29er North America

RECENT NEWS
29ers back in Orange Bowl If you're interested in participating in the Orange Bowl in the 29er please contact Peter Macdonald. The class is trying to get a feel for the numers to see if we could participate.
7/29/10
30 29ers at the 2010 Canadian Championship This past weekend 30 29ers battled for the 2010 Canadian National Championship in Kingston, Ontario. Emily Tsang and Lauren Laventure bested the fleet with 18 points, 4 points ahead of Michael Howarth and Erin Murray. Chantal Hearst and Alison Ludzki finished 3rd, rounding out the female-dominated podium finishers. .....final results
7/27/10
29er US National Championship Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club and their dedicated race committee rolled out the red launch ramp carpet for the 29er fleet for three picture perfect days of racing in Los Angeles Harbor's famous Hurricane Gulch. Races were run with upwind finishes on day one, and yahoo downwind finishes on days two and three. Breeze ran fairly consistent at 15 to 20 all weekend with some late puffs to 22 knots. Competitors learned that racing gets very interesting very fast when you forget to pick a path through the kelp, especially downwind! There were some exciting crashes and a fair share of carnage over the three day event, including zippered top sections, bent spreaders, rail dings and a cleaved transom, not to mention some Superman exhibitions and a few deep-sixed pairs of sunglasses. Videographer/Filmmaker Frank Pantano captured much of the action on film and we hope to have an exciting compilation embedded on this site very soon.
The "Despite The Odds Trophy" . . . a brand new spinnaker . . . went to Ryan Doane, who crewed gamely for Katie Stackpole all weekend despite significant pain from a shoulder-separation injury suffered in the Gorge.
Katy Cenname and Helena Scutt won the Women's Division title with a terrific performance, while Sterling and Hans Henken dominated the Youth Division with 13 points in 11 races.
Kristen Lane and Charlie McKee were 5th overall, led by Piet van Os and Johnny Goldsberry in 4th, Oliver Toole and Craig Shefferns in 3rd, and Sterling and Hans Henken in 2nd place.
The 2010 National Champions are Max Fraser and David Liebenberg, who took the championship in convincing fashion with a total of 17 points in 11 races. Congratulations, Max and David! You guys are amazing!
Great photos of the event by Steve Jost Photography.
.....Complete Results
7/27/10
More on the US Nationals This last weekend 30 of the best young and older skiff sailors came to "Hurricane Gulch" to experience the 29er Nationals. The unique 29er class format allows the over 19's and juniors to compete sided by side and together all in one fleet. What you get is a lot of experience and talent working with the upcoming youth stars of tomorrow and today. Youth and all women's teams are scored separately as well as overall. In addition, the "After sailing briefs" are the norm for our class, headed this nationals by Charlie McKee. This is a special way to keep the teams up to speed on tactics and trim especially at a National Championship. The regatta started on Thursday with measuring, registration and practice race festivities. On Friday the final paperwork and measuring was done, the first race started right at 12:30pm, and the breeze was on. Four races were scored with defending National Champion Max Fraser jumping out to an early lead. Winds ranged from 12 kts at the start to 20 knots by the end of the day. What a sight to see all boats racing across the gulch with brightly colored asymmetrical spinnakers.
After the first day there was a post race brief headed by Charlie McKee mentioning the trim and boat handling tips along with crew feed back to benefit the teams. CBYC Staff Commodore John O'Connor and his team supplied hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill for all the racers as they came in from sailing.
On Saturday morning PRO Jonathan Mitsumori met with the sailors and briefed them on the day’s schedule and events. Racing continued with race 5 right at 12:30 PM and 12 knots of breeze started up again. By the end of the day the breeze built up to 18 knots as the teams sailed in.
After races 5-8 were concluded, the daily brief was held, and then all the 29er teams met at CBYC for their annual 29er AGM / Dinner . At the AGM, Class President Oliver Scutt, Class V.P. Peter Macdonald, Class Secretary John Papadopoulos, and Class Measurer Max Fraser gave their reports. After discussing the class business, international reports, announcement of upcoming 2011 national championship, the class celebrated the teams that went to Spain for the 2010 Europeans, the teams that went to the 2010 World Championships in the Bahamas, and the celebration of James Moody and Antoine Screve, along with Mac Agnese (sailing a SL-16 catamaran) were the top, "two handed" American teams at the ISAF Volvo Youth World Championships recently in Turkey. That says a lot for our growing 29er class.
Mike Martin, 2 time World Champion in the 505, (first as crew, and second as skipper) the first sailor in history to achieve that in the class, two time 18' skiff world champion, collegiate all American , 8 time National Champion in the 505, National or North American champion in the Laser, Thistle, 505 and I-14 was the Keynote Speaker. He shared with the class his adventures as skipper and crew on various boats. He held a question and answer session at the end of his discussion.
On the final race day, the last day of sailing had a delayed start till 1:15 which allowed the breeze to settle and fill in. Patience was the call from the race committee. The first race was sailed in 10kts of breeze, and races 9 and 10 built to 16 knots again. Perfect conditions flat water at the end of the regatta, David Liebenberg and Max Fraser retained the National Champions Crown. The Junior National Champions are Hans and Sterling Henken and top Female team are Helena Scutt and Katie Cenname.
In the morning daily pre-race brief instructed the teams on they would choose the most deserving crew at the event and nominate that sailor for a sportsmanship award, the "Despite the odds award". That award consisted of a new 29er spinnaker. It went to the sailor that performed the best, under the circumstances, hence, "Despite the odds". This year’s winner was Ryan Doane, who crewed for Katie Stackpole all weekend despite significant pain from a shoulder-separation injury suffered in the Gorge at the 29er PCCs two weeks ago. As the teams came in from sailing on the last day of the event He was selected by secret ballot by his peers.
Special thanks to John O'Connor, race chairman and his support staff (including wife Anne), Jonathan Mitsumori, the PRO and his staff of dedicated race volunteers shore director Dean Wyer and Club Manager Sharon Terrones. Also thanks goes to PS2000 for their continued support to the 29er Class
7/27/10
Cheap shipping to the 2011 Worlds in Argentina! Anybody interested in shipping a 29er to Argentina in a container, please contact Class President Oliver Scutt asap. The container would leave from the Miami area in early November. Hamburg Sud are kindly sponsoring the container to Mar del Plata and back, as well as the rental charges whilst there.
7/20/10
Golfer's tan lines pale by comparison Golfers got nothing on skiffies . . . here it is . . . announcing . . . from the Junior Olympic Sailing venue in Santa Barbara, California . . .
. . . The 29er Tan!

