College Sailing's Chalk Talk Season Finale: May 16, 2013

For the season finale, the Chalk Talk cast is throwing a banquet! It's the Chalk Talk Pre-Nationals Hypothetical All American Awards Banquet, to be precise. We look at the past year of college sailing and start naming names before the big dance begins next week in St. Petersburg, Fla.

US Sailing gave Chalk Talk a wonderful year of support, but they're not done! Starting Monday, check out US Sailing on Facebook and enter the photo caption contest for a Gill Drysuit!

Next week, watch Chris Love Productions' live coverage of Spring Nationals.
- Video highlights: May 23-24
- Live streaming video: May 26-27
- Text/photos throughout all events: May 21-30

Chalk Talk is presented by US Sailing, who reminds you that US Sailing offers a special college membership for a fraction of the cost of a full adult membership. Go to racing.ussailing.org/college for details.

Reflections from the President

A few years ago we finished a windy fall series race in the Great Lakes region and decided to sail back up to the weather mark where we thought we saw a capsized boat. It was choppy and the safety boats did not see them. After perhaps 30 minutes in the water, the three people were too cold to move or think. We pulled the coldest one aboard our Thistle, got their sails down and righted their boat, then towed their swamped boat with the other two guys in it to the yacht club, which luckily was downwind. Their distress and near disaster was a wake-up call for our team.
 
The loss of popular Olympic champion Andrew Simpson this week reminds us all that our favorite recreation can be dangerous. Sure, he was sailing in an extreme version of the sport, the speeds and forces profoundly exceeding what almost all of us encounter. We don’t yet know exactly what claimed Andrew Simpson. We know that the AC teams are serious about safety, but there is always some unmanageable risk. We do know, and most of us can immediately relate to, the obvious risks we see in this story - superhuman forces at work, entanglement under a boat, and cold water. 

US Sailing is the leading expert on safety and seamanship. Ten years ago, President Dave Rosekrans created a Safety Task Force at US Sailing to evaluate and re-design what we do. Our Safety at Sea Seminars are very highly rated and well-attended. We recently added Coastal Safety at Sea seminars. Keelboat cruisers and racers benefit from these training courses designed for offshore and coastal big boat sailors. The latest piece of this safety agenda is the new book, Safety, Rescue & Support Boat Handling, as part of our Powerboat Certification Series of books and courses. Highly-respected experts and considerable research drive our safety programs. No matter how nautically smart you are, you will learn something valuable reading this and attending a course. Check our course calendar for more information.

US Sailing has organized teams of experts to study five tragedies in the last two years. Read our reports and take action on your boat and at your home port sailing venue. 

The good news is that sailing has an excellent safety record compared to other water sports. We have by far the highest rate of PFD wearing among water sports, thanks to the younger generations who have grown up in a US Sailing training culture that makes wearing it the normal thing to do. The Coast Guard likes what we are doing in sail and power training and we have grants to broaden our efforts. But one death is too many; we can do better.  It starts with each of us being smart and disciplined about seamanship and safety. 

US Sailing is the source of expertise and training for boating under sail or power. Your support enables US Sailing to continue providing and improving the resources that make sailing a better and safer experience.

Tom Hubbell

President of US Sailing

College Sailing's Chalk Talk - May 9, 2013

It's the Nationals preview episode! With all 21 of the conference championships finally complete, we now know what the lineups will be in a few weeks in St. Pete. See a full rundown and take a look back at some Spring Nationals video from the past four years. Don't forget to tune in at http://new.livestream.com/collgesailingnationals starting May 21 with live video May 26-27.

It's also your last chance to win the Harken bag!
https://www.facebook.com/collegesailingchalktalk/app_228910107186452

Chalk Talk is presented by US Sailing, who reminds you that US Sailing offers a special college membership for a fraction of the cost of a full adult membership. Go to racing.ussailing.org/college for details.

College Sailing's Chalk Talk: May 2, 2013

The team takes a good, hard look at the 2013 ICSA Semifinals in this episode, with a breakdown of the over- and under- performers in Hampton this past weekend. They also look ahead to the final weekend of Conference Championships before Nationals.

Don't forget, the Christopher Williford Regatta is this weekend:
- Sign-up
- Donate

Chalk Talk is presented by US Sailing, who reminds you that US Sailing offers a special college membership for a fraction of the cost of a full adult membership. Go to racing.ussailing.org/college for details.

Dave Perry's U.S. Match Racing Report

Sally Barkow Ranked #1 Match Racer in U.S.

