Here are some pictures from Ken as construction began this past week.

Sailing Event Log: Fleet Racing

Event: Priddy Torphy at UNH in FJs
Date April 23-24
Skipper/Crew:
Course: W4,W3
Single Division: Ben Weigel/Kathleen Kwasniak

Conditions:
Saturday: shifty SE 4-8
Sunday: shifty W 6-10 with gusts to 15
__________________________________________________________________

Boat Handling / Speed:
Boathandling was good in lighter breeze. In flat
water, it was important to keep weight forward
in the FJ. When the breeze picked up in the
middle of the day Sunday, it became difficult to
maintain stability in the puffs, especially on the
downwinds. We found that counting down to
when puffs hit would fix this issue.

Starts:
Our starts were pretty good because the race
committee set a disproportionally large line
for the number of boats there. Due to the
shifty conditions, the favored side of the line
would change every race so it was important
to recognize this and adjust. Immediately
after the start, it was essential to start looking
upwind for the puffs and putting yourself in a
good position to get to them.

Sailing Event Log: Fleet Racing

Event: Priddy Torphy at UNH in FJs
Date April 23-24
Skipper/Crew:
Course: W4,W3
Single Division: Ben Weigel/Kathleen Kwasniak

Conditions:
Saturday: shifty SE 4-8
Sunday: shifty W 6-10 with gusts to 15
__________________________________________________________________

Boat Handling / Speed:
Boathandling was good in lighter breeze. In flat
water, it was important to keep weight forward
in the FJ. When the breeze picked up in the
middle of the day Sunday, it became difficult to
maintain stability in the puffs, especially on the
downwinds. We found that counting down to
when puffs hit would fix this issue.

Starts:
Our starts were pretty good because the race
committee set a disproportionally large line
for the number of boats there. Due to the
shifty conditions, the favored side of the line
would change every race so it was important
to recognize this and adjust. Immediately
after the start, it was essential to start looking
upwind for the puffs and putting yourself in a
good position to get to them.
Done Well:
We sailed really well in light air, getting mostly t
all bullets in these conditions. Many of the other H
boats were not accustomed to the shifty nature a
of the wind on a lake, so we capitalized on this
and always made gains on the upwinds. We
had good communication in the boat

Improvements:

-Boathandling in FJs in breezier conditions

-Stability while winging the jib downwind in
FJs
-Kathleen needs to be more assertive if
she wants the Reese’s that we won during
Reese’s races

Improvements:

-Boathandling in FJs in breezier conditions
-Stability while winging the jib downwind in
FJs
-Kathleen needs to be more assertive if
she wants the Reese’s that we won during
Reese’s races

Event: 2009 Protest Trophy/Southern Series 5

Date: October 10-11

Skippers/Crews:

A:Meghan Pesch/Midori Tanaka (9th)

B: Henry Blanchette/ Steve Janick (3rd)

Course: W4 with windward offset and gate

Conditions: NW wind starting around 5-7 and building to 20 with about 1 ft chop.

Current was present going down the course (same direction as the wind)

Notes: Coast guard has 2 fleets of boats, and so for this event, we didn’t have any off-sets.

Thus, make sure to bring any changes of gear, food, or water out with you in your boat at the

beginning of the day.

Boat Handling / Speed

420’s: planing whenever possible in the

bigger breeze

FJ’s: adjusting the vang/Cunningham/

centerboard height to increase or decrease

stability downwind depending on the wind

we were in

Rolling hard and being aggressive with the

boat through transitions and mark roundings

Done well:
• Coming up with a plan and executing
• playing main and jib in unison in puffs to
keep the boat flat

Starts

There was a good amount of line sag because of

the current. Having a line sight was awesome and

gave us the ability to have a really good lane.

Upwind

As the day progressed, and the current got a bit

stronger. Going to the left (towards the boathouse)

and getting out of the current definitely paid.

Further, there were shifts coming off the land that

were nice lifts to the mark.

Downwind

looking for where the puffs were coming down

was really helpful. Since the windward mark was

positioned just to leeward of this huge barge, big

gusts would drop down and hit the water just

above the windward mark. Looking for where

these were going and getting to the extra pressure
Improvements:
• keeping head out of the boat to fleet. for
helped with passing people in the closewatch While
puffs so we aren’t caught off guard
many of the boats seemed to go into the middle
• staying in phase while getting where we
want to on the course(goes hand in able
of the river to catch the most current, I washand
with getting head out of the boat)
to keep up and have my own lane by staying in

the above mentioned puffs that were closer to the

Event: 2009 Protest Trophy/Southern Series 5

Date: October 10-11

Skippers/Crews:

A:Meghan Pesch/Midori Tanaka (9th)

B: Henry Blanchette/ Steve Janick (3rd)

Course: W4 with windward offset and gate

Conditions: NW wind starting around 5-7 and building to 20 with about 1 ft chop.

Current was present going down the course (same direction as the wind)

Notes: Coast guard has 2 fleets of boats, and so for this event, we didn’t have any off-sets.

Thus, make sure to bring any changes of gear, food, or water out with you in your boat at the

beginning of the day.

Boat Handling / Speed

420’s: planing whenever possible in the

bigger breeze

FJ’s: adjusting the vang/Cunningham/

centerboard height to increase or decrease

stability downwind depending on the wind

we were in

Rolling hard and being aggressive with the

boat through transitions and mark roundings

Done well:
• Coming up with a plan and executing
• playing main and jib in unison in puffs to
keep the boat flat

Starts

There was a good amount of line sag because of

the current. Having a line sight was awesome and

gave us the ability to have a really good lane.

