Only two weeks after “shreading” B Division at MAISA Championship, “the America Trophy” Division results for America Trophy which was held at Hobart William Smith College, Danny Hesse of the Wet Pants SA in Sayville LI carried the SUNY team to the Finals in RI by placing 5th in B Division at the Western Semi finals see Semi final results. Danny a Sunfish Sailor, grew up on the Great South Bay and had Kevin Brink of the Babylon YC as crew. Other notable Sunfish past Juniors competing in Hobart were Conner Blouin (4th B) of New Orleans and Trisha Kutkiewicz of Moriches, LI (sailing for Navy).

Kings Point, Columbia, Fordham and SUNY Maritime face off in Geneva, NY (Seneca Lake -@ Hobart William Smith) to attempt to qualify for Collegiate National Semi Finals. Top 8 teams in MAISA qualify for semi final events in either this same venue or in Long Beach California on April 26-27th.

4 April, 2008

Columbia and Fordham sailing Teams take 2 of the 4 Qualifying spots for the America’s Trophy - the First Step to qualification for the College Sailing “Show” North 1 Qualifier Results - Hobart William Smith

Some other SP published material discussed with Teams

Found in Key Word “QTipoDia ”

Sheeting tips for crewing on Dinghys (420, FJs, FSs, V-15, JY15, etc.)

1) Always manage both sheets so that you have control of the sail

Once the leeward sheet is trimmed in place, always “overhaul” or pull the slack out of the windward sheet. Depending on the boat the windward sheet may need some trim as well for a variety of reasons.

2) When sheeting the leeward sheet keep your hands close to your body, or near your torso. The mass of your body and your arms (tight/close and compact) make sheeting more efficient and easier to cleat or i.e to uncleat the sail just raise the height of your hands using the weight of your torso for leverage. A sheet will cleat and uncleat much easier under tension using angle and leverage.

3) When tacking, use the length of your arms, sometimes overhead through the tack, to help to finish pulling in the majority of the sheet. Finally return to compact with hands around your torso again.

4) Use the sheet as an extra attachment (of your body) to the boat. As you tack, keep the sheets in tension as you transition from one to the other (back-winding to an extent) - using one or both to help keep you “attached to the boat.” *for further explanation see following Qtip on boathandling

5) Sheet management on a dinghy is a critical practice for both a skipper and crew. Having a tangle or grabbing the wrong end can be costly - and this, fortunately is In YOUR Control.

As a crew overhauling immediately after a take is a great practice. People have different ideas about where to put the tail of the sheet. I like to put it forward of my front leg, outboard of the hiking strap. This can be personal preference but the key is to keep it out of your footing for the next tack.

“Attachment” (being attached to the boat) - Boat handlingOne of THE most important secrets of my success in Dinghy sailing and without question in a Sunfish is adeptness and understanding of the concept of “Being attached to the boat.”

Making yourself part of the complete hull weight of the boat increases the MASS component of momentum. The alternative of being separated from the boat detracts (very quickly) from a boat’s momentum or ability to keep moving.

A Crew has a Pivotal (no pun intended) role in how the boat goes through the water. The crew, particularly in a two person dinghy spends a majority of time near or around the boats center of effort.

Take my word for it if you fear a “physics discussion” is about to tune you out. In a boat where the hull weight is close to “crew weight,” the overall weight (Crew + Hull) at any given time plays a huge roll in boat speed.

A few examples of how to - Stay tight to the boat :

• Lift your feet to increase tension in the hiking strap(to feet top or shins) when your not fully hiking
• Hold on to the thwart or lean tight to the rail going through a set of waves
• Lower your weight and press your toes so that your body becomes firmly pressed to the rail
• Hike with the sheet in tension even when it is cleated to add an additional point of attachment

• etc.

!!! - Sail “attached” to the boat. The alternative creates instability and increases moment of inertia; and unless you do that for a purpose you’re probably “holding back” your vessel unnecessarily and unwittingly.

As published April 3, 2008 on the Scuttlebutt 2567

GUEST COMMENTARY: HELPING THE SUNFISH CLASS By Tillerman, Proper Course blog I see that there’s currently a thread on the Sunfish Forum bemoaning the low attendance at two of your recent regattas with the usual wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth asking how you are going to build up the class to its former glory. I have the answers for your question: What sells products these days?

* Answer 1: Cool. If your product is used by some celebrity, preferably a hugely rich entertainment megastar, then your target market will want to emulate said celebrity and be cool like him or her.

* Answer 2: Sex. If there is any suggestion that your product will make you more attractive to the opposite sex, can be used in wooing the opposite sex, or can be photographed being used by attractive women in bikinis then your sales will skyrocket.

So check out the article and pictures in today’s Sun showing Sir Paul McCartney sailing with his latest love interest, Nancy Shevell. As you can see Sir Paul, one of the richest men in the world, has chosen a Sunfish as his sailing craft of choice. And Ms Shevell, looking remarkably well-toned for a woman of 47, is wearing a rather attractive swimsuit. If this isn’t a golden opportunity for the Sunfish class to secure a celebrity product endorsement along with the rights to the images of Ms Shevell draped attractively across the Sunfish’s deck, then I’m a Force 5 sailor. Just glad to help out my old friends in the Sunfish class. — http://propercourse.blogspot.com/2008/04/dear-sunfish-class.html

Hank Saurage of Baton Rouge hangs on at the Sunfish National Championship in Panama City, FL in a torrid last day run by 2 time World Champion David Loring.

