Last Saturdays fleet party was a good time. For those that missed it, we took a break to recognize those that chipped in last year and those that are stepping in the coming year. Heres the recap. Its long, but I guess thats because weve done a lot this year! 2014 IN REVIEW Thursday Night Series Theme: Quantity. 22 nights of racing, 132 races overall, and 51 different teams. Most races in a night: 8 races on two different nights in June and July And 5 nights with 7 races Thanks to our race committees for doing such an amazing job to get off so many races. Rommel, Ann, and Chris. Thanks to Adam & Claire for running Tuesday Night Series Team racing squad got out on the water 28 times this year. For 23 of the 28 times on the water (> 80%), we had well in excess of 6 boats on the water. Several times during the summer, we had 9 boats, allowing for three complete teams. We had over 20 different sailors (regular Thursday nighters and some people who dont sail on Thursday) come out to sail. On one night, we had the current Stanford sailing team sail with us. (The team finished third at college team race nationals.) Format is similar to Thursday nights: (1) arrive at 6:30pm, (2) sail until dark, (3) food & beer afterwards as well as (4) a debrief of the days sailing. Thanks to Dan and Steve for organizing. Fleet Champs 13 boats doing 18 races up in lovely Inverness. If you ever get a chance, by all means go. Wide range of conditions, with Sally and Adam nipping out Matthew, Nick and Jack, with Avery & Maddy displaying some awesome crew power to get third. This year Rolf handed off to Steve -- thank you Steve! Volunteering Ran a solid program, always important to help our hosts, TISC. Thanks to Maddy for running this. Resurgence of weekend races, with four new races: Round TI, run by Adam R, with Jono & Claire nipping out David and Jennifer in a photo finish Bradford Island, run by Pete Barts Bash, run by Adam F Random Pairs, run by Ben Also thanks to: Ben for running fleet finances, collecting dues, paying expenses. Takes a lot of behind the scenes effort, and we appreciate it. Rolf for webmastering. Neha and Lyzz for social chairing. Another job with a lot of behind the scenes effort. We saw a bunch of new sailors enter our fleet, thanks to our charter program run by Pete with help from Steve. Really great program to grow our fleet. Last but not least, our sponsor: Svendsens, as always. Now that we’re in off season, with the holiday season coming up, feel free to call them up and ask for Matt Ford. They can set you up with the gear you need. ====== SURVEY RESULTS Thanks to Adam R for putting out our survey and the 18 people that filled it in. To recap.. Survey ideas came in 3 buckets: 1) Get people in: Host a college regatta in our V15s, at TISC, towards the end of their season, after PCCs, in April or May. We’ll need a regatta chair. Dedicated loaners: loan your boat to someone you trust for Tue team racing, if youre a Thursday night sailor, and vice versa. Inventory all the boats at TISC, so we know which boats can be chartered out. 2) Facilitate learning: Casual weekend racing clinics, to help boats get up to speed. Mentor/mentee: more experienced team coaches another, less experienced team. Reinstate JV divisions, for people without collegiate experience, like we’ve had in past years. More encouragement for new sailors. RaceQs, a tracking program for fleets, so you can see what different sailors did. 3) Get the word out: Weather station Webcam Facilitate introductions: Encourage people to put their names on their boats. Polaroid photos of various teams, in the little bulletin board on the shed. If you’re up for organizing any of these, let fleet leadership know. Out of 18 responses, here’s where we landed… More weekend races: 50% (9) Round TI race: 50% (9) Full Moon race: 44% (8) More team racing: 28% (5) ====== 2015 PREVIEW Dock out: not sure if it’s this Sunday November 9. Waiting to hear back from TISC. Rigging Tuning clinic: first Thursday in April First Thursday Night race: second Thursday in April First Tuesday Night: first Tuesday in April 2015 Chairs: Fleet captain: Al Thu Nights: Maddy & Adam F Tue Nights: Dan & Steve Volunteer: Sally Webmasters: Rolf & Lyzz Outreach: Lyzz -- things like working with local press, social media Charter: Pete T, Matthew, and Peter Stemler Treasurer: Ben Social chairs: Rachel and Jamie 2015 Regatta Chairs: Ski-sail in April: Avery Fleet Champs in late Sep or Oct: Steve Bradford Island: Pete Round TI: Adam R Full Moon: Steve High Sierra, July: Lyzz and Sam Random Pairs: Ben Nationals, labor day weekend: Al 2015 National Leads: Fleet outreach/charters: Matthew Food: Steve (Sat/Sun), Sally (Fri) Publicity & Trophies: Lyzz T-shirts: Sarah Still open: Housing, Whaler Staff, Sponsor, Registration, Music Again -- this is your fleet, and volunteers are welcome! Awards ======== 2014 PARTICIPATION & APPRECIATE AWARDS Based on survey results… Best crew: Maddy, able to handle all kinds of crazy situations Most improved: Ryan & Jamie, out there all the time Best sportsperson: Dan Most wacky: Jeff Knowles, one of our Tuesday Night sailors, for kite surfing a V15 Best at helping other boats in distress: lots of contenders for this one, which is a testament to our fleet’s team spirit. But in the end, the winner is Dan & Claire, who helped sail in several boats. Dan even sailed in one guy’s boat when he was too tired to sail in on his own. Best social chair: Lots of contenders for this one, but we’ll give the nod to DB & Kara. Kind of pros at the cooking thing, but they still made a wicked good Thai dinner. PRO (professional race officer): Anne, who along with last year’s winner, Chris, ran a number of great races for us. Sometimes even with a recovering sprained arm -- that’s some serious dedication. Thursday Night Series Results: Crew race series: We had four or five crew races. Next year we can try for more. In third, Maddy. In second, Avery. In first, Claire. In fifth, displaying some incredible jets, the co-skipper team of Pete and Courtney. Also Jeremy, Michele and Christina helped out. In fourth, always a tough team with lots of experience: Ken & his teammates Shannon, Steph, Sammy and Rebecca. In third, displaying incredible tenacity all the way to the end, Dan and Claire. With assistance from Rolf, Neha, Peter, Jono and Claire Dennis. In second, the efficiency team, making just 13 nights but still finishing just two points out of first, Matthew, Avery & Nicholas. Honorable mention to Nicholas as the youngest sailor to be at the top of the fleet. And in first, barely squeaking by with a two point lead after something like 130 races, Maddy & Al, with help from Rachel, Michelle, Sammy, Claire Dennis, and others. (If you didnt get your award cup, email Al, Avery, Claire and Adam -- one of us should have your cup. Dock out might be a good time to arrange a handoff...) Thanks again for a great 2014 and looking forward to 2015!
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:36:37 +0000