29er Tan
7/20/10
29er JO's at Santa Barbara SBYC really pulled off a great regatta based on the size of the club, they had lots of volunbteers, and many were from visiting areas. Many thanks to Dana and his team for pulling off a great regatta.
There were 3 courses, Opti, Lasers, and Double Handed. The 29er's were on the Double handed course. (11) 29er teams from San Diego to San Francisco raced 11 races in 3 days. There are many new, yet very talented teams . It was the best showing by 29er teams at an JO that I am aware of. Many Thanks to John Rogers who helped keep all the boats focused on the sailing.
On Thursday a majority of teams were able to take advantage of John R's coaching and practiced out on the course. Of course, the wind that day was excellent, then died in the afternoon while high pressure moved in. The 29ers buzzed the Opti fleet, and Zach Downing rigged up the 29erXX and took a number of people out for a sail, nice job to Zach and his team for rigging that up.
The condions were light all weekend as the "high" moved in (4-9 knots at best through out the days), and it made it tough on the teams competing. Very shifty, puffy conditions. We also had pretty long courses, weather legs the first day were 1 mile. So, everyone had to work incredibly hard maintain the focus on keeping the boats up to speed. Of course at the end of the day, when the teams sailed in, the wind would pick up to 10-12 knots.
This was a good practice for the US Nationals, and at the end of the 3 days, all teams were pretty worked, mentally and physically. All the racing was tight, boats rounding marks all together, it was really a sight. Overall, the weekend was fun and compeititive, Lots of 29er envy.
At the conclusion of the event, Tyler Macdonald/ Brian Bolton won the Gold, Chris Ford and Mike Deady placed second. JP Barnes and Andrew Cates finished third. At the awards ceramony, Honrable mention forgreat efforts on the water was went to Charlie Welsh and Riley Gibbs (they won some cool back packs). These two skiffies just started sailing together, and are a few years younger than the the hot group we had. All the competitors did a great job!
Thank you to the parents for supporting the class, and your kids! .....Final Results
7/20/10
Despite the Odds Trophy In the continuing thread of keeping the fun in sailing and putting the sailors back into the sport, one Class has added a novel touch to the awarding of its regatta prizes. The 29er Class has instituted for its Nationals in Cabrillo Beach a "Despite the Odds Award". It is a new spinnaker for the crew that has the most outstanding regatta. In case that sounds a bit subjective, it could well be a first place boat that pulled off all bullets in trying conditions, it could be a veteran crew that had not sailed in a regatta for however many years but sailed a really good series, it could be two youngsters having their best regatta ever, it could be a new crew in the boat for the first time, it could be a terrific come back after a bum first race, it could be a huge improvement over any previous finishes etc., etc. No rules - the sailors decide. Right after the last race, each boat will be given a ballot with a simple question - "Which boat do you think had the most outstanding regatta Despite the Odds"? Simple question, simple answer. The sailors pick the winner, everyone has had a shot, anyone can win.
7/16/10
Team USA Sails To Medal Stand At Youth Worlds! A hot, windless week ended with a welcome day "superb sailing conditions" at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in Istanbul, and the USA team of Antoine Screve and James Moody battled hard and edged out Great Britain by a single point, earning a Bronze Medal in the penultimate youth sailing event. The French team of Gael Jaffrezic and Julien Bloyet and New Zealand's Alex Maloney and Sam Bullock shared the medal stand with the Americans, taking the Gold and Silver Medals respectively. Team CANADA's Erin Berry and Jessica Round finished 12th in the high performance 29er class.

