jesse

Day 3 of OCR

Today was another very solid day in the Kirkland Brother's Camp, as the moderate offshore flow continued in Biscayne Bay. Yes, we had some glaring mistakes which cost us at times, but we also had our fair share of great moments which have really helped our morale and confidence. We had great speed off the wind and did a good job hitting shifts and breeze lines up all around the course. Finally we feel like we are competing and we are slowly inching our way towards the front of the fleet. These puffy, flat water conditions suit us well; it is very similar to our college sailing background and growing up sailing in Bermuda. It is also easier to sail the skiff without waves (easier to run around the boat) and puts less emphasis on boat handling while racing, thus helpful for our relatively low level of time in the boat!

Race 1
We had a poor start under the black flag, after not finding a hole in the pre-start and found ourselves in the very bottom of the fleet off the line. We stayed positive and passed boats on every leg of the race; we did a great job staying in the pressure and staying in phase with the oscillating breeze. It is amazing how many passing lanes open up in these boats off the wind; they go so fast with the kite up and often staying out of traffic is the name of the game. Both us feel, this may have been our best race yet performance-wise because we were on top of it for all 6 legs. It just felt so good sailing around guys the whole race: Something we are not that used to in this boat!

Race 2
We slightly miss timed - we are still ironing out our time/distance in the boat, but every day it is getting better - our pin end start and found ourselves hung out on the left side of the course as the wind went right. We struggled to get back in the zone over the course of the race and found ourselves finishing close to where we rounded the first weather mark. It was a frustrating race and it left us hungry to finish the day out strong.

Race 3 "Oh de pain!"
With a slight pin favor, but a right favored beat, we agreed upon starting at the boat and working the right side (we could see the breeze out there and the forecast had it slowly clocking there all day). We did a great job controlling the boat downspeed at the boat and found ourselves leading the charge to the right side off the line. A few minutes off the line, we had the majority of the fleet on port tack aiming at our stern. We were out with the Finnish team (they ended up 4th in the race) looking great and stoked on our position. This is where the wheels feel off for a bit! At some point before we tacked onto starboard to cross the fleet, we unknowingly ran over 15ft of floating rope! We felt super slow and watched our top 5 position slip out of our reach. I looked down at the centerboard and saw that we were dragging something, it was incredibly disheartening to see it and feel it! We couldn't deal with it on the upwind and just tried to minimize the loss. On the run, as the boat accelerated, part of the rope slipped off the centerboard and came onto the rudder, thus enabling Jesse to go down and grab the problem rope. I drove and trimmed the kite for a bit, as Jesse went down to the transom and untangled our little friend. Instantly after we departed with the rope, the boat lurched jumped forward and we went on to pass boats on every leg to earn our personal best, 16th place. We were stoked to overcome the adversity and regain our focus, but at the same time it was tough to relinquish our great positioning on the first beat. We are slowly chipping away at putting together all the elements needed to put a great race together! But please remember nothing comes easy in this boat and we are doing our best!

To give you an idea how much energy we are using in these three 45 minute races, I am going to break down how much food I have eaten today. Crewing in these boats is no joke, with you constantly battling against the biggest sail (main on the upwind, kite on the downwind). I basically had 4 meals over the course of the day with snacks mixed in.

Breakfast:
coffee
2 large bowls of cereal
lots of water

On the water:
granola bar
gatorade
lots of water

after race meal:
turkey bagel sandwich
orange

5pm meal at home:
english muffin turkey sandwich
chips
lots of water

Dinner:
2 full plates of Chicken pasta stir fry
banana

And after writing this blog, I think I am going to have a bowl of cereal for a night cap.

-Zander

Day 2 of OCR

The second day of racing brought a brisk breeze(for Florida) and sunny skies to the Bay after the passing of a cold front late yesterday. The Race Committee tucked the race course right up under the Biscayne Bridge which made for a very puffy/shifty course with the 8-12 knot Northerly. We managed to complete three races, with the wind shifting to the NNE towards the end of the day.

