SUMMER PROGRAM WRAPS UP HIGH SCHOOL SAILING OPTIMIST RACE TEAMS GET IN THE GROOVE MEET OUR NEW ASSISTANT COACH

Transcription

1 1 The Official Monthly Newsletter for Annapolis Yacht Club s Junior Sailing Program. Volume 3 Issue 5 SUMMER PROGRAM WRAPS UP HIGH SCHOOL SAILING OPTIMIST RACE TEAMS GET IN THE GROOVE MEET OUR NEW ASSISTANT COACH

2 2 Summer Sailing program comes to a close T hey say all good things must come to an end, but I wish the summer program didn t have to! We had a great summer here at AYC, with 375 kids in the program spread amongst nine different classes. It was always great t o step out on the deck and see colorful optimist sails zooming around the creek or smiling, laughing young sailors playing games or running around (controlled chaos, of course!) I don t know how the instruc- The results of our survey indicate that this was one of the most successful summer programs yet. We can t wait to make improvements and continue the success next summer! -Jay Kehoe tors managed to get through the summer but we are very grateful for all of them and a job well done. As always, we have many awards given out over the course of the summer, paper plates, candy, America s Cup awards and last but not least our hardware that is given out at the end of summer banquet. Our race teams flourished over the course of the summer and we were excited to give the kids their awards that they had worked so hard for. With thirteen instructors and eight programs, prizes given out to every sailor over the course of the summer. These included paper plate awards, certificates, most improved awards, top boat (optimist & 420), top boat in each fleet, most improved in each fleet, our Commodore s bowl, peguin one design bowl and Bill Bennet leadership award. These awards are given out every year and mean not only a lot to the club but a lot to the kids who receive them. After all of the ups and downs over the course of the summer I wouldn t change anything about the experiences I had and hopefully the kids wouldn't change it, either.

3 On Left Cailin Oakes receiving Most Improved 3 Below Aiden Morgan and Nick Salvesen were like two peas in a pod all summer. On Right Patrick Floyd receiving top 420 team Middle Aiden Hutchinson receiving the Commodore s Bowl. Above Amanda McNeil receiving her most improved award. On right- Porter Kavle receiving the Bill Bennet Leadership award

4 AYC Fall High School Sailing Program This season s high school sailing got off to a blustery, rainy beginning with try outs being held in a range of conditions in up to 25 knots! All of the sailors did a great job and we now have four highly competitive high school sailing teams. Congratulations to the sailors from Annapolis High school, Severna Park, Saint Mary s and Indian Creek who made their respective teams. The goals for our high school teams vary between teams but for most of the teams we have set our sights on qualifying and being top half at our League fleet race championships at Stonybrook Acdemy in New York on October 22nd & 23rd. We are also trying to qualifying all of our high schools for the leagues team race championship which is held here in Annapolis on November 5th & 6th. All of these goals are our short term goals to help the sailors reach the ultimate goal of qualifying for team race and fleet race nationals in Varsity Regatta at SSA Saturday, October 17th A division = 7Races B division = 7 Races A B TOT 1. Spalding red Severn Severna Park/ AHS South river Key School Spalding Whit St. Marys Annapolis Severna Park Leonardtown Gunston Broadneck WIS National Cathedral Calvert Hall the spring semester. The high school practices are held Tuesday Friday from 3:30 to 6:30 and the sailors have been working on a variety of drills to improve their boat handling, boat speed, and racing techniques. Every Thursday they participate in race day to improve their starting techniques and fleet management skills, which ends up being the two most important skills that are used at regattas on the weekends. The weekend regattas are at a varsity and junior varsity level, sailed in a 18 boat fleet and are located all over the Chesapeake bay. A normal practice consists of a skippers meeting at 3:30pm followed by launching the boats and warming up by circling the boat (works on boat handling as well as helps the kids gain focus,) boatspeed testing which ensures proper boat set up and tuning for the day s conditions and a few drills to Cressy Singlehanded Championship September 17th & 18th The 2011 MASSA Cressy Singlehanded Elimination Regatta was hosted by Brant Beach YC on September and several local sailors finished in the top 20 in laser radials: Matt Schofield, Broadneck HS (2),Harrison Hawk, Annapolis HS (8), Read Beigel, Severna Park HS (17), and Maeve White, Severn School (19). As one of the top 3 finishers, Matt will move on to attend the ISSA Championships held in Chicago on October 29 and 30th. Congratulations to Read and Harrison who represented our high school sailing program in tough conditions! learn/ support a specific goal for the day. Our first varsity regatta was held at SSA on October 17th. The sailors showed up to a very cold, shifty day with the breeze ranging from 3-8 knots. We had four teams competing and each team came out with some goals that they have been working on since. For example better acceleration off of the start line, not letting the fleet determine the sailors game plans, and making sure to manage your exit strategy from marks that lead into their downwind strategy. An exit strategy is how a sailor begins to execute their downwind strategy. If you are rounding a mark with three other boats, you want to make sure you can begin your downwind leg as soon as possible (get clear air, speed, get to the favored side.) Although some results do not show great results, every team took away valuable lessons that will propel them into the top five for the next Varsity regatta Junior Varsity Regatta at AYC Sunday, October 18th A division = 5 Races B division = 5 Races A B TOT 1. Severn Maroon Key Spalding Annapolis Broadneck Severn White Severna park BCSC Indian Creek Morningstar South River