29er Podium Finishers
.....Final Results
7/17/10
North American Teams Solid at the Youth Worlds The USA 29er team of Antoine Screve and James Moody slipped from 1st place to 4th after a tough go in race 6 in light and shifty conditions while Erin Berry and Jessica Round of Team CANADA are sailing solidly and are currently 9th in the 18 boat regatta. Competitors waited in the dinghy park until 1630 hours on day two before a light sea breeze formed and the 350 young sailors were permitted to sail out for a single race in the evening sunshine. Links to twitter feeds, photos, results and videos are available at http://www.isafyouthworlds.com

Go Team CANADA! Go Team USA! Viva NorteAmericanos!
7/14/10
Pacific Coast Championship - EPIC! 29er fans rejoice! I-14 sailors ain't got nothin' on you! They are now the learners and we are the masters... of the Gorge. That's right... the gauntlet is thrown... those young skiffies (and some not so young) with the orange trimmed sails and the humongous hearts sent you 14s packing to the beach all 3 days in the epic heavy air marathon of 2010. 29ers were the only boats left on the course in the hot and heavy late afternoon air in Cascade Locks, Oregon after the Swifts, the Mustos and I-14s all retreated. No charge for the beverages... or for the 29er tow-surfing clinic that Max, David and Evan put on for your entertainment after a long day of full tilt racing.

Photo by Oliver Scutt Seriously, 29er CISA coach Charlie McKee and Kristen Lane were proud (and a little nervous) watching Charlie's young protégés fight to the front in race after race in 20 to 30 knots of breeze. Event winners and 2010 PCC Champions David Liebenberg and Max Fraser observed transoms on their bow numerous times over the course of the 3 day PCC Regatta, inspiring their competitive spirit and making their Championship medals that much sweeter. An incredible performance from high school sailors Tucker Atterbury and Duncan Swain earned them Silver Medals and the awe of all the fleets, not to mention heavy air fans everywhere. Kristen Lane survived another overboard drill at a windward mark en route to the PCC Bronze Medal with crew Charlie McKee, who said this was perhaps the team's best heavy air performance ever. Sterling Henken and Brian Bolton won a great battle for 4th with Paris Henken and Ian Andrewes (5th), who experienced an explosive dismasting and Ian's catapult launch during a jibe in a 30 knot + puff. Honorable mention goes to Jay and Lisa Renehan, who found themselves in front of the fleet at the top of the course in the first leg of the final race of the regatta en route to 6th place finish in their new 9er.

