2024 Regatta Schedule Updates
Frostbiting it is! We're still developing the 2025 Schedule, but I asked fleet captains to send me information on any fall/winter/spring frostbiting series. Here's what's cooking, or rather freezing.
Cedar Point YC, Westport, CT
CPYC Frostbiting runs from October 13th through May 10th. This is a big fleet and lots of fun. They also have an excellent post mortem email after every event so you can learn from the best. Click the link to learn more.
Fleet 413, Newport, RI
The Newport laser fleet 413 will be hosting its traditional Sunday frostbiting series starting November 10th through mid April. Start times are at 1pm. The more sailors the better! Fleet 413's website is newportlaserfleet.org, and there is a link to sign up on the homepage. This fleet is big and gets rave reviews. Give it a go.
Bristol YC, Bristol, RI
BYC Frostbiting runs from Saturday, October 19, 2024, through Saturday, March 29, 2025. The first gun is at 1:00 PM with separate 3-minute dingy-starts for each fleet through 3:30 PM. High School students race for free. All racers must 1) register and 2) submit a written BYC Waiver of Liability. Online registration opens on Sunday, October 1. The BYC Frostbite Season will include two series: - The 9-race fall series will run from October 19, 2024, through December 14.
- The 11-race winter series will run from January 11, 2025, through March 22.
Click the link above for contacts and more information.
Winthrop Frostbiting Club, Cottage Park YC, Winthrop, MA
Winthrop Frosting runs from October through April. This is a great place to sail with the race course just in front of the club and, afterwards, warm chilly in the restaurant and football on the TV. Click the link and/or contact Duane.delfosse@comcast.net
Marblehead Laser Fleet, Eastern YC in Marblehead, MA
The Marblehead Laser Fleet draws 20-30 boats on a regular basis for Sunday Frosting from September through the weekend before Thanksgiving and again in the spring from early April through the end of May. First gun is 13:00. Prizes, beer, and pizza after sailing. Contact fleet captain Tom Dailey: tomdailey15@gmail.com
Casco Bay Laser Fleet, Falmouth, ME
The Casco Bay Laser Fleet is hosting its Fall Laser Series at the Portland Yacht Club in Falmouth, Maine on Sundays from 10/27 to 11/24. Skippers’ meetings will be at 1300, first starts at 1400 and no race will start after 1600. Guests are permitted to store Lasers at PYC for the duration of the series. For more information please contact Justice Pollard at jbqpollard@gmail.com or 207-776-5711.
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District News
Thanks for a great season
2024 will be remembered for vintage ILCA sailing. A few highlights, among many, were lobster dinners at KYC in Blue Hill, ME, a growing D7 Championship at Stone Horse, and a nuclear US Masters in Marblehead. Our Grand Prix grew to include all six D7 states, and I'm happy to report the winner, Dave Crawley, is off to the International Sailing Academy in Mexico to further improve his skills. I hope you enjoyed the season. Better yet, keep sailing through the winter. The newsletter will start again in March, but the 2025 schedule will be added to the D7 website as it develops. Here's wishing you a good leg to the final mark of 2024 and lot's of time on the water in 2025.
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BEST PRACTICES
After the awards ceremony for the US Masters, which was sailed in 20 knots gusting above 30 on huge and confused seas, one diminutive sailor approached me and said, "I can't believe Tim Woodford. He's my size, but he dominated out there." Being vertically challenged myself, I knew I'd struck gold. So many times after sailing in windy conditions, I'd bemoaned the travails of the smaller ILCA sailor with other folks whom I can look in the eye. I have always done this while leaning on the bar, growing horizontally on pizza and beer. I won't be able to do it again as Tim has shared his secrets.
Tim himself tells you in his article below that he is 5'6" in his comfy sneakers, yet he was second overall in the ILCA 6 at the US Masters. He had two first places. These results aren't a fluke. Tim is well known on the masters circuit and recently took 7th place for Great Grand Masters in the European Championships. So how does he do it? Well, I asked him, and he graciously replied with the following. ARE YOU VERTICALLY CHALLENGED? SAILING A LASER IN HEAVY WINDS FOR THE SMALL BUT MIGHTY
Having done quite well at the US Masters in Marblehead in September, I was asked to write about sailing a Laser in heavy winds when one is vertically challenged.
