News from the Star Fleet
The Main Sheet 8/30/22
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For example, our own Duane Delfosse raced at the Royal Cork Yacht Club, Cork Ireland, in the 505 Worlds in a 75 boat fleet. Yes, Ireland that place across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s an awful lot of work just getting logistics and organized to get to the start line. If you looked closely on the water this summer Duane was out on Lake Sunapee practicing and training for the Worlds this summer. It takes dedication and commitment to race in a World Championship overseas. Duane’s dedication to the sport and willingness to accept a challenge is the essence of racing. Nice racing Duane!
Another LSYC sailor, Brian Doyle, faced a different challenge of returning the Hinman Masters Trophy to the New York Club after an 8 year drought. This year they found success in that effort. The Hinman Masters is team racing at its best. What…. team racing? Team racing has 3 boats on a team competing to get their three boats across the finish line first. The races have on the water judges that make the calls for penalties during racing. Strategy, tactics, and superior boat handling usually win the event. Congratulations Brian!
This year’s Western Hemisphere came down to the last day of racing, and the last wind shift of the day. Incredibly tight racing in mentally grueling conditions. On the last day of racing Andy Ivey, local Star legend, was in a commanding 2nd place position with Reid Krakower as his crew. He was closely followed by Peter Follansbee with crew Nat Cook, and former America's Cup skipper Paul Cayard, sailing with LSYC’s own Brad Nichol, former US Sailing team member. The last day would be a test of patience. 6 boats were in position to win the coveted Western Hemisphere Championship going into the last race. Shifts and lulls dropped boats from first to 20th in a single leg of the course. Andy faced heartbreak as the shifts did not play in his favor in both races on the last day. Sometimes a top boat was in position to win the event and then quickly saw it all erased in a wind shift or dying breeze. Peter Follansbee and Nat Cook were winning the Western Hemisphere regatta rounding the top mark in second place in the last race. The finish line was in sight for their win. Paul Cayard and Brad Nichol were slippery fast in the light conditions off the wind and were in first. A dying breeze spread the fleet across Lake Sunapee and collapsed 15 boats onto Peter and Nat’s position on the course. Agony!... Nat and Peter finished 12th in the race and dropped back to 5th overall for the regatta. Nat, Peter, and Andy are truly great sailors to have positioned themselves with the opportunity to win it all, earned admiration and respect, and they have the grit to win the next one. Paul and Brad found success and would go on to win the race and win the Western Hemisphere regatta. Congratulations Brad!
The Western Hemispheres on Lake Sunapee was simply incredible, the dinners, the racing, and most of all the people…amazing! Huge thank you to Brad Nichol and John Chiarella organizing the Star fleet, and Taryn Chiarella for working tirelessly behind the scenes. Many thanks to the Flag Officers and board and the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club (Ali and Tim) for making this event special.
This upcoming weekend the Stars will race on Saturday and Sunday in the Labor Day Series, and the Cruising Fleet has their End to End Race on Sunday at 1 pm. And don’t forget, the Sailor’s picnic is on Labor Day, Monday the 5th, at 12 pm. Would love to see you all there!
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The Main Sheet 8/23/22
This week we saw the first signs of sailing starting to wind down with the Junior boats being derigged and prepped for winter. However, sailing is still far from over. The Sonar fleet had a great race Wednesday night with a competitive and close race between David Heckel and Bob Henry! The cruising fleet saw John Gedaminski and crew take 1st.
This week the Star Western Hemisphere Championships are being hosted by the LSYC. There are events every day, with races on Wednesday – Saturday starting at 11 am each day. It has been all hands on deck this past weekend in preparation as I’m sure you have seen the hustle and bustle. We expect to see some great sailing. We encourage everyone to take some time to get on the water – the starts should be amazing with the large fleet of 35 boats we have. The club will be well represented with our own fleet sailors, and the off-lake sailors already feel welcome and excited. Thank you to all the volunteers who are putting in many hours to make this a great success, and to all club members who are supporting the Star Fleet as we host such a prestigious event.
Enjoy this week of action on the water and stay tuned for the results next week!
