Team Trials Meeting For Parents - Saturday at AYC

There will be a parents meeting to talk about Team Trials logistics this
Saturday morning, April 28, at about 10 AM or as soon as possible after the
sailors launch.

Practice - April 21 & 22 - American YC

Practice this weekend for both Advanced and Development groups is at American YC.
Jens Kulstad, Manny Resano & Karl Mittermayr are coaching.
Rigged and ready time is 9:30 AM SHARP!
A reminder that boats should be offloaded in the main parking lot - NOT near the drysail area. Also, the water is still really cold. Dry suits are required!
Annette Morrill will be collecting money and Bill Crane is the Parent-of-the-Days.
Have a great weekend. - Doug

Holland Final Report

The start of the last day of racing was delayed for a little while protests were sorted out. This was necessary because after the first 8 races the fleet was divided into thirds (Gold, Silver and Bronze). This concept allows each 1/3 of the fleet to race against each other for the final day rather than the hit or miss of what group you are paired with.

Conditions were much like the prior days with moderate breezes and warming temperatures. The RC kept the races in the 30-40 range but had to use the black flag at the start. Team USA had a great day with many top twenty finishes in the Gold fleet and Morgan Kiss even moved up to 2nd overall.

In all, it was a great trip for Team USA and the LISOT sailors. The conditions were spectacular, the hospitality wonderful, the friendships rewarding and the experience (lake sailing) worthwhile. Everyone should be so lucky as to get to attend this event in their sailing career.

Final Results:
1 Phil Sparks (GBR) 11
2 Morgan Kiss (USA) 33
3 Mikka Nikkilla (FIN) 51

LISOT Sailors:
Gold-
31 Evan Read
40 Olivia Crane
43 Markus Edegran
81 Laura Wefer
Silver-
23 Tracy Doherty
29 Lily Katz
38 Chris Price
46 Ian Storck

Full results and photos available at http://www.braassemermeer.nl/index_uk.html

Garda Final

The last day dawned much like the days earlier in the week. Cool and clear with some haze over the lake. One race to go and by noon the breeze had picked up to 18knots or so with chop and some shifts.

Nick Clemence and Erika Reineke both started way left near the pin and were able to stay above the fleet. They had a great last race with Erika finishing 5th and Nick 9th.

The overall results for the Americans
Mike Popp 40
Erika Reinke 44
Nick Clemence 47
Melaney Johnson 65 (LISOT)
Chris Schade 74 (LISOT)
Kav Stokes 145
Brady Stagg 148
Pat Jacobitti 177 (LISOT)
Ian Stokes 234
Maddie Bricker 237
Kayla Gibson 268
Will Romeo 279
Tiller Tillinghast 293 (LISOT)

Holland Day 3 Summary

Phil Sparks from GBR continues to put on a clinic for the fleet. He has 10 points in 7 races. Morgan Kiss (USA) had a great day with a 3-6-4-3. Graham Landy had some bad luck to be fouled at the leeward and in the process he capsized. His request for redress was denied but he still stands 9th overall. Evan Read (LISOT) also had some bad fortune as he received two yellow flags. This second yellow earned him a DSQ in the race ofthe flag. After 8 races (and Day 3) 15 Americans are in the top 90 and therefore are sailing in the Gold fleet today. LISOT sailors are fairing well - Markus Edegran is 28th, Olivia Crane 66th and Laura Wefer 85th.
In silver fleet are Lily Katz (113), Tracy Doherty (119), Ian Storck (137), and Chris Price (138).
After a short delay on shore this morning while the results were sorted out the fleet has returned to the water with temps around 60 and breeze from the WSW at 12-15. It's really nice!
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Holland - Start Last Day

Again we arrived at 8 AM but today there was no fog and the temps are already 10 degrees celcius. Yesterday they got to 16. The breeze is from the WSW - already 10-12. It's really nice!
We're presently in a holding pattern on shore (9:25)while official results are posted.. Max Lopez will move up into the Gold fleet (top 90) as he was granted redress. Graham Landy won his protest but was denied redress. He is still 8th overall. Morgan Kiss is top American in 3rd. 14 American sailors are in the Gold fleet. Six are in silver fleet (91-180). More soon. -Doug
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LISOT at Stamford YC - Braving The Cold

Holland - Day 2 Posted Results

A great day for USA and for LISOT. While USA's Graham Landy ripped off a 1-1-8 today LISOT's Evan Read and Markus Edegran were hanging close in 13th and 16th overall. Olivia Crane and Lily Katz are also presently in the top 90 - the goal for sailing in the gold fleet on Monday. There will be 3 or 4 races tomorrow (Easter Sunday) weather permitting.

