Bissell Racing

This weekend was the Snipe District 6 Championship hosted by San Diego Yacht Club.  The race committee, along with a few of the participants, used this event to gear up for the World Championship that will take place in the same spot this September. 

Doug Hart mentioned before the skippers meeting that this was the deepest fleet he’s seen at a local event in a long time.  This had a lot to do with some very talented junior teams that made an appearance.  

The hot shot juniors included newly crowned collegiate All-American Tyler Sinks, the high school sailing standout with a strong sailing pedigree Nevin Snow, and a top Snipe sailor from the Biscayne Bay fleet who will compete in both the junior and senior World Championship this year Nick Voss.

The racing schedule called for 4 races on Saturday and 2 on Sunday.  If all six races were completed a throw-out would take effect.  Both days were picture perfect sailing conditions.  Saturday was sunny and probably averaged about 7 knots.  There were some big rolling swells but not much chop.  These standard San Diego conditions were ideal for the AP-5+ and BR1DH and it showed as we went 1,1,1,3. 

My crew Blaire Herron did an excellent job working the boat downwind and clearing the dagger board of seaweed.  The Seaweed was actually a huge factor In the racing since it was everywhere and just a little bit on either board would drastically slow you down.

I sailed on Sunday with my world’s crew Kate Sheahan who had flown in late Saturday night from Bermuda.  The breeze picked up a bit and averaged around 10 knots on the day.  Don Bedford, who missed day 1, came out of the gates hot and took the bullet in the first race.  Nick Voss charged ahead early and stayed there to win the final race of the regatta.  We finished 2^nd in both races to hang on to win the championship by 9 points over George Szabo.  Overall North Sails were 1,3,5,7,8 and 10 with the new AP-5+ main taking 1^st and 3^rd.

The 2008 Melges 24 Nationals took place this past weekend, Sept. 19-21, in Charleston Harbor.  There were 44 boats that made up a highly competitive fleet.  This regatta was our first event in a campaign to win the ‘09 Worlds in Annapolis, MD.  Stu McNay purchased GBR 620 “Eric” and trailored it up to Charleston from Sarasota.  This was also his first time helming a Melges 24.  Charlie Enright, of Morning Light fame was our trimmer and helped with tactics.  Dave Hughes, 470 and Snipe crew extraordinaire, did the bow.  Dani Neri helped Dave in the front and controlled the pit.  I trimmed main downwind and did tactics.

The first day was breeze-on conditions with a steady 20kts gusting to 25.  Our event started out by being called over the line in the first race.  We were able to pick our way throught the fleet and ground back to a 16th.  We were looking to post a top 10 finish in our second race but hour-glassed the kite on our final jibe to the finish and lost about 5 boats.  We learned that it helps to keep the boat on a dead down wind angle a little longer before rounding up to a reach, thus giving more time to rotate the kite.  We ended the day on a high note, notching a 6th in the last race of the day.

The second day was super light with a lot of current.  We went 17, 11, 8.  Boat speed was our friend, but we failed to get good starts and lost our lane at critical moments on the first beat.  Even though we had similar scores to the first day, we dropped a place in the standings to 12th.

The last day, we came out of the gates hot and finished 4th in the first race.  Going into the last race of the regatta, there were 3 boats with a chance to win all within a few points of eachother.  We found ourself in the middle of their battles as we rounded the first mark in 3rd.  On the final beat we split tacks with the Full Throttle team to cross the course and get to the left.  Our thinking on the boat was that the current was ebbing and we could fight the current early in the shallow water and wait for a good shift to come across the deep water at the last possible moment.  Unfortunately a 25 degree right shift filled in and we lost the Full Throttle guys.  But all in all we were happy to post another 4th place finish and move up to 9th overall in the standings.

Long Beach, July 12-13 – 33 Boats competed in this year’s Cal 20 National Championship.  After a qualifying round on Friday, they split the fleet into Gold and Silver with 23 boats in Gold and 10 in Silver. 

Since my ride fell through earlier in the week, I went down to the club just to check it out.  I wanted to see if I could meet some people, make some contacts in the class, and get a feel for what kind of market share we were dealing with.  Only 5 of the 33 boats had at least one North sail onboard.  Only two boats had the full North inventory.  Since I had no intention of actually sailing, the impact of my attendance exceeded my expectations.

