LONG BEACH, CALIF. (June 2, 2011) - Memorial Day weekend was anything but tame for the Farr 40 fleet which experienced mixed weather conditions and tight competition at the 2011 Rolex Farr 40 North American Championship hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club in conjunction with the Farr 40 Class Association. The regatta was staged from Gladstone's Restaurant on the waterfront in the heart of downtown Long Beach and proved to be a spectacular venue, with the Queen Mary as a backdrop, for spectators and competitors to come together off-the-water. Winning six of eight races, including all three on Monday, Jeff Janov (Malibu, Calif.) of Dark Star escaped the grasp of West Coast standout and rival David Voss (Marina del Rey, Calif.), skippering Piranha, and returned home with a Rolex Submariner timepiece engraved with the Farr 40 logo.

"We have a very solid team with a wide range of experience and potential, and though the conditions were extremely challenging throughout the course of three days, we were all able to adapt," said Janov who has been involved in the West Coast Farr 40 Fleet since April 2008. Dark Star has already taken the podium three times this year, winning the Farr 40 Midwinters in Long Beach, the Ahmanson Cup in Newport Beach and placing second in the Yachting Cup in San Diego. (Photo: Rich Roberts)

The action-packed weekend kicked off on Saturday with a lighter breeze than forecasted, and was combined with five-foot waves and a challenging chop. Though Dark Star and Piranha led the pack, Viva La Vida (formerly Goombay Smash), started off with a bang, winning her first race in the hands of new owners Bill Durant and Jeff Shew (both from Long Beach, Calif.).

Sunday brought strong winds, gusting to 30, posing a challenge for most of the fleet including class icon Piranha, which dropped out of contention in spectacular style. Piranha, a recent class winner of the Newport to Ensenada Race, was leading the fleet as it approached the leeward gate in Sunday's first race. When its spinnaker takedown went awry and the chute was dragged under the boat, the crew had to cut it loose as the rest of the fleet headed upwind. During race two Piranha suffered a broken spinnaker pole causing the back-up chute to go berserk in the heavy winds near the top of the 1.5 nautical mile course, and the boat rolled into a classic leeward broach. Due to the major spinnaker woes, Piranha placed ninth and seventh out of the ten boats that afternoon. (Photo: Joy Sailing)

Dark Star had the best speed, upwind and downwind throughout the three days and consistently started well, with one exception. On day one, Frederic Scheer's (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) Far Niente slammed the door on Dark Star at the race committee boat, leading to a fifth-place finish. Ironically, Far Niente finished only eighth in that race but closed strong by winning the next race and with no other finishes worse than fourth throughout the weekend, placed second overall ahead of Dirk Freeland's Skian Dhu  (Santa Barbara, Calif.).

A lot of time has passed since my last post. After a long and eventful 2010 season I took a break to recuperate and regroup. I learned that one of the areas that seems can always be translated into results is fitness. I used the off season to hit the gym doing nine gym sessions three with weights and six cardiovascular. I have been keeping this regiment for two months now six days a week. I have also added on the water training with Master's Laser sailor Vann Wilson. We have been hitting the water three to four days a week in addition to the gym sessions. So, with the new training regiment I have finished my first two regattas of the Laser season, the Alamitos  Bay Yacht Club Olympic Classes Regatta and the Laser Midwinter's West. In the first, respectively, I had a good regatta. There were seven races scheduled and after the first four I was in a three-way tie for second. I lost a point in two races. The first was letting my emotions get the better of me and tacking on a boat one too many times to push him back in the fleet- after I was fouled at the leeward mark. This cost me a one finishing position- one point. In the last race the breeze was dying breeze and on the last leg to the finish I had trouble shifting gears and lost a boat within one-hundred yards to the finish. If I had kept one of these points I would have been alone in second place. This would have earned me a silver medal because the second day of racing, the final three races, was canceled due to a storm that had winds gusting to forty knots. Disappointed, but lesson learned.

At the Laser Midwinter's West I had a flashes of brilliance and moments of gut-wrenching agony. The regatta started off strong for me and I rounded the first weather mark in 3rd out of the 47 boat fleet (pictured right). After a lackluster downwind I was fortunate to hold on for a top ten finish. Top ten was my goal for each race and for the regatta. In the end I finished a disappointing 12th. The low point of the regatta was race seven. In a dying breeze the race committee was determined to stay on schedule and ran a race that turned into a drift match. At the last mark rounding, before the finish, I was in a comfortable 6th place. With the breeze trending left as it faded I headed to the left side of the race course hoping to stretch the last bit of breeze out to the finish, but I could not have been more wrong! Thirty boats drifted past me and doubled my second worst score. Ouch! The positive taken away from the regatta was my downwind. Like the first race this has always been an area of weakness for me, but somewhere between the first and second race something clicked and I was sailing downwind better than I ever have.

A special thanks to Kip Meadows for his kind support without whom this regatta would not have been possible.

Stay tuned for weekly updates throughout the season.

 

U.S. WINS 2010 CANADA'S CUP
10/17/2010

Last match hard-fought, but U.S. comes out ahead 5-2; Macatawa Bay Yacht Club challenge issued now for 2011

Chicago, IL -- In one fantastic finale to a hard-fought series, where both teams traded the lead and the tension was always high, Don Wilson's Team Chicago Match Race Center has successfully defended the 2010 Canada's Cup for the U.S. in a three-day challenge made by Grant Hood's Vincere team from the Port Credit Yacht Club. The winning team, which besides Wilson included Brent Ruhne, Mory Matias, Payson Infelise, Caroline Young, Zach Hurst, Michael Bradley, Jennifer Wilson, Mal Parker, and Eric Doyle, prevailed on a final score of 5-2 in the series sailed at CMRC.

2010 Canada's Cup

And it all came down to this...

              

The final race on the final day between Team California Yacht Club (US 782) and Team Long Beach Yacht Club (US 796). The first boat to cross the finish line wins the regatta. Unfortunately, after a hard fought and well sailed race Team CYC got the better of us. Congratulations to Team CYC. This was a great tune-up regatta for me as next week I head to Chicago, IL for the Canada's Cup Match Race.

Over the past ten days I was in San Francisco racing on Kip Meadow's Melges 32 Roxanne for the St. Francis Rolex Big Boat Series and the Melges 32 World Championship. Here is a video of highlights from the World Championship.

Last weekend, the team drove to Wichita, KS for the Laser District 16 Championships.  The conditions were good and we were up against some great sailors from the Midwest.  On the first day, it was apparent that our training had paid off.  Since we have been training on Lake Okoboji, we had a good feel for the wind shifts on the lake and were familiar with sailing in the light air.  I had some smart races and finished 4, 5, and 2 for the day.  This put me in fourth place overall, with only one point separating me from third place.

I arrived in Spirit Lake, IA a week ago to continue training in the Laser.  I met up with my training partner and coach and we have been going non-stop since we arrived. To stretch the budget I have been camping while in Spirit Lake and below there are some pictures of the campsite, fire, and campfire cooking. A typical day has been waking up, eating a huge breakfast, hitting the gym, going for a morning sail, eating again, having a team meeting, going for an afternoon sail, eating again, and sometimes throwing in an evening sail for fun.  It is really hard work, but I am learning a lot and our team improves each day.

A string of bad luck -- After a severe episode of food poisioning on the last day of the Laser North American Championship's my car broke down. Here it is being towed. Not the picture I had in mind when I planned the summer. But, after a breif delay, waiting for parts, I am back on the road. A special thanks to La Roche Chevrolet and Appel Dodge for all their help.