Upwind

As the day progressed, and the current got a bit

stronger. Going to the left (towards the boathouse)

and getting out of the current definitely paid.

Further, there were shifts coming off the land that

were nice lifts to the mark.

Downwind

looking for where the puffs were coming down

was really helpful. Since the windward mark was

positioned just to leeward of this huge barge, big

gusts would drop down and hit the water just

above the windward mark. Looking for where

these were going and getting to the extra pressure
Improvements:
• keeping head out of the boat to fleet. for
helped with passing people in the closewatch While
puffs so we aren’t caught off guard
many of the boats seemed to go into the middle
• staying in phase while getting where we
want to on the course(goes hand in able
of the river to catch the most current, I washand
with getting head out of the boat)
to keep up and have my own lane by staying in

the above mentioned puffs that were closer to the

Event: 2009 Great Herring Pond Open

Date: October 17, 2009

Skippers/Crews:

A:Peggy Tautz/Sally Levinson (3rd )

B: Renne Gange/ Midori Tanaka (9th )

Course: Course 5

Conditions: N wind right down the lake starting at 12-15 with gusts to 20 and some lulls, it

built to 15-20 in the afternoon. It was shifty and puffy.

Notes: The race management did not change the course once, so picking the favored side of the

course/line was certainly an advantage while sailing.

Boat Handling / Speed

•

420’s: it was a good regatta to practice our

420 boat speed.

•

It was important to remember it was not an

FJ : so we followed two rules:

o Don’t pinch

o Ease main!

Done well:
• Boat handling in wind
• playing the shifts smart

Starts

Each race people bunched up at the boat since it

was normally favored, however we started middle

pin and was able to start at full speed most races.

Upwind

The middle-right side of the course was favored

all day. After the starting not tacking and going

straight up the lake on starboard was really fast.

Once you were at least half way up, you could

start playing the shifts more. The course got really

shifty at the top mark making it imperative to have

good boat handling

Downwind

Downwind was a little more tricky and required

thought about where the puffs were coming from

and immediately thinking about what side of the

line you were to finish on. Following the tell tales
Improvements:
Always not sailing too by-the-lee which is
was•also helpfulgetting a good start
• Keeping head out the boat (especially in the
not as fast.
morning)
• Choosing the right jibe/side of the finish
line to be on at the end of the race

Event: Lake Champlain Open
Date:Sept 18, 2010
Skipper/Crew:
Course: W4
A Division Will Hutchings/Reeves Bright
B Division James Altreuder, Katherine Hitchner
Conditions: Sat: 12-16 knots, steep chop, puffy, geographic left shift
Sun: 2-6 knots, flat water, steady breeze, subtle but crucial puffs

Boat Handling / Speed
Although sailing an FJ in steep chop felt terrible, we were really fast relative to the other
boats. Made sure to keep weight back and hike really hard going upwind. Downwind,
we were really fast because we were good at surfing the waves and keeping the boat
stable. On sunday with less wind, we had pretty good speed upwind by sailing with the
slightest leeward heel and not overtrimming the main. Downwind in the light air was a
gybing match. Gybes were really fast, but we always had a tactical reason to gybe.

Done well:
.
Starting: Only two bad starts. Started at the pin, middle pin, or the middle for
every start.
.
Going fast and keeping clean air
.
Not fouling (only fouled once)
.
Beating boats in close tactical situations. Eg.) On downwinds when we didn’t
have much risk of losing boats behind us, we vigorously attacked the closest boat
in front of us until we were ahead of them.
.
Hitting the layline

Improvements:
.
When there is a persistent/geographic shift, don’t try to be conservative because
we always lost a boat or two from behind because they slammed the corner. Be
more aggressive and more confident in the conditions, especially if a certain shift
comes through more than 70 percent of the time.
.
Don’t drive up to UVM morning of the regatta and don’t stay at a place that had
plans to throw a raging party.
.
Be less indecisive.
.
Be more clutch.

General Lessons learned:
.
Study/Learn the conditions to the point where nothing would surprise you.
.
Don’t try to win the pin when the pin is massively favored, and all the other egos
on the racecourse are also trying to win the pin. It doesn’t go over well. Start on
their hips and pin them out, for they will inevitably slow each other down after the
start because they will be bunched together.

Event: __Norm Reid Trophy_Date:__10/17/09____

Skipper/Crew:

Course: __Digital N

No divisions– Team race______

_Natalie Salk, Katie Boras; Will Pelleteri, Madeline Luce; Henry

Blanchette, Stephan Janick

Conditions: _Heavy Breeze 12-20knots_____small waves_________

__________________________________________________________________

Boat Handling / Speed

Our boat handling was good we could work on

our heavy air 420 quick tacks.

We were getting passed on the upwind. Our

boats were not flat enough we need to HIKE

HARDER

Starts

Generally bad starts, we were not on the line,

we need to engage the other team more

Upwind

Slow, need to keep the boat flat, steer less

Done well:
The downwind was fast, we did not loose any
boats. We did not capsize or fall out of the boat.
(ask Katie this is an improvement)

Downwind

We were fast and even faster when pumping

Improvements:
on the waves
We improved our starts as the day
progressed. When sailing upwind we were
improving engaging the boat ahead by starting
a tacking duel.
We need to not hit marks