Sailing

Olympic Sailing

The San Diego Yacht Club hosted a national level sailing match at college level last weekend.


In the 2016 College Sailing Match Racing Nationals there were ten teams that participated and the racing events were held at the San Diego Bay. The teams that raced had J/22s as their boats and were fighting for the Cornelius Shields Sr. Trophy. The competition was a format akin to round robin. As on 18th when the races commenced, there was a semi final planned for the weekend depending on the breeze conditions.

In 18th the racing started around eleven in the morning. When the AP flag was hoisted the wind was light and it remained under 6 knots during the afternoon while it dropped to a level below 4 knots towards day’s end. Four flights were packed in the day agenda before the races were wrapped up by four in the evening. The temperature was low, though the skies were clear. With the wind being lighter on the second day, most boats focused on maintaining speed as the breeze helped them build on the acceleration. Among the racers were some who were experiencing, such as Christopher Killian from College of Charleston who has gained the number one title in the US Youth Match Racing World Championship. Continue Reading

Olympic Sailing

From the first day when the Rio games started, the weather has been a decisive and fluctuating factor that has affected the schedule of the sailing races. From the first day of light breeze to the rains and stormy weather conditions that threatened to put a stop to the races for good, the authorities have had to toggle around and manage the races in varying wind and rain conditions.

The first two weeks of the initial races were concluded well at the end. This week, as the races reached their final stage, there was a let down by the wind on 17th August. Continue Reading

Olympic Sailing

Caleb Paine owns a Finn boat where the adage can be found, stating that there is no pain without gain, with a pun on the word “Paine”. This sums up the attitude that the sailor has at the moment as he gears up to represent his country in the Olympic Games coming up in the month ahead.

Paine thinks that there might be times when you are training and times are tough but you need to keep pushing. You might not be able to win in every drill or be able to achieve the fastest speed in downwind but the important thing is to keep working. The main thing is to keep working so that the one winner spot can be yours. Even if it is not achieved you will surely be an athlete or a better sailor at the end. Continue Reading

Sailing World Cup

An intense fifteen days of contest for an international pack of Paralympic sailors came to an end today with the finish of the Sailing World Cup Melbourne race fixture in light southern winds at the top end of the Port Phillip.

Athletes just had a little break between ending Para World Sailing Championships as well as setting out their World Cup schedule earlier on Wednesday at the same place – the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria.

Celebrations went on for Damien Seguin of France in 2.4mR as well as SKUD18 sailors Liesl Tesch and Dan Fitzgibbon who summed up World Cup Melbourne gold to its medal haul, having secured the world championship honor only over a week back.

In the Sonar, Jonathan Harris, Russell Boaden and Colin Harrison have made up for their letdown of silver at Para Worlds to beat a competitive fleet, taking the gold. In the meantime, on St Kilda side of the bay, the top 20 sailors in apiece Olympic class qualified themselves for Medal Races tomorrow on a chill but magic summer’s day in Melbourne, in contrast to cold and ugly blast of yesterday. The breeze was 10-12 knots on average and remnant confused 1.5m seas made the going jolty.

The officials now have the scope of utilizing 2 courses for tomorrow’s Medal Races, though the 2nd would just come into play if Mother Nature could not offer enough dependable wind to pass through eight class finals in flying succession.