5 AYC Fall High School Sailing Program Upcoming High School Regattas October 16th Varsity Central League Fleet Race (SCC) October 22nd & 23rd Varsity Fleet Race Championship (Stony Brook) Saturday, October 22nd Varsity Regatta (Gunston) Sunday, October 23rd Junior Varsity Regatta ( BCSC) October 29th & 30th Varsity Central League Team Race (SCC) Saturday, October 29th Junior Varsity Regatta (DC Sail) November 5th & 6th November 12th & 13th Varsity League Team race Championships (AYC/ SSA) Atlantic Coast Championships (SCC)

6 6 Fall Optimist Race teams Red, White and Blue Fleet This fall season s RWB squad has already experienced a lot of excitement and disappointment. We have sixteen sailors in our RWB fleet this fall- Casey Cabot, Mariner Fagan, James Golden, Emily Harrison, Steph Houck, Porter Kavle, Harrison Koller, Kimmie Leonard, Caroline McNeil, Nicholas Salvesen, Aidan Morgan, Morgan Sailer, and four new sailors joining out program Jake Vickers, Brendan Little, William Cook, and Ian Mathiesen. Starting with two encounters with Mother Nature an earthquake and a hurricane and the more recently poor sailing conditions, we have seen it all. Although there have been a handful of hours we have not sailed due to no wind, we have also had a couple of practices with breeze in the upper teens. This has allowed the Opti RWB team to take advantage of all the conditions we ve had so far to better prepare themselves for the events later down the road. The Optimist Atlantic Coast Championships, hosted by Baltimore County Sailing Club (BCSC), was another disappointment to say the least. This was a major Opti event that had a strong presence from AYC. We came with 12 RWB fleet sailors and 6 Green fleet sailors. The staff and committee did a great job running and organizing this event, however the conditions were not on our side. We arrived to a rainy mud pit as we unloaded, and then proceeded to get the huge truck and trailer stuck in the mud. I was embarrassed until I heard McLaughlin, and Sturgis had the same problem. To top it off, there was little to no wind the entire weekend, resulting in no racing for the RWB fleet. The Green fleet was able to squeeze 3 marginal races in. Even though it was rainy and we were knee deep in mud, our spirits were high and we got some quality team bonding time in. It just goes to show you Mother Nature is frequently not on your side. The regatta we have recently been training for is the Southeast Champs, hosted by Naples Community Sailing Center in Florida. There are 6 members on the team, who are all meeting there this Friday (October 7) for a practice. Chip Swatta and I are driving down Tuesday with the trailer and coach boat on top of the truck. It s projected to be a high outcome event being a Team Trials qualifying event, also considering ACC s (another qualifying event) didn t happen. There are a limited number of USODA events that can qualify you for the team trials, which is the event that can qualify you for the various international events and the US National Team. The team is prepared and eager to sail. We ve done all we can to prepare, so good luck team! Events we will be preparing for when we return from Florida are the Halloween Howl, the USODA Midwinters in New Orleans, The Orange Bowl Regatta in Miami, and the Valentine s Day Regatta in St. Petersburg. Steven Barbano, Head Coach Green Fleet For our green fleeters, this season is one for the record books. With 11 sailors signed up for the program it is creating a great foundation for our RWB race team next year! They are all really eager to move up and will are nipping at the heels of our RWB fleeter already. This year s green fleeters are (in no particular order) Kate Riley, Charlie Carty, Maddie Hawkins, Andrew Hiller, Connor and Caroline Bayless, Fuller Clement, Sam and Jordan Bruce, and two new sailors to our program Sam Reilly and Zander King. The focus for our green fleet is