Sailing Blogs - Regatta Wraps Ups

The 2008 Lightning Manahawkin Bay Cup was held September 20 at the Surf City Yacht Club on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. Jim Carson with Jim Roe and Don Schon proved too quick for the competition and came away with the victory after a five race series. Bob Sengstacken from Nyack Boat Club with Daniel Zitin and Mino Tsutsui as crew was second, and one point back of them was Rich Warren with teammates Randy Swartley and Sue Warren.

Central New York Lightning District

Twenty-one boats braved the weather brought along by tropical storm Hanna to compete in the 2008 edition of the Skaneateles One Day Lightning Regatta. Two races were completed on the stormy Saturday... well, it looks like one race was completed by all of the boats, and the second completed by a few. Anyone who sailed care to comment on all those DNF's?

2008 Lightning North Americans

We just finished competing in the 2008 Lightning North Americans held in Newport, RI, arguably one of the prettiest sailing venues around. Alan Terhune bested the nearly 100 boats to claim the top prize. Alan was joined on his boat by his wife Katie and Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, Jeff Linton. That was one accomplished boat, and if before the regatta I was to bet on someone winning, it would have been that team hands down. They certainly didn't make it easy on themselves as they posted their throw-out in the first race of the championship series and had to sail flawlessly from there on out. Needless to say, they did just that, and won by a healthy margin over Matt Fisher with his own All-Star crew of Dan and Tobi Moriarty.

2008 Lightning North Americans

Sail Newport of Newport, RI is hosting the 2008 Lightning North Americans with racing beginning tomorrow.  Actually, the real festivities began earlier in the week with the North American Womens, Juniors, and Masters competition.  These sailors experienced a range of conditions from drifting to holding on for dear life, but we hear that most left with a smile on their face.  You can get all the details from this event from lightningclass.org. 

Central New York Lightning District

August 12-13, 2008 - Sodus Bay, New York

         Sodus Bay Yacht Club hosted the 2008 Central New York Lightning Championships as part of the "Centrals" regatta, which included lasers, optimists and 420's, on a seperate course. Seventeen boats competed.

         Saturday the forcast was for fair weather and PRO Jerry Dodge took the Lightnings out the channel into Lake Ontario, about a 45 minutes sail from the Yacht Club dock. The breeze was off-shore, and light, about 4-6. The day would prove to be all about staying in the pressure, where ever you could find it.

Newport Yacht Club Lightning Fleet

The 2008 Lightning Youth World Championship was completed on Friday July 18 after 6 races over 4 days.  11 teams representing Brazil (2), Canada (5) and USA (4) competed for the title of Lightning Youth World Champion.  Check the ILCA Website http://www.lightningclass.org/index.asp for the final results but Taylor Lutz won followed by Ian Shillebeeckx and Matt Schon all from the USA.  4th and 5th teams were from Brazil.  For Photos check http://gallery.mac.com/shatkins#100154 or go to the link on the ILCA Website.  Briefly, the practice race on Monday ended when a storm front pushed through and one boat capsized breaking a mast.  The first day of racing was nearly prefect conditions but on the 1st windward leg a Port/Starboard collision took out two more boats so racing ended for the

Central New York Lightning District

On Friday July 11th at around 9:30 the 2nd annual SBJSA lightning clinic began. There were 11 lightnings that lined the Sodus Bay YC parking lot. I knew we were already off to a good start. The teams for the day would include a veteran lightning skipper (in most cases the boat owner) and 2 junior sailors. The day started with rigging and getting to know your team. Once the boats were rigged and launched we began the morning sailing session. The morning sailing session was done in order to get the young sailors familiar with the lightning as well as their new skipper for the day. It was a bit rainy but the teams geared up and headed out anways. It was time to practice!

Central New York Lightning District

The Lightning Class 70th Anniversary Regatta was held in Skaneateles, NY, the birthplace of the boat and class, over this past July 4th weekend.  Lightning sailors from all over the country, and even as far as Finland, came in to celebrate their beloved square boat.  Over 120 boats were in attendance, meaning that close to 400 people were taking part in the sailing.  It seemed as though Skaneateles Country Club had a personal helper in place for every one of the sailors involved.  Needless to say, they did a fantastic job organizing the event.  From the Lightning Lab's with some great guest speakers on Friday to launching and hauling 120 Lightnings each day using the fleet of 4 wheelers, every detail seemed to be covered, and covered well...except for one.

Central New York Lightning District

Hammonsport, NY 6/28/08

Dan Pope bested the fleet at the 40th Annual Champagne regatta this weekend. The fleet of ten visited Kueka Yacht club for a one day event on June 28th. The wind blew from the south between ten and fifteen knots. Four five legged races were sailed.

The five top positions were closely contested. Most passing was done along the west shore, were there seemed to bit a little lift most of the time. Dane Pope got there most consistently and won the regatta with finishes of 1-4-1-2. Bob King was second with finishes of 5-1-3-1. Four boats finished with 14 points, Dick Hallagan, Bob Bush and Clay Murphy. Murphy won the tie breaker on account of his two second place finishes.

The Lake Erie districts were held on June 20th and 21st at the Buffalo Canoe Club. Twenty boats registered for the event, which was co-chaired by Debbie Probst and Monica Jones. Saturday morning brought clear skies and a breeze from the southwest.