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Worlds – 2024

World Championships – 2024

Circolo vela Torbole
August 2-9, 2024
 

USA 1195: Leitch and Campbell Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

The 2024 International 14 World Championships were held on Lake Garda in Torbole Italy. Torbole is next door to the better known Riva Del Garda. Both clubs sail on the same water which is on most all sailors bucket list of locations to sail, certainly in the skiff sailing crowd. Seventy boats from six different countries were present. The always strong GBR (18) and AUS (14) teams were both well represented. The up and coming GER (20) team have the biggest, and youngest, fleet in the world and are very inspiring to meet and see how they are getting young recently graduated university sailors involved by purchasing second and third hand boats from the UK fleet and having wild social events which stimulates even more interest in the younger sailors who are looking for challenging and fun sailing. The lone ITA (1) boat is usually sailed in the UK and has an Italian female crew. The CAN (5) team has 3 recently built Ovington Bieker 6 boats which have been living in the UK doing European events over this past year, an additional 2 boats were Ro-Ro’d from Halifax. The USA (11) sent 8 boats in a 40’ container from the west coast. Two additional USA boats have been staying in GER and being sailed in European events. An additional new Ovington built B6 was delivered to Torbole for this event and is making the return trip in the US container. There were 7 female helms, and 6 female crew.

USA 1200: Reutnik and Barnes Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

Lake Garda is a very unique place to sail. The typical day starts with an early morning northerly breeze, the “Pella”, which is a draining breeze from the surrounding mountains. The Italian Dolomites are just north of the area. This allows early morning kite, wing and sailboarding sessions which can have hundreds of boards on the water between 0600-1000. This breeze gradually decreases usually around 1000 and the thermals start to kick in. Almost like clock work, between 1000-1200 the southerly “Ora” starts to build which by 1300 is often 10-15 and continues to build to 15-20 with occasional 20+ puffs. There are occasional afternoon thunderstorms which can bring in some serious weather. Reminded me of growing up sailing on the Great Lakes. We experienced one during the later race days where several boats were flattened by the 30-40 kt. puffs and needed to stay over through the squalls with thunder, lightning and hail. All boats were either retrieved by RIBs and volunteer sailors or self rescued after the 30-45 min. storm front.

 


USA 1209 and USA 1187: Puckey, Mobley Shaner, and Brown Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

The racing started with the traditional Team Racing Championships which has been an important as well as fun event during the 14 Worlds. The Team racing was The World Championship up until 1979 when the first Individual World Champions were crowned. International 14 team racing is 4 on 4 team racing on a digital ’N’ course. All the same team racing rules apply with different combinations due to being 4×4, this makes for interesting racing with Kites being used on these high speed skiffs. Quick decisions have to be made and boat handling is at a premium. Unfortunately, the USA did not field a team for the team racing event this year. The GBR team defeated the AUS team after two long days of racing. That leads to one of the most anticipated evenings of the whole World Championship event, “The Team Racing Party”. Each country involved presents a skit, and the stories that come from this evening are legendary! I’ll leave those stories for the bar.


USA 1206: Clark and Menard Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

The following day was the I-14 Lake Garda Traditional “Bastardo Cup” race. This event has taken place historically at all Lake Garda prior 14 events and the course is usually announced at the “Ora Bar” at midnight the night prior to the race by the prior winner. He makes up the rules and course with the “winner” getting rewarded the ‘Bastardo Cup” which is a bronze boot which when turned upside down is filled with a liter of Grappa and the winner and crew must drink the Grappa, or find additional willing participants. There is also a $500 euro penalty if they do not show up for the next event to defend their cup. This year’s course involved having the boat on it’s side with mast in the water behind the starting line when the start gun goes off. Sailing across Lake Garda to a sailing club a few miles up the lake. Adjacent to the club there are “some swimming bouys along the edge” which the crew must touch and then sail back to the finish. Needless to say, it is / was a fun race and thankfully we started early so were determined to be OCS and our finishing first was not counted “Thankfully”. Avoided that Grappa at least!


USA 1161: Lazzaro and Zink Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

The following day was the “Practice Race’ which is a good warm up for several of the sailors as well as the RC. I-14s sail windward / leeward with triangle courses. The triangles are usually offset so as to require a high reach mark. This is what limits the size of the kites as the 25’ rig with 9’ bow sprit can carry an unlimited size kite. However, you can only measure in one kite. Kinda tough to change from an A2 runner to an A3 reaching kite between legs. The RC boat set up per usual. We asked how deep they were setting in and they answered 250 Meters, this is close to 800 feet of water. So once they are set, they aren’t moving. The Pin is a RIB with and small electric trolling motor which is set to maintain station via GPS coordinates. They now use ‘Mark Bots” for weather, reach and leeward marks which allows the RC to set a more normal course vs. previously having several marks using fixed mark mooring lines. The RC did set nice square lines with a large enough line to accommodate 70 boats. With that large of a line it is common for many, if not most, competitors to use electronics to ping the boat and pin, thus the midline sag of the past has been largely eliminated. The race goal is 90 min. for the winning boats which is usually an 18-20 mile race with one race per day.


