Big boat crash and roll-tacks

Saturday 13th, December I was set to participate to a regatta on big boats.
The boat was an Islander 36, just like this one :

We were racing in the Berkeley circle in  SF Bay, when we crashed into another boat.
This is what happened: 30 seconds before the start, we were on starboard and there was a boat coming in on port (we had the right of way). So usually, in this case the other boat is supposed to move out of our way but he didn't. Our skipper Bill decided to change his course. Unfortunately, the other boat did the same. So we moved the other way but so did he. At the end we ended up hitting each other so hard that his port lifeline broke. Our boat had a big scratch on the front and a crew member lost part of one of his big toe, but every thing is fine now.
I learned that it is always a bit tricky on the starting line, on big boats or on optis. I will be even more careful moving forward.

The crash:

Sunday 14th, December was the weirdest Sunday ever. I went to my yacht club (RYC), as usual.
The wind was very shifty. The afternoon was much better and we were lucky enough to race. I was so happy!

My results were 1st,2nd,1st, and 1st. I almost did a roll-tack, but at the end of my roll tack my Opti tipped over. I tried to dry capzise but I almost sunk my boat. What saved me from sinking,were my air bags.

If you don't remember what a roll tack is, you may look at this video (lucky Rayne, sailing in the BVIs :-)) Here is a video of a dry capzise.

I sail in SF Bay and I wish the water was as warm as in the Carribeean!

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.