to learn more about racing but in particular we have been working on starts, rules, and better boathandling. Rules became a bigger part of our practices when we had four green fleeters pass a leeward mark on the wrong side while all being connected on different gybes, which ended up being a good learning experience for all involved! (Don t worry, no boats were harmed in this stunt.) Eight of the green fleeter s and Jake Vickers (RWB) competed in a 37 boat fleet at the Atlantic Coast Championships and completed three races. Although everyone left with mud between their toes, the sailors had some great races that included making a race plan before the race started as well as focusing on upwind boat speed and pointing. Jake Vickers ended up 3rd, Caroline Bayless 6th, Sam Reilly 8th, Maddie Hawkins 11th, Sam Bruce 15th, Connor Bayless 17th, Jordan bruce 18th, Kate Riley 20th, and Charlie Carty in 22nd. All of the sailors left the regatta with a sense of accomplishment and drive to work hard and do better at our next regatta which is the Halloween Howl here at AYC! I am looking forward to seeing the kids continue to improve over the next few weeks! Katrina Williams, Junior Program Coordinator/ Green fleet Opti coach

7 7 Invites you to join us for our annual: Halloween Howl Regatta All Optimists Welcome (Costumes are encouraged) Saturday, October 22 nd & 23rd, 2011 Registration: Saturday, October 22 nd Racing to Follow 8:30 AM Pizza Party & Costume Judging Saturday, October 22 nd 6:00pm Entry fee $40.00 Register online at: RSVP Please register online or by October 10th to let us know if you are coming. Registration online will stay open until Friday, October 21 st. If you have any trouble with registration do not hesitate to contact me. Contact: Katrina Williams (410) ext

8 8 AYC Sailors finish out their summer by competing in a number of regattas San Francisco YC Annapolis YC Annual Corinthian Cup September 24th & 25th AYC took full advantage of a calm weekend on their home waters to claim the 2011 Corinthian Cup. The Adult team went 4 and 0 against San Francisco, with the Juniors splitting all 4 races with SFYC. In order to break the tie between the Juniors, the winner of the last race was deemed the overall winner. However, in a gesture of good sportsmanship, both Junior teams were awarded commemorative bracelets. Pictured (l-r) Charlie Lomax, Harrison Hawk, AJ Libby & Kyle Comerford represented AYC in the Juniors division. US Sailings Youth Championships Newport, RI August 16th 19th Patrick Floyd and Harrison Hawk finished in 9th place in U.S. Sailings Youth Sailing Championship hosted by New York Yacht Club, Ida Lewis Yacht Club, and Sail Newport held in Newport, RI on August 16-19th. This is an invitational event making Youth Champs the highlight of youth racing for the summer season. AYC's Jay Kehoe coached them to their top 10 finish. Wednesday Night Summer Series Annapolis Yacht Club Although our summer sailors got plenty of time on the water during our program this summer, many of them opted to sail in J/22 s for our Wednesday night summer race series. It is always a great sight to see our younger sailors out on the water for Wednesday nights and our very own represented the Club and junior program in an outstanding way. Harrison Hawk and Porter and Connor Kavle raced Mike Krisoff's J/22 "Luna Bambino" and placed 2nd in all 3 WNR series. AJ Libby also sailed two series over the summer with a variety of crew including Issac Merrit, Meghan Yeigh, Andreas Adam, Nate Riley, and Patrick Floyd to win both the first and third series of the set. From Connor swinging around the mast on a spinnaker pole to memories that the sailors will never forget I have only heard good things about this series and encourage all of our sailors to continue to get out on the water in different boats with a variety of crews. Pictured on left (l-r) Porter Kavle, Connor Kavle & Harrison Hawk.

