Racers Raise the Bar at GoPro Match Cup B

Chicago, IL- “We have Boat 6 going upwind with a spinnaker,” voiced Principal Race Officer Darcy Cooke over the radio after an unpredicted twist of the wind after the start of flight 9. The race committee was disappointed they didn’t fit in a full round robin, but 8 ½ flights were completed on the first day of the GoPro Match Cup B Event.

Several boats from Friday/Saturday’s “A” event were joined by skippers Taylor Canfield, Nick Dugdale and Lars Hansen for the B event. Although the wind was on and off for the better part of the day, at least the skies were clear and the temperatures were in the mid-60’s offshore.

The most anticipated match of the day was between ISAF ranked 29^th Taylor Canfield and GoPro Match Cup “A” Event victor Nevin Snow. The breeze was very light when the two teams entered the box providing a difficult situation for the dial-up. Snow provided the play-by-play. “When we dialed Taylor up, we were on port. When we were both head to wind, we got a big shift from the left filling our sails to port as Taylor anticipated the wind and came at us calling starboard.” A penalty was given to Snow. Snow also crossed the line on the pin end 3 seconds early, and a large gap developed between the 2 boats. It wasn’t until the second downwind leg that Snow was able to catch up to Taylor and get his bow across the finish line first. Unfortunately, Snow also had to address his penalty before he actually completed the race. “We felt really good about the race other than a few simple mistakes at the start. We’ll be getting our heads on straight and doing a little more pre-start research if we have to face Taylor again,” Snow confidently stated.      

   

In Flight 6, Guy Mossman proved to start with a clean slate from the A event as he went up against Taylor Canfield. “Friday and yesterday, I felt like I had too many things in my head from work and such. I feel much better now,” Guy explained. The teams were well matched in the pre-start taking turns at controlling each other. “As we were in the heat of it, he got close enough to push up from leeward and when we tacked, our transom hit him,” gaining a penalty. Even with the penalty, Mossman was in a better position for the start and was able to take off at the line. The team continued to extend on the first upwind after covering for a few tacks. At the second encounter with the windward mark, Guy’s team briefly considered scraping off the penalty, but the wind conditions weren’t ideal. So it was downwind at the finish line when they tried to burn the penalty off as they crossed the line. “We tried to make sure the spinnaker was below the gooseneck before we went head to wind, but it just didn’t quite make it.” This technicality cost Mossman the match against the highest ranked racer in the event. “It felt good to be that close racing against someone like Taylor Canfield.”

The end of the day unknowingly occurred during Flight 9 Match 1. “We coasted across the finish line right before the wind shut off,” described Don Wilson’s bowman, Erik Shampain. By the time Match 10 was in sequence, boats were attempting to sail both upwind and downwind with spinnakers. Shampain stated at the end they were just barely going to make the pin layline when a 60degree wind shift came around and they managed to finish at the boat.

The CMRC media decided to try a few new positions for GoPro’s today, putting their stabilization to the test. During the match of Canfield versus Snow, Canfield was wearing a headcam as well as Snow’s jib trimmer. Mounting the cameras to the masts to look back at the crews was another new addition. The waterproof casings provided a new underwater angle of the foils as the boats passed as well.

The weather for tomorrow is forecasted to have a 70% chance of precipitation and winds of up to 25 knots. Hopefully the winds will come through without storms for some exciting, fast-paced racing. With 2 1/2 flights left to finish the round-robin, the race committee is waiting on the weather to determine the format. If the storms are bearing down, the RC might push straight into the semi-finals.

Weather pending, the completion of the round robin will commence at 9AM tomorrow. Real-time results and videos can be found on the CMRC website and live text updates can be followed on Twitter @matchracecenter. Media resources (results, press releases, photos and videos) will also be posted on the CMRC website.

GoPro Match Cup B Day 1 Results:

1)     Taylor Canfield 6-2

2)     Nevin Snow 5-2

3)     Colin Rathbun 4-2

4)     Don Wilson 4-3

5)     Guy Mossman 4-2

6)     Nick Dugdale 4-3

7)     Lars Hansen 3-4

8)     Stratis Andreadis 2-4

9)     Lance Fraser 2-4

10)  Leo Vasiliev 0-7

Official Partners of the CMRC include Eurex, CME Group, Newedge, City Inns family of hotels and Line Honors is the Official Clothing Supplier to CMRC. For more information on CMRC, visit www.chicagomatchrace.com or contact CMRC Program Director Tod Reynolds at tod@chicagomatchrace.com. 

About GoPro: Based in Half Moon Bay, California, GoPro is the world's leading activity image capture company. GoPro's HD HERO line of wearable and gear mountable cameras are used by more consumers and video production professionals than any other camera in its class. GoProʼs HD HERO line of wearable and gear mountable cameras and accessories are sold in over 60 countries, in specialty sports retailers, Best Buy, and at gopro.com. 

