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CISA Clinic 2010 a Success as reported by Rich Roberts
April 12th, 2010 in General.
April 11, 2010Â
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Never a bad day of sailing at the CISA Clinic
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LONG BEACH, Calif.
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The sun never shined and the sea was lumpy despite a wind too light for whitecaps, but did that ruin anyone’s day for the windup of the California International Sailing Association’s 33rd annual Advanced Racing Clinic at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club?
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Certainly not that of a couple of talented girls, Georgie Ryan and crew Haley Kirk, who sailed to first place in the upgrade International 420 fleet Sunday when school was out and the clinic was all racing.
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Ryan, from San Diego, and Kirk, from Long Beach, won two of the four races and outsailed all the boys in the fleet—including their brothers Judge and Korbin, who may never stop hearing about it.
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The girls actually tied for first on 10 points with Judge Ryan and crew Willie McBride but beat them on a tiebreaker, two firsts to one.
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Two of the other winners were from out of state: John Wallace of St. Petersburg, Fla., in Lasers and Drew Shea of Wilmette, Ill., in Radials.
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Altogether there were 104 boys and girls ages 14 to 18 from 14 states spanning Hawaii to the East Coast.
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Andrew Campbell, the clinic’s executive director from San Diego who will soon dive full-bore into his own Star class campaign for the 2012 Olympics, said as he drove his chase boat into the harbor amid exhausted young sailors that the four days of intense teaching and training was successful.Â
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“Everybody’s pretty tired,” he said, looking around. “That’s part of our job … to make sure everybody’s as tired as they can be at the end of the week. We had the best coaching staff we’d ever had, and they pushed the kids hard. We have to keep raising the bar to keep our sailors competitive with the rest of the world.”
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The staff was composed of 2008 Olympic silver medalist Zach Railey, two-time Olympic bronze medalist Charlie McKee, along with Brian Bissell, Brendan Casey, Genny Tulloch, Nigel Cochran, Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar, Zack Maxam, Brett Davis, David Wright, Cameron Biehl, Zander Kirkland, Brian Stanford, Graham Biehl, Skip Whyte, Molly Vandemoer and Peter Alarie. Virtually all have done Olympic campaigns and trained others to winning Olympic medals.
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Earlier practice days found good conditions, but Sunday was made more difficult than usual because the breeze came not from the normal southwest direction across the breakwater four miles off the beach but did an end run around the wall, leaving most of the Long Beach outer harbor unprotected.
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Another lesson learned: learn how to adapt when conditions stop being “normal.”
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CISA, founded in 1971, supports amateur sailors by providing travel grants for regional, national and international competition and also funds local sailing programs and racing clinics.
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The CISA Advanced Racing Clinic is sponsored by Atlantis WeatherGear, Kaenon Polarized sunglasses, Laser Performance, Gill Sailing Gear and Apparel and North Sails. Â
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Unlike other nations, the U.S. has no federally supported assistance programs for its amateur sportsmen or for the development of young talent. CISA, a 501(c) 3 organization, relies on contributions of corporations and individuals to provide support of amateur sailors. Because it is non-profit and tax-exempt, all contributions are tax deductible.
Photos from the clinic at www.JacquelineSchmitzPhotography.com
CISA Clinic 2010 Starts Thursday
April 5th, 2010 in General.
33rd CISA Racing Clinic at Long Beach this week
LONG BEACH, Calif. - by Rich Roberts
With a week off from school, more than a hundred of America’s best young sailors from the East Coast to Hawaii will spend Thursday through Sunday absorbed in another sort of institution: the California International Sailing Association’s 33rd annual Advanced Racing Clinic at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club.
But it’s more boot camp than spring break. Driven by a team of world-class instructors, the 111 boys and girls ages 13 to 18 selected by their résumés will see 12-hour days on and off the water learning fine points of the sport before breaking free with some real racing Sunday.
They’ll train twice a day in their assigned two-person 29er skiffs, International 420, C420 and CFJ dinghies and singlehanded Lasers and Laser Radials, between spending as much time in group lectures and video reviews.
Evening programs are scheduled after dinner featuring selected speakers: 2008 silver medalist Zach Railey on the Olympics and Kenneth Andreasen of US Sailing on how to organize a world-class campaign, including the Olympics.
Andrew Campbell is the clinic director for the second year. He was once a clinic student who sailed a Laser for the U.S. in the 2008 Olympics and is now campaigning a Star with crew Brad Nichol for 2012.
Railey, of Clearwater, Fla., is also on the coaching staff, along with Charlie McKee, a two-time Olympic bronze medalist in 49er and 470, and Brian Bissell, Brendan Casey, Genny Tulloch, Nigel Cochran, Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar, Zack Maxam, Brett Davis, David Wright, Cameron Biehl, Zander Kirkland, Brian Stanford, Graham Biehl, Skip Whyte, Molly Vandemoer and Peter Alarie.
Harry Legum returns as the physical director.
Campbell has laid down a training regimen for the clinic no tougher than his own. The program, he has told the instructors, emphasizes “potential and having the kids focus on increasing their personal capacity, regardless of the level of their sailing.”