Four races completed - With the next race there will be a throwout
1 Phil Sparks (GBR) 6
2 Graham Landy (USA) 20
3 Pieter Goedhard (NED) 21

Team USA
13 Evan Read 49
16 Markus Edegran 52
26 Carson Crain 69
38 Michael Booker 77
40 Alex Curtiss 81
43 Jack Ortel 82
52 Morgan Kiss 96 (has BFD to throw out)
60 Olivia Crane 104
62 Alex Ramos 107
64 Mitchell Kiss 109
65 Lily Katz 109
73 Max Lopez 115 (has BFD to throw out)
74 John Andril 116
93 Alec Ruiz-Ramon 140
99 Laura Wefer 146
131 Tracy Doherty 175
133 Cam Purton 178
135 Chris Price 178
188 Ian Crane 226

LISOT Alive and Well At Home!

The LISOT home team is sending their congratulations to the LISOT sailors at
the South Americans and wishing good luck to our teams in Holland and Italy.

15 sailors were greeted by ice on their boats this morning in Stamford.
Temperatures are making it barely into the 40's and we have a stiff WNW
breeze approaching 15 knots currently. Everybody is hard at work and having
a good time.

We are looking forward to seeing you all next week.
Annette

Garda Day 2 Update

Day Two brought different conditions from the first as the breeze took its time building to around 15kts from the SSE. Once the wind came in, around 1:30PM, the race committee sent the sailors off one the first of three races. Throughout the day the breeze shifted consistantly to the left and a thick haze dropped down from the mountains on both sides making conditions a bit difficult, but TEAM USA took it in stride and had some awesome finishes. Erika Reinke for FLYC drove her way in with a 17, 6 and 45 which puts her in 45th overall and close to the top ten girls. Kav Stokes had a 3rd in the 4th race, his best to date. Chris Schade also had his best day of the regatta so far with a 24, 10 and 21, which moved him up to 65th overall. Nick Clemence continued his string of top finishes with a 15, 9 and 39 in his races. Patrick had a bit of a hiccup in race number 4 as he swamped his boat right at the start 60 seconds before the gun. After bailing like crazy he managed to run through 85 boats and cross the finish line in 100th. Hopefully that will be his drop. Brady Staggs had some sprit issues early but manages to climb his way back through the fleet and come up with some good finishes consistently getting better as the day went on. Currently the standings for TEAM USA are:

Erika Reinke 45
Nick Clemmence 50
Melanie Johnson 53
Chris Schade 65
Pat Jacobitti 123
Brady Staggs 147
Kav Stokes 155
Maddie Bricker 161
Ian Stokes 193
Will Romeo 249
Kayla Gibson 285

Race 7 is just finishing, light breeze 8-10 with chop.

Kav Stokes 18
Chris Schade 23
Melanie Johnson 23
Nick Clemmence 29
Kayla Gibson 70
Brady Staggs 82
Ian Stokes 86
Pat Jacobitti 102
Maddie Bricker 104
Erike Reinke 104

Looks like the committee got in three races again today, as the fleet has just started to make a bee-line for the gelato shops here in Garda! - Scott

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SA Final

Raul Rios finished 1, only 2 points ahead of Antoine who finished strong with 2 bullets on the last day.



Marlena ended up 14 (2d girl) and Matt 15 which put three US sailors on the award podium--all of them from LISOT.



Axel ended up 28, and Declan 33--four of the top five Americans from LISOT.



Jack was next at 48 (I think), then Mac at 53. That is 7 US sailors in the top 50, last year there were 2, and the best was only 44th!!