On Saturday, as I was taking pictures and taking notes, I ran into Erik Heim who was sailing with Mark Gaudio.  Gaudio was the pre-regatta favorite since he’s won the championship 3-times prior.  They placed a lackluster 5^th in the qualifying round and were planning on sailing without their 3^rd crew member from the day before.  When it looked like there might be more breeze than what was forecasted, they asked me if I wanted to sail.  He was using a brand new North main, so I agreed.  I trimmed the main and collaborated with Erik Heim on tactics.  The experience proved to be mutually beneficial because I helped him win the championship and he taught me a lot about the Cal 20.

The actual racing took place in wind ranging from 10-18 knots throughout the weekend.  If Mark had only sailed with two, his results would probably have been different.  The first day started out in the 10 knot range.  We won the pin and went right as the leftmost boat in the fleet.  We were able to boatspeed our way into great leebow position when the boats from the right started to come across.  This gave us a great jump on everyone and we led the race around the entire track.  With a score of 1,2,2,3, we won the day by 3 points over Mark Gollison (sailing with a full North inventory).

Day 2 was windier and Mark Gollison came out on fire by notching a bullet in first race.  By sailing past Chris Raab on the final downwind leg, he won the race and tied us for the overall lead.  With two bullets, he was beating us on the tie breaker.  Just like the day before, it was a “go right” upwind beat.  Our pre-race strategy, then, was to start to windward of Gollison to protect the right.  We were able to execute by starting right to windward of him.  Then we were able to tack first for the right.  By forcing him left and going right, we rounded the first mark in the top 5 while he was out of the top 10.  We finished 5^th while he finished 12^th.  This gave us a pretty good cushion for the last race. 

Chris Raab and Mark Gollison had a very tight last race for 2^nd place.  You can see them in the picture below battling for the pin.  Gollison is bow 11 and Raab is in boat 28.  You can barely see us up by the committee boat, but we are bow 12 and sail #363.  We wanted to avoid the commotion at the pin and head right as soon as possible.  The right paid off and we won the last race by a mile to seal the deal.

When it was all said and done, we won the event by 13 points over Chris Raab and 14 points over Mark Gollison.  By winning the championship, Mark Gaudio becomes the only person with his name on the trophy 4 times.  Also of note, Dave Perry was sailing with Mike Van Dyke who won the oldest skipper award.  They finished in 7^th overall.  The top 3 boats had partial or full North Sails inventories.

Complete Results, Photos, and Press Releases can be found at www.abyc.org/event.cfm?id=299

Nassau, Bahamas
April 9-12
 Report by Dave Hughes

Capping his win at the Bacardi Cup earlier in the week, Brian Bissell won the 2008 Tag Heuer Snipe Winter Championship in top form.Going into the final day of racing it was do-or-die for Bissell in the eight-race series.  Snipe master Peter Commettee led overnight, meaning Brian had to put two points on Peter and win a race to ensure the tie-breaker.  Off the first start of Race #7, match racing pursued and Bissell won the start in the middle with Commettee struggling at the boat.  General recall.  The second go-around only intensified. Bissell commanded off the start and led around the track with Peter close behind.  Attempts to slow Peter enough to allow for a boat to squeeze between Brian and Peter did not work.  Still behind in the standings, Brian had to win the Race #8 with Peter 2nd, or place anywhere with a boat between he and Peter. The third place boat was out of the picture. In the end, the final was a near image of the first race of the day.  Brian led around the track with Peter 2nd in a tacking duel that launched the two boats from the fleet.  The win put Brian over the top by 1/2 point under the Snipe class bonus for race wins. Italian Enrico Solerio — who finished 2nd in the Bacardi Cup — took third overall.  A fantastic coat-and-tie awards banquet concluded the regatta and presented the winning crew with their own Tag Heuers.Brian used the AP-4 main and BR-1D+ jib with DeFazio-style tuning on a Sidewinder Gold mast, proving very quick in all conditions.  