About CMRC: The Chicago Match Race Center was founded to promote and grow the sport of match race sailing. Besides being used in the America's Cup, match race sailing has recently also been adapted as a Women's discipline in the 2012 Olympic Games. As part of its mission to provide the highest-level match racing training facility for professional and amateur sailors in the US, CMRC sponsors and hosts the US Olympic Team with their fleet of Elliott 6M class boats, the type that will be used in the London Games. Additionally, the CMRC retains a full fleet of TOM 28 class boats and all umpire and support boats needed to run international-caliber regattas, advanced training, or adventurous corporate outings. For the complete list of events for the 2011 season, please visit www.ChicagoMatchRace.com.

Melges Fleets in Miami Sailing Week

Long overdue and not the edits I necessarily wanted to create, but good practice.

First Mate Passing

Maneater's crew lost First Mate Kelp yesterday 3/29/11 when bone cancer finally got the best of him.
Kelp was born to be a water dog. While growing up in Florida, he helped rehab countless whales, sea turtles and dolphins. When he came north 11 years ago, he graced our family and countless others with his unconditional love, kisses and fuzz.
He was everyone's best friend and we all miss him more than words can express.

BREAKING NEWS!

I just received a call from the Chicago Match Race Center offering me a PR/Marketing internship this summer!

Just when I gave up hope and started looking for housing in Sister Bay, I missed a call from the CMRC.

Can you say DREAM job???????????

BACARDI Miami Sailing Week

With a sponsor like BACARDI, one can only try to remember exactly what happened this past week. 

The registration party and dinner was overwhelming. There was an array of garnished meats to go along with the free BACARDI, wine and beer that would be served all week. The opening event set the tone for what would be a hell of a week.   

Before heading out on the Melges media boat, I checked Facebook and saw a rather ominous picture posted by Bora Gulari sailing in the 24s. The picture was a radar snapshot showing a red monster swallowing southern Florida. I decided to bring my foulies out just in case.

The first day of racing for the 24s, 20s, Vipers and J24s was called after one race due to the storm that blew through.

The Italian stallions of UKA UKA dominated the 35 boat M24 fleet followed by Alan Field on WTF.

In the 26-strong fleet of M20s, Red Sky with Paul Reilly started off strong with what would be there only bullet for the event.

The Stars didn't even head out on this day, which would be their third day of racing. 

If you're wondering where the coverage is for the Vipers and 24s is, you should just stop reading now. Let's be honest, the only fleets at this event were the Melges and Stars. 

Sailors turned into sprinters as they ran off the dock to the Coconut Grove Sailing Center for cover. As one Alabama sailor so aptly put - it was raining like a “cow pissing on a flat rock.”

"The last thing we want is total carnage on the first day out there," commented, Jack, one of the event organizers over the radio. 

The storm had significantly cooled the air for Friday's racing as well as starting with winds of up to 20 knots, but decreasing throughout the day. This was a day to really see the M20s perform. They shoot off like rockets downwind.
 

 On Saturday, I got to spend some time on the Star course. While they are celebrating their 100th year, 93 of them graced the starting line with their presence. I asked skipper, Don Massey, what was the starts were like when he recalled, "We found a spot that we were going to have to battle the Norwegians for. When they saw what we had planned, their skipper turned to us and just screamed, 'NO!'" It was a lot of foresight and skill that helped others get clean starts across the line.

When awards rolled around, quite the party ensued. The highlight, though, was Mary Anne Ward of M&M Racing winning the M20 class and being what was announced as the first woman to win that particular class*.

All-in-all, it was a well-run event while everyone was out on the water. I made some great friends and had a ton of fun.  So, overall, I'd call the event a win. 

Video coming soon...

*That was announced, but not double-checked

  

"No, really, she's hot"

"Just take off the granny hiking shorts, the ill-fitting tech tee, the big booty bib..."

Somewhere underneath all that crap that sailing outfitters provide for women, is a hot chick. It may not look like a bunch of tight little bods, but they're out there.

Here's a review of the state of women's sailing gear today in one word: non-existent.

The best look we have developed with the gear we have at the moment was found in a pathetic leech of a sailing movie Charlie St. Cloud:

Ladies have this amazing capability of pairing a cozy foul weather jacket with short shorts strategically so it looks like we're not wearing any bottoms. It's quite the attention-grabber if you've got a good set of legs.

Short shorts are most often provided by running companies, though. This brings us to the first and main problem...

1) Shorts

While I understand the logic behind the up-to-the-boobs high-rise waist, I don't like it, won't buy it and definitely don't appreciate it. The high-rise waist logic stems from women bending over to prevent whale-tail. 

whale tail: a woman's thong hanging out of her pants

What scares me is that these companies use the description "women's fit." What kind of women are they fitting? The ones with a little extra something down there? Just sayin'. 

The descriptions are so deceptive. Camet's whole campaign was "new style and cut" for women, but were they really? "Low-rise" is not the term I would use for these belly-button-bordering shorts displayed on my bod. 

