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.
Tag 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.
We are excited about our first Open Clinic @ The Dinghy Shop July 14th. It should be a great day with the usual South Shore sea breeze. The only fee is $10 per sailor to the Dinghy Shop for letting us use the facility. For South Shore Opti sailors the Midget Qualifier is the following Wednesday July 18th, so this is a great chance to get tuned up right before the event.
Coaches from programs are encouraged to come with their sailors and take part in the clinic.
To register go to the Contact Page and send an email with your sailor’s info.
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.
Volvo Ocean Race Youth Academy Team Race
At each stop of the Volvo Ocean Race there has been a Youth Academy Team Racing program, where kids from around the country of that port come together to learn, meet members of the VOR teams, see the boats, have fun, and do some team racing. At the same time there was an ISAF (International Sailing Federation) umpiring seminar going on so the kids got to get some great rules instruction. The first day was a practice day, followed on the second day with some work with the umpires and practice races. The third day was the regatta. On the evening of the second day there was an event dinner where members of each team met with the kids and talked about their experiences in the race. Each youth team represented on of the VOR teams and we happened to be representing Team Sanya which sailed in on our second day there. We also got to see the boats on the hard and the repairs being done to the boats, as well as the stepping of the masts and launching of some of them. Overall it was an amazing experience for the kids and the Volvo Ocean Race did a great job of hosting us.
After having a tough regatta at the qualifier to attend this event in New Orleans in January, the team sailed a great showing. They were tied for third but lost their sail-off to finish 4th of 8 teams, which was a huge improvement over being the last to qualify. It was a great training weekend and confidence booster for the kids, and they should go into Team Race Nationals with a good mindset.
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- Mark trap practice.
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- JC giving his teammate a heads up.
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- Gray and Aaron sailing out to the course.
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- All the teams together for a group shot.
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- Gray, Aaron, Stephanie and Thomas waiting to switch in to boats for practice.
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- At the awards, 4th of 8 teams.
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- The rainbow warriors.
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- Each team had a set of sails in the colors of the VOR team they represented, in our case Team Sanya.
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- Camper going in for the start of the next leg of the race.
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- The team (LtoR back) Stephanie, Aaron, Thomas, Gray, and JC (front) at one of the morning classroom sessions.
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- Got to get out and have some fun at night too.
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- Stephanie during one of the lectures. Still focused after a long day on the water.
USODA Team Trials Recap
Congratulations to all 20 sailors for their performances at Team Trials. Like every regatta, some sailors met their expectations, some exceeded them, and some fell a little short, but every sailor had a bright spot during the event and showed that they are learning to be better sailors. Plenty of smiles and quality team bonding throughout the week as well.
The results were solid with 4 sailors in the Top 50 led by JC Hermus in 7th, Jack Brown in 37th, Gray Benson in 42nd, and Gage Schoenherr in 45th. We had another 4 sailors make the top 100 and several more just outside. Big congrats to Luke Arnone, the White Fleet Champion for 2012 Trials!
With races run in everything from 5 knots to 25+, predictably oscillating shifts and hard to read persistent shifts, this was a true test of having a range of sailing skills. For many of the sailors this was the longest event they had sailed, which put an emphasis on mental and physical stamina. Of the 20 sailors, only 3 had been to a Team Trials before, so this young group will come back to their next big event with much more experience and confidence.
Thanks to all the parents for their support through this big event and to Will Brown and Leigh Kempton for helping out with the coaching. Congrats again to everyone. It can be a grueling event and I was proud to see everyone still “sailing strong” at the end of the week.
Pics from our sailors’ spring overseas adventures.
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- L to R, Aaron, Porter, Thomas on the lay-day in Amsterdam
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- “Second is alright I guess.” Smile JC, you did great!
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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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- JC sailing downwind at the South Americans.
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- JC receiving 2nd Junior at the IODA South American Championship.
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- Thomas and Aaron filling some big shoes.
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- Porter and Aaron heading to the race area in Holland.
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- JC riding the shoulders of his teammates at the opening ceremonies of the South American Championship.
March Update
Our first three weeks of spring sailing have been great practices with 10-12 kids on the water each day. All the sailors have been improving tremendously as we start winding down towards the US Team Trials at the end of April in New Jersey.
Over the next couple weeks we have several sailors heading to spring international regattas with JC Hermus already in Argentina for the IODA South American Championship and Thomas Rice, Aaron Helmly, and Porter Kavle heading to Holland for the Magic Marine Easter Regatta. We are all very proud of the boys and wish them well. Sail fast, have fun.
The team has been invited to the Volvo Sailing Academy Team Race in Miami in May. This is part of the Volvo ocean race and takes place in every stop over port of the race. JC, Thomas, Aaron, Gray Benson, and Stephanie Houck will represent the team in Miami and race against the other top Opti teams in the country. Should be a great experience. Check it out here.
Last but not least there is now a SailStrong Youtube channel. I will be posting videos from our practices and regattas. Good to help the kids have a look at their sailing from a different perspective. Here is the first video.
Valentine’s Day Regatta
This years Valentine’s Dar Regatta at St. Petersburg Yacht Club only ended up with three races for the regatta but it was an excellent learning experience for the kids nonetheless and some of the sailors still came away with some good results, most notably Julia Leighton was second girl. The current hurt the team as a whole with some bad decisions about laylines on the upwind and rhum line on the downwind. Add the top wind speed of 7 knots to the mix and there was some definite frustration. The starting line experiences were valuable though and will help in any conditions. It was great to have 17 sailors for the event, all having a good time and seem to be progressing. Thanks to Leigh Kempton for coming down and being our second coach.
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- Kids table at team dinner before the start of Valentine’s Day Regatta
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- Talking about the day.
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- The parents have fun too 🙂
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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- 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.
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- OB Practice
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- Team meeting before sailing on day one.
SailStrong Youth Racing 