Chester The past 12-month’s has been quite busy in Chester as we build the Chester Fleet. Last summer the fleet had 2 additions: “ Preemptive Bid” purchased by Steve Moody and renamed “O 2” (short for O hop 2) and “Aileen” (Corny Shield’s original boat) which was purchased by Mike Kelly. Both of these boats were actively raced last fall. We also took delivery this spring of our first fibre glass boat purchased by Shawn Mulroney. This was the boat owned by the IOD World Class Association. Over this summer Shawn is completing work on the boat and it will be sailing shortly in Mahone Bay. These additions brings our fleet number to 11 boats. The list is as follows: Mighty Mo Rick Thompson Eight of these boats have been racing this year in various races, locations and regattas. Steve Moody in O2 and Danny Blain in Zephyr have been very successful in Thursday night PHRF racing at the Chester Yacht Club. Wednesday IOD Fleet racing started on July 4th and has attracted 4 boats on a regular basis. Shawn Mulroney has dominated the series. The highlight of the year is Chester Classics Week which features two regatta’s – The Chester Classics Cup and Chester Classics Division in Chester Race Week. The week consists of a 3 race and 4 race series. Rick Thompson was high point man in the Chester Classics Cup while Mike Ruston won top spot in Chester Race Week. Both Regatta’s featured harbour starts and finishes which was spectacular for the spectators and sponsors. Herb Motley of Marblehead was a guest skipper on “Squall” for the Classic Cup regatta and he also gave a slide show presentation of the 75 year history of the IOD Class at the Chester Yacht Club on the Saturday evening of the Classic Cup weekend. His presentation was well received and he sold a number of the 75th Anniversary books. 2 IOD’s participated in the Mahone Bay Regatta which featured starts and finished in Mahone Bay. Rick Thompson in Mighty Mo won this event. The annual Bermuda Race Week saw Shawn Mulroney representing the Chester Fleet in Bermuda and he sailed well finishing 7th overall for the 13 boat fleet which featured many past world and race week champions. The Chester Fleet is in the middle of standardizing its sails and this year purchased new main sails, having purchased jibs last year. We are also developing a fleet spinnaker which will be ready for the fleet this winter. At our annual meeting held this summer we agreed to approach the World Association to request that Chester be awarded the right to hold the 2014 North American IOD Regatta. Fisher’s Island is currently in the rotation for the event. However in correspondence with them and the World Association they will allow the Chester Fleet to take their turn. We are therefore looking forward to putting on the North Americans in 2014. We continue to look at ways to promote the Chester Fleet, get greater participation on and off the water and grow our fleet. There is a buzz in Chester about the IOD’s and we believe they have a bright future in the waters of Mahone Bay. Respectfully Submitted Richard Thompson. Fishers Island The Fishers Island Fleet currently has 11 boats total, down from our high of 14 many years ago. Two of those boats were inactive this year, however, participation is up slightly from last year with 9 boats actively racing. Allegra #13, an original '37 pine boat, remained on the hard again this year, and the fleet is working hard to find a new home for her. Pandion, which did not sail this year, was sold by John Brim and Maarten Van Hengel to Jonathan Farrar and his wife Isabelle Kinsolving Farrar and is expected to be actively campaigned next year, increasing our numbers slightly but adding significant depth to our fleet. Isabelle was a member of the 2008 US Olympic Team (470). Racing is growing increasingly competitive. Two thirds of our fleet won races this year and for all but one that included multiple wins. Relative newcomer, Edward Kavle, entered the last race of our August qualifying series one point ahead of eventual winners, John Burnham & Peter Rugg. Our World Qualifier was designed to include a "Regatta" weekend where we sailed 8 races in near perfect conditions. For the sailors who don't take advantage of the regular away regattas, this was a fun and easy way of generating the similar feeling and excitement of a regatta without the travel or expense, not to mention it was great practice. Despite some inconsistency late in the series, Charlie Van Voorhis and Jester, won the Series, qualifying for next year's Worlds, over second place