MIT’s 75th Anniversary of Sailing

You are invited to join Lowell North, Founder of North Sails, Terry Kohler, Chairman, North Technology Group, LLC, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Graduate: Sloane School of Management) and Tom Whidden, President and CEO of North Technology Group, LLC, in celebrating MIT’s 75th Anniversary of Sailing, the Lowell North Dock Dedication and the Firefly Fleet Dedication, on Saturday April 28, 2012 via LIVE STREAMING on the web.
The live stream will emanate from the Walter C. Wood Sailing Pavilion in Cambridge, MA, beginning at 9:30 am EST. Later the same day this link on the MIT site will also allow you to watch the event on demand:

http://amps-web.amps.ms.mit.edu/public/DAPER/2011-2012/2012apr28/

Andrew Campbell to Lead Northern Lights Cup Racing Clinic

Sail Sheboygan is pleased to announce Andrew Campbell will lead a 2-day NorthU match racing clinic prior to the Northern Lights Cup, June 20 to 24.

Clinic Curriculum – June 20-21, 2012
You’ll learn about dial ups, circling, lead / push, the hook, the shift right and many other match racing tactics during shoreside sessions, and then head out on the water to do them. On the water sessions include a series of drills, exercises, practice starts and races designed to emphasize the development of match racing knowhow.

Andrew Campbell is a Collegiate, Laser, Star and FINN champion, a 3-time US Sailing Team Sportsman of the Year, and accomplished match racer and coach.

Regatta Format – June 22-24, 2012
An ISAF Grade 3 Women’s Match Race will feature a double round robin, semi-final, and petit/final stages. The highest placing eligible skipper will receive an invitation to the 2012 US SAILING Women’s Match Racing Championship, hosted by St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco September 11 to 15, 2012.

Top Reasons to not miss this event!

• Midwest hospitality
• Great sailing venue
• Sail the 2012 Olympic class match racing boat
• NorthU proven match race curriculum
• Coaching from Andrew Campbell
• USWMRC invite

Finland, Spain, and Denmark Qualify for the Olympics

The Final Country is Selected at the 2012 WMR International Country Olympic Qualifying Regatta

The final day of racing in Key Biscayne left one major question to be answered: Who will be the last country to qualify for a spot in the 2012 Women’s Match Racing Event at the 2012 Olympic Games? Denmark took and early 2-0 lead in the best of five series, but Argentina fought back with two wins to force a thrilling race five. In the final race, Denmark had a great start and led most of the race until 300 meters from the finish when the Argentinian’s were able to steal the wind from the Danes. The Danes stayed just enough in control until it was time to gybe for the finish and were able to hang on for the win!

In the other match on the water, Finland won all three matches over the Spanish to win the event. Although in most events the Finals on the last day are the premier match to watch, in this event all eyes were on the Petit-Finals to see who would be the last country to punch their tickets to the Olympics. The Argentinians and Danes did not disappoint the spectators!

Final Day’s Results:
Final: Finland defeats Spain 3-0
Petit-Final: Denmark defeats Argentina 3-2

The top three countries from this event (Finland, Spain, and Denmark) will will join the nine countries that have already qualified for the2012 Olympic Sailing Competition (Australia, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Russia, and USA).

Final Standings: 1 – FINLAND – Silja Lehtinen, Mikaela Wulff, Silja Kanerva
2 – SPAIN – Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro
3 – DENMARK – Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, Susanne Boidin, Tina Schmidt Gramkov
4 – ARGENTINA – Martina Silva, Ana Lucía Silva, María Trinidad Silva
5 – SLOVENIA – Vesna Dekleva Paoli, Katarina Kersevan, Lena Koter
6 – GERMANY – Silke Hahlbrock, Anke Lukosch, Maren Hahlbrock
7 – CANADA – Sharon Ferris-Choat, Caroline Kaars Sijpesteijn, Joanne Prokop
8 – CHINA – Ru Wang, Li Xiaoni, Pan Ting Ting
9 – BRAZIL – Renata Decnop, Gabriela Nicolino, Larissa Juk

The 2102 WMRICOQR have been hosted by Key Biscayne Yacht Club, WIMRA, and Sail Sheboygan with the support of North Sails.