This week the Star Western Hemisphere Championships are being hosted by the LSYC. There are events every day, with races on Wednesday – Saturday starting at 11 am each day. It has been all hands on deck this past weekend in preparation as I’m sure you have seen the hustle and bustle. We expect to see some great sailing. We encourage everyone to take some time to get on the water – the starts should be amazing with the large fleet of 35 boats we have. The club will be well represented with our own fleet sailors, and the off-lake sailors already feel welcome and excited. Thank you to all the volunteers who are putting in many hours to make this a great success, and to all club members who are supporting the Star Fleet as we host such a prestigious event.
Enjoy this week of action on the water and stay tuned for the results next week!
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The Main Sheet 8/16/22
We have had some amazing weeks of sailing for youth, seniors, and world class sailors alike. With such fierce wind for many weekends this season, we were bound to run into some calmer days. This week we saw just that, but we still had lots of great racing.
Wednesday the cruising fleet saw many boats out racing in light and variable conditions. The start of the race had a large wind shift favoring the pin end of the start. This wind shift race shuffled the start line plans and forced boats to scramble to reach the start line on time. In the division 1, Mike Deyett and Scott Beckman were 45 seconds late to the start but finished 1st across the line in the Viper 640 (handicapped adjusted scores are yet to be posted). George Morin had an excellent race in division 2 in the Cal 24 and came away with the bullet.
On Thursday, the Juniors hosted the Rig It Up regatta in light breeze. The club had 9 - 420’s and 15 -Optimis Dinghy’s to compete against the best of LSYC juniors. There were 2 fleets for the Opti’s – Green (beginner) and Blue (advanced), each fleet got in 6 good races. The LSYC was well represented at the end of the day. Avery Blaquiere took 1st place in the Opti Green fleet. In the 420 fleet Cyrus Nolin and Aiden Ayers finished second overall, while Kelson Shea and Crosby Nolin finished 3rd. Congrats to our sailors for a job well done! Thank you to Aimee Ayers for coordinating and our great Race Committee.
On Saturday the Stars wrapped up the August series with one race on Saturday, due to the wind suddenly disappearing towards the end of the first planned race. There was an exciting finish with Andy Ivey/Reid Krakower and Peter Follansbee/Paul Skarin close together until Andy/Reid tacked and Peter/Paul ended up in a hole. Mike Kelly/Erin Kelly and Michele Wood/Mike Wood were getting close to the finish when the wind died. Swimming to the finish would’ve been faster! Second race was canceled for no wind. Not only did they win the race, but Andy and Reid also won the August series - congratulations sailors!
Sunday brought in the Lake Sunapee antique boat parade with some of the most spectacular wooden power boats in the world. Sunday also arrived with little to no wind. This made for tough sailing conditions with lots of waves and little power. The cruising fleet barely got one of their two races off in lumpy waves and variable wind, yet I was able to see smiles from most of the fleet despite the conditions. That’s sailing!
Overall, racing at the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club has had growing fleets, fun and exciting racing!
Preparations for the Westerns are underway; expect to see a lot of Star sailors out practicing next weekend!
Wednesday the cruising fleet saw many boats out racing in light and variable conditions. The start of the race had a large wind shift favoring the pin end of the start. This wind shift race shuffled the start line plans and forced boats to scramble to reach the start line on time. In the division 1, Mike Deyett and Scott Beckman were 45 seconds late to the start but finished 1st across the line in the Viper 640 (handicapped adjusted scores are yet to be posted). George Morin had an excellent race in division 2 in the Cal 24 and came away with the bullet.
On Thursday, the Juniors hosted the Rig It Up regatta in light breeze. The club had 9 - 420’s and 15 -Optimis Dinghy’s to compete against the best of LSYC juniors. There were 2 fleets for the Opti’s – Green (beginner) and Blue (advanced), each fleet got in 6 good races. The LSYC was well represented at the end of the day. Avery Blaquiere took 1st place in the Opti Green fleet. In the 420 fleet Cyrus Nolin and Aiden Ayers finished second overall, while Kelson Shea and Crosby Nolin finished 3rd. Congrats to our sailors for a job well done! Thank you to Aimee Ayers for coordinating and our great Race Committee.