Special thank you to Henry Filter for use of his van and helping transport the North Sails Snipe, Peter Commette for storing the boat at his house, Connie Commette for sorting out logistics, Gonzo Diaz for lending us his top-cover and helping us with Nassau shipping, Augie Diaz for lending us his trailer, Dick Bobenz for organizing the Clearwater mid-winters, Ernesto Rodriguez for unloading the Worlds container from Portugal, Jerry Thompson for his overall guidance, Shane the “Life Coach” for showing us Nassau in top fashion, Mark, Tressa and Rebecca Piekarz for absolutely wonderful housing in Nassau, Jimmy and Laurie Lowe for organizing the Nassau event, Robert Dunkley for the use of his Olympic Games sport coat for the awards dinner, Mark Dunkley for local know-how, the Stout family for all their help with Team Blue, David and Susan Odell for answering all our Snipe class questions, the legendary Earl Elms for excellent race committee and good humor, Thad and Annie Inge for being such great hosts in Miami, the team at North Sails One Design, and Kimmer Popoff for…well, pretty much everything!

I was asked by a journalist of our local Annapolis Sailing Magazine “The Spinsheet,”… “What’s up with your hat?”  This was my response…

The only real story behind the hat is that I really hate cold weather.  I found the hat at Eastern Mountain Sports when I was in search of the warmest hat I could possibly find even if it looked dorky and perhaps even girly.    

I grew up in Newport Beach, CA and have never gotten used to the cold.  When I got out of college sailing, I swore that I’d never sail a cold weather regatta again.  But, when I heard how many fun people were coming to town for the IC Midwinters I knew it was going to be an event that shouldn’t be missed.  The local Annapolis IC fleet was very accommodating in helping me find a boat to use and I called up my go-to-guy Matt Schubert to see if he and his wife Lori would be my B division team.  I used up all of my beginners luck in Saturday’s racing because Sunday didn’t go as well for us.  I was joking around at the awards ceremony that I tried my hardest to screw things up, but Matt and Lori just wouldn’t let it happen as they won B division by 13 points putting us in 2^nd overall.   

The fun factor was the reason I did this event and I wasn’t disappointed.  After racing on Saturday, all the competitors enjoyed dinner and a keg inside SSA by the nice warm fire.  The highlight of the dinner party came when two long tables were pushed together to accommodate a game of “flip-cup.”  The last pitcher of the keg was used for a new spin on an old game….no hands flip-cup.  Try drinking a beer and flipping the empty cup end over end without using your hands…what a mess!  The group then proceeded to the Rockfish and then on to Pussers. 

The cold temperatures were definitely the hardest on the crews.  When you’re skippering, you’re pretty active in the boat trimming the main and steering.  The crew’s only real job in the IC is to put the centerboard up and down.  My super crew, Alexis Rubin, couldn’t feel her hands, feet or face.  The regatta format is pretty cool in that you only sail a few races at a time.  It’s nice to be able to come in periodically to warm up by the fire. 

Danny Pletsch skippered the B division boat on the winning team and he still thinks he can run 20 MPH.  Results…

First of all, I was honored to be a member of such an awesome team.  As our fearless leader, Dr. Beeckman, put it “I love it when a plan comes together .”  It was incredible how smoothly things went (on the water) considering not a single one of us had ever sailed flying scots before and haven’t team raced together since I was in high school.  Since I am only intimately familiar with the crew work of my own crew, my hat goes off to Jack Hogan and Cryssa Byers for an unbelievable job.  However, from my point of view, it looked like the other crews Mandy, Matt, Alan and Tracey were rockstars too.
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The Regatta format began with a single round robin for all 9 teams.  Then they divided the teams up into the top 4 and bottom 5.  One more round robin was completed by both groups.  If there was more time, the top team from silver would have moved up and the bottom team from Gold would have moved down and another round robin would have been sailed. 

Unfortunately we ran out of time and the results were taken from the two previous round robins.  In the first round robin, our only two losses came from Southern YC and Bay Waveland YC; the two teams I had designated from the beginning as “regatta favorites.”  Our 6-2 record propelled us into the final four to be raced on Sunday. 