Women’s Match Racing International Country Olympic Qualifying Regatta – February 1-5, 2012

The final battle for Olympic country qualification in Women’s Match Racing

The 2011 Women’s Match World Championship qualified 8 countries to send a team to the Olympics. Those countries are (Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Russia and USA) and they will join GBR (host country) at the 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition. Three slots remain and they will be decided in Key Biscayne this week.

To qualify those final 3 countries, Sail Sheboygan, WIMRA and Key Biscayne Yacht Club will run the Women’s Match Race Country Qualifier. Feb 2-5 will see teams from nine countries come together to compete to qualify their country for one of those final spots. The countries still vying to qualify are Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Slovenia, and Spain. They have each sent one team to compete.

Representing their countries will be:

ARGENTINA – Martina Silva, Ana Lucía Silva, María Trinidad Silva (ISAF Ranking = 29)
BRAZIL – Renata Decnop, Gabriela Nicolino, Larissa Juk (21)
CANADA – Sharon Ferris-Choat, Caroline Kaars Sijpesteijn , Joanne Prokop (36)
CHINA – Ru Wang, Li Xiaoni, Pan Ting Ting (32)
DENMARK – Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen, Susanne Boidin, Tina Schmidt Gramkov (30)
FINLAND – Silja Lehtinen, Mikaela Wulff, Silja Kanerva (9)
GERMANY – Silke Hahlbrock, Anke Lukosch, Maren Hahlbrock (20)
SLOVENIA – Vesna Dekleva Paoli, Katarina Kersevan, Lena Koter (24)
SPAIN – Tamara Echegoyen, Angela Pumariega, Sofía Toro (8)

The race format will be a single round robin (everyone races each other once), cutting the 9 to 6. After the cut, there will be a double round robin (skippers race each other twice), to narrow the field to the final 4. The final 4 will then race in a knock-out series to determine the final four places, the 3 countries who will qualify, and the first alternate.

The qualifier promises to deliver spectacular racing. Most of the teams have just come off 7 days of racing in the Rolex Miami OCR, so they will be at the top of their game and familiar with the boats and the waters.

Racing at U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta – Final Oct. 30

Key Biscayne, Fla. (October 30, 2011)
In a dramatic conclusion to five days of racing, Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.) and her Team Maclaren crew Molly Vandemoer (Stanford, Calif.) and Debbie Capozzi (Bayport, N.Y.) won the 2011 U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta over Genny Tulloch (Sausalito, Calif.) and her Team GetSailing Alice Manard Leonard (East Haven, Conn.) and Jenn Chamberlin (Washington, D.C.). Tunnicliffe defeated Tulloch in two straight matches on Biscayne Bay.

With this win, Tunnicliffe secures the berth to represent the USA at the 2011 International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Combined World Championships, Dec. 3-18, in Perth, Australia. The team will soon travel to Australia to begin training.

Tunnicliffe was up two wins over Tulloch coming into the day’s matches after coming back to win the semi-final round.

“I’m really proud of my team,” said Tunnicliffe. “We came back and we’ve really gelled together as a team. We put a lot of time in on the water and depended on that. We took one race at a time. Training paid of in that when you see a situation at a regatta you know what to do. The more time you spend in the boat is going to help you.

Tulloch’s team spent that past season sitting out the ISAF Sailing World Cup events as they were the third-place team at the U.S. Qualifier regatta in early 2011. With this second-place finish, they will have the second USA berth at World Cup events when the U.S. is given one.

“We’re totally happy,” said Tulloch. “We didn’t need to win this regatta. There’s not a lot of difference between first and second. We didn’t know until yesterday that we had a spring schedule and now we do.”

The day started with a passing storm squall resulting in 18-22 knots of wind for racing. Conditions on the race course made for a thrilling final flight of matches.

First up was the final match of the semi-finals to determine third and fourth place between Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.) and Stephanie Roble (Chicago, Ill.). Barkow came into today with one win on her score card in the “first-to-two-wins” round and went at Roble, quickly winning the match to seal third place.

Barkow sails with Elizabeth Kratzig Burnham (Miami, Fla.) and Alana O’Reilly (Charleston, S.C.) as Team 7 Match Race, while Roble, Maggie Shea (Chicago, Ill.) and Darby Smith (Chicago, Ill.) represent Chicago Match Racing Center.