On Saturday the Stars wrapped up the August series with one race on Saturday, due to the wind suddenly disappearing towards the end of the first planned race. There was an exciting finish with Andy Ivey/Reid Krakower and Peter Follansbee/Paul Skarin close together until Andy/Reid tacked and Peter/Paul ended up in a hole. Mike Kelly/Erin Kelly and Michele Wood/Mike Wood were getting close to the finish when the wind died. Swimming to the finish would’ve been faster! Second race was canceled for no wind. Not only did they win the race, but Andy and Reid also won the August series - congratulations sailors!
Sunday brought in the Lake Sunapee antique boat parade with some of the most spectacular wooden power boats in the world. Sunday also arrived with little to no wind. This made for tough sailing conditions with lots of waves and little power. The cruising fleet barely got one of their two races off in lumpy waves and variable wind, yet I was able to see smiles from most of the fleet despite the conditions. That’s sailing!
Overall, racing at the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club has had growing fleets, fun and exciting racing!
Preparations for the Westerns are underway; expect to see a lot of Star sailors out practicing next weekend!
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The Main Sheet 8/9/22
This week was amazing!! We showcased our fantastic club and staff this weekend with multiple regattas. Thank you to Ali and his crew and all who organized, served, prepped, and managed the weekend.
On Friday we hosted the 1st annual NextGen under 25 Star regatta. This is for skippers under 25 to race Stars with the boat owners as the crew. We had 7 boats and nice wind for three great races. It was quite a sight seeing the younger sailors at the helm. We want to give a big shout out to all the crew who graciously donated their time and boats for this event. Many of the crew were off lake sailors looking to inspire our younger talent. The LSYC was well represented with Cyrus Nolin with Steve Braverman crew winning, Jasper Nolin with Josh Phypers crew second and Edward Coleman (Boston Harbor) with Jim Revkin as crew third. As the writer of this I will need to brag a bit about race #2 where the Nolin boys took 1 Jasper, 2 Cyrus, and 3 Crosby. It was an LSYC sweep – the Junior program is and has been doing some great things!! We finished the night with an Italian dinner and “Stories With The Stars” -lots of fun tales from the veteran Star Sailors.
Saturday was the kickoff for the 12th District Championship as well as the Lake Sunapee Open. We had sailors from Canada, Brazil, Colorado, Seattle, and up and down the East Coast. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones as the Star Fleet community is one of a kind. Thank you to all the members who hosted off lake guests – that is what makes these regatta’s work! We had planned for three races Saturday, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Instead of sailing, we swam, socialized and as Sailors do – had a few drinks as the weather was just not going to cooperate. While we didn’t have sailing, our membership and participants had a great Steak Dinner Saturday night. The food was delicious, and the stories and friendship were even better!
Sunday was an early start as we needed to get three races in for an official regatta, so out we went for a 9:30 am start. Fortunately, the wind was in our favor and we hit the lake ready to go. Of course, not all goes according to plan and one of our skippers was unable to participate leading to a frantic search of a replacement. Good thing our Yacht Club is full of great sailors, and Mike Deyett (former Junior Sailing Coach at LSYC) was waiting in the wings! We placed 24 boats on the starting line. Star starts, with a big fleet are really something everyone should see at least 5 times in their lives. It is a crazy and chaotic jostling of position and strategy. When the gun goes off it is race on!
An extra special thank you goes out to Lovelynn Ivey and Jenn Nolin for organizing an amazing weekend of sailing. Kudos also needs to be shared with all who volunteered on the Race Committee - Wendy Nolin, Carl Schellbach, David Cook, David Ivey, Don Eberly, Frank Lemay, John Gedaminski, Phil Desmond, Rip Cross, Robin Cook, Steve McGrath, Terry Fletcher. We certainly couldn’t do any of this without your time and energy!