For those who don’t know, the conditions at Marblehead were very challenging: a Northeaster blowing down the harbor, a big sea running 45 degrees to the wind-driven waves, and a significant wave rebound off the shoreline at the harbor entrance. The only place worse than being in a laser was on the committee boat. I was nauseated just watching it corkscrew, pitch, and lurch in an unpredictable manner!
There are ways to learn about sailing a laser in heavy winds and waves, both written and videotaped (if the latter is even a thing anymore) by people more knowledgeable, intelligent, and successful than I am. The only difference is that most of those people (with maybe the exception of Steve Cockerill, the boat whisperer) speak from the point of view of being six feet tall! I will try to explain some of the things that I do to compensate for my vertical challenge.
Conditioning.
Obviously, this is a motherhood statement. The better shape you are in, the longer and harder you can hike...period. When you don’t have the height and/or weight, you have to work so much harder to sail the boat flat than if you were taller/heavier. For me, this is always a challenge. I always want to be in better shape than I ever seem to achieve. It is getting harder to avoid injuring myself if I push myself too hard. Most of my aerobic work is done on a rowing machine, playing hockey, and cross-country skiing in the winter. I also try to do a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) routine during the winter months. Again, I have to be careful to avoid injuring myself if I push too hard. Building (and using!) a torture device (i.e. hiking bench) is very helpful. I must confess I have to push myself to use this regularly. When I can finally get back in a boat in April (damn cold in Cape Breton in winter), I will sail as much as I can to get hiking ‘conditioned’. It's much more fun than the torture device.
Hiking strap tension.
When I have had the opportunity to be coached, they consistently tell me the same thing: "Hey Tim, your hiking strap is too loose. You aren’t connected to the boat." I like to reply that I am 5’6” (in truth, only if I have my shoes on.) My inseam is 28”. My shoe size is 7.5. This all translates into having a hard time getting out very far in a Laser, especially if I have the strap too tight. I agree, however, that you need to be connected to the boat. I feel you can do this with a loose strap. The key is to keep your legs as straight as possible. If you do this, you will be locked to the strap and the side of the boat. I would say that hiking-strap length is like the length of your hockey stick, very individual. If you are vertically challenged, you need to get as much body mass out as far as you can in order to go fast in wind. Try different tensions to see what works for you. How will you know? You will be fast upwind.
Hiking positions.
The fastest position is out as far as you can get: legs straight, body extended, and head out. This is what I try to achieve off the start line. I don’t know about you, but I can last a minute, maybe two, depending on the sea state. More chop necessitates more torquing and more body pumps on top of the waves. The result is more rapid fatiguing. You need to find hiking positions that allow subtle changes in the muscles you use so you can keep the boat flat and moving over time. The further up the beat, the faster you will burn through these subtle position changes. For me, these changes include: - back of heels resting on edge of cockpit, ankles flexed, knees slightly flexed, and bum slightly drooped (I know….blasphemy) and body out engaging abdominal muscles more. I find this very fast, especially if there is little chop, but I tire very quickly in this position.
- alternating resting on left and right legs (Share the pain)
- looping the sheet across my forward knee and using my sheet hand to support some weight.
- Sometimes, I work a bit harder at torquing and pumping off the top of the wave. Curiously, this can feel like a rest for the static muscles.
- lastly, tack! A change is as good as a rest. I am pretty sure this is not tactically sound, but sometimes you just have to do something to get rid of the pain.
In short, you need to find what works best for you. The goal is to sail flat and fast. A laser sailing fast is easier to keep flat than one that is slow. This requires working harder at key moments, for example in a steep/short wave set, to avoid getting slowed. That boost of work to maintain boat speed will make life easier in the big picture. By the way, the technique for sailing in waves is the same for the short and tall, just harder for us.
Sail Setup
I can’t add anything here. The International Sailing Academy is the best resource for sail setting that I have found. I put as much vang on as I can. This can be a bit of a challenge. I don’t have a lot of muscle mass in my upper body, and my shoulders are starting to do funny things under load. To get the vang on, I sheet in until I am block-to-block. Then I hold the tiller and sheet in my forward hand and reach across my body to pull the vang with my tiller hand (aft hand). One trick is first placing the vang line close to your forward leg, so it is easy to reach with your aft hand. With this approach, I can pull, rotate, and extend my body, thereby getting the vang much tighter. Now you are vang sheeting. Sheet off and bear off some. You will feel the boat get lighter on the helm and the speed pick up. Next, sheet in and out, steer on waves and hike to stay flat and fast. The only caveat here is off of the start when you need to hold your lane. At the start, my vang will be less than full-on to allow ‘high mode.’ When in this mode, you need to hike really hard, especially off waves, to keep your height and speed. When a little space opens below you, vang on and bow down!!