The award presentation was a 3 screen video presentation of the sailing, with great shots of all the kids with the rugged Rio coastline in the background. A good end to a great event. Today we have organized a brief shopping and beach trip before heading off to the airport. Good Luck in Holland and Garda. - Wes

Holland Day 2

We arrived on time (8:00) to slightly cooler temps (low 50's), mostly cloudy skies and light breeze from the NE.
First start (2A) went off on time in about 6 knots. All three starts are now on the course.
2A is on the last leg - now 75 minutes on the course.
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More Rio Pictures Posted

More Rio pictures posted at www.kodakgallery.com/fauer
-Jon
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Holland - Simon, Olivia & Juan

Holland - Day 1 - Only 1 Race

NNE winds - 8-12 mph

Edegran - 5
Landy - 10
Booker - 11
Read - 17
Crane (Olivia) - 17
Crain (Carson) - 23
Alex Curtiss - 26
Ruiz-Ramon - 28
Katz - 32
Doherty - 38
Price - 38
Ortel - 38
Andril - 49
Kiss (Mitchell) - 50
Storck - 51
Purton - 52
Wefer - 58
Lopez - OCS
Kiss (Morgan) - OCS

Race winners were GBR (Phil Sparks), BEL & FIN.

250 boats

Three races planned for tomorrow. - DPW

Holland - Day 1

The sun is shining and the temps are climbing through the 50's. The breeze is building slowly from the NW. It is now 8-10 as the sailors wait to launch. It is noon now and the first race is to start at 2 PM. Two races are scheduled today.-Doug
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Garda Day 2

Another beautiful day in Garda today. Sun shining and light breeze out of the north. If all goes as usual the "Ora" breeze should come in from the South around noon and pick up to 15 or more. All boats launched by 11:15am for 12:00 gun. US sailors out early before the crowd. Tough to do on the water reports from here (strict rules about power boats on this end of the lake). Will update as results come in..-Angel

Garda Results - Day 1

Event website - http://lakegardameeting.fragliavelariva.it/

Michael Popp - 28
Melany Johnson - 41
Erika Reineke - 44
Nick Clemence - 63
Patrick Jacobitti (LISOT) - 78
Chris Schade (LISOT) - 134
Brady Stagg - 136
Kayla Gibson - 184
Teddy Stokes - 194
Ian Hollerbach - 196
Ian Stokes - 229
William Romeo - 236
Bev Elmer - 257
Pravan Chugani - 286
Tiller Tillinghast (LISOT) - 330
RA Norris - 350
Nicholas Harrington - 437
Jamie Craven - 472
Granger Anderson - 487

SA day 4

A weak cold front came through today. It looked like rain several times but they go for 6 months without rain so no one seem worried it would actually happen dn the band moved ahead to set up at he pool for the luau.

Two races today. The first in a cool, punchy southwesterly. Marlena (2), matt (2) and declan (5) all had good races and moved up in the overall classification. A long delay ensued rior to race 10 as the wind repeatedly dropped to zero then puffed up from a radically different direction. They ultimately got the races off but things were very dicey fom a direction and velocity standpoint.

After 10 races, provisional results put Marli 5, Twon 6, Matt 21, Axel 29, Declan 41, Mac 48.

The boys are now unapologetically calling John Lambert 'Lambo'. I think he is secretly revelling in his time with da boys. Fortunately he is clever enough to help the otherwie hapless boys thwart the girls' pranks. Two races and awards/closing tomorrow evening.

Last year the best American finisher was 44 (Chanel Miller) and there wer only two Americans in the top 50. This year there are 6 Americans in the top 50, and 4 of the top 5 Americans are LISOT sailors!

SA Lay Day

The US squad started their off day early with a catered party on the night before hosted by the Sonnier, Rees, Zonnenberg and Hall families, who are ensconced in the proverbial house on the hill, complete with cook, maid etc. They organized a Brazilian barbecue for all 40 or so in our entourage. There was some betting among the adults over who would 'fall' into the pool first, but no real payout when the nearly even odds Dodge did a cannonball from atop a poolside bench to spray many of us. Earlier in the week, the girls have been equally mischevious but more devious. First they stole all the toilet paper from the boys room, then they took and hid their life jackets just before race time. John was scrambling for the former, the boys were scrambling for the latter. Convinced, based on the events of previous evening that the Brazilian boys must have climbed into the US container to steal their lifejackets, the girls got nervous and the LJ appeared in the boys' boats, averting international incident.

