Please join us for the first Seminar of 2012 next Thursday evening at Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach. Balboa Yacht Club has their CDM to Cabo Race coming up in March so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to discuss Weather and Racing in SoCal in the Spring, i.e. the Cabo Race, Islands Race, PV Race, Border Run, Ensenada, etc... There will also be valuable tips on what to look for weather-wise if you prefer to race around the buoys or cruise the coastal waters.

Balboa Yacht Club has been gracious enough to offer us their facility so there will be cash bar to keep you from getting parched during the presentation.

So grab your crew, or skipper, and come on down for what promises to be a very informative evening. The season is here, let's go sailing!!!

Balboa Yacht Club
1801 Bayside Drive
Corona del Mar, CA
Bar opens at 1800, Seminar begins at 1900
Please RSVP to 714-432-1860

Tips From The Top

Here's a quick tip you may not think of when preparing yourself, and your
crew, for getting better starts. It's very easy to practice and will help
improve your starts tremendously. 

Time vs. Distance

How many times have you ended up 15 seconds early, or 10 late, when
approaching your desired spot on the line? And this small amount of time can
spell the difference between a great start and the dreaded second or third
row. 

Did you tack too early, didn't accelerate fast enough, couldn't slow down,
etc... These are all very simple things to practice and you don't need a
second boat. Just your crew, a stopwatch, and a buoy or mooring.

1)      Find a "Mark". Locate a buoy or mooring with plenty of navigable
water around it so you can time approaches from all directions and angles. 

2)      Shorten the sequence time. This will enable you to get in more
practice "Starts". I suggest 2-3 minutes.

3)      Now once in sequence, guess your time to the "Mark" and go for it.
This will vary widely depending on distance, do you have to Tack, or Gybe,
etc... Make sure you call out this "guess" of time. Keeps you and the crew
honest. You can even make it a competition to liven things up a bit.

4)      Repeat this exercise with both Tacks and Gybes involved. See how
close you can get to the "guesstimated" time.

5)      Another good exercise for when you find yourself very early is
stopping and reaccelerating the boat. Get the crew to completely ease sheets
and/or hold the boom out, then trim back in and get her going back up to
full speed. Observe what did this do to your relative position to the
"Mark". This maneuver requires a lot of concentration and communication
between he helmsmen and trimmers, but when done efficiently can be a great
weapon.

In just a short afternoon you'll be amazed how this simple exercise will
improve your starts. The start line is usually a crowded and intense place.
The last thing you need to worry about is if you're guessing your Time vs.
Distance calculation correctly. 

That's it. Good luck and sail fast!



By Scott Poe

Viper 640 West Coast Championships #1

Ullman Centerboard Regatta

&

Leukemia Cup

This past weekend Arizona Yacht Club played host to their annual Leukemia Cup regatta, also known as the Birthday Regatta.  There was an added incentive this year as Ullman Sails Newport Beach sponsored Friday’s Centerboard Challenge.  The Portsmouth, PHRF and Viper Fleets all turned up to do battle for centerboard dominance.  The Viper fleet also included the day as part of their Leukemia Cup series.  The wind was strong in the morning, but the afternoon included a 180-degree shift and light air, which made for an interesting and challenging racecourse.  Results from the Ullman Centerboard Regatta are located here!

Saturday was the official beginning of the Leukemia Cup regatta and all the scores were reset to zero, excluding the Viper 640 fleet who were now halfway through their first stop on the Viper 640 West Coast Championship Series.  Over 60 diverse boats participated in what turned out to be an amazing weekend.  Buccaneer 18, Merit 25, Montgomery 17 and the Viper 640 all had one design fleets with individual starts.

Once again I was lucky enough to be racing a Viper with Jim Sears as we started our quest towards the West Coast Championship Trophy!  Jim was not able to make it Friday as work commitments required his attention (someone has to pay for these adventures!) so I was fortunate enough (or so I thought) to skipper the boat for the day.  A good start and top-three mark rounding followed by a malfunctioning spinnaker halyard quickly sent us back to the dock for repairs.  With consistently good breeze on the lake, we missed two races fixing the halyard and were now more than 22 points behind the leaders.  This is not how we imagined the start to our 2012 season.  But back on the course and ready to go, we won the next start, rounded first and were looking good…until a 180-degree wind shift allowed the fleet to sail around us!  Despite the bad luck, we salvaged a third place and headed to the dock to regroup for Saturday.  Long-time Ullman customer and new Viper owner Ed Feo (previously owner of Andrews 45 “Locomotion”) used his experience to power into second place for the day and make a statement in his first regatta.  And local lad Tony Chapman had an outstanding day, winning the first Ullman Sails Centerboard Regatta.  Day One Results.

Jim was back on the boat Saturday and college sailor Evan (can’t remember his last name - sorry!) and I were ready for a fight-back.  And fight back we did!  Consistency was the name of the game and we settled into a groove of second and third place finishes.  Both Tony and Greg Jackson were the guys to beat as local knowledge ruled the day.   Boats were constantly changing position throughout the fleet, which was good for us as we continued to stay near the top.  Ed had some trouble shifting gears in the light air and slipped back as the point totals started mounting up.  We finished Saturday near the top of the leader board but knew it would be tough to win.

Sunday started poorly for us, but we beat the boats we needed to and started to realize we were in the mix for the overall win.  Ed Feo got his rig tuned perfectly and won the day with boat speed and great tactics.  Consistency was paying off for us and we were charging for the top.  We just needed more races!  Calculations told us we were tied with the leader (Greg Jackson), but would lose the tie breaker.  Our confidence and boat speed were up and we had a feeling we could pull it out, but sadly the wind died and the regatta was over with no more racing to be had.  The fight-back was good, but not good enough.  Congratulations to Greg and his crew who won the regatta with solid finishes, especially on Saturday. 

Thirteen total races were completed (11 for the Viper 640s) by an outstanding race committee and hosted by a friendly and fun yacht club.  The lake has changed since I was there 15 years ago, but one thing remained the same – the passion for sailing is alive and well.  Make sure you put this regatta on your calendar for next year! 

FULL RESULTS

ROAD TRIP VIDEO

Keith Magnussen