9 9 Optimist Hospice Cup September 17th The Hospice Cup is a fundraising sailing event with a division of racing for youth sailors. The 20 Jr sailors that competed were split into 4 teams and raised $ 10,000 in 11 days for Hospice, these 20 Opti sailors raised over a quarter of the funds donated. This year it was sailed out in front of SSA and AYC had Aidan Morgan, Porter Kavle, Stephanie Houck, Nick Salvesen, and Casey Cabot compete in the event. The style of racing is different from the normal fleet racing style where instead of competing for yourself, you are on a team of 4 boats who race other teams of 4. The teams have a chance to race each of the other teams for a shot at the Hospice title. All the sailors are put into a pool, and are then split up and teamed up randomly to make racing fair. Aidan Morgan sailed on the winning team, with Porter and Stephanie representing AYC on the 2nd place team and Nick Meet the Newest Addition to our Coaching Staff Chip Salvesen sailed on the 3rd place team. I am so excited to be a part of AYC! From my first few days as a coach here, I was welcomed so warmly and learned so much about the program and the incredible people that are a part of it! I grew up locally and learned to sail at Severn Sailing Association, which is a couple blocks away. I started sailing the Optimist program at the ripe age of six, and sailing has been a huge part of my life ever since. I raced the Opti circuit until I was about 14 and was too big to fit under the boom! I traveled to all the national level optimist events and competed in a couple team trials. After sizing out of the Opti, I turned my focus to the Laser Radial. I trained mostly out of Severn Sailing Association, but also had month long training periods in Florida, as well as Newport. I competed in many large regattas including Several Orange Bowl Regattas, ACCs, New Englands, Great Lakes Champs, and an ISAF World Competition. While I was training in Lasers, I helped found the Archbishop Spalding High School Sailing Team. We built the team to where it is today. Once I graduated from Spalding in 2007, I started attending the College of Charleston, in which I studied Business Administration. I was a skipper on the College team, and learned a lot from all the talented sailors that trained and competed with. _chip Swatta I was proud to have been selected for the second year in a row to compete in the Jr. Hospice Cup regatta. The top 20 Opti sailors on the bay were picked and it was great to have 5 AYC teammates on the team- Aidan Morgan, Casey Cabot, Stephanie Houck, Nick Salvesen and myself. During the summer, it s really fun to shoot for CBYRA high point knowing that we may get invited to sail in Hospice Cup. It gives us the opportunity to work together and sail as a team with the kids that we normally sail against. It was also cool to have the Navy coaches helping us. What I really like about Hospice cup is that it gives us the opportunity to raise money for a great cause which is to help really sick people. After the regatta, the part we really look forward to is the party! Riley Chadwick and I got to sing with the Rovers on stage and it was so much fun- but my parents made me leave because I had to race in ACC s the next morning. I hope I get to race again next year. - Porter Kavle

