Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Practice Day 2 with Coach Charlie Enright

9/29/09
Charlie Enright of North Sails RI came to spend the afternoon coaching us on the Farr 30. Most of the time was spent doing laps between two marks between Goat Island and Rose Island. The breeze hovered between 15-20kts for most of the practice which was awesome because we have had no Farr 30 experience in these conditions. The weather allowed us to hammer out a ton of gybes, tacks, sets, and douses in conditions that we were not used to. Charlie, like Tom, emphasized the importance of anticipation and communication. We anticipate sailing with charlie again possibly next week.

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Monday, September 28, 2009

Practice Day 1 with Coaches Tom Burnham and Mike Campbell


Today we were lucky enough to have alum and pro sailor Tom Burnham join us for our time on the water. The conditions were challenging for our first Farr 30 practice but there is no trial better than one by fire. Although todays practice was a short one, we have a better idea of where we are and definately of where we need to be. Tom has been to several Student Yachting World Cups and was full of logistical advice as well as sailing advice. Mike Campbell, who did the SYWC in 2004, was on board trimming main and giving other coaching tips from his experience in France. Both will definately be great resources to bounce ideas off of in the weeks leading up to our trip. The URI World Cup Team which includes our team Advisors and all of our support at the University have worked really hard to afford the Sailing Team practice time on the water. With three weeks to go we are out there and ready to tackle the next hurdles on our quest for the World Cup.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Team USA practicing in Newport Harbor

The URI World Cup Team will be out in Newport Harbor practicing on the Farr 30 TeamBOLD all week leading up to the Sail For Hope Regatta (Oct. 3) out of Sail Newport. Look for us out there every day of the week except thursdays between tomorrow and October 14. Practice reports will be published here on the blog. Video of practices with our guest coaches will be published here and on YouTube. STAY POSTED!


AYC Fall Series

Last weekend Jeremy, Westy, and Scott, and Jesse made the trek down to Rye, NY for the first weekend of the American Yacht Club Fall Series Regatta. Jeremy, Westy, and Scott helped sail Marc Glimcher's J122 Catapult into 1st place in IRC 40. Jesse sailed with Steve and Heidi Benjamin on their newly aquired After Midnight.

Boat Show A Sucess!

A BIG thanks to the URI Foundation for sharing a booth with us at the Newport International Boat Show. We are almost completely out of shirts. ONLY 30 LEFT! The inventory includes about 15 XL's and 15 XXL's and maybe like 2 Mediums. Get them while they last...

Sunday, September 13, 2009

The 2009 Newport International Boatshow is starting this week! The URI World Cup Team will be represented at the URI Foundation tent located in Tent C. Come check us out and pick up a T-Shirt. All proceeds from shirt sales at the boat show will go to support the 2009 campaign for the World Cup in Marseille, France

http://www.newportboatshow.com/

Sloops Team Qualifies for Sloop New Englands


Jesse, Scott, Alex and Westy travelled up to Maine Marritime Academy in Castine, ME this weekend for the Phil Harman Cup. The boats used are MMA's fleet of Colgate 26's. Placing top 5 in this event qualifies the team for Sloop New Englands. The team was in 5th place going into the second day after some rough starts on day one. Luckily the boys were able to pull into 4th place at the end of day 2, just one point out of 3rd.

Sailors at the NYYC Invitational Cup

Starting Tuesday, Sept. 15 the NYYC will be holding its first ever Invitational Cup in the NYYC Swan 42. Nineteen of the top yacht clubs from 14 countries will be in attendance. Carl and Jesse had the opportunity to whitness the diversity of an event organized similar to the SYWoC by practicing prior to the regatta.

Jesse spent an afternoon on Arethusa, the NYYC boat driven by Phil Lotz, tuning up. Ken Read, Puma Skipper and Lotz's tactician, was aboard during the session and provided lots of good insight about upwind and downwind tuning.

Carl spent the weekend practicing on the Hoss with the Yacht Club de France. This talented group included former Olympian and Americas Cup Helmsman, Bruno Troublé, who is also in charge of the Louis Vuitton Cup. Others included tactician Henri Samuel, a 16-year veteran of the French National Team, and mainsheet trimmer Pierre Le Maout, a Formula 40 world champion. Carl had a great international experaince in Newport and said "It was very cool to coach such experienced sailors on how to sail a Swan 42, because none of them had stepped onboard one before saturday and I had spent all summer sailing them." Hopefully the French taught him a few things about Marseille in exchange.

Friday, September 11, 2009

WORLD CUP T-SHIRTS ARE HERE

The first shipment of World Cup T-Shirts are available! Find any of the world cup sailors around campus to pick yours up. $12 for Students and $15 for Adults. If you don't live around URI and want a t-shirt email sywc2009@gmail.com we could probably hook you up.


Friday, September 4, 2009

Rams get the Farr 30 "TeamBOLD" to practice on


Nelson Stephenson has stepped up and donated his Farr 30 TeamBOLD for us to practice on for the fall. The boat is in great shape and recently was brought up to Sail Newport from its home in Connecticut and put together by Carl, Jesse and Nelson. This boat will be a great tool for training on because it is put together much like the Grand Suprise 32s that we will be racing in France. with end for end jibing, tiller, and open cockpit this boat is about the closest thing to a Grand Supprise 32 that can be found in the US. We hope to have many practices with guest coaches, which will appear on the blog. The only event that we plan on doing is the Sail For Hope regatta on Oct. 3

Sail For Hope


http://208.106.141.167/npt/m/_general/07sfhhome.asp
Sail Newport
http://www.sailnewport.org

Thank You To Our Sponsors!

The 2009 URI World Cup Racing team would like to thank all of the sponsors that we have secured this summer!






Musto Performance www.musto.com/
Anarchy Eyewear www.anarchyeyewear.com/

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Two Day Practice on Beneteau 36.7 "Crocodile"

We sailed two really solid days on Crocodile, a Benateau 36.7 owned by Bruce Dawson in Wickford, RI. He graciously loaned us the boat for two days of training.

DAY ONE focused on the crew work with an emphasis on repitition and building consistency. Many of us hadn't been sailing symetrical boats all summer and needed a day to get the moves down. We broke the day into three different sessions starting with everyone in their normal positions, then crew rotation, then back to regular positions. The crew rotation was intended to make everyone aware of how all of the positions affected each oter. Joe Mello came onboard to help coach.

DAY TWO was off to a slower start due to the breeze and lingering soreness from the previous days caning but as the sea breeze began to fill around one o'clock the "Crocodile" jumped to life. We were fortunate enough to have Rome Kirby trimming main and giving insight about maneuvers. We saw 12-16 knots on the west passage and used every bit of it as we drilled "set-gybes", "mexicans", gybes and tacks. Team dinners after each day let us unwind from the time on the water and soak up everything that we learned each day.


A great experience and THANK YOU to Bruce Dawson for making it possible.