USA 1198: Clarkson and Gunay Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

The North Lake Garda course is unfortunately a very one sided track as the southerly Ora breeze comes in predictably every day around 1200-1300. It gradually builds to 15-20 with occasional 20+ puffs. The breeze is significantly stronger along the right hand side of the course along the steep walls of the lake. Most places you can almost sail up and touch the wall prior to running out of water. As you sail here more you learn how favored it is and learn to get to the right hand side ASAP and short tack only a few hundred meters out into the lake prior to getting back to the wall. More pressure as well as a knock leading into the wall with some lift coming back out. The first few races as we sailed towards the middle of the lake we started sailing into a nice left handed shift, sailed into it a ways, tacked back on a nice lift only to see the boats that we sailed away from on the right gain 100m without the shift, but more pressure along the wall. This made for an almost obligatory Gybe set after the weather clearing mark on the first windward/leeward lap. Sprint back to the wall and get more pressure to get you down the course until you are going to gybe out to get to the leeward mark. Same situation on lap two, get to the wall and short tack until you can lay the weather mark again. There was often a knock as you came out into mid lake, so you learned to slightly overstand so you could maintain pace getting across to the weather mark again. Going down the left had side of the course to get to the reach mark was a little more tricky as there was usually some left breeze as previously noted, but this was usually lighter and puffy. Sometimes you would get a good left hand puff which would take you down below the reach mark, other times it was light and you had to reach up or Gybe out. Makes you learn to shift gears quickly and learn to reach with the kite up which seems to be a lost art with all the windward / leeward racing done these days. On occasions you can’t lay the reach mark and have to drop and two sail to the mark, reset and gybe or gybe set to the leeward mark. Lots of boat handling needed. The difficulty with this race track being so one sided, was if you didn’t get off the line or maintain a really good lane you are screwed as there are very few passing lanes. You can sail through some of the bottom of the fleet, but when you get to mid fleet or above those boats aren’t making the mistakes and everyone has good boat speed. The start became more challenging as many of the fleet started trying port tack starts and eliminate one tack. Talk about ‘danger zone’ in a 70 boat fleet. There were several repeat offenders with port tack fouls, the difficulty for the right of way starboard tackers was the port taker can foul you, do a single turn and still be way better off than fighting for a spot on starboard tack. Several boats were in the protest room repeatedly and got away with multiple fouls by “doing a turn”


USA 1207: Gleeson and Roberts Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

 

After one of these incidents occurring to us and having the protest disallowed because they “did their turn” We decided to go the pin end and make several of the port tackers duck us which allowed us to get and maintain a better lane. With this technique and “winning the pin” the last two days of racing we had our best results with a 14 and 21 in the last two races. Our boat handling was very good throughout the week, only one capsize due to a slip during a gybe. Or difficulty is not sailing against other good/fast boat consistently. We found we were sailing too fast uphill and needed to slow the pace down to 9.3-9.7 uphill to improve our point and maintain better lanes. Our downwind speed and depth continued to be good.

 

I had hoped for a top 20 finish, we ended up 26th out of 70 boats. We finished as the top US boat and 2nd North American boat. A bit disappointed in our early week, poorer results, but we did learn a lot and improved throughout the week.


Andy Bates and the Youth Award Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

 

The next Worlds will be in Kingston, Ont. CAN in 2026 on the same waters as the 1976 Montreal Olympics were sailed. It is a beautiful area to sail as we were there for North Americans last summer. The following Worlds with be either at Black Rock in Melbourne AUS, or in Adelaide, in South AUS Dec/Jan 2028. There was some discussion about the 2029 worlds being back in the US and several discussions were had re: a possible San Diego Event as the worlds have previously been at St. Francis, Richmond x2, ABYC x2.

 

Respectfully,
Brad Ruetenik, DPM


USA 1205: Kennedy and Pacholski Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 


USA 1208: Bates and Ben Photo Credit: Gleb Turchinovich Gleb.Turchinovich@gmail.com

 

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Regatta Report

Nationals – 2024

National Champs – 2024

Richmond Yacht Club May 17-19, 2024
Race Start
  The third weekend in May saw the US International 14 fleet converge on the Richmond Yacht Club on San Francisco Bay for the 2024 I-14 US Nationals regatta. RYC and its ideal location on the world-famous Berkely Circle was the perfect big-air venue for teams from Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Hawaii to train and compete in three days of fleet racing and one long-distance race, building towards competing in the 2024 World Championships in Lago Di Garda, Italy.
 
Day 1 race 1 was a short W/L course on the north end of the Berkely Circle in a building 10-15kts of breeze before the fleet was sent off on a 15 nautical mile distance race (scored as race 2 in the regatta results) from near the breakwater in Richmond, east of Angel Island, on a broad two-sail reach through the big wind and waves between Alcatraz and the San Francisco cityfront before turning upwind to the famous Blackaller buoy in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge, then turning downwind, hoisting and racing back across the Golden Gate through Racoon Straight north of Angel Island and back to Richmond to finish. Those who survived the dreaded two-sail reach in the 15-20kts of breeze through “the slot” and up the big flood-tide induced rollers up the cityfront were rewarded with a scenic downwind slalom course where the wind followed the tide all the way to the finish. Congrats to Evan Sjostedt and Mikey “Polish” Radziejowski on their distance race win.
 