Furthermore, Campbell said, “I want to push the concept of personal responsibility. There are absolutely no parents allowed on the premises during clinic hours from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Sailors should be expected to take care of their boats and their schedules.
“Coaches should be motivating the kids but not waiting for individuals who hold up the group, just as none of us would wait for stragglers during training camps of our own. I will take the role of bad cop getting kids out of the boat park and into meetings and off the dock.
“Your responsibilities as a coach will be to engage the kids who want to be coached and let the stragglers waste their own time. I want to set a very strong precedent at this clinic for how these kids approach future training.
“There also will be a focus on fitness by taking the entire group through a morning program as well as class-by-class. Harry Legum will be available for each of the classes on demand after the morning session.”
Any questions?
Railey was a clinic student for four years starting in 1998. He won an Olympic silver medal in the Finn class at Qingdao in 2008 and just last week won the Finn medal race at the 41st Princess Sofia Trophy World Cup event in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Another instructor, Graham Biehl, of San Diego, sailing with Stuart McNay, placed sixth overall in 470s.
The class includes several of the 48 members of the U.S. Sailing Development Team, a training track to the international level of competition. The next step up with an emphasis on the Olympics is Team AlphaGraphics, which currently includes Campbell and CISA coaches Railey, Biehl and Farrar.
Over the years several accomplished sailors such as Paul Cayard, Robbie Haines, Dave Dellenbaugh and Vince Brun have sent their offspring to the clinic.
CISA, founded in 1971, supports amateur sailors by providing travel grants for regional, national and international competition and also funds local sailing programs and racing clinics.
The CISA Advanced Racing Clinic is sponsored by Atlantis WeatherGear, Kaenon Polarized sunglasses, Laser Performance, Gill Sailing Gear and Apparel and North Sails.
Unlike other nations, the U.S. has no federally supported assistance programs for its amateur sportsmen or for the development of young talent. CISA, a 501(c) 3 organization, relies on contributions of corporations and individuals to provide support of amateur sailors. Because it is non-profit and tax-exempt, all contributions are tax deductible.
The class of 2010
2009 photo gallery
More about CISA and the clinic
List of participants by classes
CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL SAILING ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 17992
Irvine, CA 92713-7992
www.cisasailing.org
CISA ADMINISTRATION
Jerelyn Biehl
Jerelyn@odmsail.com
PUBLICITY
Rich Roberts
310.835.2526
cell 310.766.6547
richsail@earthlink.net
4th at Congressional Cup
March 28th, 2010 in General.
It was a tricky day of sailing here in Long Beach. The Santa Ana reared it’s ugly head for most of the morning putting us in postponement as hot sand blew off the beach in 25+ knot puffs. We waited until about 1pm before the breeze finally started to moderate and swing to it’s final seabreeze direction some 180 degrees from the start of the day. We managed to give Gavin Brady a red flag penalty in the start of the first race of the day but a very shifty race course allowed him to clear it and get back in the race. A bad start in the second race squashed our hopes of making the finals. We met Johnnie Bernsson in the petite final and lost in a split start in race one and led in race two but lost in a drifter across the line as the breeze fizzled out. We watched Francesco Bruni beat Gavin Brady to win the 2010 Crimson Blazer and Congressional Cup with his Team Azurra to much fan fare. The Long Beach YC put on a great show with their massive squadron of 300+ volunteers and staff. We are indebted to our hosts and the club for their great hospitality. I look forward to doing another Con Cup in the future.
Next event is the CISA Clinic back in Long Beach and then Stars in Nassau.
Into the Semi Finals against Brady Saturday
March 26th, 2010 in General.
Another fabulous day of weather here in Lomg Beach provided Congressional Cup racers with 8-12 knots of steady breeze and spectators some very close racing. Team Hardesty pull together the first two races of the day today against Monin and Barkow to clinch the spot in the final four boats tomorrow. We dropped our last race against the Russian team but it made no difference in our final standing.
While the other six boats run a fleetrace we will race a knockout series against Gavin Brady with hopes to race against the winner of Berntsson versus Bruni in the other semifinal. Racing should kick off the same time as today around 1130 or so. Check ConCup.com for results and radio live from the Belmont Pier off Long Beach.
2-2 on Thursday. Fight for Semis on today at Con Cup
March 26th, 2010 in General.
Team Hardesty had the toughest four races of the ten team lineup yesterday racing defending champions Bernsson and Brady as well as tour leaders Bruni and Iehl. While we were leading in all four races we took a couple rough penalties against the seasoned veterans giving te Swedish and Azurra teams enough victories to confirm their position in the semi finals. We drew the French team into two penalties and ultimately a black flag penalty after passing them on the last run to the finish and were able to beat Gavin Brady to the right and extend out of a brief tacking duel to give him his second loss of the entire event. Today will make or break our position in the semi finals. Currently we have one more point than Dave Perry’s team. Having beat him in the most recent round we should have and advantage in case of a tie but we would like to control or own fate by winning the final three races we have in the round robin today allowing us to make a chase for the Cup later this afternoon and tomorrow. The best part is that we’re learning more and more with each race and improving as we go, so we’ll just have to keep it up.