Pacific Coast Champions Max Fraser and David Liebenberg

2nd place finishers Tucker Atterbury and Duncan Swain

3rd place finishers Kristin Lane and Charlie McKee
.....Final Results
7/13/10
East Coast Grand Prix circuit marches along After winning the RCYC Skiff Regatta (event results) Emily Tsang and Lauren Laventure maintain their lead of the East Coast Grand Prix. .....Grand Prix results
7/5/10
29er Week at Coronado Many teams with less than a year 29er experience spent last week training in South Bay in a unique clinic environment. Monday racing, Tuesday drills, Wednesday "freestyle day", Thursday drills and Friday Regatta. The emphasis was on a team approach to training that could be used to build everyone's skills quickly. At the same time, drills were taught that could be used by individual teams when others were not around. Wednesday put an emphasis on fun and creativity that is sometimes lost with other events.
Veteran 29er sailor and coach Cooper Dressler summed up the week, commenting how much higher the skill level is now than when he started out in the class. His expertise was invaluable as he taught specific skiff handling techniques, functional rigging tricks and how to fix on the water boat issues. The highlight was watching him demonstrate re-attaching a forestay with the boat capsized and 2 foot chop. Coach Jon emphasized skills required to "peak" at big regattas with pre-race routines, finding the "sweet spots" of sail trim, vang, centerboard and working out when the skipper watches the wind (downwind and when crew is facing backward) and when the crew watches (upwind when not facing backward). Jon also used his energy to inspire a more focused, get on the water early approach to maximize the time commitment and take bigger steps to their goals.
The highlight of the week was on Wednesday with "Moth style" slalom races, single-handed races and a freestyle competition with prizes. The slalom races were exciting as the wind pumped up to 14 knots, the singlehanded races had all teams hoisting spinnakers and several great wipeouts. The freestyle competition was won with a spectacular, triple-up bow wheelie performed by Trevor and Matt Hecht and Patrick Powell. Highlight of the prizegiving were the hacky sacks.

Patrick Snow / Nick Rasdal won Monday races just ahead of Paris Henken / Kristen Stipanov.
Fridays results:
1st JP Barnes/Andrew Cates
2nd Patrick Snow / Nick Rasdal
3rd Sterling Henken / Kristen Stipanov
4th Pike Harris / Patrick Powell
5th Collin Erber / Ryan Nies
6th Riley Gibbs / Charlie Welsh

We're looking into running this event again next year.

Matt Hecht during singlehanded races

Nick Rasdal earning 2nd place in the freestyle competition

CYC Clinic sailors
7/5/10
Ottawa Skiff Regatta Ottawa Skiff was a great event this summer. The 29ers started with the Contenders to make a total of 17 boats in our fleet. Satuarday was light shifty for the first two races. A third race was started, but abandoned because a squall rolled in and most of the fleet ended upside down. A few people needed some help to get back in to the harbour, but everyone was rewarded by free rum thanks to Mount Gay Rum, an event sponsor. Sunday was rainy, but with good wind. Race committee got four races off and called it a day. All in all it was a really fun and well organized event and pictures are posted on the Ottawa Skiff website. Can't wait for next year's event!
-Lauren Laventure and Emily Tsang
6/17/10
East Coast Grand Prix results After one event the ECGP results can be found here
6/11/10
US Nationals NOR and Registration The US Nationals are coming! July 23-25th at Cabrillo Beach YC in San Pedro, CA. A great sailing venue and an event not to be missed. Check out the NOR and then sign up online! .....Online Registration Here
6/3/10
Skiff Fest - Santa Barbara, California Eleven 29er teams came to beautiful Santa Barbara from all over California May 15-16, 2010 and were rewarded with beautiful vistas and 6 to 12 knot breeze over the two day Skiff Fest. 29ers shared the venue with both International 14 and Moth fleets, and enjoyed skiffy camaraderie all weekend. Tyler Macdonald and Brian Bolton had great boat speed, found good lanes, and made jibe-sets look easy all weekend, winning the regatta title. David Liebenberg took home 2nd place swag with skipper Max Fraser, who renamed the regatta "The Layline Game" because, he said, "For some reason, if you don't call a perfect layline almost every time at this venue . . . you lose." 3rd place honors went to Chris Ford and Mike Deady, who sailed extremely well and had jumped into an early lead on Saturday with bullets in the first two races. Paris Henken and Connor Kelter also had a bullet on their way to 4th place honors, while Sterling Henken, sailing for the first time with Kristen Stipanov, snagged some fleece swag as reward for their 5th place finish. Honorable mention goes to the 6th place Hecht brothers, whose headsail and bow were T-boned by an I-14 prior to the first start on Sunday and who were able to score a replacement jib just in time thanks to Coronado Coach Jon Rogers and some parents who raced it out from shore. The west coast 29er group would like to thank Regatta Chair Dana Jones and Santa Barbara Yacht Club for a great weekend of skiff sailing! .....Final Results
5/18/10
Close racing at the Elvstrom Zellerbach The San Francisco cityfront, arguably one of the most challenging, nuanced and wildly fun places in the world for skiff sailors, saw ten 29er teams battle it out this weekend under sunny skies and solid breeze. Sharing the venue with Finn and Laser sailors, the 29er fleet worked the wall on long upwind legs all weekend in the prevailing flood tide and then went down the middle in what seemed like 60 to 90 second runs under spinnaker. The 2010 Youth Worlds team of Antoine Screve and James Moody won the regatta with four bullets and a total of 9 points. Max Fraser and David Liebenberg took 2nd place honors in a tiebreaker with 3rd place finishers JP Barnes and Chris Rast. Kristen Lane and Charlie McKee were in trophy contention until race 6, when two converging swells reached up and ripped Kristen right off her boat during a windward mark rounding, causing a minor injury and early retirement from the regatta. Honorable mention goes to 14 year old Paris Henken and 29er newbie Conner Kelter, who despite submarining in a wake trough in high winds on the final leg of the last race, dropped their jib, righted their boat and finished 5th . . . under main only . . . and in time for a whistle and thumbs up from the race committee! .....Final Results