Saturday’s fleet racing was in a solid 15kts of breeze in the northern part of the Berkely Circle, with winds gusting well into to the low 20’s. The big breeze and short chop put a premium on boat handling and upwind speed, and the tight courses saw a lot of lead changes across the day’s three races. With a deadline to pack the boats and ship them to Italy for the Worlds looming, several boats took a conservative approach and retired early to avoid breakdowns that could jeopardize their Worlds run, highlighting multidimensional sailing and boat design challenge that is I14 racing. With a 2-1-1 scoreline on day 2, Michael Pacholski and Patrick Wilkinson put on a convincing performance, particularly given their relatively short time in the fleet and in a relatively new-to-them boat. Keep an eye on these guys. First Tack Sunday’s racing was relatively milder, with 2 races on the northern part of the Berkely Circle in “only” 12-18kts of breeze. A 2-4 finish on day 3 for Pacholski/Wilkinson was enough to hold onto the lead with an untouchable 10pts across 7 races for First Place overall and a clinch of title of 2024 International 14 US National Champions. Local rivals Kirk Twardowski and Matt Skafel battled John Clark and Hoel Menard for the remaining podium slots, ending the regatta tied with 15 points each. In the end, it was Twardowski/Skafel’s two first place race finishes to Clark/Menard’s one that clinched second place for Twardowski/Skafel on the countback, with Clark/Menard finishing third. Twardowski/Skafel were also winners of the Eric Arens trophy for the top finish from a boat whose combined age was greater than 100 years. Liz Campbell took home the trophy for the top women’s finish, having crewed partner Michael Leitch around the challenging course. Marcos McGee and Sam Normington earned the Avenger Trophy for the top finish from a prior-generation boat design.
Next stop, Lago di Garda Italy, where more than half of the Nationals competitors will be on the line for the 2024 International 14 World Championships, with fleet racing running from August 2nd to 9th.

-MS
2024 Nationals Results
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Regatta Report

Turkey Day – 2023

ABYC Turkey Day regatta 2023

Nov 18-19, 2023
Seven International 14s came to ABYC for the annual Turkey Day Regatta this past weekend. We had a good showing from all of the California 14 locations. The Nor Cal guys sent 4 boats down including new owners Patrick and Andrew Wilkinson. Patrick recently moved back to CA from HI where he finished school at UH and was sailing with the Hi 14 fleet for the last few yrs. He is now living in Santa Cruz. His Older Brother Andrew has been down in San Diego for a few yrs. Andrew came to our I-14 skiff clinic last year and has been sailing the boats of and on since. They bought USA 1202 another B6, the #2 and #10 pool ball boat, guess what color those balls are and you can figure out the name of the boat! Welcome to the fleet guys! John Clark and Hoel Menard came down with 1199 a B6, James Clarkson and Mehmet Gunay in 1198 and Holum, and Cam Puckey with /Aiden Mobley were in AUS 681 another Holum design. LA was represented by Paul Galvez and Dan Roberts in the B5 1168 with and new ICE stiff double spreader rig they just got into the boat. San Diego boats Terry Gleason sailing with Mickey “Polish” Radziejowski were sailing 1207 another Holum, and Brad Ruetenik and JP Barnes in 1200 another B6.
Sat was supposed to be very light breeze, but the southerly breeze built a bit more than expected and we had nice racing in 6-10 kts. These was lots and weed and trash in the water from the recent first rains of the year which made getting around the course clean of weeds a high priority. I’m sure everyone had love of loose grass up to larger kelp and the dreaded “Bag Fish”. When and Bag fish wraps around your foil it’s usually game over as often you can see the clear plastic bag fish, or more difficult is if it catches and T-Foil it can rip the tiller right out of your hand. The weather was supposed to be full on on Sun. So the RC tried to get as many races as they could on Sat. They got off 4 races in light breeze, but is it mostly two wire sailing. Terry and Polish were very fast through both days and won the majority of the races with boat speed and consistency with a 1,(2),1,1 score line for the day. The Wilkinson brothers had very a consistent day with a 3,3,3,3 scoreline. Brad and JP had a more inconsistent day with a (6),1,2,4. John and Hoel were right there as well with a 2, (6),4,2,. Paul and Dan sailed consistently at 5,5,5,5. Cam And Aiden had a decent day at 4,4,6, (DNS) and James had a 7, (DNS), DNS, 6 After breaking a trap harness and sailing in to get a replacement.
 
We had the traditional ABYC Turkey dinner which is always fun and a precursor to the real deal this week.
Sun started with predictions of 15-20 with possible 25 and gusts predicted into the 30s. Early in the AM there was little wind, but it did start to build from and north and east direction indicating an offshore. It quickly built to 15+ and most boats decided to sail with smaller jibs. Jp and I went with the reefed main as well as we feel 15 its is where it starts to pay, especially in the protected flat water inside the break wall in Long Beach. We got out to the course and the breeze had already started to fade. The RC got another 3 races in a very right breeze dying to under 10 kts. Terry and Polish continued their winning ways with another stellar score line of 1,1,2. Brad and JP had a 2,4,3 even with the reefed main and small jib. John Clark and Hoel had and good day with 4,2,4. Patrick and Andrew scored (6),5,5.Cam and Aiden had and 5,6,1 winning the last race – Congrats guys. James and Mehmet had a better day completing all races with 3,3,6. Unfortunately Paul and Dan did not get out as they were adjusting the new rig all day for the expected higher breeze (DNC), DNC, DNC.  
Overall and decent showing of boats and the sailing level has increased across the fleet. There are lots more boats out there in each of the venues which are not getting sailed much and we would sure like to see those boats on the line. No reason we don’t have 15 boats consistently for these regattas. We will be sailing in SD a lot over the winter so come join us. We will have another 14 clinic mid Jan so watch for those dates. Next race is New Years Day race in San Diego. Midwinters in LA in Feb. I know Richmond has their Midwinters through the winter months as well. Worlds next Aug in Lake Garda ITA.