finisher John Burnham. Representatives from our fleet have also been quite successful at other IOD events in 2012. John Burnham & Peter Rugg won Bermuda International Invitational Race Week in May and Kevin Farrar successfully defended his title at the Nantucket Invitational in June. We are always looking for ways to add new members and to encourage the next generation of sailors. As a fleet building exercise this year, we sailed two races as part of our August Series where skippers had to be 20 years old or younger. Response was very positive especially among the kids (despite the trash talking on shore) and it is something that we will definitely do again next year. The Fishers Island IOD Fleet, together with the Fishers Island Yacht Club, is looking forward to hosting the 2013 IOD World Championships. While the schedule has not been cast in stone, the dates are likely to be September 14-20, 2013. Respectfully submitted, Charlie Van Voorhis, FI IOD Fleet Captain Marblehead We had 11 boats racing this year, most of them regularly. Our core turnout continues to be committed and reliable. There is no real change in the boats for sale – none of them are in the active racing contingent, in fact none of the boats that are for sale in our fleet raced this year. It would be fantastic if we could see one or two of them change hands and remain within Marblehead. To that end we continue to encourage people to come racing in the fleet, hopefully to get hooked and eventually to desire an IOD of their own.
We formed a committee last year with a good mix of owners and regular fleet crew to discuss and generate ideas to secure the fleets future. The group decided the most critical aspects to get right are the social life of the fleet and the competitiveness of the fleet. If we can help the fleet become more competitive everyone enjoys exciting and close racing and everyone has a chance to win. People get involved for racing but stay because of the relationships formed so the social aspects of the fleet are equally important.
For the social aspects we also wanted to raise the profile of the fleet in the racing scene around Boston and to try to encourage more people to get involved in IOD sailing. We ran our spring party in downtown Boston this year to encourage people from Boston Sailing Center and MIT sailing to come and meet the fleet. A number of the people from that party have been showing up right through the season. We run a number of parties throughout the year and the new members of the fleet have also been attending and making new friends. It’s a long way from new fleet member to someone who would like to own their own IOD but we are committed to sowing the seeds and seeing what comes up. We race out of three clubs making it a little more difficult to get together after racing so we have restarted our fleet tradition of meeting at the club that supplied the RC that Saturday. We are all enjoying seeing some more of each other throughout the summer.
For fleet competitiveness we organized 2 events this year. One occurred in the spring and was a clinic run by Bruce Dyson and Bill Widnall. As many people as we could cram into their boats from the rest of the fleet went out to do a day’s sailing with Bruce and Bill giving coaching on sail trim, sail handling, helming techniques etc. Boat speed was the objective. This was voted a huge success and is on the calendar again for next year. The other event was in the early summer where we had the coach from the Eastern Yacht Club, Greg Wilkinson, come out onto the water in a rib to observe us racing. He was looking to help us with tactics, rules, starting, boat handling on the water and provided the fleet with an extensive library of photographs of the boats racing so we could all compare our sail shape with the fastest boats in the fleet. This all happened during a normal days racing. Between races Greg caught up with each boat to provide coaching hints and tips.
Our biggest disappointment this year was that after putting in a lot of work and some expense the fleet had to cancel the North American Invitational due to lack of confirmed entries. I think a number of factors came together: of course we had hosted the Jubilee celebrations the previous year and many people from other fleets had already visited recently. Perhaps the economy played a part and for sure the concurrence of the event in Nantucket played a role. All lessons for us for future years.
We are thinking of friends and IOD’s in Bermuda and hoping for a low impact and safe exit from Leslie.