Results and coverage at http://www.lbyc.org/html/content.cfm?CID=1170
5-1 on Con Cup Day 2
March 25th, 2010 in General.
Another fluky day greeted sailors on he second day of Congressional Cup 2010. The seabreeze didn’t quite fill until about three in the afternoon. On board Team Hardesty we were able to execute our decisions a little better than yesterday and had a little luck on our side that we lacked previously and had a 5-1 record on day three putting us in third overall with a record of 7-4. We still have 7 races left in our second round robin so we look forward to some tough races and good opportunities ahead tomorrow.
Results and media: www.ConCup.com
Olympic Training to Congressional Cup
March 23rd, 2010 in General.
Last week was the first of two physical testing camps at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs for the US Sailing Team Alphagraphics and development squad. Some sixty sailors were living in the dorms, hitting the weights and scrambling in and out of pool drills in three and a half days of physical tests, psychological assessments and nutritional seminars. We rubbed elbows with USA Boxing among other teams using he phenomenal facility at 3500 feet above sea level. It was a reaffirmation that the USOC is serious about winning and provides the environment perfect for distraction-free training. As sore as some of us are, I’m excited to get back and improve my test scores.
Straight away after leaving Colorado on Sunday, I flew to California to prep for the 2010 Congressional Cup held annually by the Long Beach YC. This regatta is one of the legendary ones in American sailing. It’s the US’s only World Match Race Tour stop, and will be sailed in identical Catalina 37s. If you want to follow along you can do so at www.ConCup.com. I am calling tactics for Team Hardesty.
13th at Bacardi Cup. Regatta ends with big breeze
March 15th, 2010 in General.
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 Not racing on Friday had the star fleet anxious for two races on Saturday regardless of forecast. Twenty knot westerly breeze filled into Biscayne Bay for the first of two scheduled races. The blast reach out to the race course barely gave us a taste of what we would see in the day’s race. Chris and I set the boat up for big breeze and got our angles sorted out but were quickly nulified by a 20 degree swing to the left right as the gun went off. We flopped onto port tack and essentially fetched the windward mark some 2 miles later. Because of the massive lefty the first reach of the triangle windward leeward course (something I hadn’t seen in the star but apparently not uncommon for windy weather) was a very tight angle. Th second reach was almost dead downwind wreaking havoc on the fleet. Race leaders Peter Bromby and Magnus Liljedahl lost their mast along with four other boats during one of the windiest puffs of the day later on that leg. Chris and I had a nice race going slicing and dicing out way into the top ten but gave away about five boats in a nasty shift sequence at the top of the last beat. We were only able to pick up one on the downwind to finish 14th in the race. Unfortunately the RC decided to send the fleet in after one race probably due to the fact that they had lost 5 safety boats keeping track of the broken boats.
After dropping our Black Flag Chris and I moved up the leaderboard to 13th place overall. Not a bad finish considering the circumstances of out last minute crew mixup and our early starting penalty. Man would we love to have that race back considering how well we were going in the light air.
Full results at www.MiamiSailingWeek.com.
Next on the calendar is a US team training camp in Colorado Springs this coming weekend. I’ll go straight from there to Long Beach to sail the Congressional Cup match race regatta. The schedule refuses to let up, I’m excited for the next challenge.
Thanks to John Payne for the photo. Also many thanks to Sperry Top-Sider, North Sails, Kaenon Polarized, Team McLube and US Sailing Team Alphagraphics for their support.
No Racing on Day 5
March 12th, 2010 in General.
We were postponed ashore today after serious bands of weather moved across much of the eastern us including southern Florida. We had a couple good inches of rain in Miami along with one bolt of lightning but none of the extreme winds they had only a few hundred miles north and west of us. The RC had to be precautious but unfortunately that will demand a backloaded schedule of two races on the final day of racing tomorrow. Races five and six are scheduled for an early start at 1030 tomorrow with no races allowed to start after 1330. Chris and I will be happy to have a throwout take effect tomorrow provided we can have two clean starts and discard our BFD from race 2.
Please check www.CampbellSailing.com for updates tomorrow. Results and info at wWw.miamisailingweek.com
14 in Race 4
March 11th, 2010 in General.
A blustery forecast greeted us today in Miami but didn’t materialize. We tightened our settings anticipating a breezier race but still had good speed as the wind fizzled out as the weather moved across northern Florida. Chris and I broke out to the right hand side after starting near the boat end but ultimately had more breeze on the left over the 2.1 mile beat. We rounded in the mid twenties and watched about 7 boats pull off the course after brig labeled dsq for a black flag starting penalty. At one point down the run we were probably 10th but couldn’t consolidate our efforts ultimately crossing the finish in 14th. Slowly but surely we’re cruising up the scoreboard in 18th before the throwout comes into play tomorrow.
Stay tuned at www.campbellsailing.com