Hoist,
BR
USA 1200
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Regatta Report

Fall Dinghy – 2023

Fall Dinghy-2023

October 20-21 at St Francis Yacht Club

We had 7 i14s registered and conditions were all over the board. It was exactly what you would expect from a fall dinghy on the city front. 

Saturday we saw a slightly lighter than usual Westerly with the occasional South shift over Crissy Field. With our start line just off of GGYC, it was a game of chutes and ladders each leg!

Sunday our start was West of Alcatraz and we were battered by a Southerly storm. Really fun conditions that kept everyone on their toes. Traffic was a major problem and kept thing spicy on those runs.

Thanks to everyone who showed up and the organizing authority for making it all happen!

RESULTS

PHOTOS

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Regatta Report

Super Cup – 2023

Betty Ruetenik Super Cup – 2023

Regatta write up by Cameron Puckey and Aidan Mobley
 
A few weeks ago the annual Super Cup was held in San Diego with seven I14’s and three 29ers. Now renamed the Betty Ruetenik Super Cup I would like to send a huge thanks to Brad Ruetenik and SDYC for putting on another amazing weekend!
 
Another huge thanks to Saxon Chang for taking photos and video of the weekend and Chance Bates for editing the video.
 
Day one started off with a slightly longer course and the breeze was strongest against the shoreline. As the day progressed, the course was shortened up and the breeze became more inconsistent before finally shutting down. There were many lead changes in most of the races on day one with most boats having good and bad races.
 
The day concluded for some at Tony Jacal’s with a spirited debate about the pro’s and cons of AI. Which unfortunately would not write this for me…
 
Day two below from Aidan,
On Sunday, the breeze increased to 8kts with a gustier puffs rolling in to keep things dynamic and interesting. Stefan Chang was on the coach boat to take pictures for the fleet, the first race was a close start with 29ers zipping through the first three starters, Brad Ruetinik and his Crew Garret Brown won the line with a starboard start by the pin followed by Cam and Aidan with Terry not close behind, the other 14s trailed closely behind with a few 29ers pushed out the back. Now down and fast Brad was the first to the mark with the red boat skippered by Kate close second, Terry and Cam both overshot the lay line and were in second and third. It was a close race until the finish when Brad clenched the win. The second race held for a mishap as Terry and JP collided with Kate and Peter Stanton coming into the upwind gate on their second lap. This sadly lead to both retiring however there was minimal damage and no one was hurt. The remaining 14s raced hard with Michael L and Devon showing how their team work and practice had paid off with a solid race put in at speed with the remaining pack. Brad pulled all bullets as the breeze picked up slightly. After the third race, a close match with everyone in the fleet trading podiums during the match. Matt on the black b5 with new crew Chance took some time to practice his upwind speed in the shifty conditions. Towards the end of the day Cameron and Aidan sent it in while the 29ers swapped crews with the 14s and the young sailors got to experience some quality time in 14s. Boats were across the course with smiles all around as the 29ers got to lite up on down wind rips. After racing a debrief was held with glowing reviews from the 29ers on their experiences in the 14s.
The super cup event isn’t held as a results oriented event, instead it’s treated as a short circuit boat handling clinic where crews and skippers return exhausted from a great day out on the water. Suffice to say this result was achieved with exhausted smiles all around after racing.
 
Results however are,
I14
1. USA 1200 – 17 Points
2. AUS 681 – 32 Points
3. USA 1193 – 36 Points
4. USA 1187 – 36 Points
5. USA 1178 – 44 Points
6. USA 1185 – 49 Points
7. USA 1162 – 60 Points
29er
1. USA 1197 – 12 Points
2. USA 1413 – 21 Points
3. USA 519 – 28 Points
 