For our tour, we chose to go to the Pao de Azucar cable car first, then to the Corcovado cog train. The views from atop these landmark are nothing short of spectacular. The Pao rises 400 meters more or less vertically out of the sea and boasts a small forest on the top complete with squirel monkeys. The somewhat periless cable car ride makes it a thrill for everyone. Jon Fauer reports that the cars are originally put into service in CH. When they are considered too old, they are sent to FR. When too old for FR, they are shipped of to ES, when too old for ES, to BR. I might have missed an IT step in there, but yikes either way.

Corcavado is much higher, occasionally obscured by clouds, and absolutely breathtaking. Lots of photos ops on top due to the Cristo. Minimal detail casts him as a powerful figure who seems to be moving as they sky swirls around him. Watch this space, and Jon's web upload site http://www.kodakgallery.com/fauer for photos.

Our driver took us by Lablon and Copacabana beaches on our way home. Plenty of sand scultures and beach volleyball--including a soccer style in which players may not use their arms. As it was late in the day, the boys were disappointed that there were not more girls on the beach. Gerard entertained them however by actually putting on Mary Kate's just-purchased bikini top. The day ended for most as they often do with skewered meat and caipirinha.

LISOT Practice, Friday, April 6th - Canceled

The LISOT practice scheduled for Friday, April 6th at Stamford Yacht Club is canceled. Practice on Saturday, April 7th is scheduled with a "Rigged and Ready" time of 9:30 AM.

Garda Report

Lay Day yesterday. Angel and Chris went to the top of Mount Baldo via the cable car and spent some time at the castle discovering all sorts of nooks and crannies. Patrick and I went to Gardaland to take in the rollercoasters! We had the opening ceremonies last night and marched throuh the town complete with a Dixieland band. The mayor welcomed all the sailors and declared the 25th Optimist Meeting Open! The weather today is typical Garda breeze. Coming in from the south packing quite a punch. Judgeing by the looks of the flags, its looks to be around 18 if not more. We'll let you know how everyone did once the racing is done for the day.



Scott

Pictures From Garda

Link To South Americans Photos

Thanks to Jon Fauer for sharing photos from Brazil.

www.kodakgallery.com/fauer

Holland Report

Yesterday was a day off. Almost everyone went to Amsterdam for museums and general touring.
Today we're at the venue. The sun is out, the breeze is 6-10 from the west and it's probably 55 degrees. The sailors are out practicing until about 2.PM today. After that they are going go-karting for relaxation. Racing starts tomorrow afternoon.

SA Team Racing

Nations Cup. The three US teams finished 4 (LISOT), 5, 6 (Team 4). The course was set near to shore for the benefit of spectators, which meant that the breeze was somewaht shifty and unpredictable. The races were also longer than we are used to sailing, a solid 20 minutes on a regular opti course when the breeze was up. This meant that the boats could separate for leverage on the beats. That is essentially how our guys lost. After sailing very smart and winning the first three matches, including a 1, 2, 3, 4 which put PUR (the ultimate champ) into the loser's bracket, they lost to SIN and ISV in succession on mental errors, permitting them leverage on the last beat.

A similar scenario played out on the SA TR Champs course. ECU eliminated ARG in the final feet of the semifinal race, even though ARG had led all around the course. Watching gave you the sense of the sailor's frustration on day 2. One spectator boat was jammed with all the parents from ARG and ECU, both flags flying proudly from the yardarm. Within minutes of being elimianted, the ARG flag was lowered funereal style and everyone proceeded to cheer for ECU. When PER (a big kid team) learned ECU (a little kid team) had knocked of favorite ARG, they celebrated as though they had already won the championship, and indeed beat ECU 2-0 in the best of 3 final in the strong late afternoon breeze.

