4/17/12

4/16/12

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3/19/12

1/1/12

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2/11/12

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2/1/12

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12/19/11

12/19/11

12/19/11

12/17/11

12/9/11

12/6/11

12/1/11

11/29/11

11/26/11

11/26/11

Video from Howard's helicopter, compiled and edited by Willie McBride. What's next? Beats me!
Find more here.
11/24/11

11/26/11

A great first day for our clinic with Willie. Beautiful weather (15 knots, 80 degrees, sunny) and everybody is psyched. If you are jealous, you should be! In the meantime, sign up for the December 19-22 clinic and join the fun. Call Carol @ (305) 785 4777 to reserve your spot. Further details here.

11/24/11

The races can be replayed here.
Live racing can be watched here.
Once again, we are pushing the envelope - bringing exciting technology to an already exciting boat!
11/16/11

11/9/11

11/1/11

10/27/11

10/27/11

Howie Hamlin, Matt Noble and Paul Allen on 'CST Composites'.

We are delighted to announce the inclusion of the 29er in SCYYRA's (Southern California Youth Yacht Racing Association) prestigious youth racing series.
There are many people to thank for creating and realizing this opportunity, but particularly Mary Snow for building our case, as well as Ayres Hotels who are providing “Kattack” GPS tracking systems for the series regattas.

We are equally honored and thrilled to name the series after Howie Hamlin, probably California's most successful skiff sailor and a true gentleman, and whose feats winning 505, International 14 and Aussie 18 Skiff Worlds inspire us all.
Howie's support of "team efforts", including practicing with those far below his skill levels, epitomizes his desire to elevate all teams' performance. This fits perfectly with the US 29er class association's desire to be inclusive, work together and succeed as a team through such techniques as open clinics and post race debriefs led by the most experienced and successful sailors.
Interestingly, Howie does not use the term skipper, preferring helmsman. In his view, "the crew or team mates" make an equal or more of a contribution to performance than the helmsman.
Together with Willie McBride, Howard Hamlin will be at several of the regattas and will lead the after sailing debriefs with the help of the GoPro video and Kattack GPS technology.
The full press release is here.

The Hamlin series events will be a subset of the PCC events and be open to sailors of any age, although only SCYYRA eligible youth sailors will be scored and count towards the series results.
The first event is imminent - the Goblin - and this is the year to be engraved in first position on the trophy! You need to sign up both for the Hamlin series, as well as the event itself. See the West Coast 29er Google Groups for details.

10/26/11

9/26/11

8/31/11

Coral Reef YC are offering top class 29er clinics this autumn and winter led by Willie McBride in readiness for Orange Bowl and the new season. They have six active boats already in Florida, together with the weather and enthusiasm to improve whilst those in more northern climes shiver. If you live on the east coast, how about joining them?
The flyer is here. Please print and post on your local club's notice board.
Clinic details are here

9/18/11

"We competed at this year’s 2011 United States Youth Champs at Newport, Rhode Island. Right from the get-go the competition was tight and continued throughout the rest of the regatta. Day one began with two scheduled practices starts in moderate to light conditions which continued to build along with the rain and current for the opening three races. With the fleet only being ten boats deep, the top five positions were always a few points apart after every days racing. Having never sailed in Rhode Island before, we did not know what to expect, but after the first couple races we began to figure it out. After the first day of racing, and getting a 5, 1, 4, we were positioned in 2nd place overall and two points behind first, but only two points in front of third. Our high expectations for wind diminished when day two began with only about 2-5 knots in the morning and still more current, but fortunately no rain. We got the first race off with about 5 knots but in a difficult situation because as the racing progressed on, the wind got lighter. Rounding the leeward mark, we were in 5th but still had time to try and pick up a few boats. In a Hail Mary decision, we decide to bang the right side of the course and let the rest of the fleet go left. The wind shut all the way off and we experienced a huge wind shift, making us go from 5th to 10th. Fortunately for us, the race committee decided to abandon the race because of the huge wind shift and the wind dropping below 1 knot. After some waiting around, the wind picked back up to 5-8 knots and we had a solid rest of day, still sitting in second place with only one point behind 1st. By the second to last day, it looked like it could be anyone’s win. With the wind coming in at 15-18 knots, we finally got what we wanted, a windy day. Using our superior speed in the breeze, we were able to sail into our best day, winning two, getting second in two races and a sixth, moving into first with about an 11 point lead.

Going into the last day, was really exciting. The conditions were light to moderate and flat water. Being a little nervous on the first race, we made some mistakes and ended up getting an eight. With the pressure on, we put our game faces on and put all of our focus into these last three races. We decide, for now on, to cover the second place boat. From the gun, we covered them left, while letting the rest of the fleet go off right, which at the time was the favored side. We rounded the windward mark in ninth and the second place boat rounded in last and our aim changed from covering to catching up and passing some boats. From that point on we sailed our own race and came back to finish third!

Out of all the races we have ever sailed together, that one race was specifically the best race we had ever sailed! Knowing that we could sail through the fleet and go from second to last to the top three was great. We ended the regatta by winning the last two races of the day and Connor celebrated by doing a victory back flip off the boat. This regatta was great for us as we learned more of the fundamentals of team work, and how by working together can really pay off in a positive way.

We would like to personally thank the awesome Newport Race Committee for getting all fifteen races off cleanly and Sail Newport for a really nice regatta. Putting together the college night at Salve Regina University and hosting a dinner at New York Yacht Club was a fantastic extra. We would also love to thank our host family, the Lanes, for letting us stay at their home and making us feel like family and cooking us wonderful meals. We couldn’t have won it without them.

~Paris Henken (Coronado Yacht Club) and Connor Kelter(Newport Harbor Yacht Club)"

Full results are here

9/13/11

The 2011 29er North American Championships were held again at CORK this year with 50 teams competing. 12 races were sailed, with varied winds over the 4 days. Tyler Macdonald and Mike Deady (California) won the event after sailing with a 1,1,1 finish on the last day to secure their victory. In second place and top female team, Katy Cenname and Helena Scutt (Washington) were solid all regatta, using 2nd & 4th places as their drops. Emily Tsang and Lauren Laventure (Montreal), also sailed a consistent regatta to capture 3rd Place. Top Junior, and another female team, Adele Whitmyer and Katie Kelly (Connecticut) finished 4th. Sam Gustin and Ian Woodbury (Vancouver, B.C.) rounded out the top 5. In the Silver fleet, Maddie Lott and crew Max Carnella (Toronto) were the top team. The first day of the regatta and only qualifying day, recorded breeze from 8-12 kts and gusts to 14. On day two of the regatta, the weather failed, and after 4 hours on the water, sailing was cancelled. The following day, the start of the championship rounds, had light and variable breeze, and finally, on the last day of the event, the breeze filled in early and the skiffs had their best day of sailing. As mentioned before, the 29ers raced 12 races compared with the other double handed class which only got in racing 9 races. Fast is fun! Canada was well represented with teams competing from the West Coast to the East Coast. The race committee did a great job in running races and the organizing authority (CORK) did a wonderful job hosting the event. Sailing at CORK is always a consistent flow of good sailing, good hospitality and a wonderful place to visit.
Full results are here

8/23/11

8/17/11

8/15/11

For some wonderful souvenirs of last year and perhaps material for your custom artwork, see here
His website is http://www.stevejostphotography.com.

8/12/11

8/10/11

8/3/11