Horton/Nichol - Star World Championships - Day 1

It is nice when your hard work and preparation starts to come together. After a week of training, long days for our coach measuring the currents on San Fran Bay, and months of planning we kicked off Day 1 of the Star World Championships with a solid second place finish. There is still a long list of things to improve upon and we still have our debrief before bed, but we are off to a good start.

After being postponed for 90 minutes due to no wind, the first start gun sounded just after 1:30pm. The westerly breeze proved very shifty all afternoon, ranging from as much as 13 knots to as little as 5, with the wind strength varied all over the course. We sailed a “course 3” with two mile long legs up and down the bay for a total of ten and a half miles over three hours.

Our plan was to start in the middle of the line where we would not be forced over the line early and sail up the middle playing the shifts. This conservative approach does not win races but if executed well will get you in the top ten as someone will always pass you on the corners of the course. We played the shifts like good lake sailors and hedged towards the favored side of the course. With good boat speed and concentration during the light tricky phases we managed to round the first weather mark in third place.

We played the puffs and concentrated on boat speed through the middle of the course on the first leeward leg which again proved to be a good conservative choice. We rounded the gate in second place and were able to hold the position through the remainder of the race.

The light wind is unusual for San Francisco but we think it will prevail for the next few days before the weather pattern changes and brings the strong winds everyone expects. We have one race scheduled to start at noon tomorrow. We will keep you posted on how it goes!

Cheers!

Andy & Brad

For those of you in NH or VT with access to the “Valley News” Newspaper, there is a story on Brad running Wednesday, Oct. 4th.

Thank you to Harken Yacht Equipment for their continued support. http://www.harken.com/

Tip of the Day: Start at the favored end of the line in big fleets. Today the start line was nearly a mile long with 80 boats. In the first general recall, the pin was 10-15 degrees favored. The boat at the pin, Andy MacDonald, was able to start and tack onto port crossing the whole fleet by 20 boat lengths!

Club

LCYC is a member-run yacht club located in a sheltered cove on the southwest shore of Shelburne Bay in Shelburne, Vermont, USA. We offer moorings, activities, and community for our members, most of whom own a sailboat or powerboat. The object of the Club is to promote and encourage boating and sailing on Lake Champlain, while emphasizing racing, cruising, and education, without financial gain. Click here if you are interested in joining LCYC!

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Lake Champlain offers some of the best freshwater cruising in North America. The beautiful scenery and charming lakeside destinations make it a great place to explore. LCYC organizes several rendezvous events. Spontaneous cruising events also materialize throughout the season. We have a number of scheduled events planned for the summer season. Cruisers are out and about just about every weekday and weekend throughout the summer.

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Lake Champlain Yacht Club has an active junior sailing program, open to all children ages 8-17. We use Optimist prams and Flying Junior dinghies for instruction and racing. Full and half-day sessions are offered for all ability levels over an eight week period each summer. All of our Instructors are US Sailing certified and have extensive experience.

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