Photo by Bo Barnes
5/4/10
BAYS to include a start for 29ers San Francisco Bay's BAYS series will have a start for 29ers this year for BAYS #1 and BAYS #2! This is great news for the 29er. These are fun events for youth sailors. BAYS #1 is at PYSF May 15-16 and BAYS #2 is at Richmond YC June 26-27. See you there!
4/13/10
Midwinters West Debrief from Willie McBride Hey guys, I thought the regatta last weekend was great - everytime I sail the 29er there seems to be more and more enthusiasm and depth in the fleet. For those of you guys starting out in the fleet - stick with it! Here are a few thoughts I had on the weekend. Feel free to shoot me an e mail with any questions.

29er Midwinters and Post-Midwinters Clinic Debrief
The key to success at midwinters was technique and time in the boat. For the most part tuning took a back seat to weight placement, sail trim technique, and tactics. Pressure was the main consideration when deciding tactics, and because the pressure differences were pretty apparent in the flat water, tactics were mainly limited by a team's ability to sail the boat fast while at the same time, expanding their "sphere of vision". I think that most teams on the water had enough experience with strategy to make a pretty good game plan, but executing, and changing the plan mid race is tough if all of your focus needs to be on boat speed.
In the lighter breeze, getting your boat moving well had 2 main parts: 1. Keep your weight as far forward as possible, and 2. Trim the main as hard as you can. Most people needed to drop their bridles a lot to be able to trim the main tight enough. A good way to tell if your main needs to be tighter is to trim it tighter. If the boat wants to heel more (in other words, you have more power in your sail, you probably need to be trimming tighter in general. It's really hard to trim your main tight enough for a whole race. If you’re not tired by the time you're done, you weren't trimming hard enough. I'd say that in general, only the top 5 or so teams were trimming NEARLY hard enough. As a rule of thumb, you want your weight as far forward as possible without taking any waves over the bow. In flat water you can be really far forward, but in choppy patches you need to slide back momentarily.

2 Reasons to Ease Main
1. Main is stalling
2. Boat is heeling

Here are some generalizations that can be made about the 2 reasons to ease main.
In situation 1:
-Wind is lighter
-Vang should be loose (goal of easing is to open leach
In situation 2:
-Wind is stronger
-Crew weight should be all the way outboard
-Vang should be tight (don't want leech to open off)

