Greetings!
We have been outside playing in the sunshine and figured you probably were too so we skipped a newsletter. In the meantime a lot of great news has gathered. Read below for all of the info. Last weekend, I traveled up to Newport to speak to a very active group of Nantucket Sailors and to the Bristol Yacht Club, otherwise known as the home club of 2011 Offshore Team Member Charlie Enright. Both groups were a lot of fun and very enthusiastic. All indications are that we are going to have quite a few visiting sailors popping into Oakcliff over the next summer. Come on down! I also want to point out that our last on-shore seminar of this season is coming up. On April 1st, Andy Green will be here to talk about match racing. The afternoon will be both technical and entertaining. Andy will give us an update on what is happening in the match racing world. Andy will begin with a refresher course on the basics of match racing and move the level up as quickly as the audience allows. I'll be driving back from Annapolis in the morning of the 1st just for this seminar. As I have mentioned before, he is definitely entertaining!
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Two Shots to Become US Champion
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The first big event of 2012 will be the ABC Qualifiers and Clinic April 19-21. This is the first step on the road to the Prince of Wales Bowl and becoming the US Sailing Match Race Champion. The USMRC finals will be September 20 -23 in Marblehead, MA.
This year we will be racing in the Match 40s instead of the Shields. We also will have Jon Singsen, winner of last year's Oakcliff Summer Clinegatta as our coach. Click here if you would like to put together a team. Click here if you would just like to attend the clinic.
June 8-10 you get a second shot at the qualifying. Again, keeping it new at Oakcliff we will have a great coach in Rick Dominique. Rick has promised a new approach, which in true military fashion is on a 'need to know' basis. You'll just have to click here to register for the Clinegatta and here if you just want to discover Rick's secrets. |
All-Star Coaching Line Up
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 | | Kiwi Will Will Be Back |
This year's match racing schedule is filling up with great competitors and coahes from around the world. We'll have a new-to-Oakcliff team from Poland. Their name is Open Yachting and their tag line is: "Because we are Open and We Love Yachting". Love that! We'll also have lots of Canadians, Aussies and Kiwis on the race course. As a supporter and Oakcliff match racer not only do you get to hang out with these cool teams you can discover their 'top tips' as they coach.
Will Tiller and his Full Metal Jacket Team will be back at Oakcliff for the third year in a row. Will will be coaching the Grade 3 August Clinegatta as well as a Grade 4 Clinegatta July 19 to 22. Will is ISAF ranked 18th in the world due in large part to winning many of the 13 events his team raced in 2011. A graduate of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron's Lion Foundation Youth Training Programme, Will and team are top notch and we love having them at Oakcliff.  | | Olympian and Coach Andrew Campbell |
Andrew Campbell will lead the clinic portion of this Grade 3 Match Race. Andrew is a four-time Collegiate All-American, Laser North American Champion and Olympian. On the match racing front, Andrew has been the tactician for Bill Hardesty in the Congressional Cup and many other events. He has run numerous match race clinics.
Originally from Tom's River NJ he was born into a sailing family and I had the true pleasure of racing with his father Bill in the 1992 Cup, one of the calmest and most professional navigators I've had the pleasure of sailing with.
Oakcliff Summer Clinegatta with Steve Hunt
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The coach for the summer clinegatta will be Steve Hunt. Steve the coach of the top ranked Point Loma High School sailing team. In 2011 Steve won the Congressional Cup, the Richardson Trophy, and the Etchellls Worlds. Steve was a two time collegiate All-American and holds multiple class national and world championship mantles.
If you want a more intense experience and you want to RACE against the best in the world at the Oakcliff International Grade 2, you can. You and your team just need to qualify by winning the Oakcliff Spring or SummerClinegattas or the CMRC Spring Grade 3.
Next week we'll profile more great coaches including the legendary Tommy Burnham.
Did I mention that we are going to be talking about Match Racing on April 1st? |
Au Tout a l'heure' Jeff
|  Jeff has made it to Lorient France, which Disneyland is short-handed sailors. On the way he sent this report from the middle of the Atlantic:
Bonjour, so far the trip is going very well, we started out heading east to Bermuda before we turned more north. We had to go close to Bermuda so that we could get a cell phone signal to call France, our sat phone was not working. Once we got it up and running and downloaded a new grib we saw the low pressure to our north had strengthen and pushed further south than we had hoped. That lead to 12 hours of solid 50 -60 knot winds with 12-14 meter seas.
Though I was having the time of my life driving the boat down the big waves at close to thirty knots (it is hard to see much over 14 knots, the water is like a fire-hose,) We had to sail south to get away from the center of the low a little over 100 nm, rather than be stuck in the inevitable high pressure with big waves and little wind. Nevertheless, yesterday we sailed past the Azores and are now 1050 nm from Loirent. We just gybed into a new low pressure system that should carry us the rest of the way to France sometime Fri or Sat. The boat is simply amazing, anything under 20 knots (except upwind) you are pretty much doing the same boat speed. I have lots of good pics I will send when I get to France.
Currently the time is 1450 UTC Position: 41 18.094N 26 13.554W |
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Next week I'm headed to St. Barth's for the Bucket Regatta and Koko is taking a team to compete at the Ficker Cup. He has been taking full advantage of the sunny weather and has been practicing at Seawanhaka. The Ficker Cup has tougher competition than ever and that includes the Team Quaglio. Two teams representing Oakcliff. We must be doing something right :-). Go Mighty Oaks Go!
Happy St. Patrick's Day and I'll see you all on April 1st ... pranks encouraged.
Sincerely,
Dawn Riley
Oakcliff Sailing Center |
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