Greetings!
Last weekend there was no official programing at Oakcliff, but that didn't stop the ever-energized Saplings and Acorns from getting busy. From the NACRA on the North Fork to the Etchells in Newport to Lasers in Oyster Bay and Classics in Point of Woods, everyone was on the water. Read on for their respective reports of what we call "learning experiences" :-)
This week's 'regular programing' should be good with a brand - new crop of 6 Acorns joining in for Tuesday Match Racing Drills. Sign up and get warmed up for Wednesday's Coached Fleet Races and then jump right into Will Tiller's Clinegatta on Thursday. There IS still room. Contact Bill Simon if you would like to be on the Race Committee this weekend.
For you media hounds, don't forget the beautiful Thursday Classic Sailing as the Oyster Bay Guardian is going to cover the sailing and upcoming fundraiser. Match Racing for Classic Sailors on Sunday very welcoming as you simply need to show up at the dock at 2:30 for some fun and civilized match racing on the Match 40s.
The rest of the team is spread pretty thin with two Melges heading to the rejuvenated Atlantic City Race Week and the Ker 50 is racing with Art Santry for the NYYC Race Week.
Read on and follow Facebook for updates.
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They Will Always Remember This Start
|  On Friday, Ladi and Sappling Brock Kraebel brought Oakcliff's Nacra 20 catamaran out to the North Fork of Long Island for the Around Shelter Island Regatta. The regatta is the World's Longest Sunfish Race and has hosted beach catamarans for the last 25 years. It is run by Southold Yacht Club, Brock's home yacht club. This year, the course took participants out of Southold Bay, into Greenport Harbor, into Gardiner's bay, and back to Southold Bay through the waters north of the Hampton's.
The team spent Friday night and Saturday morning washing, wet sanding, and waxing the hulls in preparation for the race. The sails and all of the equipment was checked and double checked. As the team rigged up their rocketship, the breeze built to a welcomed 10-12 knots from the West. Although it wasn't a good direction for breaking the record, the breeze was expected to build throughout the day and made for a really exciting sail.
They made it to the startline with ten minutes to spare. Although Ladi has sailed the Nacra extensively, it was Brock's first time driving a catamaran as powerful as the 20. Right after the start, he headed up to avoid a slower boat, and couldn't release the mainsheet fast enough. SPLASH!, the boat flipped over and the competition sped off in the distance.
After a brief swim they righted the boat, launched the spinnaker, and started to fly! Passing their first boat 10 minutes later. Brock made up for his initial blunder, driving hard downwind and 40 minutes into the race they were nearly half way through the 25 mile course and had passed all but 2 catamarans. The breeze built to a solid 15 knots, allowing the Nacra 20 to reach incredible speeds. To put it in perspective, even the safety boats couldn't keep up with the Oakcliff sailors.
The downwind sleigh ride ended, as the fleet sailed through Sag Harbor and headed back up hill. The seas had grown to about 2 feet and the wind was now gusting past the 15 knot mark. Ladi coached Brock on his upwind driving; after a couple miles Brock stopped pinching and started driving the boat "like he stole it," flying a hull the majority of the time and continuing to catch the leaders while putting distance on those competitors behind. Line honors were looking more and more certain, until disaster struck again. In Shelter Island Sound, with 5 miles left, the jib sheet system failed costing the team at least 15 minutes as they tried to jury rig it.
... read more here. |
Jumping at the Opportunities: Racing to France
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Jeff MacFarlane called on Saturday, excited to say that he will be sailing the Quebec St. Marlo race with David Augeix and his Class 40, EDF Energies Nouvelles. This is great news and he and Laura jumped in the car and sped up to Quebec City as the race starts this Sunday.
Although he had planned to work on finding a sponsor over the next couple of weeks and fly to France in August to sail his newly chartered Mini he commented: "I think this is a decent reason to deviate from that plan..." An understatement that those who know Jeff will smile at.
He wanted to thank everyone who has helped with the initial sponsorship package, commenting: "I hope to get a sponsor sorted ASAP as it is very un-nerving having that kind of financial commitment. But the way I look at it is, nothing good comes from something acquired too easily." How true and how apropos for a short handed sailor. :-) Quebec - St Marlo Web SiteRace Tracker Live Sunday |
| Best Laid Plans for Practice |  Four Saplings took on a highly competitive Etchells fleet: their first time sailing in this one design boat. We got to Newport on Friday with minimal hassle and got the Oakcliff boat rigged but by the time we launched it was too late to sail.