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Regatta Report

West Coast Championships – 2023

2023 West Coast Championships!
Thirteen International 14’s came together for the annual West Coast Championship held out of Coronado Yacht Club at the 2023 Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series. With competitors coming in from as far East as Sweden and West from Hawaii, the I14’s were the largest fleet in the regatta and by the look of the scores certainly one of the most competitive. Some of the comments leading up to the event were that this group of 14’s was one of the deepest pools of talent from top to bottom that we’ve seen at this event including an appearance from 14 royalty Kris Bundy and Jamie Hanseler sailing Brad’s 1161 and even an appearance from Leith Shenstone sailing with Dan Kaseler on USA 1185. Good to see you guys! Weather could have played a big factor for this regatta with this being one of the wettest West Coast winters in history, but the rainstorms slotted the race weekend with mostly sunshine and some decent breeze in the forecast.
Day 1 started on San Diego’s South Bay with sunny skies and a 12:30 start – schedule was set for 2 races and then the traditional long distance race. Breeze was out of the West at about 7-8 knots but moving right as it built. After a slight delay the first race got off for a 2 lap race and the RC shifted the mark right for the second leg. On 1187, Garrett Brown and Morgan Pinckney got off to a solid start, had a good first lap and continued to lead. There were a few changes behind with Terry Gleeson & new 14er Jett Jennings on 1207 showing speed and finishing 2nd, followed by Brad Reutenik & Parker Shinn on USA 1200. All of the boats were pretty close together for most of the regatta which is great to see as there were no long waits between races for the most part. The second race the wind went further right and half way up the first leg it looked like 6 of the boats could have the lead. Brad and Parker took the win with Gleeson/Jennings getting 2nd followed by Channing Hamlet and Pete Stanton on USA 1193 and Matt Megla and another new 14er Tommy Rudowicz on legendary USA 1162 coming in 4th. Race 3 was the distance race… the standard 15mi course was set with a windward leeward, jaunt up to North Bay to a large Navy mooring buoy, then ½ way back to a Green marker, back up the mooring buoy and then all the way back to the finish in South Bay. It appeared most everyone got off to a good start. On 1207, Gleeson/Jennings were burned off by Hendo/Martin and quickly tacked out right. They hit the right hard, as well as Megla/Rudowicz on 1162, and some other boats, and it quickly paid off. More breeze and a favorable shift set in and the right hand boats were able to get around the mark first. It was pretty thick at the top of the fleet and all the way down to the leeward mark. Those right hand boats all hit the right even harder on the 2nd upwind, but over a distance race, with lots of lulls, shifts, and a strong tidal flow the boats started separating. Brown/Pinckney on 1187 started working their way up through the fleet into North Bay and eventually were on the heels of 1207. It was hard fought but Gleeson/Jennings made tactically safe decisions, played the current well, stayed out of some holes on the far right up in North Bay to keep their lead through the remaining marks and dozen gybes or so to the final mark. It was a pretty solid race with breeze up to 10 knots and a lack of holes that we’ve seen in the past on this race. 1207 was followed in by 1187, then Reutenik/Shinn, and Megla/Rudowicz at the finish. Day 1 finished with 1207 in first and Reutenik/Shinn and Brown/Pinckney within just 3 pts.
Day 2 started with a promise of a bit more breeze that proved true and settled in between 9-12 for the day. The breeze quickly started moving right as it came in and was certainly the most right of the three day regatta. With a bit more pace we saw additional boats getting in the mix. John Clark and Hoel Menard on 1199 started off with a 3, 1 score line for the day, Channing Hamlet & Pete Stanton on 1193 had a top 5; and Kris Henderson and Martin Fabiansson on 1192 were consistently sneaky fast and crawling up the leaderboard. It was a nice 11 kts+ for Race 3 and the wind was the most right of the day, the RC placed the top mark squarely up against the Coronado Bridge and 1187 with Brown/Pinckney led the first leg followed by 1199 and James Clarkson & Josh Leihe on 1198. South Bay is known for its shoal hazards, but apparently not well enough by the volunteer set mark boat! As the 14’s came ripping around the top mark all three leaders found bottom as they turned down to set their kites. Broken boards, damaged cassettes, and some disgruntled 14ers were the result. Thankfully, the entire fleet wasn’t taken out as Garrett Brown was visibly seen on his centerboard (or was he standing on the shoal?) – motioning and yelling for all of the other boats to gybe away immediately. Thank you Garrett! Many crash gybed and when we came up we saw what was happening, followed Garrett’s directions and gybe set immediately. The three boats were eventually towed in, while the rest of the fleet continued racing the four leg race albeit on a one sided course with Reutenik/Shinn taking the finish. This third race was followed by a final race for the day (with the top mark now in safe water) albeit with a depleted fleet. USA 1200 took a bullet in this race and with the fresher breeze Megla/Rudowicz were showing pace and took 2nd followed by Henderson/Fabiansson and then Gleeson/Jennings. It was a great day of 14 sailing with South Bay delivering the goods but definitely marred by the boat damage and those boats missing races. Those three boats did file for redress and were granted average scores of their completed races for that day. This ruling appeared to hurt one of the boats overall scores, but this is the decision that came out and the fleet moved on.
So with the final day, it was pretty close at the top. USA 1207 with Gleeson/Jennings held the lead by 4 points with Reutenik/Shinn and Brown/Pinckney both at 4 points back. They day did not look as promising, with the sky overcast, the wind very light and out of the WSW. The breeze settled out of the West and racing was started in maybe 6 knots. Brown/Pinckney on 1187 have demonstrated tremendous gears in the light stuff and they certainly used them to their advantage. 1187 and 1207 stayed fairly close together finishing 1, 2 followed once again by light air killers Henderson/Fabiansson and then USA 1195 with the always consistent team Michael Leitch and Elizabeth Campbell. This set up the last race with Gleeson/Jennings having a 3 point lead over Brown/Pinckney. The wind dropped a bit more to about 5 kts max and there were certainly holes and lighter spots on the course. The final race started with 1187 taking off on the pin side and 1207 starting well but the wind pressed left and they were forced to tack out. 1187 took their light air speed and ran with it and were followed in by 2 other boats with similar single spreader rigs – Hendo and Martin on 1192 and Brad & Parker on 1200. Garrett and Morgan on USA 1187 sailed extremely well, consistent, and finishing the day with 2 bullets and winning the 2023 I14 West Coast Championships. Terry with brand new 14er Jett Jennings came in 2nd (nice work Jett!), with Brad and Parker 3rd, and Hendo & Martin claiming 4th.
This event was really well sailed by all the competitors. Every boat was in the fight at some point and sailing well. Super pleased to see how tight the fleet stayed and how there was really no waiting around between races really shows how far everyone’s skills have come as a fleet. The I14’s were the biggest fleet in this regatta, undoubtedly the most exciting fleet to watch, and on this weekend with white, black, grey, green, dark blue, light blue, teal, red, & brown boats on the line, we are certainly the most colorful as well. We had at least 3 brand new (first regatta) crews (Jett Jennings, Tommy Rudowicz, and Andrew Wilkinson) in the fleet and holding their own, plus newcomers Hoel Menard and Kate Shaner coming back for another event, we had two females competing (Liz Campbell & Kate Shaner)… word to the wise… don’t mess with Kate on the line, the Wilkinson brothers (Andrew & Patrick) paired up to sail Crumpet, plus it looks like Michael Lazarro is getting comfortable in the back of the boat with DeVonn Zink pulling the strings on the blue B5 Last Call. And as always, it appeared the 14 fleet consumed the most post race beers. All in all, a great event and awesome to see everyone having fun and hanging out together – these are awesome boats and as we know, but its all the super cool people that sail them that make the fleet.
Next up… SuperCup in San Diego – it’s a always a battle, but mostly against yourself – be there! And then the most excellent event – Skiff Fest in beautiful Santa Barbara and housing is available! Hope to see you all there!
 