Respectfully submitted,
Ian Morrison, Marblehead IOD Fleet Captain. Nantucket To the World Class Association; The Nantucket Fleet has continued to maintain its current strength of 15 active Syndicates representing our 15 IOD’s. On average, we typically have 11 -14 boats on the line every Sunday to compete in three windward leeward races. The racing has become increasingly competitive with at least any eight teams capable of winning several times each season. There is very little time interval covering the entire fleet finishing every race. The Nantucket fleet has benefited from annual visits from Bill Gladstone of North U. and hosting the annual Nantucket Race Week Celebrity Pro Am. The boats themselves have benefited from upgrades to boom outhauls, jib and main Cunningham controls, Traveler and backstay controls. Next on our wish list is a mainsheet fine tune to satisfy our aging crews! This season we purchased new mains, jibs and spinnakers for all the boats in the fleet. The mains and jibs are of a radial construction using the new North Sails radon cloth in an effort to increase their useful life. The continued aim is have the boats as equal as possible. As the boats age, maintenance has become more of a constant issue and we have worked hard to incorporate these costs into our annual budget while at the same time keeping the annual fees affordable. We, however, have large issues that are looming on the horizon: The aging of the fleet membership and how to address the natural attrition of the current membership as people retire from sailing these boats. We do run Wednesday clinics for all abilities to encourage involvement in the fleet as either in a crew or ownership capacity. This in itself is probably not going to keep all the boats fully manned unless we somehow overcome the worldwide trend of less participation of all type of sports by the younger generation. To this end the fleet is being more pro-active in networking to attract potential sailors. The Nantucket Fleet continues to host the annual Nantucket IOD Invitational as well as be the center piece of the Nantucket Race Week, the Celebrity Pro-Am where amateur crews are paired up with well-known professional sailors for two days of racing. These events have given rise to a not inconsiderable interest in our fleet which cannot hurt it’s future viability. Ian McNeice Sweden (Swedish) 2012 har varit ett ganska bra år för oss seglingsmässigt, men vi har endast fått till 6st uttagningsseglingar men den sista som seglades Lördagen den 6/10 var vi sju båtar till start,sex svenska besättningar och en Norsk besättning med Martin Rygh som rorsman. Året började med en vårserie seglingar där även Pater Noster Race ingår som en trevlig tillställning med ca:70 båtar till start. Därefter seglades i Augusti Tjörn Runt, som är årets största segling på Sveriges västkust där vi IOD:er placerade oss mycket bra i startgruppen. Höstserien blev lite kort därför att många seglingar ställdes in på grund av för mycket vind. 30/8-1/9 var det dags för North Sea Cup, och detta blev en mycket lyckad tävling med två Norska, två från England och tre Svenska besättningar, vi fick till tre fina tävlingsdagar med bra vind och solsken, efter seglingarna hade vi grillparty en kväll, och avslutningsmiddag på Stenungsbaden Yacht Club. Segrade gjorde Fredrik Rygh, tvåa kom John Bingham och trea blev Ulf Hjalmarsson Nu avlutar vi seglingsåret med VM på Bermuda, och ser fram emot en trevlig och lyckad vistelse där. Resultat för 2012 är följande: 1: SWE 68 Urban
Ristorp Sweden (English) 2012 has been a pretty good year for us sailing terms, but we have only got to 6st selection races, but the last one was sailed on Saturday, 6/10, we had seven boats to start, six Swedish crews and a Norwegian crew with Martin Rygh as helmsman. The year began with a springserie races where even Pater Noster Race is an enjoyable event with about 70 boats to start. Then sailed in August Tjörn Runt, which is the biggest sailing on the west coast of Sweden where we IODs positioned us very well in the startup group. Fall Series was a bit short because many races were canceled because of too much wind. 30/8-1/9 was time for the North Sea Cup, and this was a very successful event with two Norwegian, two from England and three Swedish crews, we had three great days of racing with good wind and sunshine, after the races, we had barbecue one evening and farewell dinner at Stenungsbaden Yacht Club. Won did Fredrik Rygh from Norway, second, John Bingham from England and the third was Ulf Hjalmarsson from Sweden. Now we go to the World Cup in Bermuda, and look forward to an enjoyable and successful stay there. Results
for 2012 are as follows: Regards Urban
