Day #2 - Do you know the muffin man?

The team's success on day 2 can only be attributed to Celeste, the muffin man. If you ever are fortunate enough to come to Marblehead, be sure to visit The Muffin Shop on Washington Street. John recommends the chocolate chip muffin and Russ recommends the tripple berry.

The weather conditions thus far have not been aligned with the forecast or local knowledge. Haze and converging pressure systems decreased the chance of a normal sea breeze. This left the conditions very light early in the day (3-6 knots), which peaked around 8-10 in the afternoon.

Despite these non-San Francician conditions, the team performed well. In the first race, both StFYC boats had solid front row starts near the pin and tacked early to the right, which paid all day. After rounding the weather mark in the top third, both boats worked their way through the fleet on the subsequent legs. Russ finished in second and Ethan finished in 7th.

The second and third races were almost carbon copies of the first race, with starts at or near the committee boat followed by a quick tack onto port, as the pressure and shifts went left all day. Team Russ managed a 2-3-1 for the day and is tied for third with a clump of boats. The top 5 boats are within a few points of eachother. Team Ethan is in the top half, as they got caught up in a stack in the last start and was scored OCS.

Day three is starting off sunny and hot with a windy off-shore flow, which should make the last couple of races very exciting today. A final report will follow after the day's racing takes place.

Marblehead NOOD - Practice Day

Hello from the beautiful New England town of Marblehead! Tree-lined winding cobblestone roads and houses with white door frames and shutters welcomed the team on late on Wednesday evening.

We learned our first important piece of local knowledge quickly upon arrival -- pay attention to the details of street names. At midnight, Russ walked into 8 Mechanic Street and met Ruth, an elderly woman in her nightgown who kindly informed Russ that he had walked into the incorrect home and that his intended destination, 8 Mechanic Court, was half a block down the street. Russ wins the award for most civilized home invasion of the trip (thus far).

On Thursday, the team rigged the two Sonars from Kings Point and had a 3 hour practice in 15-20 knots. Under the guidance of Ed Adams, we improved our boat handling and understanding of the proper mast rake. Unfortunately, this might have been the best conditions of our trip since rain and light air are forecasted for the weekend.

Friday, the first day of the NOOD, included only 2 races. Significant wind shifts, light air and rain made it difficult for the race committee as well as the participants. Team #752, composed Russ Silvestri, John Collins, Holt Condon and Julie Papanek, had two excellent starts but struggled to maintain its lead. Race #1, Russ' team won the start was significantly hindered by ratnest seaweed, which was on the rudder for the entire race. Team #753, composed of Ethan Doyle, Chris Smith, Peter Scott, and Joy Doyle, had a good start and also had a frustrating first beat after missing a large left shift. In race #2 both boats changed their rigging and improved their respective positions from race #1. Unquestionably, both boats have room for improvement and expect better finishes on Saturday and Sunday.

We look forward to reporting more this weekend...

Boston YC

Julie, Chris and Ed discuss how to launch the boats.

Team meeting post practice

Breeze at the Eastern YC

Pictures from the Sonar Long Island Sound Championships

Pictures from the Sonar Long Island Sound Championships at Noroton Yacht Club:

St. Francis burgee hanging in the clubhouse.

Team St.FYC: (left to right) John Collins, Cathy Hoyt, Holt Condon, Harrison Turner, Matt Gregory, Russ Silvestri, Peter Scott, Chris Smith

Hectic finish to Race 1. About 10 boats overlapped at the finish

Russ and his boat training in light air on Friday

Boat prep on Friday


More pictures are available HERE

Results are available HERE

St. Francis Team Racing

Sonar Long Island Sound Champs, Day 2 Recap

Day two of the Sonar Long Island Championships started out with more typical Long Island Sound conditions (read: no wind). The race committee at Noroton Yacht Club decided it was best to postpone the fleet on shore for half an hour. Once the AP went down we headed out to the sound only to find drifter conditions and another postponement. As we sat around, telling jokes, complaining that the coach didn’t have a wakeboard, and other tomfoolery the breeze started to fill in from the south.

