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AYC Member Wins Santa Cruz 27 National Championship

By Mike Ferring on June 5, 2013 in Member Interest, Racing Updates

The winning boat: Gotcha takes the Santa Cruz 27 national championship.

AYC member Joe Hagen is the new Santa Cruz 27 National Champion, with Chris Winnard of Ullman Sails driving and AYC member Al Lehman Jr. calling tactics.

Joe’s bright red Gotcha was the hands-down winner in the regatta that wrapped up Sunday, June 2, winning five races, finishing third in two more and tossing out an 11th place finish. They closed the regatta with a total of 11 points, well ahead of second place finisher Hanalei with 17. Here are the results.

Last year Joe and this same team also won the championship and in 2011 (with AYC’s Steve Quant at the helm) finished second.

The SC27 Nationals were held in conjunction with the first Made in Santa Cruz Race Week, showcasing the many boats designed and built in the California coastal city. The regatta was a big hit, as you’ll see in this report.

Heat Stroke Scores.

By davechristensen on June 4, 2013 in Racing Updates

A blistering start to Summer racing at Tempe Town Lake. Yes, warm, but with good breeze. Scores on the Results page, or by clicking here.

Register Now for Heat Stroke Series

By Mike Ferring on May 21, 2013 in Events, Racing Updates

Rob Gibbs and son Colin on TTL. Photo: Mike Ferring

The next AYC racing series is about to begin: the annual Heat Stroke series at Tempe Town Lake.

You can register by hitting the button on the racing page.

This low-key summer racing series can be a lot of fun since you might as well be on the water when it’s 106 degrees outside, right? Bring your water canon to cool competitors.

Startling Finish to AYC Championship Regatta

By Mike Ferring on May 5, 2013 in Events, Racing Updates

Seven fleet champions faced off in C14s at Tempe Town Lake for the 2013 Club Championship. Photos: Mike Ferring

Seven fleet champions faced off in C14s at Tempe Town Lake for the 2013 Club Championship. Photos and Words: Mike Ferring

It was almost like an act of god.

Trey Harlow and crew Mike Hester went into the seventh and final race of the championship regatta ahead by one point and holding the tie breaker. They would be tough to beat. Martin Lorch and son Cedric would need to finish two places ahead to take Martin’s fourth club championship.

As usual, the wind had been mostly light and fluky on Tempe Town Lake, but ripples from the west suggested a nice, moderate air finale for the fleet champs in their Capri 14.2s.

The course: a simple windward-leeward. As the seven competitors swept downwind to the leeward mark, Trey and Mike held a small lead and the tactical inside rounding position. All it would take would be a smooth rounding and they could cover Martin all the way to the finish—and the championship.

The rounding went fine. Trey trimmed for the upwind finish, Martin chasing from a couple of boat lengths back.

And then it happened. On port tack, Trey’s boat suddenly skidded off to the right, as if the centerboard weren’t down—but it was—and he couldn’t hold the boat on the beat.

Martin looked around, amazed. “What happened?” he asked Cedric. “What happened?”

Trey still doesn’t know. When they tacked to starboard, the boat tracked true.
Back on port, it slid. And as it slid, so did the hopes of a second championship in a row. At the race finish, Martin and Cedric were in first place and Trey and Mike were at the back of the pack.

See the final results at the bottom of the page. Lots of volunteers made the day work, led by Fleet Captain Greg Woodcock, including the 14.2 fleet, JM Kiel, Mike Ferring, Diana Simpson, Dick Krebill, Steve Brown, Decker Williams, Cindy Pillote, Greg Fine, and Andrea Love.

Trey Harlow approaches the leeward mark with inside position for the rounding. Photos: Mike Ferring

Trey Harlow approaches the leeward mark with inside position for the critical final rounding in race seven. Photos: Mike Ferring

Martin Lorch drops into line behind Trey to round second.

Trey and Mike Hester trim in for the upwind finish only to find they can’t hold port tack close-hauled.

There were certain distractions.

Skipper	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Total
Lorch	2	3	3	2	1	3	1	15
Harlow	3	1	1	4	3	1	7	20
Tingom	6	6	2	1	4	5	3	27
Sheller	1	2	5	6	2	6	6	28
Jackson	4	4	6	5	6	2	2	29
Davis	5	5	4	3	5	4	4	30
Anderson	7	7	7	7	7	7	5	47

Tempe Town Lake Scores

By davechristensen on April 29, 2013 in Racing Updates

Congratulations to the winners of the Tempe Town Lake racing series. The fleet champs are the same for both spring and the combined fall-spring: it’s Matt Davis in Buccs; George Tingom in C14, Dmitri Lusnikov in Laser, and Clay Poulson in Portsmouth.

The results for the last weekend of the Spring Series are posted on the results page or by clicking here. The combined scores for the fall and spring can be found here.