Tacking with the vang on tight
Three bad things can happen when tacking with the vang on super tight:
First, you can’t get under the boom. Swimming time. I find that if I dive low (watch your head on the cockpit) and try to lead with my shoulder, my body is more parallel to the boom, so less time passes with my body under it. This is better than leading with your head, then neck, and back because there is less likelihood that the lifejacket will get caught.
Second, if you don’t get around quite far enough, you will lose speed and end up in irons. If this happens, you must release the vang to get going again. Obviously, this is very slow. In heavy winds, you need to come into every tack with speed and aggressively tack so that when you complete the tack, the boom is in a close reach position. Then hike hard, sheet in, and get speed before coming up to your new close-hauled heading.
Third, if you don’t pull your mainsheet slack in when the boom is crossing the centerline, the mainsheet will occasionally get caught on your tiller. When you begin to hike, you will notice you can’t bear off. Now you are in irons again and going backward while you get sorted.
As per usual, all these things will happen more often when in traffic or when tired or both.
Downwind
Outside of sailing shifts while sailing upwind, the biggest potential for gains is on the downwind legs. This may be one of the few times when being vertically challenged is not a disadvantage in laser sailing. Sailing techniques for downwind performance apply here regardless of your height. Full disclosure: I capsized more times in Marblehead in one race than I have racing or practicing in three years!! The wind and wave patterns had me fearful of capsizing. My dad used to say about playing hockey that as soon as you start worrying about getting hit, you get hit. I needed to stop worrying about death-roll capsizing to windward, which I didn’t. They were all to leeward! I needed to get nimble and reactive in the boat, basically taking charge of the boat in the wind and confused sea state. It was still challenging, but I stopped capsizing (except when I reached down to pull my cockpit plug out). I was given a tip about this…take the plug off the pin and put it in your lifejacket. Then tape the pin to the floor of the cockpit. I haven’t had a chance to try this yet but plan to.
Happy Lasering (or should I say ILCAing). Thank you for the privilege to share!
Tim Woodford
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From the International Sailing Academy, here a tip on getting in hiking shape: Who’s ready to build some quad strength, increase loaded hiking endurance, and build mental resilience? Let’s do this. How to Perform the Leg Extension and Hold:- Set Up
- Sit on a leg extension machine or a sturdy chair with your back straight and knees bent at 90 degrees.
- If using a chair, attach a resistance band to provide tension during the extension.
- Extend Your Legs
- Slowly extend one leg (or both if using a machine) until it's fully straight.
- Focus on contracting your quadriceps as you lift.
- Hold the Position
- Once your leg is fully extended, hold the position for 5-10 seconds. Engage your core and keep your posture upright.
- For an extra challenge, increase the hold time as your strength improves.
- Lower and Repeat
- Slowly lower your leg back to the starting position.
- Perform 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions on each leg, with a brief pause between reps.
Incorporate this exercise into your weekly fitness routine, and you’ll feel more powerful and stable when it comes to those long, windy grinds. Read what ILCA World Champion Thomas Saunders (NZL) has to say about the leg extension and hold. Once you’ve got this one down, try his leg extension descending ladder workout below. “This is a no brainer exercise. Direct coloration to hiking performance. I’ve done it every week for as long as I can remember. Adding holds into the beginning of your sets is a personal favourite. ” ~Thomas Saunders (NZL) ILCA World Champion Thomas Saunders (NZL) Descending Leg Extension Ladder
Complete an extended hold, then a series of maximum reps, then rest before starting the next segment. | Extension Hold (sec) | Max Reps (sec) | Rest (sec) |
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| 60 | 60 | 90 | | 30 | 30 | 45 | | 15 | 15 | 30 | | 5 | 5 | Finish |
How did THAT feel? Let’s do this one consistently and get off the line strong on a windy day. Best, Colin Thomas Saunders Signature Clinic https://internationalsailingacademy.com/clinics/saunders-signature-clinic/ Mexico Clinic Dates internationalsailingacademy.com/clinic-dates/ Virtual Coaching internationalsailingacademy.com/virtual-coaching/ Online Courses learn.internationalsailingacademy.com |
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