In the breeze, people generally need to learn to sail flatter both up wind and down wind. When the beeze is really good, I like to err on the side of windward heel upwind. Be careful that you don't heel to windward too soon. If the breeze isn't good enough to keep your weight easily supported the WHOLE time, sailing with windward heel is not very fast. Downwind, Chris Rast talked about having a little bit of leward heel which seemed fast, but I think that in general, everyone still needs to go in the direction of sailing flatter - once you're comfortable sailing dead flat, THEN try experimenting with a little bit of leward heel. Down wind, sailing low with good VMG is much easier than sailing high with good VMG if the breeze is marginal.
In general I think people need to practice 2 main things. The first is smoothness in the boat. If you're not smooth, you're not fast. It's very important to be able to use all of your strength to trim the main sheet, but at the same time make very smooth, nimble movements in the boat. Mostly this just takes a lot of practice. The second thing is being able to sail everywhere on the course in any breeze strength. Over the weekend, pressure came down the course in blobs rather than uniformly. In order to get to it, teams needed to pick their heads up, communicate clearly ("Pressure above, let's go into height mode" or "Pressure in front, let's put the bow down"), and then execute their mode change well. I talked to several sailors who said "when the breeze came up, we went into a bow down mode". Just because you can plane doesn't mean that you should always be in a bow down mode! It's really important to be able to know your top edge - the point where you're just about to stop planing because you're pointing really high - and how to keep the boat going well in that mode. Next time you're practicing by yourself, don't just put the bow down; anyone can make the boat have good VMG that way. Instead, always practice sailing as high as possible without coming off of a plane. If you can sail a high mode well, you're low mode is going to be a piece of cake.
Reaching: There were a few occasions over the weekend when big shifts caused boat to be way over lay lines down wind. When people were sailing high to try to lay the mark, they kept the main pegged, and the boat heeling. When you're reaching really high you should be down hauling as hard as possible. Try easing main to keep the boat flatter.

