Los Angeles to Tahiti Newsletter

 

Greetings everyone,

Attached is my Sailing Newsletter for 08.  It’s a bit long, describing everything I’ve taken part in this year, including winning Key West on the Melges 32 Star, doing pit at the Farr 40 Worlds on Groovederci, training in the Ynglings with the US Olympic team, doing lots of match racing, culminating in second place at the US Nationals, and a win this December at the Carlos Aguilar Memorial Regatta.  I also describe the Tahiti Race this summer, which we won on Ragtime, the boat I am leaving for tonight to race in the Sydney Hobart.  I wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays, and all the best for the end of this year and beginning of 09!

Warm Wishes,

Genny

 

Sailing Newsletter 2008

After spending much of 2007 on the Morning Light team, adding to my small-boat arsenal those tools that better define a big-boat offshore sailor under the tutelage of such greats as Stan Honey, Robbie Haines, and Mike Sanderson, I’ve spent the last year expanding those skills to both offshore and inshore big-boat racing, and match racing.

I began the year working for Kaenon as the sailing and ‘traditional sports’ marketer, which allowed me to gain some experience in the world of marketing and continue to do some of my own sailing. Key West in January of 2008 was the first showcase of this relationship: I balanced Kaenon responsibilities on land with sailing on Jeff Ecklund’s Melges 32 Star on the water. Everything went as planned on land and perhaps especially on the water, with a closely contested event that was decided in the last race, with Star coming out on top. I sailed with Star again in the next event, Acura Miami Grand Prix race week, but decided my time with Kaenon had come to a close so that I could focus more on my own sailing. Helping call the compass and shifts, and doing mid-bow was quite an experience, as was sailing with designer Harry Melges.

I followed the Melges 32 sailing with a new position as pitman on Deneen Demourkas’ Farr 40 Groovederci, and although suffering a knee injury in the windy practice day, we had a great event finishing 12th at the Worlds. It was great to get to sail with Deneen again after sailing with her in Mumm 30s, and also important for me was getting to meet and sail with Dave Perry, the tactician on board who would come to be one of my favorite match racing advisers.

I began to get into match racing in the spring, being involved in a clinic in the SF Bay area, as well as filling in as crew for Sally Barkow practicing against Liz Baylis before Liz went to the Worlds, where she finished 2nd. I began competing thereafter, calling tactics for Kristen Lane at the Sundance Cup, where we finished 2nd, and also at the US Santa Maria Cup with Derby Anderson.

I spent the month of May training in Miami with the Yngling team of Sally Barkow, Debbie Capozzi, and Carrie Howe, two-boat testing with different equipment to help them determine their best setup for the Olympic Games. It was a great experience to see the dedication and commitment on the water, as well as see what went on behind the scenes in the logistics and operations of their Olympic Campaign, in their last month before going to China. I also made some good friends who would each sail with me at some point this year in match racing.

For the summer, I focused on offshore sailing and the race from Los Angeles to Tahiti on Ragtime, the legend that was built in New Zealand in 1964, and won multiple events down under before being banned from the Hobart race three days before the start. It was then sold to an owner in the US and changed hands multiple times, competing in a record fourteen Transpac races. It finally landed in the hands of Chris Welsh from Newport Beach, who asked me to join on the race as watch-captain and helmsman. Pre-race I was in charge of getting the sails, medical kit, and the freeze-dried food ready for the race. My role expanded when the navigator pulled out of the race only a few days before the start, leaving Chris, Mark Ivey, and me to the task. It turned out well as we picked a rather windy route to Tahiti—barely even experiencing the doldrums—and Ragtime wound up winning overall! Through the process though, we broke practically ‘one of everything’ and I began a list of ‘never have I ever’ done this before on a race!

(Which included grabbing a squid off the deck and frying it for breakfast, being inducted as a Shellback in the Neptune ceremony at the equator, steering by the southern cross, and more). We had to take down the main for repairs twice, fix a jib and a jib top, a broken gooseneck, and had an engine that died (thank goodness for the spare generator on board, even if it did blow fumes straight into the driver and grinder’s faces for the rest of the race, and which made for another never have I ever—peeled kites purely using hand signals because you couldn’t hear anything over the generator…) All the hard work paid off, as well as the Eastern-most route that kept us in a low the whole time, and we beat the old record and won the overall honors.

Reaching Tahiti in 14 days, when we had planned on 18-21, was pretty ironic considering it took 11 days for the Transpac last year, after planning on only 7 or 8. The race was 3,571 miles, we called the port layline from about 1,000 miles out, after just exiting the doldrums, and we had probably nothing less than 16 knots for 95 percent of our sailing… The boat was welcomed to its home country for the last couple of months, and is now in Australia getting ready for the Sydney Hobart race.

Meanwhile, I had really gotten bitten by the match racing bug, was accepted to the US Women’s Match Racing Championship while offshore, and pulled together a great team consisting of Carrie Howe, fresh off the Olympics in the Yngling, Liz Hall, a team racing World Champion with Silver Panda, and Kim Hapgood, the director of Sail Newport and an excellent trimmer. After a great training weekend in Newport, tuning our teamwork and match racing by practicing against Dave Dellenbaugh and Dave Perry for three days, we competed well, winning the gold round of the round robin, and making it to the finals but losing to Anna Tunnicliffe (gold medalist in the Laser Radial in Beijing). Liz Baylis, who was second at the Worlds this year, finished third.

It was a busy fall, with the Troia Cup Match Race in Portugal, calling tactics for Sandy Hayes in the Swedish Match 40s. We did very well in the current early on, winning the first round robin, but as the other teams caught up and began to understand the current game better, we lost some more races, and ended up 4th after not having enough wind to sail a semi-finals or finals. Great experience getting to sail those boats, see that race venue, and race against some of the best in Europe.

Then was a fun two weeks helping promote Morning Light—great to get to see the team again, and to finally see the movie, which let us all relive the race and the whole experience all over again. What a wonderful time we had and excellent lessons in sailing—it really was the ‘Honors College of Sailing’ as we called it.

Next event was the Rolex Osprey Cup in St. Pete, as a tactician/main trimmer for Debbie Capozzi. We tied for second in the round robins, so raced and were able to beat World Champ Claire Leroy in the Semi-finals, but then lost to the Italians in the very light and shifty finals. Great event though and good result for a first-time team.

After an incredible family vacation to Tanzania, my father’s homeland, I flew straight to the Carlos Aguilar Memorial Regatta in St. Thomas in early December. We had a great training week in San Francisco with my team plus America’s Cup legend Dawn Riley, plus Mark Ivey, Ben Glass, and Kristen Lane, and for the event I sailed with Olympian Sally Barkow, Jen Morgan, whom I sailed with in the 29er and 29er XX, and Liz Hall, bow-woman galore and team racing champ. The event itself was good for practice for next year’s USWMRC to be held there, and again pulled together many of the top US teams. We had an awesome regatta, winning the round robins, choosing who to race in the semis, and then going undefeated in both the semis and finals 2-0 and 3-0. Liz Baylis finished 2nd and Anna Tunnicliffe 3rd, so it was an excellent accomplishment for us and a wonderful finish to the match racing year.

I am now off to the Sydney Hobart Race, leaving tonight for Sydney and the start of the race on the 26th. Hopefully, we’ll do as well as the Tahiti Race, but if not, at least make it to Hobart in one piece and in time for the New Year celebration. My Olympic sailing will begin in earnest in January at the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta, and I’m looking forward to a great 2009.

Happy Holidays and all the best in 2009!

Genny Tulloch