July 2023

 

View this email in your browser Click here for the D7 website to see the season schedule and find a fleet near you Regattas in July and August   True Blue Spencer Evans Regatta, Sunday July 16th, Kollegewidqwok YC, Bill Hill, Maine Let's go downeast for laser sailing in a beautiful setting. Join the fun for this one-day regatta. Contact Sean Guinness for more information at chris@happynomad.com. Registration is open! Duxbury YC Midsummer Regatta, June 22-23, Duxbury, MA Great fun on Duxbury Bay. Late start @ 1400 due to tide. Check the D7 schedule page, NOR forthcoming. Helly Hansen Regatta, July 29-30, Eastern YC, Marblehead, MA It's Marblehead Race Week, and ILCA's are the line. Registration is open for this Helly Hanson Sailing World event. Come see hundreds of boats from various one design fleets and join fun ILCA racing around Marblehead Harbor.  Hyannis Regatta, July 29-30, Hyannis YC, Hyannis, MA Oh yeah, let's have fun in the summer breezes on the Cape.  Great racing, beautiful location. Registration is open.  Taylor Pond Yacht Club, July 30, 2023, Auburn, ME Open Laser regatta;  1 Yacht Club Drive, Auburn, Maine;  First start 3 PM.  No race to begin after 5 PM.  Practice sails OK. Free. Social hour on the yacht club deck after.  Contact Peter Garcia 207-754-0443 or petergarcia207@gmail.com to register. Taylor Pond Invitational Regatta, August 5, 2023, Auburn, ME;  I Yacht Club Drive, Auburn, Maine;  pursuit race, fun for all, especially inexperienced racers;  one design Laser class for this distance race.  First start 3 PM, followed by open air barbecue (bring your own food and beverage);  TPYC provided the gill; followed by Tinpanic Steel Band concert and dancing.  All free. Contact Peter Garcia 207-754-0443 or petergarcia207@gmail.com to register. Buzzard's Bay Masters, August 5-6, New Bedford YC, Dartmouth, MA We all know what happens when the summer breeze kicks in on Buzzard's Bay. Plan to go fast and have fun with all the other oldies but goodies. Registration is open. Mallets Bay Boat Club D7 Gran Prix Regatta, August 5-6, Colchester, VT Mallets Bay Boat Club will host the 2023 D7 Gran Prix event in VT.  Want to sail on beautiful fresh water? Earn Grand Prix points towards a possible free tuition at the International Sailing Academy? Meet new people? Not worry about the tide?  This is the regatta for you! Mallets Bay Boat Club has hosted lots of national events, including Lightning Worlds/NAs/PanAms, J24 Nationals, and Laser Nationals. We are lucky to have them for the VT D7 Gran Prix event. Registration opens soon. The NOR is available on the Club's website under the calendar page. Old Dogs, New Tricks! Are you an Apprentice Master (30-44 years old), Master (45-54 years old), Grand Master (55-64 years old), Great Grand Master (65+) or Legend (75+)? If so, boy do we have an extravaganza for you! Start getting in shape now so you can join us for a great 2023 line up: Buzzard Bay Masters August 8th, New England Masters at Wickford September 23-24, and then the big enchilada. North American Masters at the New York Yacht Club in Newport, RI, September 28th through October 1st!  You'll have abs of steel at the end, like you're twenty all over again. Seriously, having all these great events in our district is a treat, so hit the registration links on the D7 schedule and "Book'em Danno" (If you don't get the reference ask a master.)  News from around the district Summer Sailing Opportunities Newly Listed on the D7 website Quannapowitt Yacht Club welcomes you to their summer series. Club racing every Wednesday 6pm and Sunday 2pm from June through mid September; $15 to drop in and race for non-members; Women’s sailing group on Tuesday evenings for members. Contact Fleet captain Toni S. at info@sailqyc.com (Ask for your email to be forwarded to Toni) Free-ish Laser Clinic Eastern TC, Marblehead Eastern YC is hosting a laser clinic on 7/11. Come join the fun and hone your skills. Fast guy and frequent Marblehead winner Patrick Andreasen will be joined by Eastern's new Sailing Coordinator, the world-famous MIT sailing coach Fran Charles. Yeah, it's going to be good and you will get faster. All your dreams will come true if you show up. (Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. LOL) Schedule: 1600-Dry Sail Rigging and Technique Tips 1800-1830 On water Drills 1830-1930 Racing w drone coverage 2000-2130 Debrief w drone footage EYC Model Room There is no cost to join the clinic (Wow!) but we pass the hat for refreshments post sailing. Contact me @ laserd7@gmail.com with questions. I make up answer for a fee. Learn more about where to sail You can find more information about where to sail from CT to ME on the D7 fleet page Want to list your club's summer racing schedule here? Let me know @ laserd7@gmail.com D7 Gran Prix Heating Up! We have had three events that qualify for the D7 2023 Gran Prix: the Peter Milnes Regatta, the Wickford Regatta, and the Portland Pilot.  