2011 Jackson Cup Wrap Up

Sunday of the 2011 Jackson Cup started off with a weather delay due to a storm system that threatened the area overnight and into the morning. Once racing began, Team StFYC had 5 races left to finish the round robin. The thinking was that 3 victories got us into 4^th place and into the semi-finals. Our first two races were against New York Yacht Club and Seahawanaka Corinthian Yacht Club. We unfortunately dropped these two races (and seemingly had at least 2 or 3 umpire calls go against us each race) and had our backs to the wall. Our final 3 races were against Eastern Yacht Club, Boston Yacht Club-2 and Corinthian Yacht Club. While dispatching Boston-2 and CYC, we lost a tight race to Eastern and sealed our fate. As the round robin completed, we were indeed 1 race shy of a tie for the final 4 spot. After our racing was complete, (and also when the sun came out) we retreated to the second deck of BYC to watch the semis and finals from the collection of rocking chairs at the club. In a very fierce competition, New York Yacht Club defeated Southern Yacht Club for the title.

The team felt good about our performance and agreed that we just dug ourselves too big of a hole on Saturday morning. Team StFYC consisted of Edward Conrad with crew Logan Jager, Emery Sanford and Leighton O’Connor (media representative), Ethan Doyle with crew Rolf Kaiser, Cindy Keppel, and Ryan Schultheis, and Harrison Turner with crew Matt Gregory, Chris Smith, and local fill in Patrick.

The 2011 Jackson Cup was hosted at Boston Yacht Club in a fleet of borrowed Sonars. The racing was a 3 on 3 team race with crews of 3 or 4. Other clubs attending were host Boston Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA) with two teams, Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), New York Yacht Club, Seahawanaka Corinthian Yacht Club (NY), and Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans, LA).

Up next is a Team Racing Demo on April 30^th right outside the grill room at St. Francis Yacht Club and a Team Race 101 Clinic the following weekend. See www.stfyc.com for details!

St. Francis Team Racing

Some of the team members at the dinner on Saturday.

Jackson Cup Day 1 Report

Team St.FYC is currently locked in battle at the Jackson Cup at the Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. The format is a 3 on 3 team race in sonars with a crew of 3 or 4 sailors. Sailing for Team St.FYC is Edward Conrad with Logan Jager and Emery Sanford, Ethan Doyle with Cindy Keppel, Rolf Kaiser, and Ryan Schultheis, and Harrison Turner with Chris Smith and Matt Gregory. Team St.FYC also includes 2 local sailors Leighton O’Connor and Patrick to help fill out the boats. Leighton is also the media officer for the regatta so check out his videos posted on youtube (link below). Other teams sailing this event are Boston Yacht Club (2 teams), Corinthian Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), Eastern Yacht Club (Marblehead, MA), New York Yacht Club, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club (New York), and Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans, LA).

Day 1 got off to a cold and windy start. Winds were in the low 20s range (which St.FYC sailors had no problem with) but temperatures were in the low 40s range (which was a large problem). The team sailed some intense races with many of them coming down to the last few feet of the course. At the end of the day, St.FYC finished with 3 wins and is currently in 6^th place, only 2 points out of 4^th place and a berth in the semifinals. After racing on Saturday, and a brief stint warming ourselves by the fireplace, there was the annual regatta dinner hosted at Boston Yacht Club. The food was great and so was the entertainment.

Currently, the team is in a weather delay on day 2 as the lingering effects of a cold front that ran through the east coast yesterday made for a stormy night. Racing should continue soon so stay tuned for a post regatta wrap and some photos!

Check out Leighton’s videos onboard our boats for practice and day 1:

www.youtube.com/leightonoc

Be sure to follow the racing on Facebook.

All other details for the regatta can be found at the regatta website:

www.bostonyachtclub.net

St. Francis Team Racing

Baldwin Cup Race Report

Here is a summary of the Baldwin Cup from Team StFYC Team members John Collins and Scott Sellers:

Over 120 races were conducted in Harbor 20s across 3 days. Newport borrowed 28 boats (3 fleets of 8 plus 4 spares) from their members for the regatta. Winds were light to medium and very shifty. The regatta started with a cold front bringing hail and rain but finished with blue skies and warming temperatures.