We arrived early Saturday to practice before racing but there was no breeze so we drifted out and waited for the sea breeze which didn't fill in until around noon. It filled in quickly though and despite our weight advantage we had a hard time with speed and point and we ended up second to last every race.
After the first day of sailing we got a chance to talk to a few of the Etchells sailors. Our biggest take-aways were that we had a stiff mast (we thought we had the bendy one), that our rig needed to be looser, and that the North tuning guide hadn't been updated in fifteen years.
We felt a lot more comfortable the second day and there were some moments when our tuning matched the conditions and we were matching the top boats on speed and point. However we couldn't adapt as well to the changing conditions. The top teams would tune their rig while still hiking out. Our results improved but we still felt like we could have done better.
Our starts, besides one, were good and 5 of the 6 races we'd round the first mark in the top 10 (twice in the top 5). Over the course of the hour and a half races we bled boats (1-2 on the downwind legs and 3-4 upwind).
The boat was a blast to sail and Collin Weston, Madeline Gill, Chris Kennedy and I are all itching to get the boat back in the water, get some more practice and prove that we can sail at the top of that fleet. There is an Etchells fleet in Larchmont that races on Saturdays and there is interest in trying to do another regatta after can get some time to practice.
Thanks again for sending us to the Newport Regatta. We passed out some stickers and spread the word about Oakcliff. I wish we had some better results to attach to the Oakcliff name but we did learn our lesson about what happens when you get less than an hour of practice in the boat before trying to race it.
- Submitted by Solomon Krevens
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So as you can see we are all learning as a team and individually and we would love to share with you. Please make a point of planning your time at Oakcliff. We are here to help council you on the options but the short answer is: Don't be afraid - get on the water and get sailing!
See you soon,
Dawn Riley & The Oakcliff Sailing Team |
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| Coaching Corner | |
| Last Wednesday I was the on the water coaching and as the sailors would tell you there were moments of brilliance and then ... it was time to turn around a mark :-). We have all been there, everything is calm and kind of chill and then all hell breaks loose. It's like: SURPRISE! the mark is here.
To reduce the frequency this we are going to try something different this week. The helmsperson is going to talk - ALL of the time. I don't care if they are doing a good job of steering but they must do running - ESPN-Gary Jobson - like commentary.
"I'm steering OK now, the red tell tale is nervous, I think we are getting a knock, should we tack? How far to layline? OK, let's tack. I think we have about 10 boat lengths and then we'll tack back and then we will have 4 boat lengths to get the pole on. Foredeck you'll need to hustle. Pit are you ready? I will watch out for starboard tackers. Since the wind went left there is no chance of a jibe set. Just straight in and bear away."
The goal is for the helm to paint the picture in ADVANCE. They may be extra thirsty at the debrief but I think it will help everyone learn.
Sign up Here
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| Temptation Oakcliff Rides Again |  | The Ker 50 is back in Newport and this week I'll actually be racing on Temptation / Oakcliff as opposed to organizing, waiting, worrying, coaching, stressing. I am definitely looking forward to a good regatta and more importantly to seeing the progress that the 7 Saplings racing on board have made over the 110 hours they have raced her so far this summer.
Race Results can be followed on Facebook and the NYYC Race Week Site
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| Andrew Wills takes 1st on TP52 |  | Congratulations to Andrew Wills and the crew of Natalie J (a TP 52) for 1st place in the Cove Island division of the Bayview Mackinac race by over an hour in corrected time. Above is a picture of the legendary Wills family, with Andrew still young and mostly innocent.
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| Oakcliff Racing heads to Atlantic City, NJ..... |  | |
Nope, not hitting the casinos, nor cruising the boardwalk in Jersey Shore-style sleeveless Oakcliff team gear. Instead, Oakcliff Racing is sending two Melges 24 teams to the Atlantic City Race Week. This will be the first time many of the Saplings have raced these fast and exciting boats.
Cracks at Donald Trump, Snooky and mention of Boardwalk Empire aside, a resurrected ACWR (back from a 20 year hiatus) has a lot to offer the Northeast/Long Island Sound/Mid-Atlantic summer racing calendar-WIND!
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