2006 Atlantic Coast Championships
Little Egg Harbor NJ
July 29 - 30
Harry Keith, Nabeel, and Benjamin Forman and their crews sailed
in the 2006 ACCs. Here are their reports:
It was a great time.
The race organizer (Franz Schnieder) did a fantastic job of arranging
local accommodations (our place was nicer than any hotel, and literally a
10 minute walk from the club). The club had more than enough parking for
the boats and the cars, from what I could tell. They did a great job
of sectioning off the close-in spaces for the boats. The lot was
level and well laid out, although the gravel surface was a bit hard on the
trailers. The facility is huge, although 200+ sailors will tax any
restroom situation. The one drawback is that they only had 2 lifts, but
they VERY aggressively managed them, with probably half a dozen or more
people staffing the lifts, and using both sides of each lift to reduce
congestion. They also had a power boat to pull boats away from the lift
area.
The racing was classic beach town racing -- longish trip to the race
course, but perfect winds and no chop. Saturday had 3 races, all in a
steady 12-15 NW. It was hot, but the wind made it OK. Sunday was 2
races, both with decent but slightly lighter winds, with a 2-3 hour wait
between the races (absolutely dead calm). When the sea breeze came in for
the second race, the wind went from NW to SE, and was solid and wonderful
-- a bit more wind with one capsize that I saw (I really don't know why,
it wasn't THAT windy). Unfortunately, the fact that the second race
didn't get off until 2:40 made for a very late night.
Saturday we had a 67 of 70, Nabeel had a 13 (I think), and I didn't see
what Ben Forman got. We finished up with a 62 (or 63), and I don't know
where Nabeel ended up. Team Thunder had fun, but our finishes were
dissapointing -- but we need to remember that we were
"running with the big dogs."
Here are some photos. They are from a Team
Thunder perspective, and no where near as good as if they were taken from
a chase boat, but if you want a few pics of the ACC's, take a look.
Just go to the
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Harry Keith
The results,
a
story, and
pictures are available on the ILCA website but the results are in a
1 MB PDF.
Here are highlights:
1 Debbie Propst from Buffalo
2 JIm Crane -- 3rd in 2003 Worlds
3 Alan Terhune -- 2004 North American Champ
4 Jody Lutz -- another North American Champ
5 Jeff LInton -- Southern Circuit Champ
6 Nicole Breault -- another woman qualifies for Pan Am
7 Bill Fastiggi -- sail maker and champion
8 Neal Fowler & Todd Johnson -- 505 champion
9 Ched Proctor -- sail maker and champion
10 Keith Taboada
11 Ian Jones
12 Mark Schneider
13 Nabeel, Russ, and Lisbet
15 Steve Constants
43 Jon Guth
49 Ben Forman, Tim Olson, Ann Cody
51 Jason Werner
63 The Keith family
Obviously, we were elated to be up near those rock stars.
Nabeel Alsalam
Hat’s off to Nabeel and his team. I learned a lot at the ACCs, but one
point I take home is that the old adage about sailboat races won by the
boat that makes the fewest mistakes doesn’t always apply. We sailed
Beedobeat as well as we know how. Every spinnaker set was clear and fast.
Take downs went just as well, and held us overlaps in a number of critical
roundings. We hit the laylines and landed in spots where traffic
wasn’t too bad, considering. Out starts, could have been better, but
except on one occasion, they certainly weren’t our downfall.
So how did we wind up 49? The shifts were big but often not as obvious as
we’re accustomed to when the course is smaller (dotted with marks and
closer to land). Rounding the gates with light air and so many boats
nearby I focused on finding the route with the clearest air. In hindsight,
this turned out to be a big mistake. For obvious reasons, spots with fewer
boats weren’t the most attractive. Again and again we went to the wrong
side and didn’t have the courage to work our way back behind sterns. The
last race we literally went from 22 to 44 sailing towards the finish, by
far the most frustrating leg I’ve sailed all season. And bad races hurt
awfully in large fleets. The first day we finished something like 23, 22,
and 59. The 59 was almost 3 times our other finishes.
Boat speed was clearly fundamental for anyone who came with high
aspirations, but our goal was only to finish at mid-fleet. We had trouble
keeping pace and holding lanes even with our bow out in front. To be
honest, this wasn’t really a surprise.
With so many tough sailors on the course, a good number of them found
themselves at the back of the fleet. To his credit, I think Nabeel crawled
out the few times he fell into the badlands. For those of us
who weren’t as fortunate, it wasn’t always the most inviting place to be.
I noticed how anxious some competitive sailors can get with 50 boats in
front of them and time running out; some of the suspect moves I saw left a
bit to be desired.
But all in all I left New Jersey with more to remember fondly than I’ve
had from past visits :). We got to sail against great talent, and meet
more members of the Lightning family. I was happy with the way we raced,
and certainly proud of the strong representation Shadowfax provided those
of us from Fleet 50.
Benjamin Forman