New York YC, Southern YC, Bay Waveland YC, and NHYC comprised the top group.  We had really close races with each team.  The two most exciting races came against the two teams we had lost to in the previous round.  In the Bay Waveland Race, all three of our boats fell behind early.  They rounded the first mark in a 1,2,3 combination to our 4,5,6.  By the leeward mark, we had converted to a 2,3,5, but one of their boats fouled Andy so hard that even after he spun a penalty circle, Andy was still in last.  In team racing, this is called a professional foul, and will add 10 pts to your teams score in the race.  We crossed the finishe line in a 2,4,5 but because they had a 10pt penalty, we won the race. 

In our final race against Southern, we had a 1,3,5 coming into the leeward mark.  A giant puff of wind caught their 2nd place boat off guard and wiped them out enabling our team to move into a solid 1,2 combination.  We crossed the finish line in a 1,2,6 thus putting us in a 3-way tie for first overall in the regatta.  The tie breaker came down to who beat who in the final race and since we went undefeated when it counted in the final round, we won the tie-breaker.

The Soiland Trophy was donated by NHYC to Southern YC to help replenish their trophy case after hurricane Katrina.  Robert Soiland was the first commodore of NHYC and won the cup in a distance race from Newport Beach to San Clemente Island.  It has now been rededicated to a yacht club challenge team race event.

Hey there race fans.  Sorry it has taken me awhile to write the final report for the Snipe World Championship, but it has been hard to formulate words to describe the experience.  It was tough to find something positive to write about the sailing, but after some time has gone by, it’s really not so bad afterall.

Preparing for a World Championship the right way means covering every detail and leaving nothing on the table.  Think of any possible excuse you might have for losing and take care of those things before the event happens.   I believe I did this and so I have no regrets.  Yeah, everything didn’t go my way and I think had there been more races I could have had a better result, but that’s sailing, that’s the sport we play.

By preparing for this event, I became a better sailor.  I know more about tuning, sail trim, and sail design than I ever knew before.  More specifically, I became a much better snipe sailor.  I feel like I really know this boat now which will help me help others as the Snipe rep for North Sails.

I have to give a huge shout out to Danny Pletsch, who I was able to rope into crewing for me, because he couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough when I asked him what he was doing during the month of September.  The Snipe PreWorlds was Danny’s second regatta and by the time the worlds rolled around, he was one of the best crews in the entire regatta.  This summer, he placed 11th at Sunfish Worlds, 8th at Snipe Worlds, and got 2nd at Team Race Worlds.  I was really lucky to have him in the front of my boat.  I think I was really lucky he didn’t strangle me a few times too.  By the way, he broke the 20 mph speed barrier on foot and he has video to prove it!

I’d like to thank everyone that supported my Snipe Campaign.  Without your generosity, we never would have made it to Portugal…North Sails for helping with some expenses and making me fast sails, Steve McManus for your generous support, Harry Legum at Annapolis Sailing Fitness helping me cross off fitness in the excuse column, Annapolis Yacht Club Sailing Foundation for your generous donation, Annapolis Performance Sailing for giving me a camouflage hat and a good discount on gear, Julie Bissell (my mom) for making my hotel reservations, Henry Filter for being my tuning partner and giving us rides in his rental car, Coach Pedro, the US Team and the Newport Harbor Yacht Club for their continued support.

 Last but not least, thank you, the reader, for tuning in and taking interest in my blog.  The amount of comments I have recieved from people about how they enjoyed following the action really surprised me.  There will be more to come. 

Two regattas are coming up, the Hinman this coming weekend and the J24 East Coast Champs the weekend after.  Talk to you soon.

To conclude a very frustrating regatta, we finished 10th in the last race that jumped us up from 18th overall to 8th.  My goal was top 10 so I’m pleased to have achieved it, but overall it wasn’t a great event.  I’ll write more of a report when I get back, but just wanted to fill everyone in.

Today was light air once again and no races were sailed.  We left the dock at 1pm and didn’t return till about 7pm.  Some starts were attempted but they were all general recalls.  The Z flag was up so there could have been some 20% penalties handed out.

Our hope of having a throwout was splashed today since the maximum number of races they can have in a day is 3 and we need 4 for a throwout.  They need 3 races to have this count as a regatta and the forecast looks dismal for tomorrow the final day.  I think there is a very good chance that this could be a nonevent.  I’ve never sailed anywhere for 5 days and not had at least one day with decent breeze. 

Not much else to report, but I’ll fill you in if anything happens tomorrow.