Sally Barkow (Nashotah, Wis.), winner of the Carlos Aguilar Grade 2 Open Match in the U.S. Virgin Islands is the number one ranked match racer in the U.S. Ranked #2 is Don Wilson (Chicago, Ill.), winner of the Richardson Cup. Ranked third is Dustin Durant (Long Beach, Calif.), who will be representing the U.S. at the ISAF Nations Cup Grand Finale in Denmark in August. David Storrs (Southport, Conn.) is sixth, winner of the Long Island Sound Match Racing Championship, followed by Stephanie Roble (East Troy, Wis.) with a seventh place finish at the Carlos Aguilar, and Mike Quaglio who sails out of the Oakcliff Sailing Center in Oyster Bay, NY is #8.

Anna Tunnicliffe (Plantation, Fla.), Barkow and Genny Tulloch (San Francisco, Calif.) remain the top three U.S. women match racers. Nicole Breault (San Francisco, Calif.) and Sandy Hayes (Scituate, Mass.) move into the number six and seven spots. Breault, on the strength of her win in the California Dreamin’ Series, and Hayes with her win at the Nations Cup Regional Qualifier, will represent the U.S. at the Grand Finale in Denmark.

Open Rankings
1.    Sally Barkow       
2.    Donald Wilson       
3.    Dustin Durant       
4.    Dave Perry        
5.    Christopher Poole   
6.    David Storrs       
7.    Stephanie Roble       
8.    Mike Quaglio       
9.    Brad Funk            
10.  Jonathan Singsen   

Women Rankings
1.    Anna Tunnicliffe       
2.    Sally Barkow       
3.    Genny Tulloch       
4.    Stephanie Roble       
5.    Becca Dellenbaugh   
6.    Nicole Breault       
7.    Sandy Hayes       
8.    Maegan Ruhlman   
9.    Andrea Cabito       
10.  Shala Lawrence   

College Sailing's Chalk Talk - April 25, 2013

It's Semifinals Week in college sailing! This weekend marks the beginning of the post season as 36 teams are headed to Hampton, Va. to compete for 18 spots at Nationals. In this week's Chalk Talk, we break down the contenders and who to watch for. Chris Love will be streaming live from the regatta with the help of ODU Sports at https://new.livestream.com/collegesailingnationals/2013semis.

US Sailing has some job openings that college sailors might be interested in. Looking for a great summer sailing job? Check out the the West Coast Roadshow Coordinator position.

Chalk Talk is presented by US Sailing, who reminds you that US Sailing offers a special college membership for a fraction of the cost of a full adult membership. Go to racing.ussailing.org/college for details.

Other important links:
Christopher Williford Regatta signup
Harken bag contest
Silly Facebook poll

REACH and SailBot Share Passion for Sailing as Education Platform

US Sailing’s REACH program has made a unique connection with the SailBot 2013 International Robotic Sailing Regatta. These two innovative programs have a lot in common.

SailBot is a robotic sailing competition historically held in North America in which teams of students from colleges and high schools compete. The goal of the event is to create an unmanned sailboat that navigates through a variety of challenges with limited, if any, human control. Students are able to use this friendly competition between schools to apply their engineering knowledge in a multi-disciplinary task that requires mechanical, electrical, and software skill to deal with this highly variable environment.

The Reach program utilizes sailing as an educational platform, challenging youth to embrace education, establish a love of learning and explore productive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) based careers.

US Sailing had the opportunity to discuss the educational benefits of the SailBot competition with event organizer Andrew Bennett:

US Sailing: What concepts are students learning by engaging in a project like this?
 
Andrew Bennett: There are several important concepts that students will learn during this project, including mechanical design, electronics, naval architecture, robotics, programming and systems integration. It will also put their sailing skills to the test as they will have to translate their own sailing abilities into something that can be programmed into the robot so it can try to sail as well as they do!

The contest is designed to let teams focus on any or all of these aspects of the problem. A “kit” will be made available, complete with a shopping list of parts and downloadable software, which will let students get a running start on the project. From there, students can focus on any aspect of the problem that interests them the most.

US Sailing: How does this competition prepare students for 21st century careers?
 
Andrew Bennett: Robots are rapidly becoming the widespread throughout the world:  in agriculture, medicine, logistics, mining, entertainment, safety and anyplace where the task is “dirty, dull or dangerous.” The RoboSail project will teach design, programming and fabrication skills which will give students an edge in this growing industry. 

