Greetings!
The last weekend was the biggest yet for Oakcliff. Thirty one sailors on the IRC boats, 2 masts put into two brand new Match 40s 'just in time' to go racing and 8 top international teams match racing on the waters of Oyster Bay. The 90 degree wind shifts and pulsing strength challenged everyone but we overcame and it was simply amazing. Read below for more details. Also note that we have Will Tiller's team here as guest all week. They will be on the water coaching with us tonight at Tuesday Match Race Drills and all day Friday. Trust me you want to take advantage of this opportunity!
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Sunny & 70 - Perfect for Crew-work Tonight
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 Tonight's Tuesday Match Race Drills still have openings but please sign up ASAP so we can design the teams. The plan is to get each of the visiting team on a different boat with Oakcliff supporters who can benefit from the Kiwi's talents. Will, Harry and Shaun might talk funny but they know what they are talking about... just listen hard and learn. Well here are a few hits. Code: Kicker = Vang Brace = Guy New Fruit = New Sails Banger = Sausage Shelia = Girl Bloke = Boy Mate = either girl or boy and usually a good thing |
| New Fruit for Racing* |
 Check out the color coding on the new sails for the Match 40s. These will only be used in Grade 1, 2 and 3 events for this year. Coupled with the Oakcliff Graphics they look hot!
* If you don't understand the headline read the article above.
Sail Sticking and Stickering... started at 7pm finished at 10. |
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Congratulations Bob Hughes and Team
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photo courtesy of Karen Martin K2sails.com
Congratulations to all the sailors who came and learned and raced and especially to the team that conquered. Racing completely undefeated Bob Hughes a Michigan State graduate from Ada Michigan racing with Tovar Mirsky's Australian team won every race. This was a huge feat in conditions that warranted lead changes.
Often the wind on the water was negligible but the Match 40s still were managing to race around the course with surprising speed. The odd wind conditions also challenged Todd Field's race committee and mark boat who made uncountable changes to the course.
The racing was quite close, certainly due in part to the two day clinic that Dave Perry ran on Thursday and Friday.
It was a great weekend with everyone helping to get stuff done - all the umpires, volunteers, supporters and even the teams who helped out with sail shuffling and repair and a little detail mast stepping! |
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Finally, the Oakcliff Team really worked above and beyond with 6am starts and days that continued deep into the night. We also were juggling between the IRC boats and the Match Boats and commissioning the new boats and sails on top of the hospitality and clinegatta organization. It was NOT easy but I was very proud of everyone who stepped up. Overall - A very good weekend at Oakcliff.
Sincerely,
Dawn Riley
Oakcliff Sailing Center |
