November - December 2020

In the past 199 issues, WindCheck has not typically printed eulogies. This is in part because so many other publications, not the least of which is Scuttlebutt, do them and do them promptly and very well. We have had exceptions. There have been certain people, bigger-than-life types, who were so key to WindCheck from the beginning and who also happened to be very important figures in the WindCheck Community, that we were duty bound to honor them….

Submitted by Boris Badenov     International Society for Perpetuation of Cruelty to Racing Yachtsmen (ISPCRY) presented 79th annual awards ceremony, affectionately known as Mooseheads, on Sunday, November 8. What is Moosehead Awards? As almost every Race Committee member in Northeast knows, Mooseheads is time-honored tradition recognizink special moments in sailboat racink specific to dubious decisions and actions taken by RCs. They call out RC screwups and try to convert them into (ahem) teaching moments, with eventual…

Founded to build and strengthen the community of sailors, events and boat classes who are already making doublehanded offshore sailing the fastest growing segment of our sport, Offshore Doubles is a home for everyone interested in doublehanded offshore sailing, from weekend racers to serious campaigns in every country.     “The primary mission of Offshore Doubles is to help the majority of members who race locally or regionally and to share knowledge from local fleets worldwide to improve the safety, enjoyment and…

Boathouse 2021 Edition If nothing else, this most unwelcome year has shown that quality family time is more important than ever, especially if that time is spent on the water. After a conversation on the subject of “What’s inside the boathouse of your dreams?” Ben and Zep selected the exquisite small craft showcased in this Gift Guide because finding any of them under the tree would delight kids of every age; each promises countless hours of family…

By Will Ricketson, New York Yacht Club American Magic Communications Director   New York Yacht Club American Magic, the U.S. Challenger for the 36th America’s Cup, completed its first sailing session onboard the newly launched AC75 PATRIOT in Auckland’s Waitematā Harbor. After a 9:00 AM christening event on Friday, October 16 at the team’s base in the Wynyard Quarter, the team engaged in an afternoon of dockside testing. At 4:30 PM in flat-calm conditions, the dark blue AC75 was pulled up onto…

Radiosailing Takes Off with DragonFlite 95 at Nantucket Race Week 2020 By Tom Darling This piece brings you something old and something brand new, but both right in line with the sailing history of their day. In the deep summer of COVID, I stumbled into a mega-trend of sailors trying to figure out how to have fun with boats in the age of masks, social distancing, and PODS. It is sailing gone “small.” Bring your beach chair,…

By Nick Bowen   The Twenty Hundred Club had their sixth and final race of the season on Saturday, September 19. For such a cold and windy fall day, we were quite pleased to have 29 boats competing in five classes. Twenty spinnaker boats were evenly split between two classes and seven cruising boats also evenly split between two classes. A first for the Twenty Hundred Club was a foiling trimaran class with two TF10s. The race…

By David Dellenbaugh Before you round any mark you have to get to the layline, so it helps a lot to know where the layline is. To avoid overstanding or understanding (and losing time or distance), find a good method for making consistently accurate layline calls. Here are some tips: • Avoid long-range laylines. The easiest way to improve your layline calls is by getting closer to the mark before you have to make them. This isn’t…

Two-person big boat racing is the next big thing     WindCheck fans may recall that we were very supportive last year of our friend Adam Loory’s Plus One rule, which he conceived to get boats off of their moorings by crewing up with one more person than the tens digit in the length of the craft. Plus One was gaining good traction in the summer of ’19, with Plus One scoring being used by many “big…

Strict protocols and grateful sailors Larchmont Yacht Club Mainsheet     Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY hosted the Optimist Atlantic Coast Championship October 2-4, the first USODA championship regatta of this size since March. Regatta chairs, Ned and Dorsey Roseberry and Senet Bischoff, began their thoughtful preparations three years ago and adapted those plans with each shifting wind of the COVID storm. Normally drawing hundreds of Optis from across the country, this year’s ACC was capped…