On Friday we hosted the 1st annual NextGen under 25 Star regatta. This is for skippers under 25 to race Stars with the boat owners as the crew. We had 7 boats and nice wind for three great races. It was quite a sight seeing the younger sailors at the helm. We want to give a big shout out to all the crew who graciously donated their time and boats for this event. Many of the crew were off lake sailors looking to inspire our younger talent. The LSYC was well represented with Cyrus Nolin with Steve Braverman crew winning, Jasper Nolin with Josh Phypers crew second and Edward Coleman (Boston Harbor) with Jim Revkin as crew third. As the writer of this I will need to brag a bit about race #2 where the Nolin boys took 1 Jasper, 2 Cyrus, and 3 Crosby. It was an LSYC sweep – the Junior program is and has been doing some great things!! We finished the night with an Italian dinner and “Stories With The Stars” -lots of fun tales from the veteran Star Sailors.
Saturday was the kickoff for the 12th District Championship as well as the Lake Sunapee Open. We had sailors from Canada, Brazil, Colorado, Seattle, and up and down the East Coast. It was great to catch up with old friends and meet some new ones as the Star Fleet community is one of a kind. Thank you to all the members who hosted off lake guests – that is what makes these regatta’s work! We had planned for three races Saturday, but Mother Nature had other ideas. Instead of sailing, we swam, socialized and as Sailors do – had a few drinks as the weather was just not going to cooperate. While we didn’t have sailing, our membership and participants had a great Steak Dinner Saturday night. The food was delicious, and the stories and friendship were even better!
Sunday was an early start as we needed to get three races in for an official regatta, so out we went for a 9:30 am start. Fortunately, the wind was in our favor and we hit the lake ready to go. Of course, not all goes according to plan and one of our skippers was unable to participate leading to a frantic search of a replacement. Good thing our Yacht Club is full of great sailors, and Mike Deyett (former Junior Sailing Coach at LSYC) was waiting in the wings! We placed 24 boats on the starting line. Star starts, with a big fleet are really something everyone should see at least 5 times in their lives. It is a crazy and chaotic jostling of position and strategy. When the gun goes off it is race on!
An extra special thank you goes out to Lovelynn Ivey and Jenn Nolin for organizing an amazing weekend of sailing. Kudos also needs to be shared with all who volunteered on the Race Committee - Wendy Nolin, Carl Schellbach, David Cook, David Ivey, Don Eberly, Frank Lemay, John Gedaminski, Phil Desmond, Rip Cross, Robin Cook, Steve McGrath, Terry Fletcher. We certainly couldn’t do any of this without your time and energy!
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The Main Sheet 8/2/22
There were many tired Star sailors on Saturday afternoon! The wind was quite strong for the first 2 races. Crews and skippers alike got drenched and had very sore muscles after three long races. It was a great day; Andy Ivey and Reid Krakower took first twice and are currently leading the August Series, and Scott Beckman and Chip Nolin took first in the 3rd race. Peter Follansbee continued his good skippering this season with Duane Delfosse as his crew. John Wulff with Joe Richter and Chris Eldrige with Mike Miramonti both had exciting days and are currently tied with each other in the August Series. Mike and Erin Kelly also did well and enjoyed their day of sailing, and Michele Wood returned to Star sailing, with Mike Wood as her crew, for the first time in 2 years! We're glad to see her back. In all there were 7 boats; a fantastic showing that made for a good day of competition. Thanks always to the race committee!
The star open/districts are this Saturday and Sunday with 24 boats registered. The Next Gen Junior star event is this Friday with 9 boats registered. Please reach out to the Star Fleet Secretary, Lovelynn Ivey [email protected] to volunteer to house a Star crew, provide spectator support, or volunteer in other ways.
No races last weekend for the Cruising Fleet. However, they did manage to sail a light air event last Wednesday. Division 1 (spinnakers division) had 8 sonars on the start line with 7 more boats in division 2 (no spinnakers division). John Gedaminski won division 2 for the night.
Overall, many boats were out on the water sailing for fun or practicing. The juniors were seen out practicing in a Sonar mid-week. They received a flyby from a Viper 640. This past week had good wind on a great lake. Sailing out of an awesome club with availability to all to come out and sail or race.
The Main Sheet 7/26/22
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The Main Sheet 7/19/22
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The Main Sheet 7/12/22
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The Main Sheet 7/5/22
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