2008
Racing Schedule
Definite Regattas:
3/8 - 3/16: Southern Circuit
(Savannah, Miami, and St. Petersburg)
4/5 - 4/26 (Every Saturday): DSA
Thawout Series (Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
5/8 - 7/10 (Every Thursday): DSA
Spring Dinghy Series (Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
5/24 - 5/25: DSA Hornblower Regatta
(Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
5/31 - 6/1: Carter Open (Carter Lake,
Lyons, CO)
7/17 - 7/24 and 8/21 - 9 /18 (Every
Thursday): DSA Summer Dinghy Series (Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
7/26 - 7/27: Atlantic Coast
Championship (Rock Hall Yacht Club)
8/8 - 8/14: North American
Championship (Newport, RI)
9/7: DSA Commodore’s Cup (Cherry
Creek, Denver, CO)
9/13 - 9/14: Colorado Governor’s Cup
and Frostbite Regatta (Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
9/20 - 10/25 (Every Sunday): DSA
Frostbite Series (Cherry Creek, Denver, CO)
10/25: Pumpkin Bash (Cherry Creek,
Denver, CO)
Possible Regattas:
6/14 -6/15: Wyoming’s Governors Cup
(Lake Alcova, WY)
9/6 - 9/7: Colorado Sail & Yacht
Club Columbus Day Regatta (Chatfield Reservoir, Denver, CO)
_________________________________________________________________________________
Nick Farina:
When one thinks of Colorado, snowsports, hiking, climbing, and
other mountainous activities come to mind but not sailboat racing.
Since moving to Colorado three years ago, I have sailed borrowed
boats due to the kindness of Steve and Jan Davis and more recently
thanks to the Lightning Boat Grant Program. This program allowed me
not just to compete in regattas such as the ACCs and NAs, but also
to introduce some of my crew to the Lightning class. I have been
teaching several young women to sail over the last few years in
weekly fleet racing. Both my fiancé, Elizabeth Henry-Hooker, and
fellow graduate student, Jenii Bernet made the transition from
beer-can mountain sailing in Colorado to big regattas on the ocean.
When submitting my application to the
Boat Grant Program, I planned to have both a travel team of
experienced young Colorado sailors and a local team of young women
who have been sailing with me for the last few years. Of course,
fate had a different plan then I did and when most of my travel team
had other commitments arise, I immediately asked these women if they
would like to race in two big regattas. To my surprise, both, Jenii
and Elizabeth were eager to travel across the country and race.
Two days before the ACCs, Jenii and I
left Boulder heading to Rock Hall with three goals: 1) arrive
safely, 2) teach Jenii how to trailer a boat, and 3) pick up our
third, Ian McKenzie in Baltimore. All were accomplished sans issue
and I prepared to drive a boat for two days instead of a car. We
had our moments of brilliance spending half of a race in 3rd only to
pick the wrong side and drop back to the mid-teens. The rest of the
regatta was practice. For me to get used to sailing with more then
5 boats, and for Jenii, how to do bow in pressure situations.
For the NAs, Elizabeth and my old
skipper, Bretton Gardner, sailed with me. Again, we had moments of
brilliance allowing us to qualify in the green fleet but they were
overshadowed by moments of hilarity. The last race of the
qualifying series sums up the week. After a dreadful start,
Elizabeth came up on the rail for a puff and suddenly, all I can see
are her feet pointing at the sky and Bretton trying to grab her.
Luckily, the spinnaker halyard had wrapped around her foot and we
were able to pull her in easily. However, this had pulled the
halyard out of the mast so we had to drop the jib, switch halyards,
race, drop, and switch again. Later in the week, again in the
middle of the race, I somehow hiked off the boat. It is
surprisingly hard to drive a Lightning upwind while underwater.
After these, we joked that it was Bretton’s turn next. The almost
happened on the last day after a tack when more then half of his
body was over the side. Luckily, Elizabeth and I were able to grab
on and pull him back in. All in all, we had an adventurous week and
good learning experience.
Both Elizabeth and Jenii have written
about their experiences below. They, along with Ian and Bretton,
were great to sail with and I look forward to sailing with them
again in the future.
