We had an excellent turnout for two racing seminars leading up to the start of the fall 2015 season, with 16 in an Introduction class and some 35 at the Advanced Sailboat Racing seminar.
The Advanced seminar was led by three AYC Club Champions, Skip Kempff, Martin Lorch and Dave Haggart, focusing on starts, wind, and tactics. Skip has long practiced the Vanderbilt start, using timed runs away from the start line in order to hit the line at speed on time, and he advocated that method for people new to the game. Martin offered a couple pages of wind tips to be ready for the shifty wind on our lakes. And Dave offered some tricks for herding your competitors in the direction you want them to go.
The sailors ranged in experience from beginners to champions, fueling a discussion that continued even after the meeting adjourned. Most of the beginners had been in the room the night before when Mike and Maryellen Ferring offered a fast course in fast racing, presenting an introduction to the sport that included documents, rules, race courses, start sequence, start tactics, wind shifts and more.
Now it’s time to take it all to the water.