 
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Regatta Report

Midwinters – 2023

I14 Midwinters at CBYC Feb 18-19, 2023

What do you call a light wind day in Hurricane Gulch? A bike ride!

It was a beautiful weekend in San Pedro for the I-14 Midwinters hosted by Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club. Gotta love those hot Pedro nights!

The infamous breeze of Hurricane Gulch decided to go AWOL this weekend and instead we had a light wind regatta with short courses, tight racing, and a bit of luck on the side of the winners. We had a great turnout with 10 boats on the line and representation from San Francisco to San Diego, and everywhere in between. Thanks to everyone for making the trek!

Saturday:

The first race was scheduled for 12:30pm but with the light winds and glassy water, the AP flag was set and racing was postponed for about an hour and a half. When the wind finally picked up, the race committee sent the fleet on a quick one-lapper around the course. Kate/Garrett shot off the line and roughly 12 minutes later the mighty Colonel Angus claimed its first win in what would be a perfect regatta. Kirk/Matt followed closely in Atomic Punk’s orange splendor, and Channing/Pete in racecar red took third. It was clear that finesse would be the key and that a bad start or any mistakes on the racecourse would prove fatal in the standings.

Race two featured a strong performance by Kate/Garrett once again, but this time hot on their heels was Terry/Jon in the great green Dunder Pit, followed by Mike/Elizabeth, taking full advantage of a private micro-puff down the final leg.

Race three saw the wind continue to trend right and build to a modest ~6 knots, enough for teams to actually use their trapeze harnesses! This would prove to be the windiest race of the series, but clean starts and tight tactics remained crucial for success. Kate/Garrett boringly bested the fleet again, the Dunder Pit snatched another second, and James/Mike pounced on the podium in third.

Sunday:

Going into day 2 it was becoming clear who would win the regatta, but the rest of the podium was still anybody’s game, with Terry/Jon in second, James/Mike tied with Channing/Pete for third just one point behind, and Mike/Elizabeth just one point behind them.

In spite of a more favorable forecast, the AP went up again at 12:30pm and the race committee did a wind dance to scare up some breeze. The first race was another quick one-lapper to warm up the fleet with John/Hoel grabbing 2nd behind Kate/Garrett, and Mike/Elizabeth snagging 3rd.

The final race of the series was competitive as ever as boats placed their bets on which side of the course would pay, and traded positions on each lap. Kate/Garrett secured their well-earned picket fence, followed by Channing/Pete in their best finish of the regatta, securing them 4th overall. James/Mike held off Mike/Elizabeth in the final lap, resulting in a tie for 2nd place in the series.

Congratulations to Kate and Garrett who were the clear winners of this regatta with straight bullets across both days: As always, Colonel Angus did not disappoint! In the end, Mike and Elizabeth sailing Winnie (the Poo Boat) won the tiebreaker with James and Mike in Low and Angry (who, paradoxically, managed to point extremely high and seemed quite happy in doing so). Special shoutout to the female racers for taking first and second in the regatta!

In spite of the light breeze it was a really fun regatta and it was nice to have the fleet back together for such tight racing, with 7 of the 10 boat fleet scoring at least one podium finish and every single boat having moments of brilliance.

Thank you to Cabrillo Beach Yacht Club and their volunteer race committee for hosting another successful regatta. Be sure to check out the fleet’s Facebook page (I14USA) for regatta photos courtesy of Volker Corell.

We’re looking forward to seeing the group at the next event: March 17-19, Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series (HHSWRS, aka “The regatta formerly known as NOOD”) at Coronado Yacht Club.
Link to Register: https://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eid=15505
2023 Midwinters Results:
Link to results: https://www.regattanetwork.com/event/25586#_newsroom+results

 

 
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Regatta Report

Turkey Day – 2022

Another year and another Turkey Day regatta. Who doesn’t like two days of sailing along with two days of a full turkey dinner, with the opportunity to win a turkey for even more turkey dinner.  You either take home the turkey or you are the turkey.  There is nothing in between (other than a chicken).

This year’s Turkey Day was enjoyable as always.  The turnout was 6 registered boats with 5 boats able to attend.  On the water were (order of results):  James Clarkson / Josh Leihe (1198 – Low and Angry), John Clark / Hoel Menard (1199 – Pros & Cons), Michael Leitch / Elizabeth Campbell (1195 – Winnie), Michael Lazzaro / DeVonn Zink (11 – Last Call) and Paul Galvez / Dan Roberts (1168 – Lokita).  Brad Ruetenik had planned to come, but crew challenges inhibited him from joining in on the fun.  I guess he’d won too many turkeys in the past and he hasn’t yet made it through cooking them all.