Outside of robotics, the design, fabrication, programming and problem solving skills that students develop will be useful in many fields such as engineering, software design and naval architecture, to name just a few.

US Sailing: What are a few of the challenges for students at the high school level compared to those at the college level?
 
Andrew Bennett: As a starting point, I would suggest that high school students focus on the areas of integration (making everything work together) and reliability (especially making a robot that will survive in a salt water environment). These skills will be extremely useful later in college. With that done, the teams can then focus on making a smart, fast boat. As many college teams have learned, sailing is a sport that is “easy to learn and hard to master.” 

As I like to tell my students:  1) Make it work. 2) Make it work reliably. 3) Make it better.

The college level teams traditionally spend time perfecting hull and keel design. Some teams will go as far as multihull and wing-sail designs as well. Others will spend all their time on software and autonomy and try to make a “smarter boat.”

US Sailing: What role does sailing play in a complex engineering competition like this?

Andrew Bennett: Sailing skills are vital to the success of a winning team. As several colleges have learned in the past, making a boat that is capable of sailing is not the same thing as making a boat sail well! Even the best boat can be defeated when it’s not used to its full potential.

Areas where sailing skills play an important role are in rigging, trimming, handling and tactics. Even simple acts, such as tacking and jibing, need to be programmed into the robot and then verified so that they do the right thing at the right time.

US Sailing: Do most of the students have a background in sailing? If not, what concepts do you focus on?
 
Andrew Bennett: In the current SailBot competition the teams vary widely from all roboticists and programmers to all naval architects. In 2012, the first place boat was designed by a team of sailors and naval architects, but it was not the most reliable boat in the race and suffered breakdowns during the race. The second place boat was designed by roboticists and was very reliable, but it did not sail well and did not move nearly as fast as it might have if it had more experienced sailors on the team.

The ideal team should have a mix of everything: sailing skills, programming skills, electrical skills and mechanical skills. That being said, past races at the college level show that teams that emphasize one skill over the other are still quite competitive.

US Sailing: How do people get involved? (sponsorship, volunteers, spectators, competitors)
 
Andrew Bennett: The 2013 race will be held in Gloucester Harbor (Mass.), right at Pavilion Beach. The “pit” area where teams set up and repair their robots will be hosted at Maritime Gloucester, nearby (http://maritimegloucester.org/). Everyone is welcome to come and watch the races!

At this time the race is still looking for sponsors. It is our hope that we can subsidize the teams’ meal costs to keep expenses down. Our current sponsors have already been invaluable in allowing us to host an awards banquet for our competitors so they have an opportunity to meet exchange information and make friends. We are still looking for sponsors to help with a kickoff BBQ and with costs such as chase boat fuel, tents to protect the boats at the race site, etc.

If anyone wishes to help as a volunteer or participate as a competitor, you can learn more at www.sailbot.org. 

College Sailing's Chalk Talk: April 18, 2013

This week's episode of Chalk Talk features a look at the new LaserPerformance College 420 prototype at St. Mary's, with insight from head coach Adam Werblow. The hosts also look at all the championship regattas and try to keep track of the constantly shifting entries to the postseason.

Chalk Talk is presented by US Sailing, who reminds you that US Sailing offers a special college membership for a fraction of the cost of a full adult membership. Go to www.racing.ussailing.org/college for details.

Chris Love is broadcasting ICSA Semifinals live! Tune in to new.livestream.com/collegesailingnationals on April 27-28 to catch all the action from Hampton, VA.

This week, Zeke asks the question, who is the best looking college sailing coach? Voice your opinion at Facebook.com/collegesailingchalktalk.

College Sailing's Chalk Talk - April 11, 2013

This week's episode features a look at sailing after college with US Sailing Team Sperry Top-Sider members Anne Haeger and Briana Provancha, 2012 Olympian Sarah Lihan and Navy Coach & J/70 sailor Brendan Healy. We also recap eight regattas and give our predictions on the upcoming championship weekend.

Chalk Talk is made possible by US Sailing and the US Sailing College Membership program. Check it out at http://racing.ussailing.org/college.

The latest rankings by Sail1Design.

College Sailing's Chalk Talk - April 4, 2013

In our weekend review, we'll look at all the Ludicrous regatta scores, a petting zoo, Zeke avoids getting skunked, a visit from our rankings guru, a whole lot of insight from umpires... and from coaches talking about umpires.

Chalk Talk is made possible by US Sailing and the US Sailing College Membership program. Check it out at http://racing.ussailing.org/college.

Sailing World's Latest College Rankings - April 3, 2013