10 Regular Sailor to Rock Star: The Do s and Don ts of Getting Recruited to College DO Contact the coach one month ahead of visiting (or earlier). Send THREE things: Sailing Resume, Personal Resume and your Transcripts, including GRADES, All Test Scores. Attend a class in a subject that interests you. Ask to speak to faculty in disciplines that interest you. Show up with questions for the current team members. Put together a careful letter for the coach, explaining why you are interested in their school. Look at the schools that interest you BEYOND sailing. Be realistic and truthful with coaches about where you are looking/applying/your interest in their school. Tell the coach when your application went in. Contact coaches early with your resume & grades Junior year if possible. Call about a week before your visit has been confirmed by the coach and make sure they have your flight schedule Send a Thank You after your visit let coach know what you enjoyed most about the visit, and where their school fits in your plans. Be honest! Work with your family and other resources to figure out how to pay for school. DO NOT Show up and call them hoping for a tour. Send ONLY a sailing resume. As a person who is 21, think first and make wise social choices about your social time with the team. Assume you know everything because one of your friends goes there/went there/said. Mix up the coaches names (yes, it happens!) Rely on a friend s experience. Tell every coach that State U is your FIRST choice. Send the coach a copy of your application (it s not allowed). Wait until after your application is in it s nearly impossible to help at that point. Expect your parents to be given the same first class treatment that you will be given. Over-spend your visit. The NCAA rules that many schools must adhere to limit recruits to a maximum 48-hour visit. Expect the coach to help you with Financial Aid, it s prohibited by ICSA rules. On your own, talk to the Financial Aid office at all your final choices, the folks there have lots of answers! Accept any outside scholarships or aid from any organization based on your sailing skills (students competing in ICSA may not accept financial aid in any form).

11 RESUME TIPS: Tell them about yourself, anything exceptional. The coach has to sell you to admissions so sell yourself to them! Sailing Resume: - List by year your biggest and best events - Mention Clinics attended and Coaches you ve worked with - Talk about your training program (I sail 3 days a week weight train with my team ) - Future sailing plans (sail through college, campaign for Olympics) Personal Resume: - Sports (Track, soccer ) - Community service (meals on wheels ) - Extra-curricular activities (band, choir, theatre, Mathletes ) - Other non-school groups (Scouts, Church, Temple, SADD) - Wildcards (science experiment that won a prize at the science fair, started a charity...) - Future plans (become an event planner, go to law school ) Transcripts: - Coaches don t usually need an Official Copy. The earlier they see it, the better (junior year). o SAT, ACT, AP, Regents Exam scores can be written in. o School Info & Grades o Preliminary Class Rank or Percentile FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: I m not a Rockstar Sailor should I even bother contacting the coach? YES! Coaches recruit for many reasons; you may be the right size, or live in a town where the team needs housing, have a great reputation as a team player anything can set you apart from the crowd! Do Sailing Coaches really have any pull? YES! To varying degrees at different schools; from the full-on nod to even some Club Teams that are able to submit a slate of candidates that would be great members of their teams it NEVER hurts to contact a team ahead of applying. Should I bring my parents? Sure, they are welcome to visit with you, but we always recommend you plan on spending some time alone with the coach and the team. You want to show you are independent and ready to be a functioning member of the team.

12 12 Volume 3 Issue FALL/ SPRING RACE SCHEDULE (Tentative) November November 19 & 20 I 420 Atlantic Coast Champs Annapolis YC November I 420 CISA Clinic Alamitos Bay YC, (Application based) Long Beach, CA December December Orange Bowl Youth Regatta Coral Reef YC Miami, FL December I 420 North Americans Coconut Grove SC Miami, FL January January ISAF Youth World Qualifier Alamitos Bay YC Long Beach, CA OPTIMIST FALL/ SPRING RACE SCHEDULE (Tentative) October October 22 & 23 AYC Halloween Howl Annapolis YC November November 24th 26th Optimist Mid Winters Southern YC, New Orleans, LA December December 19th 22nd McLaughlin Optimist Clinic Coral Reef Yacht Club Miami, FL December 27th 30th Orange Bowl Youth Regatta Coral Reef Yacht Club, Miami, FL February February 13th & 14th Valentines Day Regatta St. Petersburg YC St. Petersburg, FL