Zachrisson Norway Our honorary member, Jan Petter Roed, turned 80 this summer. Still active and sailed at Bermuda this spring. He also sailed half of our qualification; Hanko Race Week, where he came second, with same score as number one. IOD in Norway. Another difficult year. Inner Oslofjord Fleet with a minimum of activity in qualifying races, Outer Oslofjord Fleet much the same. Some boats sailing in other regattas. Inner Oslofjord Fleet. (8 boats) N-49 is
ready to participate next year for the Inner Oslofjord fleet . Outer Oslofjord Fleet. ( 7 boats) This year
only five boats have been sailing regattas, four in qualifying series. Fredrikstad. (6 boats) Optimistic
signals from Fredrikstad, hometown of Bjarne Aas. During the last years there
has Number of
boats registered in Norway
now is 26. Asbjørn Johnsen Northeast Harbor The 2012 season for the Northeast IOD Class will go down in history as one of the best on record. With few exceptions, the weather was outstanding and the racing was excellent. In 2012, we had up to 16 boats on the line for both the July and August Series. As part of our long term plan we focused on the youth again this year. The generous contribution of four of our members allowed us to sponsor four youth boats this year with the majority of the skippers and crew on each boat comprised of youth. Our goal is to continue this effort by focusing our energy on leaving no boat behind at the mooring on race days. We made the decision in 2012 to not continue the experimentation with the carbon fiber spar to focus on building the Fleet. In 2012, we completed a revision of the Class Bylaws to address sail replacement, substitution of boats due to damage, and clarify qualification for interclub events. Looking forward, our priority is to assist in the sale of several IOD’s and find new owners that are interested in racing in the Class. Michael Phillips San Francisco 2012 will be a season that San Francisco will remember for some time to come. The Bay was buzzing with the America’s Cup World Series as well as some testing of the new 72 foot cats. Just yesterday a few fleet members (Ron Young and Paul Manning) had the chance to watch from the shore as the big Oracle boat capsized right off the city front and then proceeded to float out under the Golden Gate Bridge on its side. But shifting focus back to the racing of our classic IODs, we had an active 2012 season in both the Wednesday night series and our weekend racing program. Our weekend series was comprised of three two day regattas and six one day wooden boat racing association race days which had a total of 26 races. This past weekend we had 5 boats competing in the San Francisco Yacht Club Fall Classic Regatta and that completed our 2012 season and the Worlds qualifying series for events to be attended in 2013. There were a total of 26 races held with 7 boats entering the series and 4 throw outs. Rich Pearce in 1st place by taking a first place in 19 of those races, Paul Manning and Spencer Fulweiler in 2nd, Ashley Lyon in 3rd, Ron Young in 4th and Greg Meagher in 5th, Jim Hennefer in 6th and a new member JC Raby in 7th. The Wednesday night race series was also an active series with 6 boats coming out for the 12 race series. The top 4 boats were very close in the standings with the final race determining the order of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers. First place was won by Adam Wheeler, second by Ashley Lyons, Third by Paul Manning and Spencer Fulweiler and fourth by Ron Young. One new item which was reactivated after many years of being retired was the Delmas Cup that was retired by Jake Wasser back in 1972. It was awarded this year as the trophy for the IOD that wins the San Francisco Yacht Club Classic regatta and this year it will reflect Ron Young’s name on the list below a string of years that Jake had won this cup in the past. On the topic of personal news, we are sad to report that our Fleet Chairman’s (Greg Meagher) 23 year old daughter, Elizabeth Claire, passed away on September 23rd after a difficult battle with cancer. A memorial service was held in Phoenix Arizona to honor her all too short time on earth. Paul Manning St. Mawes, UK The St Mawes Fleet has seven yachts in total, one more than a year ago following the arrival of Greyhound, purchased by William Oliver from Fishers Island. The current fleet is as follows:
Greyhound William Oliver Happy Go Lucky Andrew and Tess Colson Kyla John Bingham & Nick Gore Mitzi Robin Dicker Pirate Roger Smith Sanchia Nick Coppin Wild Goose Mike Conlin
It remains a challenge to get a good turnout at regattas. This is due to a combination of geography, personal circumstances and, this year, atrocious weather. Of the seven yachts, three did not race this year and two (Sanchia and Happy Go Lucky) are currently for sale. We hope that they will find local buyers, though this is by no means certain.