Here are some drills we worked on after Midwinters that you can do by yourself or with one other boat, and are really good practice for being smooth in the boat:
SUPER light wind sailing: go sailing in 0 knots. Try to do all of your boat handling as smoothly as possible. It's really easy to feel any baubles. Focus on keeping your weight forward through boat handling maneuvers.
Cranked to windward progressions: Start with the skipper trimming main. Sail with a CONSISTENT amount of windward heel. As you get better, try to effect the heel of the boat entirely with weight rather than mainsheet (unless it's windy). When you're ready for more of a challenge pass the mainsheet to the crew. See how heeled to windward you can get the boat and keep it stable there. Rudderless progressions: Pull the rudder up all the way. Start with skipper and crew sitting inside of the boat and skipper trimming main. When you get the hang of sailing this way, try putting the crew on the wire, but keep the skipper trimming main. Once you've got this down, hand the main sheet off to the crew.
**Tip: warm up with the cranked to windward drill first. The boat always wants to round up when sailing rudderless, so sail with a little windward heel that way you can keep the main in a little tighter and have a little more room for error.
Tack in front of the mast in breeze: Do it.
Cross tacking/gybing progressions: Set up on the same tack or gybe as your training partner. The windward boat gybes (or leward boat tacks upwind), ducks the other boat, and gybes back when they are clear. As you get better, try to come out of the gybe (tack) as close to the stern of the other boat as possible in attempt to pin the boat.
4/3/10
Full Collection of Stacy Childers Midwinters West Photos That's right, see 'em all here. More than Facebook! .....Midwinters West photo gallery
3/31/10
29er Midwinters West After Coronado Yacht Club hosted a successful MidWinters West last year, this year's regatta was even better. There were (23) teams, from Canada, Florida, and Washington who joined California sailors for an excellent event on Coronado Island. There were two Olympians, a number of junior national champions and (8) sailors who are on the U.S. sailing under 23 development team who competed in this regatta. There were (4) (all adult) open teams, (2) adult / junior teams, and (17) all-Junior teams! Of the junior teams, there were (6) all girl teams, and (2) girl/boy teams.
The top open team, was Olympic 49er sailor Chris Rast sailing with J.P. Barnes. Chris Rast also won the event last year. Chris gave an "in-depth" debriefing after sailing on Friday and Saturday, A great way to work with a growing junior class. In addition, the open teams, (2nd overall), of Judge Ryan and Willie McBride (Multiple, ISAF Youth World competitors, as well as former U.S. Youth Champions, and other national titles etc. etc.) and the current National and North American champions as well as the top placing Americans for the last two years (9th and 5th place respectively) at the World Championships, team of Max Fraser and David Liebenberg (4th overall). Max Fraser and Willie McBride were also awarded sportsmanship awards this weekend for assisting others. Both sailors are huge supporters towards the newer junior teams.
On the junior front, the top junior team, (3rd overall) was Hans and Sterling Henken representing the home club. The top, all female team (5th overall, 2nd Junior Team) was CC Childers (San Diego) and Chanel Miller from Florida. The 3rd place junior team, 6th overall was Brian Bolton (Dana Point) and Tyler Macdonald of Newport Beach. The weather was perfect on all days, as daytime temperatures ranged from low 80s. On Friday, the breeze ranged from 12-18 kts, steady from the West. On Saturday, the wind ranging from 8-14 knots and oscillated from Northeast to West, then back to Northeast! Sunday's breeze was a Westerly all day.
There were a total of 11 races sailed, (2) on Friday (5) on Saturday and (4) on Sunday. The CYC race management team did an excellent job of adjusting the courses in a timely manner to enable continued racing with no wasted time. After racing there was an open meal for all the competitors followed by the debrief. An excellent idea to help the sailors review their sailing for the day. .....Full Results
3/29/10
29er East Coast Grand Prix Events updated! Check out the 2010 ECGP page to see the lineup of this year's events, scoring, rules and trophy details. The fist event is now the Ottawa Skiff Grand Prix June 5-6th. .....2010 ECGP
3/25/10
Spring season off to a good start with Spring Dinghy The Spring Dinghy has just wrapped up and the fleet had some great battles up and down the course all weekend. The first 2 races on Saturday were extremely dynamic and challenged even the most experienced sailors in the fleet. The wind was north, north west light and puffy, so looking upwind was looking across the Bay instead of the usual Golden Gate Bridge. Then adding on a cross course current of almost a 4 knot ebb and some big swell coming into the Bay the fleet had to be on their toes. The general thinking for the course was go left for better pressure and because the top mark was skewed to the right, but you also had to work right because of the strong ebb crossing the course. JP and Duncan really hooked into the first 2 races and sailed very smart. Towards the end of the 2nd race the westerly finally came in and in the 3rd race the Nilsens took full advantage and walked away with a bullet. Even though JP and Duncan were sailing smart and with good form Julia Paxton and Patrick Tara edged them out for the final over all win on Sunday.
Amongst the 10 boats full of veteran 29er sailors we had 2 new teams join the fleet and for their first regatta. The teams of Nicholas Delfino and Jackson Van Fleet-Brown, and making her skippering debut Karoline Gurdal sailing with Natalie Davidson. Great to have them join the fleet and to have Karoline back in the fleet. Expect them to be pushing the top teams soon. Check out the event photos here. .....final results
3/15/10
It's time to renew your 29er class membership for 2010! Please go to 29er.org and scroll down the left side until you see the Pay Dues button . . . click it and you will be whisked through the renewal process in no time! Renew it today!
2/25/10
CORK $1 Charters Once again this year CORK Sail Kingston, who will be hosting the 29er North Americans and the 29erXX NA's right after, is making available to 29er sailors its incredible offer of $1.00 (yes one dollar!) charters. To qualify, sailors must not be from the local area and must be coming from overseas, or an excessive driving distance, and the 29er sailors BRING THEIR OWN SAILS. (If you are interested in a new set of sails, they will be delivered to CORK free of shipping.) Anyone chartering boats for the 29er NA's may also keep the boat for the 29erXX NA's but would have to charter the XX rig, sails and gunwale extensions for US $900.00. However, if you have your own 29er, the XX rigs and sails are available for a $1.00 charter. You can have one or the other for $1.00 but not both! There is no guarantee on the number of 29ers or XX rigs available and the offer is therefore strictly limited on a first come, first served basis with bona fide 29er owners who are registered Class Members receiving first priority.
CORK has requested that PS2000 manage all the charters and all request should go to Peter Bjorn at: peter@ps2000.ca or Tel 514 363 5050. Please do not contact CORK for charter information.
2/19/10
archived news


West Coast 29er	East Coast 29er	29erXX
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UPCOMING EVENTS
The National Event	July 31 - August 1	Toronto, ON
US Youth Championship	August 1-4	Cabrillo Beach, CA
CYA Youth Championship	August 1-4	Ottawa, Ontario
National Capital Regatta	August 14-15	Ottawa, ON
North American Championship	August 16-19	Kingston, ON
		2010 schedule