23 Oct Oakcliff Graduates Take Two Podium spots at Waszp nationals
October 20, 2019 (OYSTER BAY, NEW YORK) – The 2019 US Waszp National Championship pitted 11 sailors against each other in a gusty, shifty 18 knot breeze. Some of the lulls fell below foiling pressure so the top competitors were able to avoid them or stay powered up through them.
“The race course was protected by the land so it was really, really shifty; I stayed set up for the lulls so I could carry my speed through them,” said winner Sam Blouin. “We had really awesome, fun racing this weekend; everybody was trading the lead back and forth. I tried to win them all but Ben [Rosenberg] gave me a really hard time and Hoel [Menard] was looking really good out there too.”
“For me, the most important thing this weekend was keeping in touch with the pressure downwind and really making sure I was staying out of the lulls and constantly sailing in the biggest puff possible,” said second place finisher, Hoel Menard, a 15 year old French-American who trained at Oakcliff earlier this summer in the Offshore Acorn program. He is currently competing in the Nacra 15 class with the hope of finishing in the top three in the US Nacra 15 Youth Championship in June. His ultimate goal is to go to the Olympics.
The Waszp class is steadily growing, both in the US and around the world. With the foiling revolution permeating the top echelon of the sport, the Waszp is helping to make foiling more accessible to the average sailor.
“The Waszp is a really great boat for beginners or people who just want to get their feet wet with foiling,” said Trevor Parekh who finished 8th and is the founder of Pitch Pole Skiff Products. “With only a dozen hours of learning, you can be up and foiling…for some even foil gybing, in the first day, especially with the new [larger] foil.”
Another way to jumpstart your foiling is at Oakcliff’s Foiling Acorn program. Just ask 2017 Graduate, Ben Rosenberg, who earned a spot on the podium this weekend.
“Oakcliff has helped me by giving me the opportunity to sail some really high performance boats in their foiling Acorn program,” said 18 year old Rosenberg who took 3rd place. In just a week he was able to “earn his wings” on Waszps, Nacra 17s, and carbon Nacra 20s.
See full results here. Subscribe to Oakcliff’s Youtube channel and turn on notifications to see the official video recap of the Waszp Nationals when it comes out later this week.