If you sailed in any of these events, you have been added to the Gran Prix competition. It's free, but you can always send me a check and I'll do my best to influence our volunteer scorer, Chip Terry. Chip is using a percentage high point system for the Gran Prix. This gives credit for both performance and participation, with a bit more emphasis on participation since the purpose of this informal Gran Prix is to get you to hit the road, meet new people, and enjoy all the awesome ILCA sailing in our district's six states. So, you ask, who's in the running after three races?  Well, it's still anybody's game. We have 5 more events to go, culminating in the D7 2023 District Championship at Marblehead on October 21-22. Right now our top three are Sean Guinness, fast guy from Blue Hill a.k.a, the Blue Streak, Jamie Carter another one of those tall skinny guys with skills and (drum roll) your truly Ledyard McFadden because, yes, showing up counts big.  Who will win the free clinic in Mexico? Who will get a goodie bag from Colie Sails? Who will get their name on the awesome trophy donated by Dave Crawley (currently in 4th place and coming up strong). It's anyone's game! Wickford Blowout This year's Wickford Regatta was a doozy. Saturday, June 3rd saw shingles blowing off of roofs, white caps from the North Kingston Beach to Conanicut Island and most of the fleets sitting out the blow. It was so windy that when a few Finns tried to join the laser line, they threw up their hands, pulled down their sails, and bare-poled it back to the beach.  It blew 20-25 knots and gusted well over thirty. The race committee gave us two races and then wisely sent us home for a double dose of Aleve. Since we did not have the luxury to lower our sails like the Finns, we reached down the sound, sitting on the transom corner to avoid submarining and then jibed for the beach. Yippee and Yikes, not necessarily in that order. Several of us, including Maine speed demon Sean Guinness think it might be the fastest sustained speed we've ever experienced on a laser.   All I know is it dawned on me as I was scudding along that it was low tide and if I didn't turn up into the wind at the right time, I would blow out my centerboard case on the sand and get catapulted onto North Kingston Beach, not a good look. Wickford YC put on a great spread Saturday night, as they always do, and we all went to bed early. Sunday saw more civilized conditions in the ten to fifteen range, and we got in 4 more races. In the standards, Charles Stanley took the weekend with a very impressive 7 points after one drop. He was followed by Paul Craine in second and yours truly in third. In the radials, Jamie Carter and Sean Guinness duked it out with Sean winning by a single point. Duncan Craine took third with a very respectable 12 points. Portland Pilot You guessed it! It was raining in beautiful Falmouth, ME for the Portland Pilot, but that didn't stop Portland YC from putting on a stellar day for 17 boats. Many folks made the trek from MA for this D7 Gran Prix event. Chris Morin ran a masterful RC, banging out 8 races in the drizzle.  Once again, Sean Guinness and Jamie Carter duked it out with Sean squeaking another win by a single point (14 to 15). South Shore fast guy Dave Crawley took third with 32 points. The evening celebrations included singing pirates and smash burgers. If you missed it, coming back in 2024!     Are Your Telltales Deceiving You in a Lull?   The sailor to the right incorrectly bears away in the lull chasing his telltales and losing height. As he slows down in the new lesser wind velocity, he eventually finds himself now too low, almost stalled, and needing to head up again. The proper way to say lulls is to stay straight initially, not bear away.   Getting lulls confused with pinching or wind shifts is more common than you’d think. Pinching results in a loss of power, as does a lull. While both lulls and pinching feel almost exactly the same in the boat, each requires a different action.  If you have a habit of bearing away (purposefully or accidentally) every time you feel less power, you will struggle in light wind lulls. A header or a pinching sailor requires a quick bear away, yet this should be avoided in a lull. A lull requires you to preserve height and coast.   Preserve height  A lot of sailors get lulls wrong with accidental OR purposeful bearaways. Again, do not bearaway during lulls, especially initially.    Identify the lull on the water in front of you - a less dense area of ripples on the water. In the lull, adjust your body weight to maintain a constant heel. Do this by either bringing your body more upright (hinging at the hips), sliding your butt inboard, or both. Remember don’t change course initially, even if your telltales indicate that you’re now pinching, this is often only temporary while you slow down and the apparent wind changes direction. If your sheet is tight, a very slight ease will help prevent stalling after you’ve been in the lull and slowed a little. After you’ve slowed, if the telltales still indicate you’re too high, go ahead and bear away.  Watch the full video to learn more and master the lull response below. Use Code DISTRICT7 & Receive 1 MONTH FREE   New 2023/2024 Laser Clinic Calendar Now Available! https://internationalsailingacademy.com/clinic-dates/