The start line for race 3 of the regatta, race one of the day, was slightly skewed towards the boat end side. Russ and Harrison both started down at this end with Harrison being called over early. Harrison and the boats around him being over the line helped Russ to get a great lane out to the right side of the course as Harrison restarted and also headed out right. Russ rounded the mark in 3^rd place with Harrison in the middle of the 28 boat fleet. On the downwind leg, Russ and Harrison passed boats, Russ passing one to move into second and Harrison passing 4 or 5 boats to get into the top half of the fleet. On the second upwind, Russ extended on the fleet and Harrison made a big charge back into the top 10 of the fleet. On the last downwind, the boat in 1^st place jibed away at the top mark which allowed Russ to sail right past him into the lead. Russ finished the race strong and took the bullet. Great job Russ. Harrison found a nice lane of pressure on the downwind and moved into 7^th place for the race.

After the first race the race committee announced that they were getting set to do another race but because it was getting later into the day, Team St.FYC decided it was time to head in and de-rig the boats. Russ was sitting in 1^st place overall when we left the course and Harrison was around 6^th or 7^th overall. It was a good thing that we decided to call it early as we heard there was a large shift on the last race and a nice squall to greet the sailors as we pulled out of the parking lot and they pulled into the dock.

It was a great event despite the lack of breeze and we hope to do more in the future. Thanks to St.FYC for allowing us to do the event. Big thanks go out to John Craig for setting up our coaching and setting up the charter of the boats. And also a big thanks to the Lotz’s from NYYC for letting us stay at their great house in New Canaan.

Sailing for Team St.FYC on Sonar 753 was Russ Silvestri with crew John Collins, Holt Condon, and local sailor Cathy Hoyt. Sailing on Sonar 752 was Harrison Turner with crew Matt Gregory, Chris Smith, and Peter Scott.

Stay tuned for photos from the event!

St. Francis Team Racing

Long Island Sound Champs, Day 1

Hello race fans! Team St.FYC is coming to you from Darien, CT for the 2010 Sonar Long Island Sound Championships. The team is using the event as a training event for the 2010 NYYC Invitational Cup qualifiers which is later this summer in Sonars. Sailing for Team St.FYC is Russ Silvestri with a crew of John Collins, Holt Condon, and local star Cathy Hoyt. On the second boat is Harrison Turner with crew Matt Gregory, Peter Scott and Chis Smith.

After some boat maintenance including a thorough sanding job on the bottom of the boats, the team went out for a quick training session on Friday. The wind was out of the southwest at 3 knots (and that is being generous). We learned a lot about how much little movements in the boat and on the sail plan affect the boat speed. Coach Ed Adams set a mark and we did some simple mark roundings before the wind finally had enough and totally quit on us.

We arrived to the boat park on Saturday morning to a "typical" Long Island Sound setting... no wind and perfect water skiing conditions. The race committee posponed the racing on shore for about 2 hours before the seabreeze started to fill. The first race was run in an easterly breeze at about 5 knots. Russ and his his team started towards the boat and went out right on the first beat while Harrison won the pin end and headed out left. Russ and his team found themselves in 3rd at the first mark while Harrison did not get to the pressure at the top right of the course and found himself around 11th at the first mark. On the run Russ and another boat extended from the pack while Harrison ground down the leaders. At the leeward mark, Harrison found a great hole and snaked the inside on the mark, passing 5 boats in the process and escaping to the right side. At the 2nd weather mark, Russ was comfortably in second and Harrison was in 4th. Harrison passed another boat on the last downwind and finished 3rd while Russ held on to 2nd place.

After the first race, the breeze quickly shifted from an easterly to the natural sea breeze direction of south. The breeze also came up a bit to 7 knots for the start. Unfortunately, the current was coming down the line which forced the fleet over for 5 or 6 general recalls. The committee became impatient and threw up the black flag. This is what was required as the first black flag start was all clear and we were off racing. Russ and Harrison were at the middle of the line, towards the pin end. Russ got away clean while Harrison had to do a clearing tack. Both boats then headed for the right side. Because Harrison had to duck so many boats while Russ crossed them, Russ was in a far better position. This was also complicated for Harrison as he felt he was tacked on by everyone on the starboard tack layline. Russ rounded the first weather mark in 3rd and Harrison rounded near the back of the fleet after a tough windward leg. On the run, Russ extended while Harrison passed a few boats. Things did not change much during the race except for the breeze dying. Russ finished 3rd in the race and Harrison caught up a few boats and finished in 17th.

After the first day, Russ is sitting in 2nd overall with a 2-3 and Harrison is in 8th with a 3-17. As I type we are sitting on the shore here at the Noroton Yacht Club waiting for wind again. Hopefully we can head out racing before the front passes through and we miss our flight home.

