On Watch
Bringing an abiding love of the sea to a grassroots organization dedicated to eliminating marine debris, improving coastal water quality and preserving shoreline access, Jessica Frascotti is the Program Coordinator at Clean Ocean Access in Middletown, RI. “I have always been drawn to the ocean,” says Jessie, who lives in Newport. “The vastness and beauty of the ocean and underwater world is something that has always left me in awe. I grew up in Needham, MA and...
Up to Speed & Smarts with Dells
First Beat Strategy: Go the Right Direction!
Left or right? That may be one of the most commonly asked questions before the start of any sailboat race. And the way each crew answers this question often makes the difference between finishing near the front of the fleet or at the back. Good speed is absolutely critical in almost every race. That’s because even if you have the best tactics and strategy in the world, you will be left in the dust if you’re not...
Racing
Experience Trumps Youth in the Sea Dog Frostbite Championship…Just Barely
By Greg Phipps The friendly rivalry between the Sachem’s Head Frostbite Fleet (Guilford, CT) and Wickford Frostbite Association (Wickford, RI) has been held annually around Thanksgiving, since the early 1960s, alternating between the two host clubs. Informally known as the Sea Dog Worlds, the tradition continued on Saturday, December 8 at Wickford Yacht Club. Thirty-six Sea Dogs were on the start line, a result of renewed enthusiasm and fleet growth, including nine new boats. Conditions were cold,...
Racing
It was still dark when the sound of alarm clocks filled the Oakcliff bunkhouse in Oyster Bay, NY. Staff and graduates gathered in the office fidgeting in their seats as they waited. It had finally arrived, the day we’d all been waiting for: Tryouts & Training with American Magic, New York Yacht Club’s challenge for the 36th America’s Cup. A black SUV pulled into the driveway emblazoned with the American Magic logo on the side. One by one, juggernauts of...
Racing
Teaching Old Sailors New Tricks – A fun new take on handicap racing
By Adam Loory, General Manager, UK Sailmakers International Those of us at UK Sailmakers, as is the case with most sailmaking companies, have been working with sailors and sailing organizations to grow our sport through the development of new forms of racing that are both fun and accessible. Many people have told me they don’t race more because getting crew is such a problem. Reflecting that statistic, the number of boats competing in doublehanded distance races has...
Coop's Corner
It’s a great feeling, as a coach, when members of the sailing team you have, in my case, the very great honor to coach, call you up and say, “Hey Coop, can we do these regattas?” I received such a signal last fall from Payton Canavan. Payton is one of two leaders of The Prout School Sailing Team and skipper of one of two pairs who are the school’s top four sailors. As is typical of her,...
Book Review
Sailing to the Edge of Time: The Promise, the Challenges, and the Freedom of Ocean Voyaging
Published by Adlard Coles, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 277 pages hardcover $28 A new book from John Kretschmer is always something to look forward to, and his latest, Sailing to the Edge of Time, may be his best yet. A gifted writer, photographer, sailor, philosopher and lecturer whose successful sail training business aboard his Kaufman 47 Quetzal utilizes a hands-on and uniquely philosophical approach to offshore sailing, John Kretschmer has completed twenty-six transatlantic and two...
Book Review
$12.95 paperback, $8.95 ebook Although well over 100 books have been reviewed in the pages of WindCheck, The Accidental Captain has the distinction of being the first to make this reviewer laugh before even opening it. On the cover is the smiling author, Glenn Patron, blissfully unconcerned by the imminent sinking of his somewhat-less-than-Bristol fashion vessel. She’s listing heavily to port, detritus-filled cockpit awash as gear floats away while he raises a glass in a toast to...
From the Captain of the Port
We All Get Heavier As We Age – Even Our Boats!
As we (probably) all made New Year’s resolutions to go on a diet, we keep getting reminded that we are getting heavier as we get older. No matter where we turn, someone is telling us that we’re getting fat and need to be thinner! Guess what? So are our boats! Yes, as boats get older, they get heavier and that has a lot to do about being less “sea-kindly” and more “tender” as they get older (and...
The Boating Barrister
Winter Waters: Keeping a Lookout
A good story should start like Def Leppard’s 1987 album Hysteria, where the first song, “Women,” just drops into blazing chords making you think maybe you missed something. No progression, just round sound. Joe Elliot’s vocals shame today’s auto-tuned crooners. I ate another Quarter Pounder. We’d bought a bag of them and considered us provisioned. The grease was cold and hard. We were moving a Tartan up to Newport from a Connecticut harbor just commutable to Wall...