See scores. Final results 2008

The Sunfish Classes’ Tom Whitehurst (50), Pensacola native, former World Youth Champion in 1975, 420 World Champion in 1975 and 1976 Olympian in the 470 dominated the Sunfish International Masters.

See local news, PNJ

Sheeting tips for crewing on Dinghys (420, FJs, FSs, V-15, JY15, etc.)

1) Always manage both sheets so that you have control of the sail

Once the leeward sheet is trimmed in place, always “overhaul” or pull the slack out of the windward sheet. Depending on the boat the windward sheet may need some trim as well for a variety of reasons.

2) When sheeting the leeward sheet keep your hands close to your body, or near your torso. The mass of your body and your arms (tight/close and compact) make sheeting more efficient and easier to cleat or i.e to uncleat the sail just raise the height of your hands using the weight of your torso for leverage. A sheet will cleat and uncleat much easier under tension using angle and leverage.

3) When tacking, use the length of your arms, sometimes overhead through the tack, to help to finish pulling in the majority of the sheet. Finally return to compact with hands around your torso again.

4) Use the sheet as an extra attachment (of your body) to the boat. As you tack, keep the sheets in tension as you transition from one to the other (back-winding to an extent) - using one or both to help keep you “attached to the boat.” *for further explanation see following Qtip on boathandling

5) Sheet management on a dinghy is a critical practice for both a skipper and crew. Having a tangle or grabbing the wrong end can be costly - and this, fortunately is In YOUR Control.

As a crew overhauling immediately after a take is a great practice. People have different ideas about where to put the tail of the sheet. I like to put it forward of my front leg, outboard of the hiking strap. This can be personal preference but the key is to keep it out of your footing for the next tack.

“Attachment” (being attached to the boat) - Boat handling

One of THE most important secrets of my success in Dinghy sailing and without question in a Sunfish is adeptness and understanding of the concept of “Being attached to the boat.”

Making yourself part of the complete hull weight of the boat increases the MASS component of momentum. The alternative of being separated from the boat detracts (very quickly) from a boat’s momentum or ability to keep moving.

A Crew has a Pivotal (no pun intended) role in how the boat goes through the water. The crew, particularly in a two person dinghy spends a majority of time near or around the boats center of effort.

Take my word for it if you fear a “physics discussion” is about to tune you out. In a boat where the hull weight is close to “crew weight,” the overall weight (Crew + Hull) at any given time plays a huge roll in boat speed.

A few examples of how to  - Stay tight to the boat :

• Lift your feet to increase tension in the hiking strap(to feet top or shins) when your not fully hiking
• Hold on to the thwart or lean tight to the rail going through a set of waves
• Lower your weight and press your toes so that your body becomes firmly pressed to the rail
• Hike with the sheet in tension even when it is cleated to add an additional point of attachment

• etc.

!!! - Sail “attached” to the boat. The alternative creates instability and increases moment of inertia; and unless you do that for a purpose you’re probably “holding back” your vessel unnecessarily and unwittingly.

As you may know the spring brings on “The Show,” Interclub Nationals, this year to be held in West Mantoloking, on the Metedeconk river in New Jersey.

Click here for the NOR for 2008 IC Nationals

The 2008 Interclub Dinghy Nationals will be held at Metedeconk River Yacht Club in Brick, New Jersey on the weekend of April 19th and 20th.
For more info -
Metedeconk River Yacht Club

Baxters (Molly and John pictured above) would seem to be the favorites as past Champs coming off their impressive win in “A” and overall at Mid winters.

Lastly, let’s be sure not to miss the ultimate warm up and last pre National regatta for the Wharf Rat (IC Season Champ) Challenge - the Stanley Bell on March 15-16

Larchmont YC - Interclubs since c.1930
Larchmont Stanley Bell

David Loring Blasting along on a reach in Charleston Harbor

David shows of some World Class form in the making of a Demonstration Boat Handling Video just produced!

Stay tuned for more details on this wild ride and video - Due out Spring 2008!

“Never assume anything” - objective #3 in a fine read a close friend once offered to me.

For those who are considered non ‘master Jedi’ of blog tricks - read on.

1) “The Blog” is the page you are reading which serves as a “Home page” as we once called them.

2) Navigation for cool stuff or simply what you’re looking for has the following number of tricks.

a) “Pages” are listed on the right as Links and are more permanent documents so to speak, but “Posts” (which are what entries in the Blog /Home page) can be sorted or searched by “Category” in the section following “Pages” on the right column.

b) Blog items can be searched or Surf’d by paging down the Blog (home) page or scrolling down the right to “recent posts” and clicking one directly.

c) “Tags” are found below “recent posts” and offer another way to link to a subject you are looking to find. There is also a calender for looking by date below the “Tag” links.

d) in “Site Navigation” you can return to the top of the Blog (Starboard Passage (SP) home page) or click into the “Photo Gallery” - and if you haven’t been there you’ll find some great pictures that say way more than 1000 words.