We had five entries for Falmouth Week 2012, our qualifying regatta. (Sanchia was chartered for the week by Marc Migliozzo.) The Week was won by Wild Goose (Mike Conlin). Unfortunately, Greyhound (William Oliver) was dismasted and damaged on the first day and had to retire from the regatta. She will be back sailing with us in 2013.
The Fleet was represented in Bermuda Race Week by Marc Migliozzo and in September we sent two crews to the North Sea Cup, excellently organised by the Swedish Fleet. Thank you.
We continue to try to find ways to boost participation. One suggestion is that rather than using Falmouth Week as our qualifying regatta we should hold our qualifying regatta over a long weekend, comprising seven or eight windward-leeward races over three days. It is thought that owners who do not have time to take part in a week-long regatta may be attracted by a shorter more concentrated format. This has still to be discussed and agreed by the Fleet.
With best regards, John Bingham St Mawes IOD Fleet Captain Long Island Sound The Long Island Sound Fleet had one additional boat racing during 2012 bringing the active fleet count to seven. More importantly, participation was up as both crew members and guest skippers took advantage of days helmsmen were unavailable to get boats on the line. Tim Hecksher's main crew, Roddy Thaler, eagerly jumped on the helm of “Makai” to make it one of the highest participants this summer. Ed Briganti took charge of “Dark Horse” with Dave Mayo again putting in time on the helm. Jim Bishop Jr. and Elliott Wislar continued to campaign “Nefarius” and Liv Maneker skippered “Dark Horse” when her husband Marion was otherwise occupied. Our new competitor for the season was Clemmie Everett aboard “Elation,” originally owned by Jim Sundstrom. Clemmie and her team which included Chris Russell, Chris's 9-year old son Parker, Jenny Wilson, Don Thinschmidt, Brad Parish, Will Briganti, and Taylor Nissi, jumped aboard Elation and learned that on Long Island Sound, the land of the gentle zephyr, taking a motorboat wake on the beam can be just as important as picking the right side of the course. Clemmie joins us with an impressive background in both centerboard- and keel-boats and in addition to teaching at Rye Country Day during the school year, she runs Noroton Yacht Club's sailing program during the summer. As for results, seven boats turned out for the Worlds qualification series with Team “Nefarius” (Jim Bishop Jr./Elliott Wislar) placing first, followed by Marion Maneker's "Black Arrow," Tim Hecksher aboard Jim Bishop Sr.'s "Makai" and Jennifer Miller with "Topaz." For the YRA LIS Championships, we had all seven boats as starters on the line with Jeff Feehan joining the fun. Jim Bishop Jr.'s son Forrest, just back from sailing in the BVI's, jumped aboard "Nefarius" for the two day regatta along with their regular crew of Jennifer Leary, Chris Leary and Steve Roney on the first day and Elliott's son, E.J., and daughter, Kenzie, on the second to win the regatta followed by a tightly packed Maneker, Everett and Miller. Larchmont Race Week, one of the area's oldest regattas, was won by "Nefarius" skippered by Jim and his team on the first weekend and then by none other than Danielle and Jeff Lawson of the San Francisco Fleet, who were east visiting Danielle's family and who took command of “Nefarius” for the second weekend with their young kids in tow. Of note for all three of the most recently added teams is that they are younger and new to the class. We hope to leverage their enthusiasm, and hopefully their contact lists, to bring more new blood to the class. In order to accommodate the busier schedules and increased mobility of younger sailors, we are planning on syndicating a few of the boats to enable teams to share costs and improve the participation of their boats. Syndication may also make these boats attractive to IOD sailors from other fleets that split their time between the New York area and their summer homes. Jim Bishop, Jr. Bermuda Our season has been down this year for boats on the line. Saturdays |