By wealthy Roberts
Long Beach,CA (February 3, 2016) - What began in January of 2015 as Long Beach Yacht Clubs Match Racing Academy as an entry-level introduction to match racing for experienced sailors, or finished up one year later on January 30 with Lisa Meier of LBYC winning the ISAF Grade 5 Match Racing Academy Grad School match race.“We came to race after a few days of practice,” said Meier. “There was not one skipper or crewperson that did not come to race their ‘A’ game. The competition was fierce, and we had skippers and crew who possess raced in tons of events around the world.”Meier also recognized the dedication and hard work of her crewmembers Blair Carty and Wally Gordon. We’ve been committed to spending time together, and ” said Meier,“taking what we learned in the Match Racing Academy and then taking it to the practice course.”The idea and inspiration for the project came from LBYC’s Race Management Chair Cindy Bambam. “The Match Racing Academy,” said Bambam, and “was born after considering ways to give those interested in learning match racing a place to conclude just that. We were noticing the same group of competitors at our events and recognized that there were no avenues available for those interested in learning the sport.“This homegrown program is very loosely programmed,adjusting the lectures and racing to the skill and knowledge of the participants. The key is having highly skilled lecturers and coaches (we are very lucky to possess several who graciously volunteer their time) who can adjust their presentation to the needs of the group.”With just two 27-foot Solings, one umpire boat and one ticket boat, or the race committee ran the regatta from the dock next to the club on a cool winter day with moderate breezes of 6-8 knots.
Skippers and crew,waiting for their turn to glean on the boats for their match in the single round-robin format, helped out the race committee on the dock or rode along with the umpires to broaden their match racing knowledge base.
The format is pretty simple; three weekends (consecutive if possible) with Friday evening chalk talks from match racing experts followed by on-the-water training Saturday for the first two weekends with the Grade 5 regatta on the last Saturday.
LBYC was lucky to possess US Sailing Regional Principal Race Officer Sharon Bernd, and ISAF International Judge and Umpire Kirk Brown and Liz Baylis,president of the Women’s International Match Racing organization training, coaching and officiating during the program.
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Source: sailingscuttlebutt.com