On November 4th there will be three hours of SAILING on ESPN Classic! That’s right, block off your Friday evening – sailing will be on mainstream TV. Three episodes, produced by legendary sailor Gary Jobson, are set to air. Here is a preview of each episode…
7pm: Championship Sailing – The best of One Design Racing
This one hour program focuses on One Design racing. Coverage will include each of the 10 Olympic Classes as well as interviews with the US Sailing Team and several world champions. The program will also include a feature on the history of One Design racing which dates back to the early 1900s. Three dozen sailors are interviewed from a wide variety of classes across the United States.
8pm: 2011 NYYC Invitational Cup
The NYYC Invitational Cup saw 22 ten-person teams from 16 countries. Eleven highly contested races were sailed over a five-day period off Newport, Rhode Island in identically matched Swan 42s. All of the competitors were amateur sailors and members of their respective yacht clubs, making this one design event very competitive. The program was shot in Hi Def aboard the race boats, from helicopters above the racecourse, and from boats on the water. Keep your eyes peeled for Oakcliff supporter John Mooney – sailing as the owner’s representative aboard Uxorious III. This episode will re-air on Sunday November 6th at 1:30pm on ESPN 2.
9pm: Racing for an Ocean Record
This episode will feature distance ocean racing in the 2011 Annapolis to Newport race and the Marblehead to Halifax race. the 2011 Marblehead to Halifax race – which many of you may remember was a very successful event for Oakcliff. Our Ker 50, filled with Oakcliff acorns, staff, and supporters took 3rd place in the IRC 1 fleet. Additionally, our Ker 11.3 piloted by acorns Jeffrey MacFarlane and Mike Nicoletti took 1st place in the Doublehanded division.
Coverage for this episode will come from ESPN reporters who tagged along aboard a few of the race boats. Aurora, guided by the show’s producer Gary Jobson, and our Oakcliff Ker 50 will be two of the featured boats. Tune in Friday at 9pm for the whole story.
The 2nd annual Oakcliff Halloween Regatta is this weekend. The lineup this year is especially strong – this event is not to be missed. Two teams are coming from Canada, one from the US Virgin Islands, another from Marblehead, one from Peaqot YC, and yet another from Colgate College. Additionally, a few local teams including Mike Quaglio and Mike Komar will be vying for the podium. The competition will undoubtedly be thick.
If you are new to match racing and interested in checking out some top teams you should definitely come check it out. The action starts with practice Friday and racing on Saturday and Sunday. We still need housing for a few teams. Please call Oakcliff (516-802-0368), or send an email to
Bill Simon if you would like to help with housing.
In preparation for the AYC Fall Series, both the Ker 50 and Ker 11.3 practiced this past Saturday. With fair breeze between 10 and 17kts, teams were able to practice mark roundings, sets, douses, and starts.
If you are interested in participating in the AYC Fall Series and/or the Manhasset Fall Series, please sign up now! There are even a few spots available for this coming Saturday 9/24, click here to go to the calendar http://www.oakcliffsailing.org/calendar/ and register.
Day 2 at the Oakcliff Invitation began with a light northerly, filling in Cold Spring Harbor from across Long Island Sound. The breeze veered east and eventually came all the way south at 1:00 PM, which promised a strong and steady seabreeze.
The pecking order was established as the competitors sailed eight full rounds in superb wind, for a total of 11 rounds completed of the 18 that will comprise a double round-robin. In a round-robin, each team competes against every other team once; by sailing a double round robin before breaking to quarterfinals, each competitor gets to face everyone else twice, as both the starboard- and port-entry boat.
The races were sailed in Oakcliff Sailing Center’s 10 Swedish Match 40s, a forty-foot racer modelled after the International America’s Cup Class. The Match 40s are well suited to Oyster Bay, where the breeze is often light and variable, but they are also extremely stable and balanced in heavy air. Today they shined in 10-12 knots of breeze, making for exciting but manageable racing.
Oakcliff’s fleet of Match 40s is the largest in the world. With large, open cockpits, a powerful sail plan, and an umpire spot at the back, they are ideal for coaching and training. Oakcliff Sailing Center is open to the public and provides all levels of training on their Match 40s, Melges 24s, Farr 40s, and custom IRC racers.
The lead at the Grade 2 Invitational now belongs to Laurie Jury (New Zealand), who is also leading in the Grand Slam series. He and his crew won all eight races today, for a total record of 10-1 . Just behind him are Will Tiller (New Zealand) who is 8-3, and Dave Perry (USA), also 8-3. A full scoresheet is appended.
With plenty of wind, there was also plenty of excitement today. In round 5, Tiller seemed to find an invisible wind, rolling Perry from leeward, tacking at the wind-line and crossing him, and winning five boat lengths ahead. The race was eventually thrown out due to the wind shift, but Tiller won the redo as well.
In round 8, Allam (Great Britain) was luffing Lumijarvi (Finland) during the final leeward leg. Lumijarvi headed up, but then tried an insane jibe, smashing into Allam and earning himself a black flag (disqualification).
In round 10, Canfield (US Virgin Islands) and Jury were trading tacks near the windward mark. Canfield, after an unsuccessful dial-up, forced Jury to avoid while tacking to starboard. Umpire Dave Pelling gave Canfield a penalty, and a red flag to boot because by fouling Jury, Canfield gained the inside of the mark. He promptly sailed out of the two-boat-length circle to clear his penalty. “Unfortunately,” said Pelling, “his bow came back into the circle before he jibed,” invalidating his turn. After sailing fully clear and doing another circle, “he just gave up.”
Photos and video from Day 2 are avaible on the Oakcliff Facebook group and on Oakcliff’s Vimeo page. Pressure on the competitors will increase as the double round-robin is wrapped up and elimination rounds begin. Laurie Jury will be working to hold on to his lead, in the Oakcliff Invitational and the larger Grand Slam series, but fellow Kiwi Will Tiller is hot on his heels.
Full Results:
Laurie Jury New Zealand 10
Will Tiller New Zealand 8
Dave Perry United States 8
Taylor Canfield U.S. Virgin Islands 7
Nicolai Sehested Denmark 6
Reuben Corbett New Zealand 5
Mike Buckley United States 4
Oli Pekka Lumijarvi Finland 2.5
Robbie Allam Great Britain 1
Good Luck to everyone on the Oakcliff All American Offshore Team. They will be adding their alternates into the crew and racing with 19 for the relative sprint called the Fastnet. Well it is a sprint compared to the Trans-Atlantic which they just finished.
If you would like to track their progress you can go to
http://fastnet.rorc.org/blog/race-information/tracking/index.html
Better yet and for the latest direct from the boat and if you haven’t read the blog lately click on the link to the right of this page. They have recently added a significant amount of content. So pick up a cool drink and read up on this young team.