Usually this regatta is a light wind event and a nice start to the winter season.  This time around it was a mix of moderately-heavy to light wind.  The most challenging part was the wind direction.  Usually a west to north-west breeze, this year it was a consistent east to north-east. Once on the water, the breeze was a manageable mid to high teens.  But the challenge was getting on the water.  The race committee seemed to recall past events where the 14s were consistently late to the start.  So they opened the skippers meeting by calling out the 14s to ensure we made it to our start on time.  I guess being late shamed does seem to work as there were no late arrivals for any start.

The more common launch is from the boat ramp, but that was backed up significantly, especially with the challenging wind direction.  So the 14s, fully rigged, decided to alter the launch and head to the beach.  The problem?  How to avoid the power lines.  It required all hands on deck to tip over the boats and walk them on their sides under three power lines.  And once they reached the beach, navigating through a locked gate would have made it nearly impossible until the combo to the gate was found.  Lazzaro / Zink were the only ones that decided to take on the doc launching, likely because they were pinned deep in the boat yard, but with a better line to the dock where they could break ranks and push through to launch.  They were the first to get out on the water, where all other boats were exhausted from carrying only to have to deal with a further launch challenge – the direction of the boat (towards the deep water), the immediate fall off to depths that could not accommodate boat stability, and the need to install the foil without dragging through sand and mud.

Clark / Menard were the first to beach launch, rushing to get on the water without attaching all trapezes or the jib.  But managed to make it out and eventually get the rest of the boat rigged to head to the race course.  Leitch / Campbell were the 2nd and decided to make it a bit easier by moving closer to the harbor seawall in hopes of less gusty conditions, although the same challenges with getting the foil in place.  Clarkson / Leihe were the 3rd to launch and seemed to make it out without a hitch (nice to have two examples of what not to do before launching).  And finally, Galvez / Roberts were the last to attempt, where they had issues with the foil, capsized and eventually lost their caps due to bolts shearing off.  At some point Galvez is going to have to replace the original parts put in place by Howie Hamlin back when the boat won Worlds.  Unfortunately the issues caused them to not make it to the racecourse for the day.

On to the racing on Saturday.  The 1st race was a single sausage course and the breeziest averaging mid teens with occasional gusts into the high teens. This was very manageable, although all were a bit rusty in remembering how to sail.  Clarkson / Leihe led from start to finish and had a very nice mistake-free race.  I believe they port tacked as course right seemed to be favored – either that or they tacked out quickly, which paid off with clear air and maintaining a fast pace.  Their win was only by a small margin as racing was close.  Leitch / Campbell followed closely behind to take a 2nd.  Followed equally as close by Clark / Menard.  Lazzaro / Zink took up the tail position to wrap up the 1st race.

The 2nd race was a double sausage course and was down to just three boats as Leitch / Campbell called it a day.  The breeze also fell off quite a bit to high single digit averages with gusts into the low teens.  Leitch had just returned the day prior from a trip to Egypt so jet lag was settling in fast and they decided to rest up and return again on Sunday.  As seemed to be common for many of the races, Clarkson / Leihe got off to a fast start.  Clark / Menard followed closely along with Lazzaro / Zink.  Clark / Leihe rounded the top mark first with a decent lead.  Clark / Menard followed in hot pursuit, gaining a lot on the downwind leg.  Clarkson / Leihe held a lead in the 2nd upwind, but Clark / Menard overtook on the final downwind before the final upwind where they held off Clarkson / Leihe for the win.  Lazzaro / Zink finished a bit further back as they continued to get the boat setup to sail fast.

Prior to further racing, it appeared the easterly was starting to fight the westerly and it would likely get worse before one would win out.  Clarkson / Leihe and Clark / Menard decided to call it a day with the desire for more boats to be on the water to make racing more interesting.  They did not consult with Lazzaro / Zink, who eventually finished and decided a turkey was on the line and stayed out for a third and final race of the day.  The breeze had held and likely increased a tad making for a solid, although lonely, third race.  Having only themselves as competition, they took the win.  With the victory, Lazzaro / Zink led the regatta after the 1st day, followed a few points behind by Clarkson / Leihe and a further point behind by Clark / Menard.  There was some catching up to do if either Clarkson / Leihe or Clark / Menard were to take home the turkey.

The racing on Sunday was very light to light, which made for some close racing and gave all boats a chance for overall victory.  All 5 boats were on the water and ready for a fun day.  The race committee set out for three races of which all were sailed.  With Galvez / Roberts returning to the water, they opened up the day with two bullets.  But racing was extremely close with Clarkson / Leihe taking 2nd, Clark / Menard taking 3rd and Leitch / Campbell taking 4th.  All within a few boat lengths of each other.  The success of Galvez / Roberts had a lot to do with quality starts, course decisions and maintaining a fast pace.  There were plenty of opportunities to overtake, but Galvez / Roberts held off the other boats with solid sailing.  Lazzaro / Zink completed the courses to take the final position.

The most exciting part of the day was the start of the 2nd race.  There were three boats on starboard attempting to make the line and avoid the committee boat.  The most leeward was Leitch / Campbell who were struggling to make the line with the need to eventually avoid the committee boat.  The middle boat was Clark / Menard who were on track to just make the line and avoid the committee boat.  Just windward was Clarkson / Leihe who were in the best position to make the line.  Leitch / Campbell made a last minute decision to tack to avoid the committee boat (no, don’t tack, gybe) forcing Clark / Menard to tack to avoid a collision.  Both boats went over, with Clark / Menard mast tip landing close to the leeward side of Clarkson / Leihe who (almost) avoided.  Clark / Menard righted the boat quickly and continued sailing, with Leitch / Campbell eventually getting back to sailing (720 completed?).  The smart ones were Galvez / Roberts and Lazzaro / Zink who stayed far away and had tacked over to port to stretch out a comfortable initial lead.  In the end, sailing was very close as it was the entire regatta.

