Last week was all about offshore and the Bermuda Race, this one is all about the young and the young at heart.    Tonight we WILL have Tuesday Match race drills and on Thursday the Classics will be sailing but on Wednesday, Forth of July we will not be racing. It would be virtually impossible to race as there will be hundreds of boats on the harbor watching the Fireworks.  We hope to see you soon.

The whole concept of Oakcliff's Cinegatta is that everyone has the ability to improve and do so quickly.  Chris Poole and his Rip Tide racing team were the epitome of this concept.  They arrived back at Oakcliff after winning the ABC Qualifiers earlier in the year and were ready to face the strong and very even fleet. 

Their 1st round robin was disappointing and at the end of day one they were sitting solidly in 5th.   Oakcliff's Coach Andrew Campbell sat with them and went over some of their mistakes and made suggestions for improvements.  Saturday night, the team reduced the pressure on themselves and on Sunday morning, they hit the racing hard. Qualifying for the  semi finals by the skin of their teeth winning a three-way tie breaker. 

All day, the racing was tough with puffy and shifty breezes in West Harbor which allowed the other boat to capitalize on every misstep. But in the end of the day, Poole won in straight matches over Hayes and Holtz finished in third.  An exciting regatta for all involved including quite a few spectators on power boats, sail boats and kayaks. Congratulations to Team Rip Tide and we'll see you back here for the Oakcliff Invitational.

While some of the Saplings were racing in the Summer Clinegatta the bulk of the Saplings and all of the Acorns raced the Riverside Stratford Shoals Race.    The 'kids' were responsible for everything from registration to safety equipment to sail selection and of course racing.  I did help them with provisioning and delivered the sandwiches via RIB at 8:30 am as they were headed to the race course. 

They had a great 45 mile race, getting line honors by a long way and were back at the mooring before the sun set.  The team was very happy and totally pumped up when I met them at the mooring,  so I didn't hold this comment against them:  "See we don't need no America's Cup sailors!" :-)

The Oakcliff team will be marching in the Oyster Bay Historical Society Parade.  If you would like to come out for a fun small town parade, join the crowds lining main street at 10:30 in the morning and enjoy an old fashioned lemonade and ice cream social after.

The fireworks after dark will round out the day but PLEASE if you are on the water make sure that you are following all of the rules and you have all of your safety gear onboard as the 'officials' love to celebrate by giving out tickets!

I have to ask, is it a comment on today's fast paced and facebook society that a week ago we were a bit worried that we might be a bit light for Dave's Cinegatta and as of today we are overbooked?  It looks like we will have a minimum of 8 teams of 6 racing the Match 40s. 

No matter what we are looking forward to a great 4 days with  Dynamic Dave leading the charge.  If you are out on the Classics on Thursday  you will be able to say hello to some of our younger trainees and probably be sucked in by their enthusiasm and energy.

If you would like to be more involved we can use one or two volunteers to help Dave on Thursday and Friday. Email Bill if you are available.

A busy week yet again and check back on our web site as by the end of the week all of the bios of the new Acorns will be posted.  Again - it is a good crop!

 

 

 

Amorita Collision to Restoration
A sistership to Nautilus and Banzai had a horrible collision 6 years ago.  Here is a link to the story.

 

This Friday you can become an umpire.  Bruce Cook is going to be running a US Sailing Umpire Seminar at Oakcliff.  A great way to get your skills up for umpiring OR match racing!
Sign up Here