Racing was run by the Key Biscayne Yacht Club Race Committee and organized in collaboration with US SAILING’s Olympic Sailing Committee. Sail Sheboygan supplied the Elliott 6m Olympic class boats as well as on-the-water assistance.

As the top four skippers at this event, Tulloch, Barkow, Tunnicliffe and Roble advanced to the second, and final, selection event for the 2012 Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta, scheduled for May 4-7, 2012 at the Olympic sailing venue.vThe winner of that event will represent USA at the 2012 Olympic Games. The Olympic Regatta will be held July 27 – August 12, 2012, in the towns of Weymouth and Portland, which are located on the southern coast of England, approximately 120 miles southwest of London.

Racing at U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta – Day 2 Oct. 27

Key Biscayne, Fla. (October 27, 2011)
With the two round robins near completion at the U.S. Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta, three teams have clearly risen to the top of the overall standings with only four matches dropped among them. Anna Tunnicliffe’s and Genny Tulloch’s teams are tied at the top with 10 wins, one loss, while Sally Barkow’s team is close behind with nine wins, two losses. Once the two round robins are completed on Friday, the top four teams will advance to the Semi-Final Round.

Tunnicliffe, who sails as Team Maclaren with Molly Vandeomoer and Debbie Capozzi, won all four matches, while Tulloch’s team of Alice Manard Leonard and Jenn Chamberlin won three and lost one to Stephanie Roble and her team of Darby Smith and Maggie Shea.

The first seven flights of the second round robin took place on Biscayne Bay under the watchful eye of Principal Race Officer Tom Duggan, event chairman Ron Drucker and the Key Biscayne Yacht Club Race Committee.

With three of the four slots in the Semi-Finals all but assured, the stage is now set for the fourth team to qualify. Roble’s team stands with 7 wins, six losses and has one match left to sail in the round robin. If she can defeat her last opponent, she advances. If not, the door opens for Becca Dellenbaugh’s and Maegan Ruhlman’s teams.

At stake is one of four berths in the second, and final, selection event for the 2012 Olympic Team Qualifying Regatta, scheduled for May 4-7, 2012 in Weymouth, U.K. In addition, the event winner and runner-up both qualify for the ISAF Combined World Championships, Dec. 3-18, in Perth, Australia.

Tune in to ESPN Classic on November 4!!!

Don’t miss the following ESPN shows this weekend:

Championship Sailing: The Best of One Design Racing
Airdate: November 4 at 7:00pm ET on ESPN Classic

This one hour program focuses on one design racing. This production includes each of the ten Olympic Classes and interviews with many of the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics and several world champions. The program includes a feature on the history of one design racing in the early 1900s. All the equipment is identical in one design sailing. It is the skill of the sailor that makes the difference.

2011 New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup
Airdate: November 4 at 8:00pm ET on ESPN Classic
Reair: November 6 at 2:30pm ET on ESPN2

The New York Yacht Club Invitational Cup features 22 ten person teams from 16 countries in the second running of this competition. The racing takes place in identically matched Swan Club 42s. All competitors are amateur sailors, who must be members of the yacht club they represent. Eleven highly contested races were sailed over a five day period, off Newport, RI. This program was shot in Hi Definition aboard the race boats, from a helicopter and from the water.

Racing for an Ocean Record
Airdate: November 4, 2011 at 9:00pm ET on ESPN Classic

Racing long distances on the ocean is challenging because the weather ranges from powerful storms to dead calms. During the summer of 2011, 70 boats raced 473 miles from Annapolis, MD to Newport, RI. ESPN had cameras aboard four of the competing yachts including the overall race winner, Beau Geste plus Aurora, Flying Jenny VII and Dragon.
One month later, 90 boats competed in a 363 mile race from Marblehead, MA to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Three of the boats set course records. ESPN had camera crews aboard three boats including the overall winner Valkyrie, plus Aurora and Oakcliff Racing.

Sail Sheobygan and North Sails Sponsoring ESPN’s Championship Sailing: The Best of One Design Racing

Airdate: November 4 at 7:00pm et on ESPN Classic
This one hour program focuses on One Design racing. This includes each of the 10 Olympic Classes and interviews with the US Sailing Team and several world champions overseas.

The program will include a feature on the history of One Design racing that began in the early 1900s. In One Design sailing all the equipment is identical. It is the skill of the sailor that makes the difference. Three dozen sailors are interviewed from a wide variety of classes across the United States