Congratulations to Porter Kavle for being awarded the USODA Sportsmanship Trophy at Nationals. Porter was honored for the huge effort he put in to get to Nationals after falling off his family’s J24 early in the summer when it was on the trailer in Annapolis after racing. Porter sustained major injuries and had to be airlifted to the hospital. We were all just happy to see him up and about, much less competing in a long event and sailing well on top of it. He was part of our 4th place team at Team Race Nationals and made the Gold Fleet at Fleet Race Nationals. Nice job on the sailing, congrats on the recognition of your hard work, and happy to have you back with us.
Category Archives: Optis
USODA Nationals
We had a great 9 day trip to Sandusky, Ohio for Opti Nationals. The kids participated in Team Racing, Girls, and Open Nationals and had success in all three.
For Team Racing we had three teams, two of which, our White and Blue teams, were made up mostly of kids doing their first team race regatta. It was tough but a good learning experience for all.
SailStrong Red, made up of JC Hermus, Thomas Rice, Gray Benson, Porter Kavle, and Stephanie Houck, had a great regatta and finished 4th of the 26 teams. They were 2-2 vs the winner, Team FOR, and won a close race against the second place Lauderdale YC, but in the finals round they lost 2 of three races. Being one of the youngest teams in the group, they all came away with a lot of confidence for their next team race.
Girls Nationals proved to be another good event for the team, with 10 girls sailing. It was a long day with 4 races and 102 boats. Highlights for the team included Sinead McManus 6th Overall, Julia LaForgia 10th and 3rd in Blue Fleet, Caroline Benson 15th overall and 1st in White Fleet, Stephanie Houck 21st, Camille White 28th, Madeleine Rice 38th and 2nd in White Fleet, and Michelle Lahrkamp 46th. Nice job to all the girls.
At this point, the week was just getting going, with the four days of the Open Nationals remaining. Racing was tough with very shifty medium wind and a lot of boat chop on Sandusky Bay, which created a washing machine effect. Because of bad weather, the RC was not able to get many races off during the qualifying portion of the regatta, so we had 7 races on the first three days to determine who would be in the Gold (top 94 boats) and Silver Fleet (next 188). Of the 25 sailors we had in attendance 10 made the Gold Fleet. JC Hermus ended up 4th overall and 1st in Blue Fleet. Thomas Rice was 16th overall and 5th in Blue Fleet. Sean Crabb was 18th Overall. In Silver Fleet we were lead by Julia LaForgia in 10th and Camille White in 27th. Lots of good sailing by all the kids and a big group qualified for Team Trials.
Off to Newport next for New England Champs.
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- SailStrong Red waiting for a race while finishing 4th of 26 teams in Team Race Nationals.
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- Most of the team after the awards ceremony.
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- JC Hermus finishes 4th overall and 1st in Blue Fleet at 2012 US Opti Nationals.
Summer Kick Off Clinic – June 9-13
We will be doing a 5 day practice June 9-13 at Bellport Bay Yacht Club on the South Shore of Long Island. If you are out of school and don’t have sailing plans already, come join us for some great training. The South Shore is bound to deliver solid conditions as usual.
Pics from our sailors’ spring overseas adventures.
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- JC receiving 2nd Junior at the IODA South American Championship.
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- “Second is alright I guess.” Smile JC, you did great!
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- JC sailing downwind at the South Americans.
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- Porter and Aaron heading to the race area in Holland.
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- Early bird! Thomas first one in the boat park at the Magic Marine Easter Regatta in Holland.
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- L to R, Aaron, Porter, Thomas on the lay-day in Amsterdam
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- Thomas and Aaron filling some big shoes.
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- JC riding the shoulders of his teammates at the opening ceremonies of the South American Championship.
SailStrong’s Inaugural Orange Bowl
We just finished up our first Orange Bowl as SailStrong Youth Racing. It was much warmer than last year but the wind did not cooperate for most of the regatta which led to some very tough sailing throughout the event. Day one had the most wind with 18 knots from the South and if you have sailed in Miami you know the chop can be tough when the wind blows straight up Biscayne Bay. The following three days were sailed in under 8 knots with no races on day 3 of the event.
Our top finishers were Joe LaForgia in 56 and Thomas Rice in 63rd (80 place improvement from last year). We also had top 10 races from Brendan Little and Nick Brady and top 15 races from Jack Brown and Michelle Lahrkamp. All the kids learned a ton and of course we will back for this circus again next year, hopefully with some more breeze but still warm.
We also need to wish Nick Brady well on his next sailing adventures as he is retiring from the Opti (we are making him team race with us at Midwinters so this was his last fleet race). Since he is towering over the rest of the fleet it is definitely time to move on to his next challenge. I guess it is time for us to start a 420 program. Good luck Nick and thanks for being part of SailStrong in these first few months.
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- OB Practice
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- Team meeting before sailing on day one.
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- Michelle and Nick waiting in the always fun launching line at OB
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- Brendan, Sinead, Madeleine, Julia and Thomas before launching
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- Dinner after a long day on the water.
Long sail to Stiltsville
Since we have had so much good sailing this week we decided to make today an adventure and head out to Stiltsville for lunch. Stiltsville is a group of houses in Biscayne Bay just south of Key Biscayne. Thomas was excited to do this for the second year in a row and I think this will be an annual event for our Orange Bowl practice. Have to throw some fun into the mix 🙂
Enjoying Biscayne Bay
Madeleine, Thomas, and Brendan have been having a great practice so far this week in Miami. The conditions have been great and looking good for the rest of the week.
Madeleine decorating her boat properly 🙂
Holiday Clinic Dec 19-23 Miami
We will be having an Opti practice at Shake-A-Leg from the 19th to the 23rd. Join us for all or part of the week. It will be a small group and a great chance to get tuned up for Orange Bowl.
Junior Olympics Jensen Beach
Thomas, Madeleine, and Julia after the regatta. Always nice to take the kids back to the place I learned to sail.
Madeleine seems to be more interested in the hardware than the photo.
Lauderdale Yacht Club Team Race Championship
Mehvish, Gray, Thomas, and Aaron recently sailed in one of the coolest Opti events around at Lauderdale YC. With provided boats and sails, all the sailors need to bring is their gear. We ended up 10th of 16 teams though that does not tell the whole story for this event. We raced some close races against the top teams and all kids learned a lot. I encourage everyone to get this event on the calendar for next year.
Thomas and Gray at LYC Team Race 2011
SailStrong Youth Racing 