Cruising
By Ed Cesare My longtime friend and shipmate Chad Corning recently invited me to come along on a delivery of Jason Carroll’s MOD 70 trimaran Argo from Newport, RI to Fort Lauderdale, FL. Readers might be familiar with Jason’s program and stable of race boats, including the turboed Gunboat 62 Elvis. Jason purchased the ex-Oman Racing last summer. The MOD (“Multi One Design”) 70 was conceived in 2009 as a class of one-design transoceanic racers. These are...
Cruising
A Threshold Crossing – Notes from a Blue-Water Passage
Every adventure has at least one moment – a moment that sinks in and will forever connect you back to that time and place. These moments have a way of being small and perhaps inconsequential to other people, but I think you will appreciate this one.
What's New
United States SailGP Team Five very talented American sailors comprise the United States SailGP Team, who’ll be competing against five other international squads in the inaugural SailGP season. Billed as “sailing redefined,” SailGP was created “to engage and excite global sports fans year-round in a supercharged, fast-paced version of sailing aimed at increasing its mainstream popularity, introducing the next generation to the sport and creating a career path for extraordinary athletes.” The United States SailGP Team roster...
Juniors
Offering Options: There’s More to Junior Sailing than Optis and a Race to the Top
One of the primary goals of junior sailing programs should be retaining kids long enough for them to develop a passion for the sport and a personal desire to continue. Far too often, however, before that happens kids are asked to spend too much time (years) in boats that do not align with their version of fun and pressure to “succeed” comes much too soon. The current junior sailing recipe is driving kids out and resulting in...
Checking In
Newport Bermuda Race Wins Gold Level Clean Regatta Certification
The Bermuda Race Organizing Committee is proud to announce the race has earned gold-level certification from Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program, a race of its own aimed at restoring ocean health. Administered by Newport, RI-based Sailors for the Sea, Clean Regattas is a certification system with five levels – Participant, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum – enabling sailors to protect their local waters with as many of 25 best practices as possible, making sustainability approachable and...
Checking In
CCA International Offshore Safety at Sea with Hands-On Training Course
Our friends at the Cruising Club of America (CCA) are offering their popular International Offshore Safety at Sea with Hands-On Training Course. Taught by experienced, lifelong sailors, the course is designed to prepare sailors of all types and abilities for survival offshore in demanding situations and emergencies.
Checking In
CYOA Announces 2019 Classic Yachts Challenge Series
The Classic Yacht Owners Association (CYOA) has announced a plan to continue and expand the series formerly known as the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge into 2019. With Panerai’s recently announced intention to discontinue their support of classic yachting events in both Europe and the U.S., the series was left without an Organizing Authority. This is one of the things CYOA was built to do, and working in partnership with the individual event organizers Corinthian Yacht Club, Nantucket Community...
Checking In
Nick Ewenson Joins Sail Newport
Sail Newport, Rhode Island’s Public Sailing Center, has appointed Nick Ewenson (Newport, RI) as Race Programs Manager. Ewenson will be responsible for developing youth racing programs and racing sailors on all age levels, managing the coaching staff and overseeing youth regatta participation at Sail Newport and for travel events. Sail Newport’s high-performance Brooke E. Gonzalez Advanced Racing Clinic will also be under his direction. “We have wanted to enhance and expand our youth racing programs for both...
Checking In
RACE Coastal Engineering Joins Connecticut Maritime Coalition
RACE Coastal Engineering, a waterfront structural, geotechnical and regulatory consultation and design firm in Stratford, CT, has joined join the Connecticut Maritime Coalition (CMC), the State’s maritime industry advocate. Comprising 23 member businesses that share market knowledge and expertise and work together with government, businesses and private organizations to solve issues, CMC develops strategies to strengthen and grow the State’s maritime economy. “We’re excited to be part of the revitalization of Connecticut’s waterfront cities and towns for...
Publisher's Log
This issue rocks! Call me biased and yes, I nearly broke my arm patting our team and all the contributors on the back in December. But this one has content that the WindCheck Community truly represents from cover to cover. I’m thinking about adding distribution at ski areas this month so folks have something to relish in between runs, over a cup of chili. Just don’t stuff it in the boot bag at the end of the...
