This
was one of my busiest summers ever thanks to the Lightning Class.
It is still hard to believe that it all really came together so
smoothly. Throughout the season I sailed in eight Lightning
regattas and competed in the Nyack Spring and Summer series. By
the end of it both my crew and myself came away much better sailors
than we were at the start of the season.
At the
start of the season we were a very rough sailing team. We found out
at the first couple of regattas that our performance in a
competitive field was very hit or miss. We first had one of those
hit days at the Cedar Point Early Bird regatta where we had the boat
very well tuned for the conditions and sailed two firsts. Of course
the previous day had been a miss day, landing us in fourth overall.
If there was something that we had to do over the season, it was
nail down where that ‘go fast’ comes from in the Lightning and put
together consistent regattas.
From
then on we focused on increasing our consistency. This came down to
changing our strategy to be more conservative. We worked towards
getting into a good position and from there, always trying to
minimize losses. This basically came down to having my crew being on
the lookout for when I try to do something stupid. We played the
odds and made sure we beat most of the fleet rather than looking to
come out on the very top of each race. We found that usually our
biggest loses and worst finishes came from when we tried to make big
gains. We instead relied on our solid boat speed to make small gains
on surrounding boats and let that add up over time. Of course this
doesn’t work all the time but it was a solid groundwork. It was at
the Metropolitan districts that out conservative approach really
paid off.
In the
shifty winds of the Navesink we came out on top of a competitive ten
boat fleet to win our districts. This was a great relief to know
that we had qualified for the North Americans. From there the next
regatta was the 70th Anniversary. This was a great time
had by all. It was also a great opportunity for me and my team to
meet more people in the Lightning Class; all of who were extremely
encouraging and a great help in teaching us more about the boat.
Next up
was the Atlantic Coast Championships down in Rock Hall MD. We were
very excited about this event because it would be the most
competitive regatta yet, excluding the 70th. The
conditions turned out to be a big surprise for us and we weren’t
ready for the strong winds that were served up. Throughout the
whole prior season we had been generally been sailing in lighter
breeze and we had no solid experience in de-powering in the stronger
breeze. After the first day we got knocked around a lot on the
upwinds and found ourselves no longer sailing smart. Once again the
Lightning Class showed its colors and the lab on Saturday night was
very helpful. We learned how to better de-power the boat and were
back up on our feet. The second day brought lighter wind we were
better aquatinted with and we posted a twelve and an eight.
Newport
was one heck of a time. This was hands down the most competitive
group of sailors I have ever sailed against. The qualifying series
was a bit of a disappointment where we never found a groove to keep
us competitive in the top of the fleet. We continued to struggle to
get the boat going fast downwind. When all was said and done we
ended up in the green fleet. We would end up sailing much smarter
in the green fleet then we had during the qualifying series, posting
a worst race of an eleventh and coming out second. This was a
wonderful way to end our season.
I would
also like to thank everyone who made this summer possible.
Specifically I would like to thank the members of the Boat Grant
Committee, Tommy Allen for donating a boat, and Todd Wake for
donating a set of North sails in top condition. I also need to thank
our home fleet, Fleet 75, for being so supportive of me, especially
Bob Sengstacken and Joan and Gary Hurban. I would like to thank my
team Fiona Gordon and Ellie Turk for being such great team players
and sticking with it through the whole season. I know they both had
a great time this summer and we are all looking to get back on a
Lightning as soon as we can.
Justin Coplan
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