In the first race, after jostling with the Fins and the top French boat we were able to win the pin! Such a great feeling. After holding our lane off the line, we were able to get in phase and hold our own with the top boats(GBR). We rounded the top mark in 4th, and near to the leeward mark, Jesse's fell backwards during the final gybe. After a few seconds of barely hanging on to the most back part of the wing/traveler bar, he was able to finagle his way back in the boat. The near-catastrophe was thankfully avoided leaving us only losing 5 boats on the mishap. We ended up finished 17th in the race, but with high spirits after some great moments. The one downside was our rig being too tight resulting in us being noticeably slower than the other top boats.

After a general recall start, and with the Black flag up, we were able to successfully fight it out at the boat and come out with another fantastic start! Unfortunately, after our great positioning off the line, we found ourselves a little too right(big lefty), and rounded the windward in 25th. But after some good downwinds and a good second upwind, we finished up 18th.

In the final race of the day, with the wind shifting right, we again found ourselves battling it out at the boat. We had another good start, and as we attempted to tack and lead the fleet to the right, we fumbled a tack ( As Jesse crossed the boat and attempted to hook in to his trap, his line was uncleated leaving him bound for the water). Once recovered, we had lost our lane to the right, and had to instead head left(unfavored side). After some tricky sailing as the breeze got more and more shifty, we finished 28th.

On the whole, probably our best sailing day to date!!
-We had three good starts( two we were top 5 off the line with a good lane).
-Rounded the top mark in 4th(right behind FIN, right ahead of GBR)
-We had really good downwind legs with net change over the course of the day +10.

-Jesse

Miami OCR Day 1

Day 1
Follow results all week at:
http://www.ussailing.org/Rolex/2010/49er/49er.html

Well the first day of Miami OCR is in the books and we had another action filled breezy race day. The breeze was out of the SSW between 12-18kts (perhaps some higher gusts at times), with all the racing taking place in the shadow of an ominous sky, as another mid-winter cold front prepared to sweep through Biscayne Bay. The weather was so suspect, that the majority of the Olympic Classes (only the Laser/Radials and us managed to start their event today) were postponed to shore; how fitting that the most powered up class got their scheduled 3 races off!

Race 1: We had a solid start at the favored end (near the pin), battling it out with the Kiwi and top French team, but ran into trouble shortly after the gun because we had trouble getting into upwind speed mode - this is something we are working on and something we are slowly improving on. Having said that, we were still in good shape after we tacked out because of the favorable current and smaller chop on the left side. We rounded the winward mark in solid shape upper teens (in a 37 boat fleet) and bombed down the run, only to flip on the gybe. We ran into trouble on the gybe because Zander failed to over sheet the spinnaker and we ate it soon after. It was extremely frustrating to watch all the competitors who were behind us zoom by on the run. Bottom line, Zander has to focus on getting that kite under control before the gybe and then run over into the new wire, without hesitating.

Race 2: Not as good a start as the first race, but still solid. The whole race was very similar to the first one, except that we didn't flip and ended up with a respectable 22nd. We beat some good Danes and Americans. We were fired up and looking forward to the third race of the day.

Race 3: We looked good right up to the start and then botched our acceleration because of mistimed harness clip ins and main trim - Need more practice, but getting closer! We got back in the groove 1/3 of the way up the beat and were in the mid 20s, when our jib sheet blocks ripped out of spinnaker launcher and our race was done...Bummer. Something you don't think of breaking of on a new boat, but now we know to re-thread all important blocks every where on the boat. The boat builder did a good job with the hull, but we can't trust how he fastened everything. Lesson Learned! This same thing happened to the Americans at the last Olympics in the medal race and it arguably cost him a medal.

We are slowly getting more comfortable sailing the boat harder on the runs in breeze and are getting lower on the wire than before. Baby steps! On the upwinds, we have noticed that the top sailors don't as aggressively trim the mainsheet as me. I hope this feel will come with time because our boat is not as stable as it could be and it will also help me conserve some energy, so I can have some energy to manage the kite on the run! I also need to get fitter to make it through the whole race without compromising the boat's performance.

-Zander