Lake Pleasant Results

By davechristensen on April 21, 2013 in Racing Updates

The scores for this weekend’s racing can be found on the results page. Or for the Thistle Regional click here. For the Spring Series click here. For the combined Fall 12 & Spring 13 Series click here

Perfect Conditions for High School Championship

By Mike Ferring on April 21, 2013 in Education News, Racing Updates, Sailing News

Cedric Lorch and the V for Victory! Photos: Phil Freedman

Cedric Lorch signals V for Victory! Photos: Gerald Byrnes

After the first race of the 2013 Arizona State High School Sailing Championship, after hearing the yells from the winning boat, it was apparent whose names would be etched on the championship aulde mug trophy.

Cedric Lorch (son of multi-year AYC club champion Martin Lorch) from Valley Lutheran HS and Mitchell Wenger from Connolly Middle School took home the hardware. But of the seven boats racing, the team of Graydon Sharp and Peter Blake kept the heat on with steady finishes and took second, just four points behind.

Race committee chairman, high school sailing coach, and instructor George Tingom said that this year’s event was by far the best for the championship and thinks next year’s could be even stronger.

“We have a fantastic core of volunteers that will make this event a strong foundation for high school sailing in Arizona,” he says. “We’re hopeful of fielding a bigger turnout of between ten to fourteen boats culminating with a barbeque.”

This year’s champions vow to be back for a repeat.

—Words by Philip Freedman

Rounding the mark at the 2013 High School Championship Regatta.

Final
(Corrected Results with Throw-outs)

1^st Place 6 Points – (Cedric Lorch / Mitchell Wenger)

2^nd Place 10 Points – (Graydon Sharp / Peter Blake)

3^rd Place 15 Points (Bharath Tata / Jake Xu)

4^th Place 19 Points (Luke Marino / Lliya Panfilinco)

5^th Place 22 Points (Madison Cordova / Isabella Hutchinson)

6^th Place 22 Points (Alec Arthur / Daniel Moore)

7^th Place 30 Points (Wilson Davis / Austin / Lannitti)

Wing-on-wing downwind at the Championship Regatta.

Competitors surround organizer George Tingom. Champ Cedric Lorch holds the hardware.

Competitors surround organizer George Tingom. Champs Cedric Lorch and Mitchell Wenger hold the hardware.

Tempe Town Lake Scores

By davechristensen on April 15, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results of racing at Tempe Town Lake this past weekend are posted on the results page or by clicking here.

Lake Pleasant Race Scores

By davechristensen on April 8, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results from Lake Pleasant Racing are posted on the Results page or by clicking here.

March 27-28 Lake Pleasant Racing

By davechristensen on March 24, 2013 in Racing Updates

The scores for the weekend of racing at Lake Pleasant can be found on the results page or by clicking here.

Week 6 TTL Results.

By davechristensen on March 18, 2013 in Racing Updates

Week 6 of racing at TTL scores posted on the results page or by clicking here.

Tempe Town Lake Scores

By davechristensen on March 10, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results from today’s “fluky” day of racing can be found on the results page or by clicking here.

Lake Pleasant Scores

By davechristensen on March 3, 2013 in Racing Updates

The results from the 2nd week of racing at Lake Pleasant are posted on the results page or by clicking here.

What happens on starts when there aren’t five boats in a fleet?

By Mike Ferring on March 1, 2013 in CP, Racing Updates

AYC has had a long-standing policy that if takes five boats to make a racing fleet, while also saying that a fleet with fewer boats may request its own start. After an online discussion, Fleet Captain Greg Woodcock has offered this further explanation:

Greg Woodcock is the Fleet Captain, in charge of keeping all the AYC floating stock in good repair and leading the fleets to races year around. Greg has been PHRF Non-Spin Fleet Captain (and champ) but now races a Santana 20.

Race Committee should take a customer-supplier (racer-race committee) attitude. I think this is already taking place. The fleets should feel free to make requests to the race committee and the race committee should accommodate requests when they make sense and comply with the RRS and SI.

So, if there are two fleet captains who want to start together, just ask the race committee. Maybe you want to do starts with a lot of boats on the line; if the fleets agree, I’m all for it. If you want to sail all triangles or all windward/leeward, let the race committee know.

What about starting one-boat fleets by themselves? I discussed this issue with the LP Portsmouth fleet captain, for example, and he said he didn’t want to start by himself. I discussed it with the Thistle fleet captain, who said putting a single Portsmouth boat with them did not cause a problem in the past. I hope that continues to work out and we can do the same with other fleets. (Portsmouth needs to recruit more active racers though!)

More starts means longer start sequences. At Lake Pleasant, it’s 10 minutes for two additional starts—and most likely just the first start of the day. After that, starts should occur as each fleet completes the course. At Tempe Town Lake, it would be an additional three minutes for an additional start. I don’t think the fleets that want to sail by themselves would view this as much of a downside. If you really want to shorten the start sequence, just find some fleet captains who want to start together and let the race committee know. If you want to make it permanent, you could even put it in your fleet rules.

This additional thought from Commodore Mike Ferring: If your fleet is running into conflicts with boats from other fleets, please try to work out the issues with the individuals. Some of the competitors are inexperienced or unfamiliar with the Racing Rules of Sailing and may not know that they shouldn’t barge at the start or don’t know about the three-boat-length rule at the marks. Let’s bring them up to speed so they can mix it up with the rest of us (who may know the rules but push them)!