First MidWinter

On Saturday December 6th, I raced my first Opti Richmond Yacht Club Midwinter in Champions Fleet. My results were good. They were 3,1,1,2, and 2 which got me in the lead by 3 points. The second has 12 points, the third 14 points, and the fourth 15 points. The conditions were around 5-10 knots of wind and quite some current. Last year I was racing the same regatta but in Green Fleet, which is the beginner racer fleet. My result was 2nd place. This year in Champs Fleet my goal is to win.

                          Here are some pictures.

                                              This is everybody waiting for the wind.

                                      I have just won the race 3 and I'm waiting for the others.

                                           On this picture we are getting on the race course.  

This is me rigging.

Thank you RYC for the pictures.

What a great week-end :-)!!!!

On November 15th, I learned that an other sailor from a different class won the Route du Rhum. His name is Francois Gabart. He has also won the Vendee Globe which is a race on a 60 foot boat and you're alone around the world. He has not only won it, but he is the youngest to have won it ever, and the record holder. By the way, he is only 29 years old today. One of the cool facts about him is that he started sailing with Optis. If you didn't know, most of the best sailors started sailing on Optis.

Here is a picture of Francois Gabart sailing on an opti.

 

Here is the wikipedia page of Francois Gabart.

My grandparents are staying at my  house and my grandpa helped out at the RYC this week-end. If you volunteer, you either help putting the boats in the water or serving lunch.

I also went sailing on Jerome Lecat's Folksboat. We went to Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay, and had a picnic. When we wanted to leave, we had a problem: we couldn't pull the anchor. What happened is that this really big boat came and got his anchor stuck on ours. So we couldn't move. We ended up cutting our anchor's line and putting a boue on it.

This is my dad and I.

This is my grandpa and I.

Bravo Loick !

During my Opti class last Sunday, we raced and my results were 1st,2nd,1st,1st,1st, and for the 3rd time in a row I won the day (my friends and I count the points).

Coming into the harbor I fell in and after taking 15 minutes to get back in the boat I stood up on the side on the boat and turtled (capzise all the way)!

All day I was excited about this race across the Atlantic Ocean named Route du Rhum. One of my favorite sailor won it and beated the record (in the past, he had almost never finished the race because he either broke something or capzised) his name is Loick Peyron. If you want to check out the web site of the Route du Rhum or Loick Peyron.

Here is a picture of my Dad and my Mom at start of the Route du Rhum in 1998 (this is an antique).

This picture is my sister, my brother, and myself at the 2012 America's Cup World Series (45 feet catamaran with wings) in San Fransico, surrounding Loick Peyron, skipper of Energy Team.

High air sailing

Last weekend there was 15 knts wind, with 20 knts puffs in the Sausalito bay (which is called Richardson Bay). That is very unusual. I was happy to show my grand father (who is visiting from France) how I sail. I tried to do a roll tack but I almost capzised. 

There was no classe on Sunday because of a big boat regatta at my yacht club (Great Pumpkin Regatta). I was alone on the water because it was to windy for the Viper or the canoe. 

I sadly forgot my GPS that tells me my speed, but I think I went over 6 knts !

RYC Junior Program Season Started

On Sunday October 19^th I did my first Opti class of the season. I was happy to meet my friends and amazing coaches Andy Pontious and Paul Mc Millan at the Richmond Yacht Club. In my group they were new kids, so we only did 1 race. I was happy because I won. There was about 10 knots in the bay, the waves were about 9 inch high, and it was normal temperature. My coach told me I was doing really good. I looked really closely at the ones that won in the Pacific Coast Championship and they were always searching for clean air so I did it and won the race. To get clean air you have to have all the boats under you or behind you. Before the race started I made a bet that I would win but my friend said the opposite so however won had to capzise. So I capzised. I am looking forward to the next time. If you want to know more about the Richmond Yacht Club go on http://www.richmondyc.org/.

The Viper

Whenever I can’t sail my Opti, I go on the Viper which is a sport catamaran. It is 16 foot long, it has 162 square feet of main sheet area, 188 square feet of spinnaker area, and has 40 square feet of jib area. Our family top speed is 17.9 (I am the only one how went that fast). Guess what, I went to the Pacific Ocean.On our Viper two week-ends ago we had a friend and professional photographer take pictures of my dad and I, his name is Frank his website is www.frankroesner.com. The picture were taken for my sponsors new logo. So we spend a whole week-end on the water taking  pictures. Here is a little video.

Here is a short video from September 20 & 21st, 2014 - enjoy !

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6HCECJClUlDgG8YaAi

First regatta of the season !

This week-end was the best ever, because I got to experience an international regatta: the Pacific Coast Championship. If you want to know more go on www.USODA.com. 

The Mexicans, the Singaporeans, and a team from Utah where competing against sailors from California. I think that a regatta like this is really aggressive, especially the start, because we where 71 on the starting line. 

I was really happy, because I did a roll tack perfectly, and that at one race I finished 40^th (which is really good, given that I started racing 1 year ago, and didn’t sail the Opti this summer). There were 7 races, that last 1hour each, and the regatta was over 2 days: that’s a lot of time on the water! The guys that were with me last year at the RYC finished 62nd and 71th over the whole regatta… and I was 52th overall :-). 

If you want to know what is a roll tack go on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TfGALHmzig.

PS: did you notice the new Scality logo? It isn't official before October 16th :-)

USA 21169 up to a fast start !

My name is Hoel, I am 10 years old and come from Brittany (Bretagne) in France. Together with my parents and brother and sister we live in Sausalito, California. I sail the Opti at the Richmond Yacht Club (RYC), and race regattas all over the San Francisco Bay.

On September 18th 2014, I received my own Opti boat. What a magic day! I got out on the water with my boat for the first time two days later: it was a little puffy with 15 to 20 knots. Some tuning was required after this first day, and by the way I found this great video: Optimist Sailing tips from Olympic sailors. Today I was on the water again, with lighter wind (5 to 10 knots). A friend joined me on the Opti for a quick tour: fun! So far, my speed record on my Opti is 5.7 knots.

To get my boat I got the great help of a sponsor: Scality, a startup established in San Francisco and Paris. Jerome, their founder and CEO, is a windsurfer and sailor. See attached a picture taken during our discussions about sponsorship. Jerome has a "Folksboat" in Sausalito. If you want to do a little research on Folksboats go on www.sfbayfolksboats.com. Almost 15 years ago, Jerome sponsored Philippe Monnet, a French sailor who sailed around the globe. If you want to do a research on Philippe Monnet go on fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Monnet or check out the book ''J'ai entrapercu les moustaches du diable'', which is great reading.

Next week I hope to receive the Scality stickers to be put on my boat. The first regatta with my Opti will be the USODA PCC (US Optimist Dinghy Association, Pacific Coast Championship), hosted by my club, the Richmond Yacht Club, on September 27&28th.

Big thank you to Jerome and Scality for your sponsorship!

You can also follow me on Instagram at hoel_scalitysailing.