Until next time,

St. Francis Team Racing

More Information about the Wilson Trophy

Here are some links to information about the Wilson Trophy, recently won by Team Extreme with Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts as a member of the team.

West Kirby Sailing Club Website (this place is awesome, I highly reccommend sailing there):
http://www.wksc.net

Wilson Trophy microsite:
http://www.wksc.net/wilsontrophy/

Regatta Report from Team Roberts/Martin (Melanie's brother's Olympic Campaign):
http://www.teamrobertsmartin.com/blog/post/show/id/25-Wilson-Trophy
Photos from Sailing Scuttlebutt:
http://www.sailingscuttlebutt.com/photos/10/0510/

St. Francis Team Racing

St.FYC Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts wins the Wilson Trophy!

Team Racing fans,

One of our very own, St. Francis Race Coordinator Melanie Roberts was invited to sail in the Wilson Trophy at West Kirby Sailing Club just outside of Liverpool, UK. The Wilson Trophy is the British Open Team Racing Championship and is considered one of the 3 biggest team races in all of the world (the others being The US Team Racing Championships or Hinman and The Team Race Worlds). Winning this event is an amazing accomplishment!

Here is a write-up she submitted to the blog:

"May 7‐9, 2010 was the 61st Wilson Trophy at the West Kirby Sailing Club (WKSC). Thirty two teams were accepted to this event from England, Ireland and the United States. Hands down this was the most impressive event I have ever experienced, with over 350 races run in three days. I sailed on Team Extreme, crewing for Adam Roberts, teaming up with Stu McNay, Abby Coplin, Zach Brown and Emmett Smith.

The first race started at 1pm on Friday, and we were allotted an hour of practice in the morning. We raced six races that afternoon and had won them all, at least we thought. When we arrived back at our host family's house, we were called back to WKSC. One of the teams we had raced against, the West Kirby Hawks, had filed for redress claiming gear failure, which resulted in us needing to re‐sail the race first thing the next day.

Saturday’s re‐sail against the Hawks did not go well, but right after we had another race that went much better for us. I looked at my watch at 8:30am and thought it was amazing that we had already sailed two races, which was something I definitely have not done before! The rest of the day went well; we won most of our races but did have three rough ones. The format worked in a way to naturally seed the teams, so the better record you had, the harder the teams you would have to face. This made all of the races extremely challenging as there were several really good teams. We ended the day at the top of the leader board with a 13‐3 record, but the standings were super close with the next team 12‐4 and then the next four teams 11‐5.

We were the first race again on Sunday, scheduled to start at 8am. It took a while for the breeze to fill in, so we didn't end up starting until 9:30am. We continued racing in the Swiss League completing five races, and then began the quarter finals. The quarter finals were a best of three knock out series between the top eight teams. We first raced Wessex Exempt, who we had lost a race to earlier in the day. They beat us the first race, but we managed to win the next two which advanced us to the semi finals. In the semis we faced the NYYC team and beat them twice to qualify for the finals against the home team, the West Kirby Hawks. The finals were a best of five series, and the winner was the first team to take three races. After recovering from some very challenging pre‐start and first beat situations, we managed to sail into solid winning combinations by the finish of each race. It was very exciting to win such an outstanding event!

This regatta was an organizational masterpiece; I was truly amazed all weekend. Races and rotations happened quickly and efficiently, with six sets of equally matched and color coded Firefly dinghies, allowing 12 teams to be on the water at any given point. The folks at West Kirby Sailing Club worked very hard to make everything run smoothly, and it really showed.

It was incredible to see the entire town so lit up about this regatta; it was truly a spectacle. The lake the sailing was held was the perfect amphitheater for this type event. The course was set as close as possible to shore and thousands of people came out view the racing. Grandstand seating was set up and a live expert commentator kept the crowd up to speed on what was happening in the races. I couldn’t believe the amount of people along the waterfront cheering (or booing at us), it certainly had the feel of a popular sporting event! I was extremely impressed by the whole thing and hope to see team racing championships get to this level in the US.

WKSC also did a fabulous job with the off‐the‐water activities. There was a band and dinner on Friday night, and a formal banquet on Saturday, with a band playing after as well. They also provided accommodations for over one hundred people between all the teams and umpires. Our host family was extremely generous to us and it was neat to see them so excited to watch the event."

Thank you Melanie for a great write up and CONGRATULATIONS!

Stay tuned,

St. Francis Team Racing