The last race was important to decide overall victory.  Given the inability to compete on the first day, it was highly unlikely for Galvez / Roberts to achieve an overall win so they were sailing for race wins.  Clarkson / Leihe had a 3 point lead over Clark / Menard, but anything could happen.  The race was another extremely close race with multiple lead changes.  Leitch / Campbell sailed a solid race.  They held a close margin all the way to the final upwind, where it came down to a single tack on whether they would maintain their lead or be overtaken by Clark / Menard.  They took the bullet followed closely by Clark / Menard.  Clarkson / Leihe had a bit more challenging final leeward gate rounding, providing Clark / Menard an opportunity to pass with a fast douse and gybe. In the end, Clark / Menard took 2nd followed by Clarkson / Leihe in 3rd, Galvez / Roberts with a 4th and the final position by Lazzaro / Zink.

This was a unique regatta where every boat who sailed took a bullet and racing was extremely close throughout every race.  Very enjoyable weekend.  Final results were as follows:

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Congratulations to Clarkson / Leihe for taking home the overall win and the 22 lbs turkey.  Congratulations to Clark / Menard for a close 2nd and bringing home a 17 lbs chicken.  I heard Menard cooked up the chicken and ate like a prince with his college roommates.

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Additional information:

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Regatta Report

Fall Dinghy – 2022

The third weekend in October saw six International 14s from Northern and Southern California converge on the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco for their annual Fall Dinghy Regatta.

Our course was a ~1mi windward-leeward course with mid-leg start and finish lines on the San Francisco Cityfront just off the Wave Organ, and was shared with fleets of 505s, ILCA 6s and C420/I420s for a total of approximately 70 boats, all seemingly racing in different directions at different times. Racing on the San Francisco Cityfront always presents a unique set of challenges, which were this weekend amplified by unpredictable (by San Francisco standards) winds and rocking ebb tide through the duration of each racing day that whipped up a steep, short chop that put a premium on boat handling, complicated layline calls, and added many other wind, water, and geographic complexities not found on a more “normal” racecourse.

The first day saw winds in the high teens and low 20s in the morning while the teams rigged up on the St Francis lawn, with a brief wind respite during launching before really turning on just in time for the first race, with gusts reaching into the 30 and even 40-knot range as measured by the weather station on the Golden Gate Bridge. Pushed by a 1.5-2.5kt ebb tide, teams ripped upwind towards the favored right side at speeds over the bottom that reached into the low teens. USA 1200 was first to tack back, with a good layline call to reach the weather mark with a clear lead, followed by USA 1198 with USA 1186 shortly behind. Unfortunately the conditions proved to be too much, with each boat capsizing in spectacular fashion (some multiple times) during the requisite bear-away, with one particularly visible orange-hulled ’14 drawing a stunned crowd as she limped over to the shallows in front of Crissy Beach to strike her sails and secure a tow home. DNFs all around for Saturday’s race, but thankfully no major breakages on day one beyond some scrapes and scuffs to go with the bruised egos.

Conditions on the second day made for far better sailing. After a 45 min AP delay on the water to wait out a 3-5kt northerly, the Golden Gate did her thing and the first race got off just before noon in 15-18kts of breeze from the west over the same ebb tide as the first day. Conditions like this strongly favor heading to the right upwind to take advantage of the east-west tidal current between the cityfront and Alcatraz, before rounding the weather mark and banging hard down the course left (sailor’s right) to Crissy Beach and the Cityfront shoreline for some relief from the current and of course to provide a spectacle of well-executed spinnaker work for our hosts watching from the StFYC race deck.

After the days’ four completed races, San Diego YC’s Ruetenik/Wilkinson sailed USA 1200 “Astragulus Too” as though they were both still SF locals, with precise layline calls despite the currents, great speed, and several bold port-tack starts to take an early lead towards that favored right side upwind, all resulting in an untouchable 1-1-2-1 scoreline and overall win. The competition for second place was fierce, with Richmond YC rivals Twardowski/Skafel in USA 1186 “Atomic Punk” trading places (and occasionally, paint) with Clark/Menard’s USA 1199 “Pros & Cons” and Clarkson/Leihe’s USA 1198 “Low and Angry”, with only one point separating the three boats after the four races. In the end it was Twardowski/Skafel’s single bullet that proved clinch in the tiebreaker to take second place, followed by Clark/Menard in third and Clarkson/Leihe in fourth overall. Puckey/Mobley’s newly-built Hollum AUS 681 “Escaped Confict” (and Mobley’s recently-healed hip fracture) showed early promise with a 3rd place finish in the first race, but a breakdown in the new standing rigging meant letters on their scoreline for the rest of the series. After completing the first two races, Lazzaro/Zink were spotted tearing across the horizon, speed-testing their new-to-them Bieker 5 USA 1178 “Last Call”, looking very fast under three sails framed by the Golden Gate Bridge.

On behalf of the International 14 fleet, our appreciation goes out to the St Francis Yacht Club for their professionalism in running an excellent regatta despite the difficult conditions, and of course for their on-water support and excellent post-race hospitality. Thank you also to Ruetenik/Wilkinson and Puckey/Mobley for making the long trip from out-of-town for the event.

-Matt Skafel