Elizabeth Henry-Hooker’s
experience:
My fiance Nick Farina has been
sailing practically since he could walk. I was on a sailboat once
when I was 16, and knew nothing about the boats or the language when
I started sailing with him three summers ago on Cherry Creek
Reservoir. The first summer was mostly an exercise in vocabulary,
as I learned that everything on the boat that has a name in real
life has a different name on the water. I spent most of my time the
first two summers sailing middle and racing one or two 45 minute
races before calling it a night. When I had the chance to sail the
NA's with Nick this August, I had no idea what I was getting myself
in to.
First, I was informed that I would be sailing bow, and had two weeks
to learn the position. Next, I had to adjust to my new assignment,
a new crew member, and six hours of sailing at a time, on the ocean,
with waves and other boats, during the regatta. A few days of
practice would have been a great help, but that was simply not an
option for us.
So we jumped into the first day of racing. Both Nick and our third
crew member, Bretton Gardner, grew up sailing in Vermont and there
was a lot of conferencing happening in the back of the boat while I
tried to stay quiet and do what I was instructed. (This, as it
turns out, was more difficult than it sounds.) The second day of
qualifiers, for no apparent reason, I went to hike and fell
backwards out of the boat, taking the spinnaker halyard with me and
destroying it and a chunk of the skin on my ankle. By the end of
the regatta, my legs were nearly one solid bruise on the back and
one solid sunburn on the front, I had several band-aids on my
falling-out-of-the-boat wounds, and a "sail-cut" (much like a paper
cut, only more painful) under my thumbnail. But even so, I wouldn't
trade in the experience of my first regatta, where I had the
opportunity to meet many of the people whom Nick has mentioned over
the years and see what it is like to sail where there is consistent
wind and more than four boats. Thanks to Nick and Bretton for being
so patient with me, even when I broke the halyard and we had to take
the mast off to fix it. And thank you to all of the people I met
who welcomed me to the world of regattas. I hope to see you next
year!
Jenii Bernet’s experience:
Growing up in South Dakota had
acquainted me with only canoes and power boats, so I was thoroughly
ignorant of sailing when I met Nick Farina. After starting graduate
school in Boulder, Colorado, Nick, a rabid Lightning sailor, began
dragging several of us fellow students through rush hour traffic to
the Denver Sailing Association Thursday night races. Denver summer
sailing often meant light days interrupted by 25 knot gusts from an
evening thunderstorm sweeping down the water which made for an
interesting learning environment. After several summers sailing in
Denver, I recently had two opportunities to meet and compete against
Lightning sailors from around America and the world.
The past month was my first exposure to big regattas including the
ACCs with Nick Farina and the NAs with Bill Cabrall. Racing at Rock
Hall and Newport was radically different from my experiences at
Cherry Creek Reservoir. Sailing out to meet the Atlantic in a
dinghy almost brought on a spell of agoraphobia the first half hour
my boat was on the water. Sailors from birth may never have
experienced this feeling, but sailing on that much open water is
initially a little unsettling. Also, those behemoth cargo ships
cruising through the channel apparently don't have to respect
starboard tack on a dinghy. From a racing point of view, Denver
lacked significant waves, so the concept of surfing was new to me
and unpracticed by our boat. It took a few days to really get the
hang of the technique, but we finally got it right by the last day
of the NAs when we put up our best two races of the whole series.
Riding a long wave with the water rushing past was a truly
exhilarating experience and came to be my favorite part of the
racing. Every once and awhile there would be a larger wave sneaking
up on the boat. My response was something like "oooh, a really big
one's coming" while gripping the mast in a death lock. Also, steady
wind and a seabreeze that filled in like clockwork were much
appreciated despite a few light mornings.
The Lightning Class struck me as a particularly accomplished and
friendly group at both regattas. Advice was given freely; multiple
people helped me get that trailer through the mud and around the
large concrete post next to our NA spot; and it was great to see so
many families and friends competing together. My only regret
joining the Lightning Class was that I didn't get to start sailing
as a child.
Of course, racing has a few downsides, including my rorschach-like
sunburn from the ACCs, bruises on the bruises on the backs of my
knees and the occasional hangover on the water. I think these
things are a very small price to pay for the pleasure of hiking out
on a long beat and getting to sail with such a great crowd. My
thanks to Nick Farina, Bill Cabrall and Raeyane Farrell, and all the
great folks at the DSA. Hope to see everyone at next year's event!
