This past weekend, Saplings Chris, Jon, Madeline, and Seth hauled Oakcliff's Lasers up to Niantic, CT to compete in Niantic Bay Yacht Club's Annual Laser Regatta.  

The regatta was a perfect fit for the Oakcliff crew. It worked nicely into an open slot in the schedule and offered a good low-key opportunity for Chris and Jon to sail their first Laser regatta as well as a refreshing return to dinghies for all after a summer filled with big boat sailing.  

The group was hoping for decent wind on the eastern end of Long Island Sound, a fleet in the 20's, and plenty of fun. The event pulled through on all accounts.

Having not raced dinghies for the better part of three months, it was interesting to evaluate those lessons learned in match racing and on larger boats at Oakcliff which could be applied just as well to small-boat racing. Dawn often can be heard to say how match racing experience can be very helpful in all other formats of sailing, and most of the Oakcliff crew found that to be true this weekend. A good example is several top-mark meets where places were gained or saved in forcing boats approaching on port to tack off early or duck you by aiming down at them on starboard and then luffing up only as they tacked.

In the end, the Saplings represented Oakcliff very well with Seth, Chris, Madeline, and Jon placing 1st, 6th, 8th, and 12th of 24, respectively. The improvement in the first-timers' skills was evident in the scorecard with Jon and Chris both achieving top-three finishes in the second half of the regatta. After racing, Niantic hosted a great barbecue for which the sailors were extremely thankful. The Oakcliff crew also took up the great responsibility, upon NBYC's request, of seeing off the remainder of the beer supply; again, they did not disappoint.

You should click here to read the full report submitted by Seth and Madeline - there were some interesting races. 

Brendan returned to his home waters of Marblehead to compete in the PHRF New England Championships on Heart of Gold, a Henderson 30. The Henderson 30 Intergalactics are held concurrently with the PHRF Northeasterns, and are open to any Henderson 30s in the galaxy.

He filed this report: 

In typical Marblehead fashion, the breeze was light and variable. Most of the racing consisted of connect-the-dots sailing with pressure taking precedence over wind shifts. But it was a refreshing change to go from trimming main on a Swedish Match 40, where the only controls are the mainsheet and backstay, to a Henderson 30 that also has a traveler and running backstays. Runner tension really helps the boat change gears, starting with fairly soft tension for speed builds out of tacks in order to power up the jib, and increasing tension to get better pointing once the boat is up to speed.

We competed in in Class 2, which was a mix of racer-cruisers and sport boats. The light conditions favored the larger boats but we beat the other sport boats as well as all of the other Henderson 30s and finished 5th overall but first in the Galaxy. Thanks to owner Peter Brown, who was a great coach for my main trim and a great host. 

Ervin and Ivy were asked to race in the Newport Bucket, a legendary high end race of mega yachts! Here is their report. 

As we drove towards Newport Boatyard we saw a row of mast towering higher than most of the buildings. Walking down the dock I realized that this regatta was going to be a bit different than the regattas I have sailed in the past. Ivy adds, "Indio (Wally 101), Hanuman (J-class), Lady B (44.7-metre striking sloop) and many others came in as we were at the shipyard and with each new boat my breath was taken away." On Friday evening we were given a tour, MITseaAH, our boat for the weekend, and then headed to the welcoming tent party.

Saturday we docked out at 10:30 and started a couple hours later. MITseaAH's strength is she can motor at 25 knots, however under sail she averages about 4 knots upwind and 5 knots downwind in the breeze we had on Saturday. Although this took its toll on our regatta results I can assure you we were the most comfortable boat out there.

Ivy added that they worked hard in their pink crew shirts to do a very special spinnaker packing job but it didn't go quite as planned: Approaching the upwind mark, we tacked, rounded the mark and unfortunately had a very messy set. This resulted in the spinnaker popping free of it's bands and showering the guests on board with lots and lots of pink feathers and glitter.   We had packed in the kite with the intention of showering the fleet with sparkles. Oh well.  

Saturday evening the band broke it down and it would be safe to say that everyone at the party was having a good time... a very good time. Sunday afternoon we were postponed for two hours waiting for breeze which was bad news for MITseaAH. It was a late afternoon for us and the crew arriving back at the dock near dark. After washing the boat down we decided to skip the final party and head straight back to Oakcliff to get some sleep before the Match 40 delivery on Monday morning.

I want to thank Mr. Leibowitz for having us on board and all the crew for helping us adapt to  mega yacht sailing. It was awesome having the designer, David Pedrick aboard to explain the design of the boat and details that none of us would have picked up on had he not been around.      

Overall it was an excellent weekend, filled with fun people, delicious food, and an insight into the world of mega yacht life.  A big thank you to Cynthia Ross for finding us a place on the boat. Finally we'd like to thank the regatta sponsors, organizers, and planners; it was quite and event.  

Editors Note:  They skipped the prizegiving to be responsible and get back to Oakcliff so weren't aware that their team won the sportsmanship award until I told them :-)