We wear shorts like the Henri Lloyd Women's Fast Dri or Gill Navigator because we have no other choice, not because we would pick them off the rack. 

With all the deck wear and tear on our delicious rears, running shorts and boardshorts only last a few wears -a season if you're lucky.

I still hold out hope for the Zhik Women's Boat Shorts because I have not tried them on. The fear is that they will still breach the navel, therefore not my style. Anyone have these and care to voice a comment?  

2) Pants

Pants could have no more problems than shorts because they're just longer, right? Wrong. The tapered ankle... Really? It's bad enough that we have a renewed commitment to our skinny jeans. Don't bring the struggle and uncomfortable fit into our sailing swag. 

Some actual low-rise cargo pants would be nice, but in the meantime I'll stick with a bib instead.

3) Bibs

Oh my god, companies have done something right for once! For the most part... I have an hour-glass figure, and, like many women, my waist is much smaller than my hips. When you pull on the adjustable velcro waistband to fit your hips, do you realize how much fabric that adds to get caught on your sexy ass? It makes you look like you've got one helluva big booty and not in a good way either..

photo cred: Meredith Block

Are salopettes the more formidable option? Not for the cutie-patooties. The sizes don't get small enough according to my sister who ended up in the disproportionate kid's sizes.

4) Technical Tees/Polos

I have boobs. This is a factor that many companies overlook maybe because adjusting seams to a bustline is too racy or turns men on too quickly. Regardless, these "women's fit" tech tees have three differences from the men's: 1) they're cropped shorter, 2) the sleeves are shorter and 3) there's are some extra buttons down the front. Back to the tits- when fabric isn't fitted, our boobs create a box-like figure that isn't exactly the most flattering. 

5) Jackets

I'm a sucker for a good foul weather jacket. They are my downfall perhaps because I pull out the short shorts or leggings look with them. I live in my Helly Hansen.

 Shockingly enough, the jackets are where companies get it right!

Any company is safe in the jacket department.

Here's to the women who have to deal with trying to make sailing gear look good. Some of us pull it off quite well, while others are still grasping at straws. 

Preview to Debauchery

BACARDI Miami Sailing Week


With registration closed and my arrival in Miami only 3 days away, let's take a look at what Miami has in store...

photo from event site

It's the second year for BMSW. After great success with their inaugural event, big things are to be expected this year.

And big things are happening.

With 183 boats signed up when registration closed on Feb. 28, the event has 50 more boats than 2010. Nearly 600 participants will be barging the line in the Star, Viper 640, Melges 20, Melges 24 and J/24 classes. This not just a national event either, just under 20 different countries will be represented throughout the classes.

This year marks the 84th running of the BACARDI Cup for the Star class and a cultural recognition of the class's 100th year. The Cup was won last year by returning registrant and US Sailing Team Alphagraphics member, Rick Merriman. The question is will Rick be leading the fleet or will 2009 Cup winner, Peter Bromby, be coming back to reclaim the trophy? Another strong contender could be this year's Rolex Miami OCR silver medalist, Frederik Loof. It's truly anyone's game here with 95 class registrants.
On a separate note, the Star Class's 100th year since inception has added a culture factor to the event with an exhibit amongst the arts in the North Hall of the Convention Center of Coconut Grove. The century celebration will include designs, photos and artifacts from the class.

The Melges 24 class has a lot of big names -Guy Mossman, Bora Gulari, Riccardo Simoneschi, Steve Kopf-  starting amongst 34 boats on the line. This will be an extremely competitive regatta for the 24s as the Italians look to keep up their winning streak in the Road to Corpus series. This event is just one part of the anticipation buildup for the 2011 Melges 24 World Championship in Corpus Christi, TX.

The Audi Melges 20 class has doubled in entries from last year with 27 boats registered. This small sportboat is just too-hot-to-trot in my opinion. I had the brief opportunity to sail one to the harbor at Charleston Race Week last year and haven't found an experience to replace it yet. Predictions call for 2010 Audi Melges 20 US National and USA Sailing Series Champion Michael Kiss on Bacio leading the fleet to the finish. 

This event has the three most important aspects to a popular regatta covered:
1) Easy water access
With the boats being stored and launched all along Coconut Grove, water access doesn't get much better. Also, if you have housing accommodations in The Grove, everything is within walking distance.
2) Good parties
It's fair to say that a good rum sponsor aids the event's party factor. Even better is that the parties start as soon as you're off the water; no waiting around. Another benefit is the hangover factor taken into account with race warnings only starting at 11am.
3) Cheap options
While Miami is an expensive city, there are several ways of doing this regatta on a budget. Hotels can be found for under $150/night, why not pack them with your whole crew? Good food and nightlife can be found at least at the Sandbar; though, there must be other cheap options in the area that I am sure to discover.

photo from event site

The debauchery begins Saturday.