Friday: We started our series as race #5 in Round Robin #1, which occurred precisely when a thunderhead (that's right, a SoCal thunderstorm) dumped hail on us. RC directed us to roll up our jibs and head in. Just as we go back to the docks, the thunderhead rolled through and sunny skies came back, but with no wind for a good hour or so. When we went back out on the course, our first draw was with NHYC blue, who we beat at the line. Second race was New York, which handily beat us. The third, fourth and fifth races of RR #1 were wins for StFYC against Larchmont, Boston and Balboa. The final race of the day was against Southern. StFYC was in a controlling 2-3-4, but somehow got called for a foul as we were crossing the finish line. The day ended up 4-2, which was not a bad spot to be in considering the company.

Saturday: The weather continued to be odd for SoCal with sunny skies, unusual cold temps and the odd thunderstorm rolling to the north and south of the race course. Unfortunately, our day did not reflect the efforts the team put in. The first two losses came at the hands of Seattle and Royal Thames. In both races, we had a controlling 1-2-3 at the top mark, but somehow failed to hold on to a win. A win against Rochester got us back on the right track, but then three more losses to NHYC Orange, (end of RR #1) NHYC Blue (start of RR #2 and races worth 1.5 points) and New York set us back on our heels. We rebounded with three wins against Larchmont, Boston and Balboa, but closed out the day with another tough loss to Southern, who eeked out another win at the line.

Sunday:
The day finally dawned with the usual NHYC weather after a gu lly-washer of a storm cell rolling in and absolutely dumping at about 4:00 in the morning. Sunny skies, 10 knots from the southwest and temps in the 60's greeted all the competitors. StFYC still had a mathematical chance of making the final four. We needed to win all of our races and a couple of teams needed to help us, while a few more still needed to lose. We helped ourselves with three successive wins against Seattle, Royal Thames and Rochester, but by that point, we didn't get the help we needed from the other teams. We closed out RR #2 with a close loss to NHYC Orange.

The final standings were New Youk Yacht Club first, followed by NHYC Blue, NHYC Orange, and Seattle Yacht Club in fourth. The only team in the final four that we didn't beat was New York. Team StFYC ended up in the log jam between 5th, 6th and 7th, with our final standing in the 7th position. Team St Francis won 10 of its 20 races across the two round robins in a very competitive fleet.

Hospitality was excellent with every meal hosted by Newport Harbor over 3 days including the traditional blue blazer with flip flops banquet on Saturday night. All competitors were housed with members. Part of Team St Francis was housed with Bill and Diane Menninger. NHYC supplied a whaler to commute each day between the Menningers house and the yacht club.

Team StFYC consisted of skippers Russ Silvestri with crew John Collins, Holt Condon with Tom Purdy, Molly Carapiet with Avery Patton and Scott Sellers with Geoff McDonald. Thank you to everyone who supported the team at the Baldwin Cup. Next up is the Jackson Cup this weekend at Boston Yacht Club in Marblehead, MA. Come out and support the team if you are in the area!

St. Francis Team Racing

Baldwin Cup Starts Today!!!

Hello Race Fans!

The Baldwin Cup Team race is starting today! The event is a 4 on 4 team race in Harbor 20s hosted by Newport Harbor Yacht Club in Newport Beach, CA. The event is being sailed today, Friday, April 8th through Sunday, April 10th. Follow all of the action including live webcams, Kattack race tracking, and updated results at the website:

www.baldwincup.com

Also, send the team well wishes on the facebook site: www.facebook.com/BaldwinCup

Sailing for Team StFYC are Scott Sellers with crew Geoff McDonald, Russ Silvestri with crew John Collins, Holt Condon with crew Tom Purdy, and Molly Carapiet with crew Avery Patton.

Other yacht clubs participating in the event are hosts Newport Harbor Yacht Club with two teams, Balboa Yacht Club (Newport Beach, CA), Boston Yacht Club, Larchmont Yacht Club, defending champions New York Yacht Club, Rochester Yacht Club, Royal Thames Yacht Club (London, UK), Seattle Yacht Club, and Southern Yacht Club (New Orleans, LA).

GO TEAM StFYC!!!!!

Team Racing at StFYC!!!

Hello out there Team Racers. There are two events coming to StFYC THIS WEEKEND!