Fwd: SA Day 3--Steadier Breeze Boosts Teams US and LISOT

The forecast was for less wind than day 2, but fortunately the forecast was
wrong and the sailors enjoyed a higher mean velocity with smaller (angle and
magnitude) shifts. The improved conditions allowed the RC to reel off 4
long races today. Eight of the twelve scheduled races have now been
completed. With four days to go, many are wondering if they will end the
event early or amend the SIs and run more than 12 races?

Provisional overall results posted late last night still show Raul Rios of
PUR (who won the US midwinters) leading with only 15 points after one
discard. Antoine is 7, Marlena 11, Matt and Axel tied for 21, Declan and
Mac tied for 43. The results are extremely close with a single point
separating places in the overall classification.

Today is team racing. The non-South American teams will compete for the
Nations Cup, while the south american countries will compete among
themselves for the South American Championship. Last year the US more or
less ran the Nations Cup and we have offered to do so again this year. It
is not clear exactly how the event will be organized yet this year, but we
have been asked to help umpire the SA Champs.

Thursday is a lay day, and we will take a bus to the Pao Azucar and
Corcovado.

--
Wes Whitmyer Jr
wesjr@whitmyer.org
mobile +1 203 550-3506
AIM/Skype weswhitmyerjr

--
Wes Whitmyer Jr
wesjr@whitmyer.org
mobile +1 203 550-3506
AIM/Skype weswhitmyerjr

South Americans After Day 3

Cumulative results after 8 races are posted on the event website.

They're Practicing In Holland

Rio Day 2--back to reality

Shrugging off the caipirinha, samba and rotisserie meat to bring you this report.

Race 2 started in a modest southwest breeze. Expecting the breeze to keep backing to the southeast, the US and Bermuda all charged left off the line. The South Americans dug right. A Brazilian won each flight in what was shaping up as essentially lake sailing. Writing the words southwest and southeast, I am reminded how disorienting it is to have the sun in the northern sky. The kids marvel at the counterclockwise flow of water down the sink.

In race 3 Bermuda dug right with the South Americans and most of our sailors went left looking for the sea breeze to continue to back as it had the previous day.

After race 3 I became convinced the best strategy was to sail the tack taking you into the middle of the bay. Every puff passed through the middle and with more velocity than along the shore. Going left or right did not seem to matter so much as staying in or sailing toward the middle of the bay.

Race 4 was more of the same.

It being nearly impossible to pry the kids away from the venue (even though the boys room is beginning to resemble a mold farm), we dragged our fearless team leader out last night against his will to an adult dinner at Porcao, a Brazilian style restaurant. It is aptly named since many parts of the the 'poor cow' get skewered and rotisseried. Endless skewered meat was on the menu. To our amusement we learned after an outstanding meal that the restaurant has an outlet on Park Avenue and the 20s in New York.

Current US overall results are

Marlena 14 (60 pts, 40 to drop)

Antoine 36 (80 pts, OCS to drop)

Axel Sly 40 (85 pts, 38 to drop)

Christian Locke 53 (94 pts, 40 to drop)

Matt 55 (94 pts, 32 to drop)

Dierdre 62 (98 pts, 32 to drop)

Mary Kate 63 (99 pts, 32 to drop)

Michael Z 67 (104 pts, 51 to drop)

Dodge 82 (118 pts, 46 to dro)

Jack 83 (119 pts, 51 to drop)

Declan 107 (136 pts, ocs to drop)

Gerard 136 (164 pts, ocs to drop)

Chris Williford 170 (197 pts, ocs to drop)

Ian 179 (210 pts, ocs to drop)

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Holland - Another Day of Touring - 4/1/07

Notice the breeze in the background?

Parents enjoyed "Binky Beer"

Tomorrow the sailors have their first day of practice in Braassemermeer.

South Americans - Day 2

Although there is no confirmation yet (posted results), initial reports all indicate that conditions were extremely light and shifty for the three races that were run. Not nearly the great results as on Day 1. Look for a better report later tonight (tomorrow). - DPW

LISOT Experiences Holland

With attitude!