Team Racing 101 (Starts Friday night, March 25):
Whether you're an experienced team racer or have never even heard of team racing before, this clinic series will take your sailing skills and knowledge to the next level! Led by StFYC member and accomplished team racer Eddie Conrad, each clinic series will consist of two Friday night classroom sessions followed by two Saturday on the water sessions.

First Clinic Series Dates: March 25/26 and April 15/16

Second Clinic Series Dates: May 6/7 and June 10/11

Each clinic series costs $90. Must be an StFYC Member to skipper but crew positions are open to the public.

Questions? Contact Diego Gomez-Hall, Club Boats Director at dgomezhall@stfyc.com or 415.655.7774

Sign up for the event here:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dGVQQ21Hc2Frd3pqR0lhMFZ4bDBKeEE6MQ#gid=0

Team Race Open House (Sunday, March 27):
A series of events designed to bring less experienced team racers up to speed and challenge the top team racers at StFYC. The events are also used as tune up events for the teams that are sailing for Team StFYC at upcoming team races. All experience levels are welcome. Come out and challenge the best in the club! (Note: Must be a member to participate). Cost is $40 for Sunday.

For further information please contact the StFYC Race Office at ‐ 415.563.6363 or email
raceoffice@stfyc.com

Sign ups and NOR is here:
http://www.stfyc.com/default.aspx?p=.NETEventView&ID=2451768&qfilter=&type=0&ssid=160652&chgs=&noreset=yes

Look forward to seeing everyone out on the water this Spring!

2v2 Master Driver Team Race - Day 2 Report

Welcome fans!

Sadly, the wind never cooperated with us on Day 2 of the 2v2 Master Driver Team Race from St. Petersburg, Florida. This means that the results from Saturday become the final results and Team StFYC was able to catch earlier flights home to California.

Final Results:
1st - American Yacht Club
2nd - St. Francis Yacht Club
3rd - Seawanhaka Yacht Club
4th - St. Petersburg Yacht Club

The only thing we saw today... Postponement.
Thanks to the members and staff at StFYC for supporting the team at the event. We are very proud of our finish and hope that it is the beginning of good things this team racing season!

St. Francis Team Racing

2v2 Master Driver Team Race - Day 1 Report

Hello Team Racing fans!

The 2011 season has begun. Team StFYC is currently in St. Petersburg, Florida for the 2v2 Master Driver Team Race. The regatta is a 2 on 2 team race with 3 members to a boat. The rules are simple, last place loses, so the racing never ends! Sailing for Team StFYC is Mark Adams with crew Rolf Kaiser and Paul Heineken and Jon Andron with crew Harrison Turner and Dave Kelly. Other teams competing at this event are American Yacht Club, Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club, and St. Petersburg Yacht Club. Texas Corinthian Yacht Club was scheduled to be here but they were buried in snow in Houston and their flights were cancelled last minute.

Day 1 started off with nice 10-12 knot conditions on Tampa Bay. Team StFYC started off strong with a 1-2 over SPYC. The next race had us square off versus SCYC and we led for most of the race. Near the finish one of the StFYC boats fouled a SCYC boat and SCYC came back to snatch away a victory from us. The last race of round robin 1 was against American Yacht Club. This race was intense! The lead changed hands about 10 times during the race and it wasn't decided until the last 10 feet of the course. Unfortunately AYC got the best of us. Round robin 2 started off with a rematch against AYC. This was another hot contest with both teams trading the lead throughout the race. Once again, we were passed just at the end with all 4 boats finishing the race overlapped!

After a quick weather break/lunch break, we headed back on the water and caught fire! Team StFYC had convincing wins over SCYC and SPYC to finish out round robin 2. Round robin 3 started with two more great wins over SPYC and SCYC before our rematch with AYC. Another spirited battle ensued with jibe outs on weather legs and furious position battles. AYC had our number again and got a well earned victory. But with our 4-1 afternoon, we sat at 5-4 overall and in second place.

Standings after Day 1:
American Yacht Club 9-0
St. Francis Yacht Club 5-4
Seawanhaka Yacht Club 4-5
St. Petersburg Yacht Club 0-9

For more information visit:
The SPYC website

Stay tuned!

Team StFYC